Hi there and good evening!
It is 11PM already and I have to get up in less than 6 hours for work, ouch. I just absolutely hate the morning shift (although 6:30AM is almost mercy as I could have scored 4:30AM instead. Still sucks, sigh.) I wanted to post the review of a new sunscreen I tested today but I forgot to take a crucial before and after picture soooo I will write this post tomorrow. Instead, a very short post/review/recipe post about an amazing dish I just tried today from Cookie + Kate (my favorite vegetarian food blogger!), the Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta with Roasted Vegetables.
Pictures 1-3 photo credit to Cookie + Kate, bottom right picture my own result.
This is such an incredibly tasty yet almost fool-proof recipe! You basically chop a bunch of vegetables of your choice (she used bell pepper, onion, yellow sqash and zucchini in her original recipe, I swapped the yellow squash for mushrooms as my boyfriend doesn’t like squash (and it’s hard to get where I live), add 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, salt and pepper and let that roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
While your veggies get all tasty, you throw a can of sun-dried tomatoes (in oil), fresh basil leaves (that I grow in my balcony, ha!), cloves of garlic, a bit of lemon juice, slivered almonds, salt, pepper and pepper flakes into a blender until smooth. (Bonus: My final pesto looked exactly like the one in her picture which basically never happens and I was so proud.) The only thing left now is to wait for the vegetables, cook yourself some pasta and dive into a culinary vegetarian heaven. Pure bliss. See the detailed recipe here and show Kate some love as I didn’t want to repost her recipe here.
I did make some slight alterations though;
(1) I completely omitted the extra olive oil she recommended for the pesto; I found the oil that came with the sun-dried tomatoes more than enough to make a rich and tasty pesto. I will probably add even less olive oil next time as my boyfriend and I don’t enjoy meals that are too oily.
(2) I used 2 cloves of garlic instead of the recommended 3-4; I do like garlic but since it stays raw and is only blended the garlic taste is very prominent; I will only add one clove of garlic next time.
(3) I used the amount of vegetables recommended; however it was not nearly enough for my hungry boyfriend and me. So for next time, I will probably make double the amount as we enjoy loads of fresh veggies with our dish.
(4) If my supermarket sold whole grain noodles this dish would have been vegan but unfortunately they didn’t this time. Am definitely excited to try the dish with whole grain noodles next time!
(5) I didn’t use any parmesan (and it is completely optional to do so) as I loved the strong taste of the sun-dried tomatoes that were dominating the pesto (which is to die for, did I mention?)
So yeah, the dish turned out pretty amazing and if I can find a cheaper deal on sun-dried tomatoes in oil in my area, this will definitely become a staple in my cooking repertoire. The roasted vegetables are quite hearthy while the tomato pesto has a light texture with an intense flavor. Kate’s recipes have never failed me so far and if you enjoy vegetarian cuisine, I recommend to look for some new inspirations at her page 🙂
As for the next post, it will definitely be a beauty review; so sorry for the lack of it but life has been insanely busy on this part of the earth lately. I hope you’re all slowly getting into the weekend! (I am sadly working until Sunday afternoon.)
Have a great weekend!
Lots of love,
