FruitsandVeggiesMonday - Vegan Spinach & Basil Pesto

The weekend is over and Monday is here again. This means that it's time for the 40th Fruits & Veggies Monday by @lenasveganliving!

I'm cooking a lot more at home these days and I made this pesto a few days ago. It's a pretty versatile recipe and you can substitute a bunch of the ingredients based on what you have at home.

Ingredients:
2 handfuls of raw spinach (kale works too!)
½ cup coarsely-chopped fresh basil
½ cup coarsely-chopped fresh parsley and/or cilantro (I usually add both i.e. 1/2 cup combined)
3 medium-sized garlic cloves
3 tbsp mixed raw sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts and/or almonds
1 tsp whole peppercorns
2 tbsp raw olive oil
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
2 tsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice
½ cup water
Salt – to taste
Red chili flakes – to taste
Optional: 1 cup cooked sweet peas to mix into the pasta once the sauce is complete

Instructions:
Blend the above ingredients to make a nice bright green sauce – I use a Blendtec. You can add more water to alter the consistency to suit your preference.

Once the sauce is blended, you can either serve it raw over a pasta of your choosing or cook it first. I like to cook the sauce over medium heat for 10 minutes to bring out the flavours before I add my cooked brown rice pasta or spelt noodles to it. I also like to add in sweet peas because the sweetness goes really well with the strong herb flavours.

I find that roasted sweet bell peppers taste good with this pesto also. And speaking of peppers, I got these cute mini peppers and am thinking of doing a stuffed pepper recipe next. What do you think?