Pepita Pesto Recipe + The Key Turning Pasta into a Healthy Meal

Recipe

Pepita Pesto Recipe + The Key Turning Pasta into a Healthy Meal

So excited to share with you my Pepita Pesto Recipe that was featured in Nutritious Life! The key to turning pasta into a healthy meal is to have pasta with your veggies, versus the other way around. In other words, treat it more like a single complementary ingredient and less like the main event.

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 cup grated Parmesan (optional)

1 lemon, juice plus zest

1/4 cup pepitas

1 bunch basil

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 to 5 cranks fresh ground pepper

The key is loading up whatever dish your making with veggies, and using pesto as a sauce is a shortcut towards that goal. It means every bite will include fresh basil, garlic, and more nutrient-dense foods.

Instructions

1. Add all the ingredient, in order, to a blender or food processor.

2. Blend, taste, and add salt and pepper. (Add more lemon, if desired. If the pesto is too thick, you can always add a tablespoon or two of olive oil.)

3. Enjoy for up to one week in the fridge. Store in the freezer or up to one month.

Chef Carla Notes

1. In addition to pasta, it’s delicious mixed into salad or on top of a cauliflower pizza, roasted chicken, veggies, or fish.

2. Want to use it all week long? For a fast weeknight meal, meal prep the pesto on the weekend and freeze it into an ice cube tray. Once frozen, you can pop the cubes out and store in an airtight container. When ready to use, they will defrost quickly. Toss in roasted or raw veggies, a chickpea pasta, or serve with spiralized noodles. It takes me longer to figure out what I want to order for takeout than to make this meal.

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Eat Well,

xo Chef Carla 

P.S. I started a brand new FREE Cook+Chop Community on FB. I will be doing lives, sharing meal prep tips + hosting a free pantry detox challenge September. I hope to see you there! 

PPS: Hungry for more? Try my Matcha Smoothie Recipe.

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See the full article + recipe below as it appeared in Nutritious Life:

Think a healthy pasta dinner isn’t possible? Not only are there now lots of alternative noodles available to you, you can also try this smart approach: crowd out the carbs with fresh veggies.

“I was so shocked during my Nutritious Life Certification with Keri Glassman when she said that it’s okay to eat pasta!” says chef Carla Contreras. “The thing is to have pasta with your veggies, versus the other way around.”

In other words, treat it more like a single complementary ingredient and less like the main event.

Contreras is a Nutritious Life Certified chef and health coach with a stacked resume—she’s been a private chef for prominent families, ran a meal delivery company, and even competed on Cook Your Ass Off (where she met our founder Keri, who was a judge!) and season 12 of Chopped. She’s now the founder of Cook + Chop.

How does she apply the more-veggies-than-penne trick in her own kitchen?

“I pile my plate high with shaved zucchini and greens and then add about a half cup of pasta,” she says. “It makes total sense. You are full and not deprived at all.”

The biggest insider trick, though, is making pesto, which, is a fresh alternative to creamy sauces that add calories instead of nutrients. Pesto adds herbs, veggies, and flavor to every single bite.

And her recipe, made with brain-boosting pumpkin seeds (AKA pepitas), is super simple and can streamline other aspects of your weekly meals, too.

“For a fast weeknight meal, meal prep the pesto on the weekend and freeze it into an ice cube tray,” Contreras recommends. “Once frozen, you can pop out and store in an airtight container. When ready to use, they will defrost quickly and you can toss in roasted or raw veggies, a chickpea pasta, or serve with spiralized noodles.”

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