Healthy Food For Living

Creamy Avocado, Cilantro, & Pistachio Pesto

By Lauren Zembron, on June 11th, 2013

For Mother’s Day, John put together a gorgeous potted herb garden for me; and with all of the rain we’ve been getting here in MA, the plants are growing at lightening speed. The cilantro plant in particular proliferated while we were on vacation last week, so I needed to use a few handfuls in a recipe to reign it in a bit.

Pesto came to mind… so pesto it was!

We had a bag of unsalted pistachios on hand, and since the unsalted variety isn’t nearly as delicious to eat by hand as the salted, that was my nut of choice for the pesto. I also had half of an avocado leftover from my lunch, so I decided to toss that in for creamy consistency and rich flavor.

Lime juice maintains the vibrant green hue and lends a hint of fresh tartness, and grated Parmesan adds a necessary salty kick.

If you’ve been hesitant to try a pesto recipe that calls for ingredients other than the typical basil and pine nuts, here’s a great opportunity to branch out a bit!

Creamy Avocado, Cilantro, & Pistachio Pesto

by Lauren Zembron

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 0 minutes

Ingredients (1 small jar)

1 packed cup cilantro leaves
1/3 cup shelled unsalted pistachios
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
flesh from 1/2 ripe medium-sized avocado
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 1 lime)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (plus more if you prefer a thinner consistency)
kosher salt, to taste

Instructions

Place the cilantro and shelled pistachios in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade; process until finely minced and combined.

Add in the Parmesan, avocado, and lime juice; process until fully combined.

With the processor running, stream olive oil in through the feed tube until incorporated and desired consistency is reached.

Salt to taste.

{One Bowl} Mini Strawberry Banana Muffins + Doughnuts

By Lauren Zembron, on May 24th, 2013

With Memorial Day weekend, we herald in the unofficial start of summer… and summer to me means berries. Sure, you can buy berries year-round nowadays, but they taste soooo much better if you wait until they’re actually in season!

It’s around this time of year that I finally tire of eating apples and get excited for summer produce. I picked up my first package of organic strawberries of the season the other day and demolished half of it while hovering over the sink. I somehow managed to set aside a few for these mini muffins (and doughnuts); the batter of which is mixed in just one bowl.

Mini muffins!

Perhaps it’s because I spend every day staring at Lily’s mini fingers, mini toes, and mini – well – everything that I was inspired to turn the overripe banana, and previously mentioned succulent strawberries, sitting on our counter into mini muffins and doughnuts.

In a country obsessed with oversized food items (have you been to a bakery lately? My gosh.), it’s fun to make (and eat) miniature versions of your favorites from time to time.

The only problem with mini baked goods is that it’s way too easy to just pop ‘em into your mouth.

Yes, I photographed this muffin with a tiny bite taken out of it so you could see how moist and tender they are, but – who am I kidding – the rest of the muffins and doughnuts were eaten whole ;).

Now this batter is really more of a muffin batter… so when I say “doughnuts”, please take that term with a grain of salt. Mini muffins are fun, but mini doughnuts might be even more fun; hence why I greased up my mini doughnut pan as well.