Carrot top & Cashew Pesto

Carrot top & Cashew Pesto

Pesto is quick and easy to make with lots of different possibilities for ingredients and flavours.

No basil? No problem. Swap to kale, rocket, watercress – even carrot tops!

No pine nuts? Use cashews, walnuts, hazels, or pumpkin seeds.

The leafy green tops of these carrots were in good shape, so I whizzed them up with nuts, oil and garlic into a delicious pesto packed with fibre, magnesium, zinc, B-vitamins and beta carotene.

There’s no parmesan in this recipe simply because I didn’t have any to hand; include it if you want to, or not, the choice is yours. The recipe works absolutely fine without it.

INGREDIENTS

Carrot tops – washed and roughly chopped. I used all the greens on this bunch.

Generous handful of cashew nuts

1-2 cloves of garlic (depending how garlic-breathy you want to be afterwards)

3 tablespoons olive oil

Place all the ingredients in a mini-chopper or blender and whizz until smooth.

Store any leftovers in a glass jar in the fridge for 3-4 days.

My favourite way to eat pesto is as a topping on goats cheese on toast. The sharp saltiness of the melted cheese sits well with the pesto flavours.

Other options include swirling it into a green soup (try Louises’ Green Soup or the Nettle, Leek & Spinach soup), mixing with warm pasta, or spread on oatcakes.

What’s your pesto preference?

Are you parmesan yay or nay?

Tell us all over on Twitter or Facebook

“Candida Can Be Fun” – thanks to Rebecca!

Via the magic world that is Twitter, I recently met the very fabulous Rebecca Richardson.  Rebecca suffered with candida overgrowth for many years before finally being put on the road to recovery by her Nutritionist.  A combination of detailed food planning and nutritional supplements helped her regain her health and wellbeing and she has now put together this wonderful book of recipes and food ideas for anyone suffering with candida overgrowth and gut dysbiosis.

All the recipes are free from sugar, gluten, dairy, alcohol, wheat and fruit – many can also be adapted to be vegetarian too.

To give you a taster of what Rebecca has to offer, I have put 3 recipes in the Recipe section of this site; enjoy cooking!

For more details on Rebecca and how to order her book click here