Marinara & Spinach Pesto Italian Fondue – Family Dinner Time with Barilla

Create a memorable family dinner with Italian Fondue using Barilla Pasta and Sauce!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Barilla, but opinions are my own.

Growing up, I remember family dinners.  Almost every single night.  And, almost every night was the same:

“What are we having?”
“Again? Ugh.”
“School was fine.”
“Can I go now?”

Sure, I remember the teenage days, and I don’t think I was very pleasant to be around.  But, I love the fact that my parents made those evenings together a priority.  Family dinners are something that I knew would be a must-do as well.  Although, I gotta be honest… they made it look easy.  Making time for a sit-down all-together family dinner can be tough.  Tough to plan for, tough to cook, and tough to enforce with busy schedules.

I’m figuring it out slowly.  Meal by meal, day by day, excuse by excuse.  I’ve come to rely heavily on the MomFavorites.com #MonthOfMeals menu plans and a few quick and easy go-to dinners that I can whip up easily on busy nights when I’m falling behind.

And I’m not talkin’ Easy Mac or Frozen Pizza.  I’m talking something that’s as simple to make, but is loaded with good-for-you veggies and a super-duper-get-your-kids-to-eat-anything trick:
Marinara & Spinach Pesto Fondue  – served with Tortellini Skewers : created mostly with Barilla pantry items. Kids love  stabbing food with a toothpick!

Not only do I happen to love Barilla pastas and sauces (in addition to the featured items, you gotta check out Barilla’s no-boil lasagna noodles and veggie-blend pasta shapes, too), BUT they are also working hard to make sure that all families #SharetheTable!

For every post using #ShareTheTable, Barilla is providing ten meals to FeedAmerica, up to one million meals!  Feeding America is the nation’s largest organization dedicated to fighting domestic hunger through a network of food banks, and Barilla supports that goal. So do I!

Needless to say, I’m gonna be tweeting #SharetheTable a lot over the next few weeks to ensure needy families get some meals they deserve! I hope you’ll join me.  And, to make sure you have a little extra time to do so, here’s that super-simple Barilla Marinara & Spinach Fondue recipe I’ve been chatting up!  Buon Appetito!

Barilla Marinara & Spinach Pesto Italian Fondue with Tortellini Skewers

Ingredients:
For Spinach Pesto
1/2 cup olive oil
6 oz. package of fresh baby spinach or 10 oz. box frozen spinach
1 clove minced garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons of Parmesan

For Fondue
12 oz. package of Barilla Tortellini (I like the Cheese & Spinach variety – bring on the veggies, baby!)
1 jar of Barilla Marinara Sauce
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan

Directions:

Prep the pesto, which you can make up to two days in advance. If using fresh spinach, drizzle a wee bit of olive oil into a skillet and warm over medium high heat. Add the spinach, garlic and salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until wilted. (It’s a great magic trick for the kids to watch – the change in size is incredible!) If you’re using frozen spinach, simply thaw and ring out the extra water.

Add spinach to a mini food processor and pulse with the walnuts and parm (Add the minced garlic to the food processor if you are using frozen spinach). Slowly drizzle in olive oil until paste forms. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Cook Barilla Tortellini according to package directions. (Note: I cooked it for about a minute less than the minimum recommended time, ’cause I like an al dente pasta.) Drain and put in serving bowl.

Meanwhile, heat up marinara sauce in fondue pot (or you can just zap it in the microwave). Once heated through, stir in the spinach pesto. I used about half, and am saving the other half for a pasta bake later in the week. Mix until blended, then add in your Parmesan.

Keep warm in fondue pot, or simply serve it right away. Keep in mind, marinara does bubble riotously in a fondue pot, so watch carefully and be sure to turn it down immediately when it starts to bubble.



We served Tortellini on toothpicks for the kids, with their own dipping sauce, and fondue skewers for us adults. This makes a great family dinner, but would also be great for entertaining and is also fab with breadsticks, too!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Barilla.  For every post using #ShareTheTable from now until 4/30/14, Barilla will donate a monetary equivalent of ten meals ($1.11) to Feeding America®, up to 1 million meals.  Barilla will donate a maximum of $110,000.  One dollar helps provide 9 meals secured by Feeding America® on behalf of local member food banks.