Butterbean, Pasta and Pesto Salad

What are Mondays for, if not starting off with good intentions?

I’m not a big salad fan, but I do like butterbeans, pesto and pasta a great deal. So I decided to whip something up that would be a bit more interesting (and better for me) than a ham sandwich lunch.

This is really simple to make, and can easily be made out of leftover pasta if you happen to have made too much (which always, constantly happens to me). I am using my homemade pesto, but feel free to use any that you like. It takes 2 seconds to whip up, makes about 4 portions, and makes meal prep reeeeeally easy.

Feel free to play around with the flavours, or leave out the pepperoni to keep veggie. Speaking of veggies, I have a fairly limited repertoire of ones I actually like, so I’m happy with what I’ve put in, but feel free to go wild and add tomatoes or carrots or whatever you crazy salad-lovers fancy.

Chorizo and Butterbean Stew

Here are a few of my favourite things

Where has this been all my life?!

Seriously, this stew packs an epic punch. Forget greying mince and lacklustre gravy, this is a stew like nothing this Irish chick has eaten before. Thick, flavourful, meaty and amazing. The beans are a perfect antidote to the rich chorizo.

The other bonus is that it is so easy to make, making it the perfect work-night, cold-evening dinner. It's what I'm having tonight, and you should too!