Hey everyone! Since January is detox month for me, I’m back with a deliciously healthy vegan comfort food recipe, because who says comfort food has to be unhealthy?
Well, when I think about comfort food, I always think about pasta. Anybody who knows me, knows that I’m crazy about pasta. In fact, I could probably eat spaghetti daily.
In the past year or so, I recently discovered gnocchi and it easily became a new favourite. Most brands of store-bought gnocchi are vegan too, since they’re usually just made with potato and flour (you can find an egg-free version).
The store-bought gnocchi I used in my recipe is made with spinach, which makes the dish extra green alongside my raw vegan pesto sauce. I wanted to make this comfort food extra healthy, so I added in crunchy kale pieces and green peas for texture and flavour. Combined with my raw vegan pesto, this dish is very green and nutrient-dense!
This pesto recipe is:
- Raw vegan
- Nut-free
- Dairy-free
- Gluten-free
- Extremely nutritious
I have perfected this vegan pesto recipe and it is entirely nut-free if you swap the unsweetened almond milk for unsweetened soy milk. It’s also super easy to make, featuring creamy avocado, fresh basil and spinach, a splash of lemon juice, with nutritional yeast to give it that cheesy flavour. Last, but certainly not least, my secret ingredient for ultimate dairy-free creaminess: Vegenaise! I usually add a spoonful near the end of cooking my pastas to give it an extra bit of oomf, for ultimate comfort food flavour and consistency. Seriously, give it a try, you won’t regret it.
Vegan Avocado Pesto Spinach Gnocchi
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Ingredients
1 avocado
3 tbsp. unsweetened plant milk (or more, depending on desired consistency)
2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
2 garlic cloves
1 handful of fresh spinach
1 handful of fresh basil
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. Vegenaise
1/4 tsp. salt (to taste)
Dash of pepper (to taste)
Dash of garlic powder (optional)
1 package of vegan spinach gnocchi
1 cup frozen peas
1 bunch of kale leaves
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp. avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Bring pot of water to boil. Cook gnocchi according to package directions (I only boil mine for a minute or two, since they will also cook in the sauce for a few minutes). Drain and set aside.
- In a food processor, blend together avocado, spinach, basil, garlic, lemon juice, plant milk, nutritional yeast, and salt and pepper together until smooth. You may need to add more plant milk (or a tablespoon of hot water from cooking the gnocchi) to get the pesto sauce to desired consistency.
- Fry onion in a large pan with 1 tbsp. oil on medium heat until golden brown. Add kale leaves and peas, stirring occasionally.
- Add gnocchi to pan and fry for a few minutes with veggies. Add in pesto sauce and cook on low heat.
- Mix in 1 tbsp. Vegenaise into pan and stir well. Remove pan from heat.
- Serve with fresh basil and top with nutritional yeast.
2 comments
What a fabulous idea! This will make great use out of my bags of avocados! Thanks Mindful Strawberry 🙂 <3
Yes, it sure does! Thank you Angela. 🙂