Pesto Pasta (vegan)

Happy Saturday my readers!

Any fun plans this weekend?

We have the Surrey Fusion Festival taking place at Holland Park! It’s free admission and there is food and music from various cultures and other activities to have fun with! Hubby and I were planning to walk over and check it out (either today or tomorrow)!

The rest of the weekend will be NAC studying, attending my online classes in the evening and writing a paper for the research study that I have been putting off for too long. (I procrastinate. :/)

So with limited time these days I have to find ways to make dinners quick, easy and delicious at the same time. Yesterday we were craving pasta, so here is a recipe for pesto pasta that required few ingredients and I could make it in 15-20 mins. We even have left overs for lunch today.

Pesto Pasta (vegan)

Ingredients

1.5 cups whole wheat pasta shells

Coriander leaves with stems – a huge hand full

7-10 basil leaves

1/2 cup raw cashews

2 cloves garlic (you can add more to your preference)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce

2-3 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Red chilli powder to taste

Artichoke hearts (Kirkland brand from Costco)

Mushrooms

Let water come to a boil and put in the pasta shells. Cook until al dente. Once cooked wash under cold water so they do not stick together.
Wash the coriander and basil. No need to soak the cashews ahead of time, can use them raw.
In a food processor place the coriander, basil, cashews, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, red chilli powder, sriracha, nutritional yeast and chop until I had a thick sauce-like consistency. Taste and adjust the salt and spices as needed.
Heat up a pan, mix together the pesto sauce and pasta.
Cut the mushrooms and artichoke hearts and mix them along with the pesto pasta.
I added more nutritional yeast to mine, Hubby had some parmesan cheese to his.
Ready to eat! Enjoy!