Hi friends!
I’ve been busy testing freezer recipes over here for the past couple months – from sauces to muffins and everything in between. I’m hoping to compile a post of all my favorites in the future, but for now I wanted to share this walnut pesto sauce recipe.
It’s very quick to dump all ingredients into a blender and go to town. For this recipe, I used 1/2 of it for 1/2 lb of pasta for dinner and stored the other half in an air-tight container for future use. If you’d like more, just double the recipe up. I definitely will be in the future. I can’t imagine having to cook extravagant things (or cook in general) once our sweet girl is here, so anything that feels decadent and can be stored in the freezer for future use is a win for me. Literally… just boil water and cook pasta, thaw out sauce, and you have yourself lunch/dinner that tastes like it took an hour to prepare.
Recipe
Prepares enough for: 1 lb pasta
You will need:
- 1/3 cup walnuts
- 1/4 cup pepitas
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1-2 cups fresh basil
- Salt and pepper, to taste (I don’t measure, but I probably used about a tsp of pink Himalayan salt and 1/4 tsp pepper – add more or less of what you prefer!)
- 1/2 or 1 lb pasta of your choice (I chose whole wheat penne)
- Vegan grated cheese (I love Minimalist Baker’s recipe for this and have it on hand at all times in my fridge!)
To make:
- In a high speed blender/bullet, blend walnuts and pepitas until gritty.
- Add olive oil, garlic, basil, salt, and pepper – run for about 45 seconds or so.
- Add 1/2 of pesto sauce to a small air-tight container and stick in the freezer for future use (or all of it, if that is why you are making this recipe!)
- If using now, set 1/2 pesto sauce aside while you cook your choice of pasta according to package.
- Drain pasta, add pesto and mix well. Add a sprinkle of vegan grated cheese and enjoy!
Simple stuff! The other half of this pesto is currently in the freezer for me, just waiting to be used on one of those hectic as hell days. I am sooo looking forward to it!
I hope you’ll try and enjoy. Please share all your favorite freezer meals, sauces, etc. I need all the ideas I can get! xx bianca
