Description
My Pesto Pizazz recipe is packed with flavour and nutrition. This sauce is the perfect topping to salads, gluten-free crackers, and raw or roasted vegetables, and it especially tastes wonderful with my ZenZini Pasta Recipe. Bring it along to parties, or whip it up for date night. Whatever the occasion, this recipe wins in ease, taste and versatility.
Ingredients
1 cup sunflower seeds or hemp seeds
1/2 cup spinach or arugula
2 tightly packed cups basil or cilantro
2 tbsp lemon, freshly squeezed
1-2 garlic cloves, pre-chopped for 5 minutes
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or flax oil
Sea salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup water
Instructions
Step 1
Place seeds in food processor (preferred) or blender and grind until fine. Add remaining ingredients, leaving water and oil until the end, and pulse on high until well mixed, scraping sides as necessary.
Step 2
Pour sauce over raw or cooked veggies, or serve with gluten-free crackers or bread.
Tips and Techniques
- If your sauce is too runny, add chia seeds and let sit for 10 minutes. This will soak up some liquid, and add in a dose of super-nutrition!
- If you’re out of lemon, apple cider vinegar is a good substitution.
- Pre-chopping garlic and allowing it to sit for 5-10 minutes before use will enable the formation of healthy sulfur-containing compounds.
Why I Love My Recipe
Besides keeping well in the fridge for a good few days, I love the versatility of this sauce. It tastes great with nearly everything, from salads, to sautés, to dehydrated or cooked chips and breads. It can also be made with a diversity of greens, like cilantro versus basil, and arugula or spinach. This keeps things interesting! Adding chia seeds to this sauce is another bonus, not to mention healthy twist, as it ensures an extra dose of super-nutrition, without impacting the taste and flavour of the meal.
Benefits
- Seeds are packed with health-promoting fat, nutrients and protein
- Greens deliver a diverse selection of both vitamins and minerals to the body
- Chia seeds are rich in both soluble and insoluble fiber, meaning they feed the microflora in your gut, as well as add bulk to your stool
- Garlic, when pre-chopped, gives rise to sulfur-containing compounds which are associated with prevention of heart disease, inflammatory disease, cancer and the generation of antioxidants