Recipe: Vegan Almond Pesto W/ Baby Greens

i love pesto in all forms and on almost anything. and since spring is here, anything fresh & green is highly appealing to my taste buds.

here's a super simple recipe for pesto, but with the health factor cranked up a notch...

 

what you need:

1 1/2C packed basil leaves

1 1/2C packed baby greens (i used a mix that had baby spinach, baby swiss chard & baby kale)

1/2C unsalted almonds (you can also sub for cashews, walnuts, pine nuts, etc if you want)

1/2C nutritional yeast (sub for parmesan if you're not into making it vegan)

1/2 avocado

3 cloves garlic

juice of 1/2 lemon & the zest

1/3C evoo

1/3C reserved pasta water 
(if you're not making pasta, then use more olive oil or regular water)

S&P

 

what to do:

cook some pasta

scoop out a cup full of pasta water from the pot after pasta is done cooking

reserve 1C of baby greens for later

blend all other ingredients together in a blender or food processor, but slowly adding the evoo & pasta water in equal parts little by little until you reach the consistency you want

pour pesto over cooked pasta 

chop additional baby greens & toss in raw with the pasta

options are endless for this pesto or any leftover you might have: pour over roasted or grilled veggies, add to eggs, spread on toast or in a sandwich - almost anything!

 

10 minutes
serves 6-8 

 

do you have a favorite pesto recipe? i'd love to hear in the COMMENTS below...