Basil Pesto

I've been experimenting all last month with new recipes and tasting things I never eaten before. After making spaghetti squash a few weeks ago, I realized its a great base for any sauce or recipe. That's why today I actually decided to try something completely different to me and made some pesto. Every time I saw pine nuts at the store, I was felt too intimated to make pesto even though I always wanted to try it. You can easily buy pesto at the grocery store, but I think it tastes so much better when its made fresh in your own kitchen.

When I was at the store picking up the ingredients, the cashier asked me if I was making Pesto, and replied yes. She then said "I hope you have some good parmesan to add in it." I didn't realize pesto had parmesan cheese, but I wasn't really worried.  I substituted the cheese with Nutritional Yeast, which is actually an excellent substitute for those eating Paleo or have dietary allergies to dairy.

The original recipe that I used to make the pesto can be found at Stacey's Paleo Kitchen.

Basil Pesto

Servings: 8 • Serving Size: 1/8 cup •  Calories: 110 • Fat: 10.8 g • Protein: 2.2 g • 
Carb: 2.4 g • Fiber: 1.0 g 


Ingredients

• 2 cups basil leaves (about 2 ounces)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• dash of black pepper
• salt to taste

Directions:

In a small blender or food processor combine basil, garlic, olive oil, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper and puree until smooth.

Serve, refrigerate, or freeze.