Easy Food Processor Pesto

After posting my eleventh recipe that called for pesto to this blog (Pesto Zoodles with Fresh Peas and Bacon), I decided it was high time I actually post a recipe for pesto itself. Watch below or click here to watch the recipe video! Scroll past the video for some images and the full recipe. 

Pesto is a glorious, glorious thing. Ancient Romans were on to something when they started mashing herbs with garlic, cheese and oil. Can you imagine being the chef to first pull out your moral and pestle, fill it with herbs and nuts, only to yield a greenish glop that looks unlike any other sauce you'd seen? And then the first bite! What do you think they thought?

Of course, times have since changed dramatically. Basil wasn't the star of pesto sauce until 1863 (according to Wiki), and wasn't even popular in the US until the 1980s and 1990s. Which, I suppose, explains a lot: as a 90s kid, I was set up to love pesto from the beginning. And now here I am, making pesto in a food processor. (Many will tell you this is not the traditional way, and they are right: in ancient Rome they didn't have food processors... or electricity. This food processor method is the 21st century way. I've made many a batch of pesto in a mortar and pestle, but for a big batch, I always go for the food processor). 

When I have a fresh batch of pesto in the fridge, I fearless add it to every meal. A condiment for potatoes (a sauce for sweet potatoes, or just a dip for some roasted yukon golds). The creamy base for this chicken dish. Shmeared inside of a cheesy omelette. I even put the stuff straight on steamed broccoli, or stir a tablespoon of pesto with a tablespoon of lemon juice to make a vinaigrette. You get the picture. 

Easy Food Processor Pesto

Published July 11, 2017 by Caitlin Sherwood

   |     Print This Recipe

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 10 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• Zest from 1/2 a lemon
• 6 cups basil
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. Pulse garlic in food processor with salt until minced.
2. Add pine nuts to food processor, and pulse three times. Add parmesan and lemon zest to food processor, and pulse until a meal forms.
3. Add basil and oil to the food processor and pulse until the basil and minced evenly. Scrape the sides with a spatula and pulse again briefly.
4. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge until ready to use. Will last up to 1 week in the fridge.

FOR NUT-FREE: Substitute 1/4 cup sunflower seeds for 1/4 cup pine nuts.

FOR DAIRY-FREE: Substitute 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast for 1/2 cup parmesan.

How to Make Coconut Butter At Home

Coconut butter. Coconut butter! It's sort of odd stuff: solid at room temperature, thick and creamy when warm. Sticky, satisfying, magical as a toast topping and so much more. Coconut butter is not like butter or coconut oil... rather, it's like peanut butter or almond butter, a nutty spread for your favorite spreadable eats. 

I have quite a few recipes that call for coconut butter, like these cookies that use it as a real-food icing, or as the base of this paleo fudge, and noticed that readers were searching the blog for how to make it. Once I saw this a light bulb went off in my head. Of course! This stuff is sort of confusing (it has two names for goodness sake, sometimes going by "Manna" instead). The good news is it's just about as easy as it gets as far are recipes go. One ingredient. Your blender. Done! That's it! Watch this video to see for your self :) 

Coconut butter is easy to make at home! Get the full recipe here: TBD Music: www.bensound.com

How to Make Coconut Butter At Home

Published April 25, 2017    |   Caitlin Sherwood    |    Print This Recipe

All you need is some desiccated coconut and a blender.

Serves: 1 cup   |    Total Time: 10 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 2 cups unsweetened desiccated coconut

Directions:

1. Pour all of the coconut in a high-powdered blender (I use a Blendtec Twister Jar but a Vitamix or a Ninja would work as well). Blend on high for 1 minute, and then scrape the sides. Repeat 5-6 times until all of the coconut is creamed into a creamy butter. Tip: I use BlendTec’s Twister Jar, which scrapes the sides as you go, so I only stop to scrape the sides wit ha spatula once or twice, and let the jar do the work.

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Zucchini Ricotta Manicotti

When you pull this casserole out of the oven, the first thing you'll see is bubbling cheese, that tempts you even when it is too hot to eat. Then, only seconds later, a hot steam that carries the smell of fresh basil and ripe tomatoes hits you. By the time the dish makes in to the counter, the sizzling begins to slow. With in a few minutes the dish sits still. It begs for you, even now when it would burn your tongue. (Maybe you sneak a bite anyways).  

By now the whole house has smelled like home cooked Italian food for 20 minutes or more, and people are beginning poke their heads into the kitchen. Is it ready? Can we eat yet? What are you up to in here? 

Cheese. Wine. More cheese in the form of ricotta. That is what you are up to. This recipe is pretty much everything. If your "everything" is ooey, gooey, and delicious, that is. And somehow folded in there is a pile of vegetables too: zucchini for noodles, spinach folded in with the ricotta, and a homemade tomato sauce that will make you proud.

This is a pile of cheesy Italian flavor you'll feel really good about eating. Despite begin literally stuffed with cheese, this recipe is light: it doesn't leave you feeling groggy the way this dish would if it was made with traditional pasta. We serve it with extra marinara sauce (I love homemade marinara sauce) and a side salad, and call it a meal. Oh--and don't forget the glass of wine! Red is perfect for this dish. 

If you're worried about the logistics of wrapping a bunch of cheese in thinly sliced zucchini, I don't blame you! But it's even easier than I originally thought it would me, so watch the video below to see how this impressive dish comes together, and you'll see you have nothing to worry about!

Music: www.bensound.com

Zucchini Ricotta Manicotti

Paleo, Primal, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    |    Print This Recipe

Zucchini is cut thin and rolled around ricotta as a stand in for traditional manicotti!

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 60 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 2 medium zucchinis
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 cup ricotta
• 1 cup grated parmesan, split in half
• 1 8-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed
• Salt & pepper


For sauce:
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1 tablespoon avocado oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, minced - plus more for garnish
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• Salt & pepper

Directions:

1. First, make the marinara sauce: heat avocado oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Dice white onion, and mince garlic. Add both to sauce pan once oil is hot, and sauté until the onion is translucent and the garlic begins to brown. Pour wine into pot, and use a wooden spoon to scrape any brunt pieces from the bottom of the pot. Allow to simmer, then add tomatoes. Stir. Add oregano and basil, and then season with salt & pepper to taste. Remove from heat.
2. Spread 1/2 of sauce in the bottom of a 9x9 baking dish.
3. Make the ricotta filling next. Place thawed spinach in a fine mesh sieve and squeeze out any excuses water. Place in a mixing bowl, and combine with ricotta, 1/2 cup grated parmesan, egg, and a few sprinkles of salt and freshly cracked pepper. Stir until combined.
4. Preheat oven to 400°F and assemble: use a potato peeler or mandolin to slice the zucchini in long, thin strips (watch the video above to see an example). Place two zucchini strips on a flat surface so that they overlap by about 1/2 an inch. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture on the short edge of the zucchini strips, and then roll up the zucchini strips around the ricotta like a roll of sushi. Place in the baking dish. Repeat until you run out of ricotta.
5. Sprinkle the remaining parmesan over the manicottis and place in oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until cheese is gooey, and sauce is bubbly. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with fresh basil as garnish. I also serve with extra sauce (the remaining 1/2) because I love marinara sauce!
6. Note: I find that when I get to the middle of the zucchini, it becomes hard to slice because of the seeds, so I move on to the second zucchini and reuse the middle of each zucchini later for another meal.

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