lemony parsley spinach pesto (vegan)

we're pesto lovers in our house.  pesto is great because it is so forgiving.  you can really personalize it by throwing just about anything in a food processor and calling it pesto.

this weekend i had to throw together a really quick side dish to accompany dinner.  i knew that i had some fresh parsley and fresh spinach in the fridge that i wanted to use up, so i made some pesto to go on pasta.  the fresh parsley combined with the fresh lemon gives this pesto such a bright flavor.  it took a matter of minutes to throw together and it was so tasty!

lemony parsley spinach pesto
total time: 5 minutes
yields: approximately 1 cup

ingredients:
2 cups fresh parsley
2 cups fresh spinach
1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
salt and pepper to taste

directions:
in a food processor, blend all ingredients together until smooth.  add oil as needed to reach desired consistency.

enjoy!

love, laurie

arugula, mint, and pistachio pesto

i absolutely love all types of pesto, from simple and traditional basil pesto to fancy sun dried tomato pesto with toasted almonds and italian parsley.  you just can't beat it.  it's so delicious and so versatile.  you can put it on pasta, chicken, sea food, grilled meat, sandwiches, pizza . . . just about anything.

arugula, mint, and pistachios are some of my favorite things, so i was really excited when i found a pesto recipe that combined all three of these ingredients.

the flavor of this pesto is just out of this world.  the arugula and mint make it bright and bold, and the pistachios give it a nice nutty balance.  it has a great underlying garlic flavor too.  this pesto is now one of my new favorite recipes.  a winner for sure!

when i made this recipe, i used half right away and froze the other half to save for later.  it's so nice to have some frozen pesto on hand to use at another time.  we put it on some pasta and it was so delicious.  i can't wait to put it on other things too.  i'm thinking it would be great between two slices of nice bread with some fresh mozzarella and tomatoes.  yum!

arugula, mint, and pistachio pesto
total time: 5 minutes
yields: approximately 3 cups
adapted from not without salt

ingredients:
3 cups arugula, tightly packed
3-4 tablespoons fresh mint
1 1/2 cups pistachios, roasted and salted
4 garlic cloves
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

directions:
in a food processor, combine the arugula, mint, pistachios, garlic, cheese, and lemon zest.  pulse until everything is well pureed.  scrap down the sides of the bowl as needed.  with the food processor running, gradually pour the lemon juice and the olive oil into the mixture in a steady stream.  blend together until smooth.

enjoy!

love, laurie

simple basil pesto

we had a bunch of fresh basil left over from a sandwich recipe that we made recently, so i decided to make pesto over the weekend.

i absolutely love traditional pesto, and it is so incredibly easy to make.

pesto can be made with just 5 simple ingredients in less than 5 minutes.  how can you beat that?

i often like to add toasted pine nuts to my homemade pesto too, but since i didn't have any on hand i left them out of this batch of pesto.  (it was just as good without them.)

just throw all of the ingredients together in a food processor and let the food processor do all of the work for you.

it doesn't get much easier than that!

blend away!

just look at that bright green color.

you could spread this pesto on just about anything . . . pasta, pizza, sandwiches, salads, veggies, fish, grilled meats . . . toasted bread?  oh yeah.  pita bread/pita chips?  absolutely.

another great thing about pesto is that it freezes well.  so, you can make some whenever you have basil available, and then you can freeze it to use at another time.  pretty handy!

simple basil pesto
total time: 5 minutes
yields: approximately 2/3 cup

ingredients:
4 cups fresh basil leaves
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
2-3 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (optional)

directions:
in a food processor, blend all ingredients together until smooth.

enjoy!

love, laurie

sun dried tomato pesto with toasted almonds and italian parsley

when i think of pesto, the first thing that comes to mind is traditional basil pesto.  my mom makes amazing pesto with fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, and parmesan cheese.  it's so good, and i could spread it on just about anything.  basil pesto is a classic and i absolutely love it.  however, from time to time, i like to change things up a bit and put a new twist on some of my favorite classic recipes.

this week we made a different type of pesto.  it still had garlic and olive oil in it, but we replaced the basil, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese with sun dried tomatoes, toasted almonds, and italian parsley.

the sun dried tomatoes were a great base for this pesto.  the toasted almonds gave the pesto a deep rich flavor that perfectly complimented the bright flavor of the italian parsley.  we decided to put our pesto on veggie pasta and grilled chicken.  it was super yummy, and it was a nice change from traditional marinara sauce.  you could spread this pesto on just about anything.  (i bet it would be great on a piece of toasted italian bread too!)

sun dried tomato pesto with toasted almonds and italian parsley
prep time: 5-10 minutes
yields: approximately 2 cups of pesto
adapted from the daily muse

ingredients:
7 oz. sun dried tomato halves
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 large handfuls of fresh italian parsley
4 garlic cloves
5-6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

directions:
in a small pan, over medium heat, toast the almonds until they become fragrant and brown (about 5 minutes).  remove the parsley leaves from the stems, and roughly chop the parsley leaves.  in a food processor, mix the tomatoes, almonds, parsley, garlic, and olive oil until smooth.  add more olive oil as needed to reach desired consistency.  season with salt and pepper to taste.

enjoy!

love, laurie