Spinach-Basil & Walnut Pesto {Vegan}

Vegan Fetuccini with Spinach-Basil & Walnut Pesto

Spinach-Basil & Walnut Pesto: an excellent source of nutrition and a very forgiving and flavorful recipe; made in no time. It’s no secret that Pesto is probably the easiest pasta sauce ever created, and for this, it has a special place in my kitchen, and since pesto is essentially herbs + garlic + nuts + EVOO, it is very forgiving, and with just a few tweaks, you can have endless combinations!

I love using Spinach in my pesto for various reasons. First, spinach is readily available in a lot of places, and also, it is relatively cheap. But, you can’t ignore the distinctive beautiful flavor of fresh basil, and that is why is important in this recipe. Sometimes it can be hard to find, and in some places can be “expensive”, but if you can find it don’t skip it!

Roasting the walnuts is essential in this recipe. No oil needed, just lightly roast in a pan over low heat, to bring out the aromas and nutty flavor. Once you’ve done this, your ingredients are ready for the blender.

If keeping the bright green is important to you (both spinach and basil are sensitive to heat and will turn dark green over time), you can go through the extra step of blanching the herbs in salted boiling water. Before starting, make sure to prepare a bowl with iced water and have it ready in the counter. Now, bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add your herbs and let them cook for about ten seconds. Then, with the help of a slotted spoon take your herbs and place in the iced water (this will stop the cooking process, allowing the herbs to stay green). Make sure you squeeze the herbs dry before starting with your pesto.

Pesto is ready in no time, so is a good idea to have your pasta cooking while you gather the ingredients for this yummy and easy Spinach-Basil & Walnut Pesto.

I like to serve my hot fettuccine with Spinach-Basil & Walnut Pesto with some toasted almond flour, or grated macadamia nuts! (grated macadamia nuts look like parmesan cheese!)

Spinach, Basil & Walnut Pesto {Vegan}

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Course Pasta

Cuisine talian

Servings 4

Ingredients

300 gr Fresh Baby Spinach
100 gr Fresh Basil
150 gr Dry Roasted Walnuts
75 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Fresh Garlic clove
Salt & Pepper to taste
400 gr Pasta, cooked

Instructions

Blanch your herbs before blending to keep the bright color of the pesto.
Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor (Make in batches if you have a small blender to avoid overheating) and pulse a few times to achieve a chunky consistency.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Mix in with your preferred pasta and enjoy!

Notes

To blanch the herbs:
1. Have a bowl with iced water ready in the counter
2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Once is boiling, add your herbs and let them cook for about ten seconds.
3. Remove the herbs from the boiling water with the help of a slotted spoon.
4. Place the herbs in the bowl with iced water.
5. Squeeze the herbs dry before adding to the blender.

Keyword pesto, spinach, walnut

Have you make this Spinach-Basil & Walnut Pesto, or any other from the blog? Use the tag #kasheribbean to share on social media and, don’t forget to follow on instagram and pinterest to keep up with our easy recipes from us and the blogosphere!

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Spinach & Pumpkin Seeds Pesto {Vegan, Nut-Free}

Pasta, Recipes / Hannah Abreu

Now that Pesach is over, we can indulge with this super green, easy and flavorful Spinach & Pumpkin Seeds Pesto. #Happyhametzweek 🙂

Looking for more pasta posts? Head over our Vegan Mushrooms Spinach Pasta, Avocado Pesto or the mega yummy Sweet Potato and Tomato Pasta Sauce!

I love pesto so much! Made with fresh basil and roasted pine nuts, pesto must be one of the easiest and yummiest sauces of the whole pasta world.

But, what happen if you run out of basil or you just don’t want to break the bank buying pine nuts?

Here it comes: Spinach & Pumpkin seeds Pesto

This is where Spinach and Pumpkin seeds come to play. This duo is awesome because with it you can make salads, rice, soups, sauces, snacks and, of course, pesto 🙂

It is also a great solution when you are traveling and need some greens boost in the form of lunch or dinner before heading to the airport 😀 Plus, it is satisfying, vegan and nut-free for those who have nut allergies.

Ready in no time

This Spinach & Pumpkin Seeds Pesto (or any pesto really) needs literally no work and is ready in no time. You just need to dumb a handful of ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the desired consistency.

Because all I have is a mini food processor I did this in 2 batches which was actually a good thing because I processed my roasted seeds separately and get some lovely texture at the end from the bits of roasted seeds. You can also do this with a traditional blender or immersion blender. Use what you have.

If for any reason you don’t like the flavor of pumpkin seeds, you can substitute with more or less roasted sunflower seeds (I find they have a more subtle flavor)

With this pasta we bring to a full circle another year of Pesach memories and say adeus to a wonderful Pesach in Portugal.

If you love this recipe don’t forget to share with your friends and family and tag us #kasheribbean on social media when you make it.

We love to see your creations. Don’t forget to follow on Instagram and Pinterest to keep up with other easy recipes we share just there. Have a wonderful week ahead.

Until next time! 🙂

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Vegan Mushrooms Spinach Alfredo

Pasta / Hannah Abreu

I love pasta because it is so versatile and easy to make. You can literally please a crowd with a few ingredients and simple preparation, for the most past it is kids-friendly and also you don’t need to break the bank. Need another reason? Now that Purim is over, the pasta frenzy has started (aka. Pesah is around the corner!), so this nice easy recipe is all you need to cook that bit of pasta hidden in your pantry in time for Pesah. Take note on the simply luscious Vegan Mushrooms Spinach Alfredo before Pesah cleaning drives you nuts.

There are a few staple pasta dishes I do at home, mainly because it is just easier to make family members eat what they already know, and within that repertoire I have pasta with dairy-free cream and smoked salmon, that hubby certainly love but, I had some reasons to twist things for this occasion (first, I am trying to incorporate more vegan food into our meals. Second, I had a whole bunch of mushrooms sitting on the fridge and third, I was having a lazy day; enough reason right here, lol…

… And, well, we all agree that sometimes you just need that creamy luscious bowl of pasta no matter what it brings, right? lol so, I added the mushrooms while I crossed my fingers and prayed hubby will like it… oh, oh! 😛

No Cream? No Problem!

For this pasta I used Alpro Cuisine Soy Cream but if you can’t find dairy-free cream you can substitute with some dairy-free bechamel. You can easily make the bechamel as follows: Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil over low heat, add 2 Tbsp of All Purpose flour and cook the flour for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly so the flour doesn’t burn, until it has a nutty smell. Still stirring, pour 2-3 cups of soy milk and stir vigorously until the sauce has the desired consistency.

Stirring it is very important because this will prevent your sauce from getting all clumpy but, if for some reason you were distracted and your sauce ended up with clumps, you can strain through a fine sieve once it is finished. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg and it will be ready to go!

That’s it! Vegan Mushrooms Spinach Alfredo! Mega easy right? And not just easy but very flavorful thanks to the umami of the mushrooms. This Vegan Mushrooms Spinach Alfredo proved to be the real deal that day! And, my 3yo, who doesn’t normally eat mushrooms, liked it and asked for more 😀

Have you tried Vegan Mushrooms Spinach Alfredo yet? What are you waiting for?! If you love this recipe don’t forget to share with your friends and family and, of course, head to instagram and pinterest to say hi! We always love to hear from you!

Until next time!
Hannah

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Pasta Fix: 5 Favorites Add-Ins for your Pasta Dishes (Hint: They are all Vegan!)

Pasta, Recipes / Hannah Abreu

How many of you love pasta? I love it too because it is so versatile! I love the fact that it can be done in a few minutes and it can take many forms and flavors! But, how to upgrade that sauce that you make over en over? That’s the question! Today I want to share with you my top 5 (vegan) add-ins for pasta dishes.

Let’s go!

Favorite Add-In #1: Sweet Potato

Sweet Potato or Yams is one of those ingredients that I pretty much hated before. In the Dominican Republic we have other kind of sweet potato (is white or yellow-ish and very sweet) which I love, but this orange one, nah! it wasn’t for me until one day I just paired it with some pasta and O-M-G! it was so good.

Sweet potato not just add some flavor and sweetness to your classic pasta sauce but it also add creaminess, and its flavor is not overpowering, so you still have the rich tomato plus herbs. Totally delicious! Click here for a recipe

Favorite Add-in #2: Roasted Eggplants

I just realized I haven’t shared an exact recipe for this one, but I did share about this on one of my featured instagram stories. It is just plain roasted eggplant that I peel and seeded, and then dry out a bit on a skillet or frying pan before adding it to my homemade pomodoro sauce.

Of course, you can just add the roasted eggplants straight to the sauce but I prefer to get some of the moisture out of the eggplants first because it makes a more hearty sauce over all.

Favorite Add-In #3: Almond Meal

Cannot say enough of this amazing add-in! It is A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!

If you have being following on instagram for a while you probably read this post and you know that I love love love almond meal in my pasta (addition that I made totally out of desperation). If you are a chunky-pasta & cheese lover (like me!!) I know you will love this one! It is funny I never thought of this one, even when I was so used to make pesto, until the day, of course, I had this pasta enlightenment lol.

For this one, you just have to add ground almonds (with the skin on or off) to your pasta right before you take it out of the stove. For 500 grs of pasta I would add about a cup, mix well and serve. Easy enough? 😉

Favorite Add-In #4: Avocados

This is probably one of the easiest pasta dishes EVER and these days is a classic. For this avocado pesto I will use the traditional pesto as a base (fresh basil, garlic, olive oil and pine nuts or almond meal) or I will substitute basil with spinach or use a combination of both for a more subtle flavor.

Easy, creamy and green. Just one thing: eat quickly as the avocado tends to oxidase.

Favorite Add-In #5: Mushrooms

If you love the meaty texture of mushrooms you will love to have them either with pomodoro sauce (to make a veggies ragut) or you can have them sauteed and add them to a creamy sauce! (I need to post a recipe for this! Hopefully will make that soon!)

UPDATE: The recipe for Mushrooms & Spinach Alfredo is up!

Tell us! What are your favorite add-ins for pasta dishes? Let us know in the comment section below! We will love to try some! And, of course! Don’t forget to follow on Instagram & Pinterest for more easy recipes and inspiration! Thank you so much for your support!

Until next time!

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Avocado Pesto Pasta

Pasta, Recipes / Hannah Abreu

Hi, everyone!
As you can see, the recipe we are presenting today is avocado pesto pasta.
I can totally say that avocado is one of the favorite fruits of my mom, sister and I and yet, this was the first time I personally tried the avocado pesto. I don’t even know why I didn’t try it before (probably because I was having a difficult time finding good ripe avocados 🤔) Anyways, this is for sure one of the easiest, simplest yet extremely delicious pasta dishes I’ve tried.

In terms of texture, this is probably the cremiest pasta that I have eaten (no cream, no butter, all vegan, just creaminess from the avocado). I instantly felt in love with this avocado pesto pasta, but because this was my first time, there are a few things I will do differently next time I am doing this:

Ex.: Next time I will double or triple the amounts because I cooked 1 pound of linguini and it was way too much pasta for the pesto, so the pasta didn’t get the super green color I like in pesto. The zoodles were different, though.

Also, next time I will make de pesto first with 3 or 4 bunches of basil for 1 pound fetuccini and then, add the avocado to the ready pesto. This is because I always add the whole bunch of basil to my pesto (yup, stalks included!) and for some reason they were not properly processed when added from the beginning with the avocados.

There were not any other issue. The process is very straight-foward. Just process all the ingredients until creamy.

That was enough introduction, let’s jump to the recipe:

YUMMY AVOCADO-BASIL PESTO

Prep. Time: 5 minutes.

Cooking time: 10 minutes (if using pasta)

Ingredients:

115 gr Avocado, ripe but firm (about 2 avocados)

About 150 gr fresh basil

¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 clove of Garlic

½ tsp of salt (or more to taste)

Pepper to taste

Juice of half lemon, about 2 Tbsp.

¼ cup of pine nuts or almond Meal*

Preparation:

First make your traditional pesto by processing all the ingredients except for the avocados. (I added almond meal to my pasta first because I didn’t have the pine nuts and second because is nutritious anyway and I love the flavor, but if you don’t have any, it can be totally optional).

Then add your avocados for extra creaminess. Mix with your pasta or veggie noodles and enjoy.

It couldn’t be easier! Keep this in your list of life saving recipes list so you can grab a jock lunch or dinner next time you are in a hurry! Oh! And, I almost forgot!… This is very kid friendly (if your children love colorful creamy pasta 😉😋)

Have you guys tried avocado pesto pasta? Do you prefer zoodles or noodles? 😆😋 Let us know in the comment section below!

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