I simply love this recipe – its gluten and dairy free and full of fresh veggies! It is an adaptation from a Deliciously Ella recipe. It is so quick and easy to make and is full of some fantastic nutrients – I particularly love the avocado as it makes it so creamy and smooth. Not only that, it is packed full of healthy Omega 3 fats, perfect for improving your fertility and supporting your sex hormones. It is also a great anti-inflammatory and alkaline recipe, perfect for helping to reduce inflammation in your body associated with Endometriosis. If you want to know more about how to reduce inflammation and improve fertility check out this article “5 Ways to Reduce Inflammation and Improve Fertility with Endometriosis”.
You can swap out the walnuts for other types, such as almonds, cashews and brazil nuts. Brazil nuts are a great option, though do be careful with how much you have in a day alongside other Brazil nuts and supplements as they are full of selenium and you can overdose on eating too many brazil nuts in a day! This is why I have swapped them out – as I could eat an awful lot of this pesto! Typically I use a combination of nuts, whichever ones I have in the house. If I am short on nuts I add in a selection of seeds to make up that 1/4 cup.
Brazil nuts (if used) are particularly high in selenium – a mineral that is essential for fertility, your sex hormones and especially good for digestive health. Selenium stimulates the production of Hydrochloric acid (HCl) in the stomach, which is needed to break down our food – if we dont break our food down we do not absorb nutrients effectively.
Spinach, avocado and walnut pesto pasta
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup walnuts ca. 60g
- 1/4 cup pine nuts ca. 25g
- 1 avocado
- 1 handful spinach
- 1/2 handful basil
- 1 lemon juice juice of 1 lemon
- 2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp coconut or rapeseed preferably cold-pressed organic
- 250g buckwheat or brown rice pasta i.e. gluten free
- 1 courgette
- 1/2 head broccoli
- 1 cup frozen peas ca. 100g
- 1-2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp nigella seeds
- salt and pepper to season
Instructions
- Whizz the nuts in a food processor until completely crushed.
- Add the avocado, rocket, basil leaves, lemon juice, olive oil, nutritional yeast / parmesan, and salt and pepper. Blend until smooth - you may need to add up to 4 tbsps of water to make it thinner consistency.
- Cook the pasta (according to the instructions of the pasta you are using)
- At the same time as the pasta is cooking chop and sauté the broccoli with garlic, and steam the broccoli and peas.
- Once the pasta and veg is cooked, stir in the pesto and serve.
- You should have at least 4 tbsp of pesto left for lunch the next day - throw it together with a plate of veggies!
Adaptations / tips:
- You can change the walnuts for any nuts you like, such as almonds, cashews and brazil nuts.
- You can swap the spinach for kale, rocket or lettuce.
- You can also freeze basil leaves - great for always having in the house! I find they freeze very well if you place then between two sheets of kitchen paper and then into a plastic sandwich bag.
- Add roasted squash and or grilled chicken with herbs, other green veg like spinach, pak choy.
- If you make double the recipe you can either keep the extra and it is delicious with rice or eaten with roasted veg or with carrot sticks.
- You can even freeze this - do note the colour changes because of the avocado but it still tastes the same.
This is a great recipe for making a double batch of the pesto and veg (not the pasta) and then you can use the left over pesto and veg for lunch the following day. This pesto is also delicious mixed in with rice or quinoa and served in a salad bowl.
I would love to hear how you get on with making this recipe! What did you serve it with? If you love it then please do share it on social media.
Why not take a look at some other recipes whilst you are here?