Kids Favorite Vegan Pesto pasta
All kids love pesto pasta right? Its always a YAY from mine when they know that’s for lunch or Dinner. I love making wholesome food from scratch, it just feels so satisfying that I know exactly what is in my food, and the same goes for my children, we all want the best for our kids, and its time to stop buying from a jar and lets take that extra 15 minutes to make the sauce from scratch. I promise you it literally only takes 15 minutes. Again another dish that is full of protein and fiber!
Its all about habits, we as humans are creatures of habit, once you get into the habit of making food from scratch you no longer reach for those processed foods that we just simply open and stir in. There’s no connection or as cheesy as this may sound love in cooking anymore. Making food from scratch is not some long chore, but for some reason we have been made to believe it is. I have realised on my journey of plant based wholesome food, it’s so speedy to prepare. We gain the pleasure of nourishing ourselves with the good stuff, our bodies are thanking us for this. Its time to get back to connecting with our food, it really is so satisfying knowing you made something like pesto that seems so complex but really isn’t – you will be impressing family and friends in no time when you just throw in the sentence “I made this pesto sauce myself.”
For me the annoying part use to be getting my Magiemix down and then having to wash it up, but after the first two times of doing this, I actually started to fall in love with the process as I realised it takes me in total no longer than 15 minutes to make a pesto sauce. You will see that there is something so pleasurable about making your food from scratch.
Ingredients you will need:
- 5 cloves of garlic (roasted)
- 125g pine nuts
- 90g fresh basil
- A handful of fresh spinach
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 lemons (juiced)
- 60g fresh cold water
- 60g olive oil
- A good pinch of salt
Step 1 – Roast your garlic in the oven for 15 minutes on 180c. I do this usually in the morning or whenever I have a spare 15 minutes. That way you can just have them ready when it comes to blending all the ingredients.
Step 2 – Place your pine nuts in a dry frying pan and start to cook them off but taking care to not let them burn, you just want them to become golden in colour. Keep tossing them around in the pan. This process takes around 5 minutes. Once done, remove from the heat and set aside while you place all the other ingredients in the mixer.
Step 3 - Grab your basil, spinach, peeled roasted garlic cloves, pine nuts, nutritional yeast, juiced lemons, water, oil and a good pinch of sea salt into your mixer (I use a Magiemix and I can’t recommend it enough, I use mine at least 3 times a week and there is nothing it can’t mix) but you can also use a nutribullet or high speed blender.
Step 4 – Blend it all up, you want it to be smooth but to retain some texture. Taste for seasoning and that’s it! Use as you like. I sometimes double the above recipe so that I have dinner for the whole family that night, but I also have another jar in the fridge for sandwiches, lunches etc. It always gets used. The pesto will last for 7 days in a sealed jar. Enjoy family and be proud of what you have just made because I know for sure your kids will be 😊 xx