Pesto & Chicken Pasta

Finding this recipe on allrecipes.com was the result of being in a cooking rut a couple weeks ago. I had done just about everything one can do with hamburger. (Since we raise cattle, there is never a shortage of beef in the freezer.)
My basil was looking pretty healthy, so I thought a pesto dish might be good to try. I was happily surprised when everyone liked it! The only problem was I had to wait for my basil to grow so I could make it again. I was able to pick enough leaves this afternoon, so we will be having this again tonight.
You can use any pesto sauce. Since I wanted to use my basil, I found a recipe for homemade pesto to use instead. I have not had the pasta with the sun-dried tomatoes, but included it since it was in the original recipe. Enjoy!

Pesto & Chicken Pasta

1 (16 ounce) package bow tie pasta, boiled & drained
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, fully cooked and cut into bite-size pieces
crushed red pepper flakes to taste
1/3 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and cut into strips
1/2 cup pesto sauce

Boil pasta & cook chicken seperately. Then mix all ingredients listed above together & heat until warm.

Pesto Sauce

3/4 cup fresh basil leaves
2/3 cup chopped almonds (may also use walnuts or pine nuts)
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Put all but olive oil in food processor. Pour olive oil into processor while chopping the mixture until the consistency is what you prefer.