Pesto!

On Saturday, we used the large (and I do mean LARGE) bunch of basil we bought at the farmers market to make PESTO!!!!

Pesto is so easy to make, and so tasty. Store-bought pesto always has cheese in it, so if you want vegan pesto, you've got to make it yourself. All you need is a food processor (or high powered blender) and some ice cube trays, and you're ready to put some pesto away for later.


(image from photobucket)

Ingredients
6 cups loosely packed basil leaves (rinsed and patted dry)
3/4 cup pine nuts
6-8 garlic cloves
1 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

What to do
Combine the basil, pine nuts, garlic, salt, nutritional yeast, and olive oil in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. (I tried to make this in the blender first, but the blender didn't cut it. Literally.) Process until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides to ensure everything is processed.
Using a spatula, fill ice cube trays with pesto and cover tightly with plastic wrap and freeze. Keep enough unfrozen for whatever meal you want to make with it immediately.

This recipe can be halved or doubled, depending on how much basil you have on hand. You can also add more or less of the salt and nutritional yeast, as you prefer the taste. You will also notice that my recipe has lots of garlic. I love garlic. Jacqui's first comment was that the pesto was spicy. Not so spicy that she didn't like it, but spicy enough that she let Adrianna have the next three spoonfuls while she thought about the spiciness.

Saturday night, I mixed pesto with brown Basmati rice and garbanzos for dinner. Yum. The girls loved it, and it was such a quick and easy dinner for them.

Last night, we made pasta (brown rice pasta for the girls and tofu shiratake pasta for me and Dave) with white beans and pesto. The brown rice pasta was delicious with the pesto, as were the beans. I threw some grape tomatoes in with Dave's and my meal. The tofu shiratake pasta was not very good. It was rubbery and made me want to gag. I ended up eating around it -- just eating the tomatoes and beans with pesto -- and filling up on the fresh gigantic head of cauliflower that I steamed for dinner too. I think I ate half of the cauliflower myself. It was probably a foot across. I had to steam it in three batches last night. So delicious. Fresh vegetables from the farmers market just taste better. Ahh...