This past weekend we celebrated Mother’s Day at Shelburne Museum. Since the food choices are limited at the cafe there I made us a picnic lunch which included delicious veggie sandwiches with arugula pesto chickpea spread. I love how it turned out so I am sharing it with you!
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup raw walnuts
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 cups lightly packed baby arugula
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 15-oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 heaping tablespoons vegenaise (or you could use more olive oil if you would like)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Place the garlic, walnut and nutritional yeast in the base of a food processor and process until crumbly, about 20-30 seconds. Add the arugula and process for 30 seconds and then slowly pour the olive oil through the feed tube and process until smooth. Add the chickpeas, vegenaise, salt and pepper to the processor and process just until combined. If you would like it smoother feel free to process longer, I preferred to make mine a little chunky.
Serve: spread onto your favorite veggie sandwich (I made ours with roasted mushrooms, zucchini, fresh arugula and slices of tomato), stuff this spread into tomatoes <– amazing, enjoy with veggies, on top of a salad or in a wrap.
If you are looking for the giveaway you’ll just go nuts about scroll down!
This weekend Neil and I were fairly busy and it seems that things aren’t going to be slowing down anytime soon! We started the weekend off with a homemade Mexican pizza (recipe to come tomorrow) which was absolutely delicious.
Here it is all fixed up with a sprinkle of baby arugula, fresh tomatoes and sour supreme. We enjoyed our slices, went for a walk and settled on the couch to watch a few shows.
Saturday morning I got up bright and early to bake up a batch of Babycakes gluten free Pumpkin Spice Muffins for our early morning birthing class. Around 8:30 our birthing class teacher arrived (we are taking private classes) and we served up coffee, muffins and fruit before starting our four hours of class. In other news our birthing class teacher is also a doula and last week after doing a bunch of reading Neil and I made a last minute decision to hire a doula for the birth. I checked with Sarah (our birth coach) to see if she had any July openings and she did so after our class we decided to hire her to be our doula (she is really wonderful and so comfortable to be around). I’ll discuss more of this doula talk in Thursday’s update post.
After our four plus hours of birthing class Neil and I were so hungry we decided to use up the remaining homemade dough and make another small pizza for lunch and then I passed out for a few hours. When I finally woke up Neil was going a little stir crazy and was ready to get out of the house so we decided to have a date night downtown including window shopping, drinks (beer for him and water for me) and dinner out at A Single Pebble <–Neil had a gift card from work so free (almost) dinner for us! After dinner we headed home and cuddled on the couch while watching the remainder of the Yankees game, we should have just gone to bed though such a bad game.
Sunday we enjoyed a lazy morning before heading out for brunch with friends that we hadn’t seen since last July. We spent over two hours enjoying food, conversation and having tons of belly laughs at Duino Duende. It was so nice not to have a rushed meal and really enjoy the company. After brunch we rean a few errands, took a nap, Neil did a training run and I watched House Hunters International.
While Neil finished up his run I made dinner of arugula walnut pesto with peas and white beans, a side of kale and leftover tofu from dinner at A Single Pebble. After dinner we went for a stroll and then relaxed on the couch. What did you do this weekend?
Now that you’ve read my weekend recap keep scrolling and you’ll find a great giveaway!
A few weeks ago Doug’s Nuts sent me a few complimentary bags of their nuts to try out and ever since then I have been in love. When I first open the nuts I am expecting them to be sugary based on their shiny coating but they were super mild and really delicious. They are coated with a flavorful glaze consisting of organic evaporated sugarcane juice, honey, oatmeal stout beer <– my husband saw beer and had to try them immediately, sea salt, organic vanilla extract, and other natural flavors. In the mix are roasted almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, and pumpkin seeds (the hazelnuts and pecans are my favorites).
I unfortunately finished off my two pouches pretty quickly (time to get some more I guess!) but boy where they good. I enjoyed them over soy yogurt, by the palm-full and my favorite way as a topping for apple “nachos”. What are apple nachos? Simply thinly sliced apples (I use my mandolin) drizzled with almond butter and topped with a sprinkling of Doug’s Nutsand a few mini chocolate chips for good measure.
Giveaway Details- Open Until Friday May 11th at 8pm EST: CLOSED
Doug’s Nuts will provide and ship one 6-pack of Doug’s Nuts to the winner ($30 + shipping costs value) – OPEN TO US RESIDENTS ONLY
Winner:
To enter:
Visit the Doug’s Nuts and come back and leave a comment letting me know something that you have learned. (Mandatory)
Additional Entries: (Leave a separate entry for each)
Last night for dinner we had White Bean Pesto Pita Pizza <–try saying that 5 times fast. It was amazing, one of my favorite new recipes. This recipe makes 4 mini pita pizzas and trust me it is really difficult to resist eating them all.
Ingredients:
2 cups loosely packed flat leaf Italian Parsley
1/2 cup roasted pumpkin seeds
3 garlic cloves, chopped
Juice 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4-1/3 cup olive oil
1-15oz can cannelini beans, rinsed and drained
4 whole wheat pitas
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
5-6 button mushrooms, sliced and sauteed until soft
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Place parsley, pumpkin seeds, garlic, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper in a food processor and pulse to coarsely chopped. With the food processor running slowly drizzle the olive oil through feed tube of the food processor until fully incorporated and smooth. Divide the pesto into five parts; use to top the four pitas and toss the remaining pesto with the white beans. Divide the white beans amount the four pitas, spreading into an even layer and then top each pita with 1/4 of the cherry tomatoes and mushrooms. Bake for 6 minutes. Broil on high for 2-3 minutes until edges of pita are lightly browned.
6 servings of your favorite pasta cooked & reserve some pasta water
1 cup raw walnuts
3-5 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in hot water until soft & roughly chopped
3 cups loosely packed baby spinach
2 tablespoons- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/3-1/2 cup olive oil
Place the walnuts, garlic, salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor and process for 30 seconds. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and process for 30 more seconds. Add the baby spinach and nutritional yeast, process for 30 seconds. Slowly add the olive oil through feed tube and process until fully combined. Pour the pesto into a large bowl and top with the hot pasta. Toss the pastas with the pesto adding one tablespoon of pasta water at a time to loosen up the sauce as needed.
Process everything except olive oil together until small pieces. With the processor on slowly stream in the olive oil until smooth and blended together.
Quinoa– cook according to the directions.
Topping:
1/2 cup panko
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Mix together.
Method:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Place one layer of zucchini in the bottom of a pie pan. Top with the quinoa. Top the quinoa with the 1/2 cup of pesto and then top the pesto with the remaining zucchini. Top the zucchini with a layer of the panko topping and drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake for 20-25 minutes until browned.
Last night started what I hope to be a tradition of dinner and a movie with our friend Laura. We have been talking for months (years?) about watching the Bourne Trilogy because Laura is obsessed and neither Neil or I have seen them. We finally made a dinner and a movie date and watched the first one last night. Laura cooked spaghetti and provided the wine, I brought the salad and the Hubz brought the chocolate. We had a wonderful night of chatting, eating and movie watching. Now we have to set the date to watch the 2nd movie!
Laura Cooking Up a Storm
Salad with creamy pesto dressing
My Plate - YUM
Laura's Cat...this is as close to Neil as she would get- the he tried to touch her...not recommended
Neil and I decided (very) last minute that we would partake in the Pete’s Greens CSA again this summer since we love their produce. Last week was the first pick up because we were away we ended up giving away most of it except the potatoes and garlic scapes that we had for our camping breakfast. This week we received:
Bag of Mesclun Greens
Beet Greens
Napa Cabbage
Sweet Salad Turnips
Garlic Scapes
Scallions
Zucchini
Easter Egg Radishes
Sage
Potatoes
Tonight is the first of many meals using these amazing organic and local ingredients. Enjoy- I know we did!
Garlic Scape Pesto Pasta with Zucchini
Yields 4 servings
Takes about 30 minutes total to make
Ingredients:
Garlic Scape Pesto
1 cup raw walnut pieces
1 bunch of garlic scapes (about 1 to 3/4 cup), chopped
4 cups basil leaves
2/3 cup olive oil
1t salt
1T sesame seeds
2T nutritional yeast
Place the walnuts and garlic scapes in the bowl of a food processor and process until small crumble. Add in the basil leaves, turn the processor on low and slowly stream in the olive oil through the feed tube. Add in the salt, sesame seeds and nutritional yeast; process to combine.
Sauteed Zucchini
2 medium zucchini, sliced into half moons
Cooking Spray
1/2t salt
1/4t black pepper
1/2t garlic powder
1t nutritional yeast
Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Spray with cooking spray and toss in the zucchini and saute for 3-4 minutes just until they start to lightly brown. Stir in the salt, pepper, garlic powder and nutritional yeast; cook for 2 more minutes.
4 servings of pasta of your choice
In a large bowl toss the pasta, zucchini and 1/4 to 1/3 of the pesto together. Serve warm, room temp or cold!
The pesto makes a lot more than you need for this dish so place any extra in a jar top with a layer of olive oil and seal tightly. Store in the freezer until you need it again. To defrost move from the freezer to the fridge 8 hours before using.
For dessert we shared one of these wonderful vegan, raw, gluten free tarts from Hail Merry.
It was one of the best desserts I have ever tried and I am looking forward to picking up the other 3 flavors over the next month. It was so rich and the perfect balance of creamy chocolate, cookie crust and almond butter center- to die for.
It was one of the best desserts I have ever tried and I am looking forward to picking up the other 3 flavors over the next month. It was so rich and the perfect balance of creamy chocolate, cookie crust and almond butter center- to die for.
