Abbey has partnered with HP (http://bit.ly/28NqS0Y) to bring you this special episode of Abbey’s Kitchen featuring a recipe for Vegan Pesto Pasta Salad. This recipe was actually inspired by her father who always had a basil garden. He was so proud of his basil crop every summer that he would make cheese free pesto.
Disclosure: This recipe was developed in paid partnership with HP, however, all opinions are genuine.
As many of you already know Abbey is getting married in a few weeks and wanted to bring some special recipes to the wedding, many of which will be dedicated to her loving family. She has been hard at work on a fun homemade cookbook that features some of the dishes that remind her of her family but have her distinctive spin on them giving them that extra flare she is known for. She’s partnered with her friends at HP to put the whole project together and has found one of their software features to be extremely conventioneer. As she continues to print page after page she quickly goes through ink, fortunately for her HP has a built in application that detects when her ink is low and automatically orders more for her and delivers it right to her front door without the hassle of going to a store and trying to hunt down exactly the right ink cartridges.
Staying true to her roots Abbey is keeping this recipe cheese free but adding in a combo of pine nuts, almond nuts, garlic, lemon juice, a pinch of salt and pepper, and her secret ingredient, avocado. The avocado really softens the flavor of the basil and adds a creamy texture that eliminates the need to add extra oil. Abbey finds traditional pesto to be a bit oily and grainy, which I think we could all agree is common. This recipe results in a much better consistency and flavor than a traditional pesto would have.
In honor of her lovely sister Skye Abbey has chosen to use gluten free pasta, which is not only her sister’s preference as she is trying to cut back on FODMAPS, but a great choice in general when it comes to pasta. Feel free to use the pasta of your choosing of course and keep in mind that whole grain is also a good option.
To create this delicious pesto salad first prepare your pasta. Make sure you get a good consistency when making your pasta as this is crucial to a truly tasty dish. You will want to cook an entire pound of pasta. Once you have the pasta cooked, drain it, then set it aside and let it cool to room temperature, we will come back to the pasta after we create the pesto.
To make your pesto combine 4 cups of basil, 1/2 cup of sliced almonds, 1/2 cup of pine nuts, 2 cloves of finely minced garlic, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1 diced avocado, and finally add salt and pepper to taste. Puree all of these ingredients together until you get a smooth consistency. Once your pesto is complete it’s time to create your pasta salad.
To make your pasta salad put your cooked pasta into a mixing bowl and add 1 1/2 cups of colorful baby tomatoes, 19 ounces of canned no-salt added chickpeas that have been rinsed and drained, and 1/4 cup of kalamata olives. Now it’s time to add in the pesto you created and mix all of these ingredients together. Top them off with 2 tbsp. of toasted pine nuts and 2 tbsp. of toasted sliced almonds. Abbey recommends enjoying this dish at room temperature.
As Abbey journey’s into the next phase of her life she will be putting up more videos featuring recipes dedicated to her family. So, please follow along as you don’t want to miss out on these unique creations.
For more info on HP check out http://bit.ly/28NqS0Y
For more tips on staying healthy, recipes, dieting, and information fit for consumption by foodies everywhere stop by Abbey’s blog.
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