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Vegan Food, Family & Travel

Spicy Kale & Lemon Pesto Orecchiette with Baby Heirloom Tomatoes

Pesto Heirloom Tom
Romantic lighting is good for marriages but bad for food photos

 

Oh the holidays… they fly by quickly in a flurry of shopping bags, wrapping paper, travel plans and frosting. If you’re lucky there’s fancy sweaters, twinkling lights and menorahs as far as the eye can see! It’s that magical combination of both wonderful and exhausting at once.

Now there’s this “joke” that everyone thinks they don’t sleep enough and are really busy. Admittedly there are pockets of time, here and there, when I guess I could do more but sometimes a lady just needs to watch some Sons of Anarchy in peace. But please trust me when I say December was a pretty busy month for us. We had our recipe for Vegan Eggs Benedict featured in Compassion Over Killing’s winter magazine and our Gingerbread cookies on Babble and The Kitchn. Some of our favorite recipes of all time* were shared on Buzzfeed and we started swimming again. We’re about a month away from Betty Goes Vegan coming out and there are events in the works in LA, San Francisco, Portland, Victoria, DC and NYC. This site is still being worked on and polished up. Yes, this site is still a work in progress but aren’t all good things? I mean democracy didn’t just happen. The Grand Canyon took forever and is still a gradually changing masterpiece with every strong wind and rain. I mean – sure Steven Spielberg released The Goonies, Back to the Future and The Color Purple in 1985 but that’s some pretty surreal time management. Sadly, I am not Spielberg. We started watching The West Wing again and there have been some intense marathons lately.

This morning Yahoo! Shine officially launched that video clip I told you about before. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook – you know already that I’m pretty nervous in it and I have funny hair. The hairdresser slicked it all back so I look like a cheerleader on Glee! and I still have all my baby weight. But the important part – The Food – still gets to shine through. We got to highlight some of our favorite products like Lightlife Smart Bacon, Daiya vegan cheese and Gardein Beefless Burgers and talk up some of the tips from our book like replacing red food coloring with cherry or berry juice. If you get a chance please go check it out and leave a little “vegan love” in the comments!

All of this brings us to this recipe. This easy and fast recipe that manages to still be special and pretty good for you. If you’re a newly veganed looking for a quick healthy meal or a veteran vegan looking for something a little lighter after the holidays… I think you’ll like this one.


 

Spicy Kale & Lemon Pesto Orecchiette with Baby Heirloom Tomatoes

Pesto

2/3 cup Fresh Basil Leaves
1/2 cup Raw Kale Leaves, remove the stems
1/2 cup Fresh Thai Basil Leaves (you can substitute regular sweet basil)
1/4 cup Fresh Parsley Leaves
2/3 cup Olive Oil
3 cloves Garlic, minced
2 tablespoons Nutritional Yeast
2 tablespoons Lemon Peel, grated
1/3 cup Lemon Juice
2 tablespoons White Wine

 

Pasta

1 Package of Orecchiette Pasta (we like this pasta best with pesto because the little shells or “ears” fill up with the sauce)
8 – 10 Baby Heirloom Tomatoes
1/4 cup Raw Pine Nuts
1 – 3 teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes (depends on how spicy you like it)
Vegan Parmesan to sprinkle over the top
Salt and Pepper to taste

 

Prepare your pasta using the instructions on the package.

In your fierce food processor, blend all your Pesto ingredients until it’s a smooth paste. Quarter your Tomatoes.


You can use regular old tomatoes if you want but look how pretty these are...
You can use regular old tomatoes if you want but look how pretty these are…



Once your Pasta is ready, toss it with your Pesto, Tomatoes, Pine Nuts and Red Pepper Flakes while it’s still hot. Serve with some Vegan Parmesan over the top and some Salt and Pepper.

 

* Seriously – I could eat that risotto every day.



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