19 Sep Vegetable Pesto
VEGETABLE PESTO NUTRITIONAL CHEMOTHERAPY
This recipe is a jumping off point for all sorts of delicious and nutritious recipes. According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 1/4 of Americans get the recommended amount of vegetables per day. This recipe is loaded with vegggies, and the pesto can be incorporated into a bazillion different recipes. One of my favorites being a simple soup made wtih vegetable broth, miso, along with a couple large spoonfuls of vegetable pesto. There are so many meals that you can ramp up nutritionally by adding this pesto. The beauty of this dish is that most of the veggies are raw, so very few of the awesome benefits are lost due to heat. Many of the following recipes will incorporate the use of heat, but you will still be benefiting from these super food. This is a make ahead dish, so it becomes as easy as fast food, ready to eat whenever you are hungry.
You will need a food processor, I highly recommend having one, along with a Vitamixer in your kitchen. You will break down the cell walls of the veggies, and your body will be able to absorb the nutrients far more efficiently by using these tools.
1 entire organic brocoli, washed, chopped
1 entire organic cauliflower, washed and chopped
Bunch of organic Kale
One container organic spinach
4 to 5 large organic carrots, peeled, washed, chopped
2 onions, peeled, chopped
1 tsp. Thyme
Zest of 1 lemon
2 Tbspns olive oil
About 8 small containers to use to freeze and store pesto
Into the large pot
Heat olive oil in large pot, add onions, and saute. Add thyme, cook for a few minutes until onions are translucent. Add kale and spinach, stir until wilted. It won’t take long. Set aside.
Into the food processor
Now is the time to use your food processor, and you’ll need to work in batches. It doesn’t matter which veggie you start with, but load up the food processor in manageable amounts of veggies, you can combine brocoli, cauliflower, and carrots, or do it separately. The goal is to process the veggies down into very very small bits.
Into a big bowl
Once all the veggies are processed, put them all into a large enough bowl that will hold everything. Take the onions, kale, and spinach, along with the lemon zest, and go ahead and process that. Once that mixture is done, add it along to the large bowl, and stir it up so it is all a consistent mixture.
Into the small containers
The last step is to place all the the pesto into the small containers, close them up, place all but one into the freezer. Keep one container of Veggie Pesto in your fridge, ready to go for a quick soup, or quesadilla, for pasta, on top of cooked grains, or what ever you can think of.
