Quinoa Pesto and a Classy Lanyard

Elegant White Pearl Lanyard

This classy white pearl lanyard is available in my Etsy shop. Perfect for year round wear!

Quinoa Pesto
I was intrigued one day when I saw a jar of quinoa pesto in Costco! So I mentioned it to Jim and we went online looking for dish ideas. This dish is only for the pesto lover. Jim realized he's not a huge pesto lover, but I am. More for me!

I have always loved pesto but am sensitive to garlic. We actually made a garlic free version and I didn't miss it. It's funny when you think something can't be made without a key ingredient, but a little creativity can change that! 

We put the following in the food processor for our pesto which made a huge batch:
a bunch of fresh basil from the grocery store (probably about 5 cups packed)
1/2 cup of walnuts (pine nuts are what are typically in pesto)
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Then we added harissa and sea salt to taste. This is where the creativity comes in. Since we are on a harissa kick we used this to give it a zing!

To make a more traditional pesto, use 4-6 cloves of garlic with the above portions depending on how strong you want it.

We actually made a dish to recipe from ohsweetbasil.com. We doubled the recipe and baked it in a larger casserole dish. The original is here:

1 cup quinoa
2 cups of veggie broth
1 cup of pesto
1 1/2 cups of grape tomatoes
2 cups of asparagus cut into 1-2" pieces
olive oil
sea salt
mozzarella, shredded (about 1 cup, but this is where Jim and I always go overboard when making something since you can never have too much cheese)

First, cook the quinoa in the veggie broth.

Then roast the tomatoes and asparagus at 400 degrees in the oven drizzled with some olive oil and sea salt. We added zucchinni too. This will take approximately 15-20 minutes. 

When at the desired texture, toss the veggies with the quinoa (we mixed the pesto and quinoa together first) and pesto in a 9" x 9" pan.  We used a larger pan since we bulked up on the recipe. 

I think this photo below is funny. The way Jim's hand is in the forefront, it looks like the pan is a miniature!

Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake for 20 minutes, or until cheese is brown.

Then enjoy! Portions reheat great in the microwave.

Thank you for stopping by! Enjoy your week ahead! ~Val