Caprese Pasta Salad

My dear friend Ashley is having a baby and this weekend all the girls (and a bunch of other family and friends) gathered to shower her sweet bundle of joy with gifts! (And drink beer and roast marshmallows) I'll share a few pics at the end of the post so you guys can check out all the decor but, of course, I'm here to talk about the food...

Pasta salad is a great way to go when feeding a big group of people but I am not always a big fan of it just because I can't fathom the idea of eating mayo covered pasta, so I switched it up! I came up with this Caprese Pasta Salad because Ashley is a fan of all things caprese. She always makes yummy skewers with tomato, basil and mozzarella when we have pot-luck get togethers so it was the perfect pasta salad to serve at her shower. Incredibly simple and absolutely delicious!

4 cups Rotini Pasta, uncooked
1/2 cup pesto (I included a homemade recipe below, but store-bought is also fine)
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cups fresh mozzarella, diced (you can also use baby buffalo mozzarella)
2/3 cups pine nuts
salt and pepper to taste

Basic Basil Pesto: (makes about 1 cup)
5 cups basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt

If you are making the homemade pesto:
In a blender or mini food processor, puree the basil, olive oil, garlic and just over half of the pine nuts. add in the remaining pine nuts, Parmesan cheese and salt; pulse a few times and viola!

Boil pasta until al dente (cooked through but still slightly firm), rinse with cool water and drain off any excess water.  Using a rubber spatula, toss the pasta in the pesto until distributed evenly. Add in remaining ingredients and toss again, until evenly distributed. Serve and enjoy!

Some more baby shower pics:

Love my girls! This sweet baby boy will be spoiled rotten with this crew!

It was woodland themed...hence the giant deer.

We used this as the centerpieces for the tables too!

I played with marzipan for the first time and made these little characters for the top of the cake! I used my Buttercream Icing recipe and made it "ombre" (I tinted the icing darker green the further down on the cake I got)

My little woodland characters up close and personal...

Enjoy! XOXO~