Pesto Pasta w Sun Dried Tomatoes and Portabella Mushrooms and Monkey Pie

Pin It

Last night, I made the dish I was talking about yesterday. I forgot to add the capers, but I was such a scatterbrain yesterday, it took me two trips to the store to make the Monkey Pie and I still didn't have all I needed so I improvised, with great results.

We have the Ginormous mushrooms because my hubby grills them into "burgers". I decided to steal one last night and use it for the pasta meal I love so much that they serve at Creekside Pub.
I did not buy Asiago cheese, sure its great, but I will settle for the huge block of fresh parmesan cheese I already have, and its my son Brian's favorite.

Visit my kitchen store.

Pesto Pasta w Sun Dried Tomatoes and Portabella Mushrooms

3 T olive oil
1/4 c sun dried tomotoes
1 T minced garlic (i ran out of fresh, used dry)
1 large portabella mushroom, sliced (more if you like)
2 T butter
1 C more or less of Pesto (see directions)
I box Pasta (I use penne, its just more graceful to eat)
¼-½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese


I put some olive oil in my stir fry skillet (burner turned on to about medium heat). You know me, why measure lol. Maybe 3 T? Then I threw in a handful of sun dried tomatoes. Pushed them around in the oil with my bamboo spatula. After about 3 mins, I tossed in the garlic and pushed it around another minute. Then I tossed in the mushroom, which I had sliced into about 1½-2 inch pieces. I added 2 T butter. You could probably omit this if you don't do dairy. Cook up until the mushrooms are done to your likeness.



Then add the pesto. (I have this recipe in my archives. I make it from my garden basil and freeze it so I have it on hand. Here is the link. http://margaritastewart.blogspot.com/2009/07/tomato-tart-wow-this-is-good-try-some.htmlAfter I add the pesto and heat a few mins, I add the pasta (already boiled). As I fold the sauce over the pasta, grate the parmesan cheese right into it. and its done!
It looks so much better than the picture shows...and my youngest son ate two bowls, he loved it. I was not sure how he would like the sun dried tomatoes, but he didn't even mention that, just said to me...can I have some more...in his cute fake english accent. I wills urely make it again.
For Dessert I made this, lets call it Monkey Pie lol. Its a banana cream pie. If you pre-purchase your graham cracker pie crust, you can whip this up in 10 mins, put it in the freezer for at least 30 and you have a great dessert. It is really a recipe from Pampered Chef, so I cant' take credit for it. I saw it in two of my 1990's cookbooks from Pampered Chef, but in my laziness, I found it typed up on a website. Thanks, whoever has this awesome website.
http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/pampered-chef-recipes/index.htm

My pic is not that exciting, wasn't thinking I had to make it gorgeous for a pic, so I just whipped it up. So here is the pic ya get. I sliced it and never took a pic of a slice of it to show ya the insides oops lol.
PS I hate cool whip, but used it anyway, my kids like my peanut butter pie that has it in it, in fact, my kids will open a container of cool whip and eat it like ice cream.

To make these recipe easier, you could use a pre-made pie crust and omit the first three ingredients. Then all that you have to do is whip up the creams together with the pudding and slice the bananas (with an egg slicer its a breeze)
I thought that I had vanilla pudding, I didn't! lol. So I subbed Banana. It was really good. I would like to try it next time with vanilla to see if there is any difference in the reaction of my kids lol.

Banana Cream Supreme

1 1/4 cups chopped graham cracker squares

1/4 cup butter, melted

3 tablespoons sugar

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup cold milk

1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding and pie filling

1 container (12 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed

3 medium bananas, sliced

2 tablespoons pecans, grated

Chop graham crackers; place in a bowl. Add butter and sugar; mix well. Press crumb mixture onto flat bottom of springform pan. In a classic batter bowl, whisk sour cream and milk until blended. Add pudding mix; whisk until pudding is dissolved. Add whipped topping, mixing until well blended.

Spread half of filling over crust. Slice bananas; arrange over filling. Spread remaining filling over bananas. Grate pecans over top. Garnish as desired with fresh fruit/mint leaves.

To serve, remove collar from pan; cut into 12 wedges.

Yield: 12 servings