Vegan Basil Pesto

It’s almost August - where does the time go? On the cooler mornings, I love heading out to the garden to trim, weed and kill bugs - I’m getting pretty good at killing bugs if I do say so myself. I do still have to take a deep breath before I squish them but I’m improving.

The garden is doing well (hence the bug-killing), I’m picking zucchini, patty pan squash, and green beans most days. The winter squash is starting to fruit - actually, we have a few that are a good size at this point, and the turnips - are getting bigger every day. 

A couple disappointments - first the eggplant. Last year we had a fantastic harvest. I planted a dwarf variety and they were so prolific - this year they did absolutely nothing except mock me every time I came into the garden. I pulled them out last week and replanted the space with another round of green beans. The other disappointment - okra. It’s growing and it looks healthy but there are no flowers or fruit - I’m sad - I love okra - we’ll see what happens. 

On the other hand, the basil is doing very well - I made 4 batches of pesto this afternoon and I still have a lot of basil left in the garden. The dill, cilantro, and parsley are ready to harvest and dry. Our garlic - all 50 heads - is drying as we speak and I anticipate enjoying it in fall and early winter. 

So speaking of pesto - I love it on pasta, pizza, flatbreads, and roasted veggies. I’ve been making a vegan version for many years now and I usually get rave reviews even though there is no cheese or pine nuts. I use walnuts and nutritional yeast (for that cheesy flavor) - it works for me and I get no complaints from Dan. Actually, we had a freezer disaster this winter and I had to toss all of my pesto and apple butter (because it spoiled) so this is a restocking year - because we have a shiny new freezer.

Ingredients:

2 cup basil

2 Tbsp lemon juice

3 cloves garlic

5 - 6 Tbsp nutritional yeast

1/3 cup walnuts - toasted

1/2 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Using a food processor, pulse basil until chopped into small pieces.

Add nutritional yeast, garlic, lemon juice, and walnuts.

Pulse pesto until it is well incorporated.

Add olive oil in a constant stream until basil pesto is smooth and consistency is to your liking.

Pack in ice cube trays or small containers and freeze

Thanks for stopping by!