simplicity at it's finest.
It's a gooooooood day to be feelin green! Woke up to the most gorgeous weather (not too hot but not too chilly just yet), and the sun is out. AND it's Friday so what a better way to celebrate than with this super tasty and GREEN packed pesto?! Hopefully the title won't scare any of you non-vegans away, but I hope you will give this a try! Why add the extra dairy if it just isn't needed?!
How was everyone's week? Any exciting plans this weekend? I'll be heading out home to Long Island tomorrow, to spend time relaxing with my grandparents and my sister. Sometimes ya just need a total weekend to chill. I know my brains been scattered lately (candy corn overload sugar rush?), and I feel like I'm constantly on the go!
Which brings me to this darling little dish of pasta (by the way- how great is that bowl?! My newest purchase from Crate & Barrel. Obsessed). Last night I got to catch up with my friend Krysta, that I haven't seen in ages (!), and it was so nice to just chat over 2 vegan sandwiches from "The Cinnamon Snail". If you've never had it, they have a little spot at "The Pennsy" on 33rd street, or if you follow their Twitter, they're always scootin' around in their food truck at different spot everyday. Definitely so worth it!
ANYWAY, I got home close to 9 last night and realized I still had to make dinner/lunch for work, but I was just too tired. So what's something easy to cook pretty late in the evening when you're just not feeling creative? BAM. Pesto! Chuck your ingredients in a food processor while your pasta is boiling (there is not much effort required for reallllll), and you've got yourself a 10/10 meal that looks like you actually did so much. Ryan was super happy with dinner when he came home late from work, but little did he know it only took a few minutes to make ;)
So hope everyone has a fab weekend, and grasps that last bit of summer hanging on by a thread. There will be some fall recipes coming at ya next week! xx S.
| Vegan • Gluten Free |
I N G R E D I E N T S:
1 1/2- 2 cups of fresh basil leaves
1 cup of a leafy green- like arugula, spinach, or kale!
1/2 cup of walnuts (or any nut you prefer!)
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 Tbs of Nutritional yeast
3-4 Tbs of Olive oil or grape seed oil
3-4 Tbs of water
Juice from half a lemon
Salt & Fresh cracked pepper to taste
PESSSSSSTO!: In a food processor, add your greens, garlic & nuts. Pulse to combine until it breaks down quite finely. Now, add in the lemon juice, nutritional yeast, salt & pepper and pulse again. Lastly, drizzle some of the water and olive oil- continue to pulse while adding a little bit of each at a time until it's thinned out to your preference. Taste & adjust with some additional salt or pepper, and serve with your favorite pasta. MMM!
*Notes: I totally whipped this up in about 5-10 minutes last night. It took some trial and error find how I liked it best, so you may have to play around with the spices, lemon, and yeast until you get it exactly how your fav pesto is! You can also omit the leafy greens all together and just use Basil. AND if you just don't wanna be vegan, replace the yeast with some fresh parm (no judgement here ;) ).