What do you eat? Vegan pesto edition!

I've been meaning to try making my own pesto ever since I tried LeGrand's vegan pesto at one of those sample booths at Whole Foods. I didn't even realize it was vegan when I first tried it; all I knew is that I wasn't overloaded with cheese and that it was bright and tasty.



My first try today wasn't excellent. It was good, and since the flavors are so simple it was easy for me to get close, but it still needs work. I made it a bit too salty, and even at its teeny amount the parsley was just too much for me (I am not a parsley fan). Here's what I did today: 2/3 cup cashews, soaked for an hour 2.5 ounces basil .25 ounces parsley 3 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp lemon juice 1 tsp salt If anyone tries and comes up with a tweak to smooth out the flavors a bit, please share it back with me! I turned this into a pesto pasta salad: whole wheat rotini, chopped up bell peppers, broccoli (I softened up the broccoli by throwing it into the boiling pasta water about 5 minutes before I drained the pasta). Cooled the pasta down, added in the veggies and pesto, and served!



Everyone ate it without comment, even though it was the first time they'd had pesto before. Both kids had two bowls, and there's enough for Stewart's lunch tomorrow. I'll keep experimenting with this one since herbs are so cheap here (the basil cost me about $2)! Yay Panama!