Like many of my recipes this is another happy accident recipe! I love me a good pesto sauce, but being dairy free and sensitive to oil, me and pesto had to break up a while ago 🙁

But don’t be sad for me, recently, I heard you can make pesto with cashews and nutritional yeast, and use water and lemon instead of oil! So I began making a cashew based pesto for my family. The flavour combinations marry together so wonderfully and I prefer this a million times to a traditional pesto. Plus it is a breeze to make!

So this weekend after a full morning of gardening with my family outdoors we needed a quick and easy dinner to make. So I quickly made this recipe and we were all left satisfied. It was the perfect ending the weekend! We were finally able to plant all our lettuce and kale and even some cucumbers and a watermelon plant my son picked out! It is such a wonderful feeling to be able to get your hands dirty and grow your own food!

Just so you know: Nutritional yeast is SUPER high in B12, so it is a great addition to your diet. It’s cheesy flavour is also a hit with the kiddos and is another way to help insure they are getting their daily recommended intake.

Remember do not fear your kitchen, or the flexibility to experiment!

Enjoy this one! And now on to the recipe!

Oh and if you make this recipe I would love your thought in the comments! Or can find me on instagram and let me know @at.my.table!

Easy Oil-Free Cashew Pesto sauce, that is also happens to be vegan

Recipe by atmytableCourse: lunch, dinnerCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• Pesto Sauce

• 2 cups of fresh Basil

• 1 cup of cashews

• 3 garlic cloves

• 2 tbs nutritional yeast

• 1/4 cup water

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 1/4 tsp salt

• (Optional Toppings)

• 1 red onion diced

• 1 cup oyster mushroom

• 1 cup cooked chickpeas

Directions

• Add all the sauce ingredients into your high speed blender and blend for roughly 2-3 minutes, or until it’s at the consistency you desire. Add more water if you want a smoother sauce.
• Add the pesto sauce to the medium pan and cook over medium heat for a few minutes, this will help mute the garlic flavor and marry all the flavors together.
• (Optional) In a separate pan, saute a diced red onion in some water (or high quality olive oil if you like) until soft. Add in the oyster mushrooms and chickpeas and cook for a few minutes.
• To the sauce, add in your favorite cooked pasta and the veggies and serve! Simple yet delicious!