I have been wanting to give this backpacking meal recipe a try for some time now. In short, I'm planning on having this at least twice on my backpacking trip.  This is an extremely easy meal to put together.  Total time from cooking to dehydration was 24 hours. 

Tip: I started the dehydration process at night just before going to bed.  Upon waking up I noticed that the top of the pasta was dry, but the bottom was still wet due to the dehydrator holding trays.  I cut the pasta into fourths and flipped them over to allow the other side to dehydrate.  Re-hydration only took 5 minutes, extremely fast and easy meal.

Tomato Pesto Pasta

Serves 4

Weight 1 dried serving = 6 ounces

This is filling and flavorful

1. Puree in a blender or food processor until smooth:

   • ½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

   • 5 cloves garlic

   • 1 bunch fresh basil leaves

   • 1 teaspoon salt

   • ¼ cup olive oil

2. Cook: then drain in a colander;

   • 16 ounces linguini pasta, broken in thirds

3. Toss the pasta with the sauce. Stir in:

   • 3 cups spaghetti sauce

4. Spread on covered dehydrator trays and dehydrate for 6 hours at 145 degrees

5. To rehydrate, cover with water ½ inch above level of food in pot, boil, stir, and serve.

Pg116, Backpack Gourmet, Linda Frederick Yaffe