Garlic Basil Pasta

The other day I went out shopping  and stumbled upon this beautiful basil plant for only $3.99.

 So of course I had to buy it.  Now what do I do with it.  I started searching for recipes to make, but didn't really find any that really caught my eye.  I remembered from a long time ago, one of my friends showed me a recipe that used a lot of dried basil, so I started to recreate her recipe with a few tweeks here and there.  If you don't mind garlic you will enjoy this recipe.

Here is what you need:

• 1 clove of garlic
• olive oil
• basil
• salt
• peppers (red or green or both)
• meat (optional- chicken, shrimp)
• pasta (I used penne, but linguini works very well)

Cook pasta and set aside

Mince up garlic.  I have a mini chopper that I only use for garlic and onions. They are relatively cheap, costing at around $10.  I find you can't really get the smell of garlic out. 

In a pan pour about 1/4 cup of olive oil and heat up, then add garlic

Let the garlic brown, so it looks toasted.  Make sure you keep stirring, it can burn very quickly. 

Add basil and salt once garlic is toasted.
Add in the peppers, cooked meat and pasta and stir well.

You could also add more veggies like fresh diced tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli.  This recipe is almost like a base to a pasta.  Be creative.