hello friends!
lately Gary has been a little obsessed with pesto. I am also a fan of some good pesto. I have to usually make my own as the store bought ones contain dairy.
but that is no problem because that just means I can make my pesto any flavor I want and get to make it raw and dairy-free!
even better! a plus side to making things yourself. I always get worried about buying things in stores especially canned sauces or spreads as they can contain too many ingredients that aren’t the healthiest. do you ever worry about the ingredients in your store bought canned items?
Michelle and I have made a lot of sauces and spreads here on the blog. carrot cheez sauce anyone, what about beet hummus, or our pink kraut pepper dressing or our avocado miso dressing. the list could go on. we just love throwing things into a blender and seeing what happens. that usually is how most of our sauces are made.
now the base of this pesto is from macadamia nuts which I know are expensive. we do not buy them that often and when we do it is a nice treat.
in addition to the lovely mac nuts I threw some kale in there for some additional health benefits. kale is one of my ‘superfoods’ so if I find a right recipe to add it to…I do. I tend to think to myself when making something saying, ” would kale be good in this recipe? umm, yes I think so or no. not really”. who else out there tends to talk to themselves? I know I am not alone on that one.
pure2raw recipe: Mac-Nut Kale Pesto (vegan, raw, gluten-free, dairy-free)
prep-time: about 5 minutes
tools needed: Vita-mix (any blender or food processor would be fine)
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked
- 1 cup macadamia nuts, soaked and rinsed
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
- 2 stalks of kale
- 1/4-1/2 cup olive oil
Directions:
Grab a bowl and soak your macadamia nuts ( I tend to do mine for about 30 minutes, this is totally optional. you do not have to soak the nuts). Then grab another small bowl to soak the sun-dried tomatoes. I do this to help make them blend better in the blender, again this is optional.
Next grab the remaining ingredients except the olive oil. You will add that in last.
Once your macadamia nuts and sun-dried tomatoes have been drained toss them into your blender along with your lemon juice, garlic (can be omitted), fresh basil and kale. Blend ingredients a little.
Then slowly begin to add in your olive oil. I used 1/4 cup olive oil as I like my pesto really thick. But feel free to use up to 1/2 cup. It comes down to personal preference I feel. Taste and adjust any seasoning to your liking.
Enjoy!
this mac-nut kale pesto is Gary approved!
he absolutely loved it over his pasta and he also uses it for his salad dressings sometimes. I kept going back for more pesto as well. I shall be making this again for him. and for me.
I also made us a socca pizza one night and used the pesto as our base. it was delicious.
using our Twin Cakes plain jane crackers also are great with this pesto. since I made it on the thick side it was splendid with a little crunch from the cracker.
I know I have mentioned this a few months ago about me showing what I make for Gary. as I know some of you are interested in what Gary eats. does he eat like me? does he eat vegan or gluten-free? do I make separate meals for him? well I hope this year I do a better job of sharing with you from time to time what I make for Gary. for the most part he eats whatever I make him. I am very lucky in the sense that he is not a picky eater plus he loves vegetables! which makes cooking for me super easy! so I do not usually have to make a whole separate meal for him. sometimes I do make him something different that I do not eat. I shall expand on that at a later date.
I hope you love this super easy and healthy dairy-free pesto as much as we did.
for those of you who do not want to use macadamia nuts you may use pine nuts, cashews, or almonds. or a combo. all would be fine.
Twins Question: Do you like macadamia nuts? Are you a pesto lover? Have you ever made your own pesto before? Do you like seeing what others feed their significant others or family?
till next time,
xoxo
Lori
I always look for good raw unsalted macadamia nuts but can never find them! I might resort to ordering them online because I love them so much but don’t love salty nuts.
I get on pesto kicks where I did everything into it and spread it on any and every meal- it goes with just about everything. Gary is a lucky guy to have you cooking up most of his meals I would say!
same here Katie I do not like salty nuts, we usually try to buy our raw nuts online in bulk it tends to be cheaper at times.
LOVE LOVE LOVE Raw Pesto!!! Great idea of adding kale!!!
Alex@Spoonful of Sugar Free recently posted..Day 5: PBC Bars
That looks amazing! So excited to try it-recently bought some macadamias and have been wondering what to do with them!
XX
I love mac nuts, but will probably try this recipe with pine nuts. Yes, long lists of ingredients on packages scare me. I went shopping with my sis-in-law and, God bless her, she was trying to make healthy choices. The good thing is, she asked me for help. She was shocked that I would turn every single item over and read the ingredients list. I explained to her about chemicals and high fructose corn syrup and what they do to your body and your waist line. She was shocked. She believed the healthy labeling and had no idea what she was putting into her body. Now I’m teaching her how to just eat real, whole foods.
Tonya your sis-in-law should be very grateful that you were there to help because it can be scary at first! That is awesome that you are helping her out!
Oooh, this looks delicious! I love macadamia nuts and pesto. I usually make a big batch of plain basil pesto in the summer and freeze it but I missed out this year and now I’m missing it
I love the sun dried tomatoes in yours!
Heidi @ Food Doodles recently posted..Rice and Bean Taco Bake
Heidi I need to start making large batches of pesto too
we go through it fast!
um i just wish macas weren’t so friggin expensive! i love them though and this looks like a great recipe. as for the canned stuff, i try to buy my stuff in glass jars whenever possible! i have made homemade pesto before but used the traditional pine nuts
for some reason our bodies do not seem to like pine nuts, it is weird. but every time we have some both of us just feel weird so we try to avoid if possible.
WOW!!! This is going to be FAB on my grain free diet used to dip my veggies in!! Thank you gorgeous for your amazing recipes!!!!
xxoo
Kris | iheartwellness.com recently posted..My Grain Free Diet Review {Day 8}
your welcome girl!! HUGS
I love macadamia nuts but they are so expensive!
Rebecca @ Naturally Healthy and Gorgeous recently posted..Toxic Thursday-Food Preservatives
I know they are, it sucks. but they are worth it
Hi Girls,
You have NO idea how much I love your recipes. I discovered your blog a couple of months ago and am now addicted to socca!!!
I live in Sydney, Australia and have been making it whenever I have guests, or am invited somewhere and have to bring a plate…it’s also become my “go to” dinner. I found a small dish, perfect for one person/portion. I’ve been making socca “pizza” with kale pesto, tahini and topped with shredded greens and pepitas.
LOVE
Thank you
Nicky so happy to hear this!! Yay!!!
OMG I love how chunky this is!!! Perfect topping for the socca!!!
Also – I don’t know how new this website layout is… but I love it too. I stopped stopping by because the old site took forever to load on my computer. This one – legit! Yay! Happy to be back in your world.
we are glad you are back too! we are always trying to improve our site load time, hope to get it working even better soon.
Yum! I’ve heard of others using kale in pesto but I have yet to try it. And never thought to use macs…pinenuts are so expensive these days too. Anyway, I will have to give this a go sometime. You’re feeding that boy well!
hihorosie recently posted..Product Review: Morrocco Method Pomade
Yummy yummy, all your recipes look great.
little t recently posted..New Year’s Resolutions
I loved this recipe and will post it on my site to share with more people. I used fresh Hawaii macadamia nuts from http://www.maunakeagold.com. They were delicious!
glad you liked the recipe, but instead of sharing the recipe can you please just link back to this recipe. thank you
Hey, can you substitute pine nuts for macadamia nuts? I don’t have any of the latter so would want to use what I have on hand…