EZ spinach pesto

This is one of the most versatile sauce recipes I use!  It’s great on a cool, summer pasta salad, roasted on chicken, baked on crostinis with a bit of cheese, tossed on roasted root veggies, spread as a sandwich condiment, or used as an alternative to tomato-based pizza sauce.  It’s also a super-sneaky way to get more greens in your diet and we all know that’s never a bad thing :)

A general note on pesto – you can use pretty much any veggie as the “filler” part of pesto.  Roasted red peppers, peas, most greens, and obviously basil are some of the most popular but feel free to experiment with what you have on hand.  You can change up the type of nuts as well depending on what veggie you are using.  Pine nuts, walnuts, or even macadamia nuts work great!

Spinach Pesto
Makes ~ 1 cup

Ingredients
2 large handfuls fresh spinach
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup whole almonds
lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a food processor, blender, or other magic-bullet-esque kitchen gadget and blend until smooth.  Note – depending on the blending method you are using, you may have to stop and stir the mixture to make sure everything is blended evenly.

Stay tuned for some of my fav recipes that use this pesto :)