Zoodles & Homemade Pesto

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I had my sister in law over this weekend visiting from NYC. She mentioned homemade pesto and how you can pretty much make it from anything green! She also said I should give a shout out to Bitter Sweet Sara. I put the untraditional pesto to the test and it was good! Above are my zoodles and homemade pesto. 

Making the zoodles are easy! The hard part for me was getting the right proportions of greens to nuts to cheese to oil. I did a little investigation and took a poll online, and the proportions below seem to work great! 

• 2 cups greens, 1/3 cups nuts, 1/2 cup grated hard cheese, and 1/2 cup oil
• this blog also talks about pesto and ratios

I used basil, arugula, baby kale, cilantro and parsley. Stems and all! I also used EVOO, walnuts and parmesan cheese. I might have gone a little green crazy....

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What do you put in your pesto? What do you put your pesto on?

Green Soup. Make it and Love it.

My friend sent me this recipe and when I first looked at it I was skeptical. The only time I consume that much green, mixed all together, is in a smoothie. This is by far the greenest soup I have ever made, andddddd it was so good!

The problem: My camera man hates onion, and this recipe calls for a lot of them. I usually avoid onions or purée the heck out of them so that they are no where to be found. The onions in this soup, however, play a huge part. There is no hiding them. So if you are not a fan of onions, beware!  But OMG this soup is awesome. Go make it. Eat it. And love it. 

Homemade Green Juice. NO fancy juicer needed!

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I was on a mission to make myself a green juice. I do not have a juicer, but that did not stop me. And should not stop you either. Here is an easy way to make a green juice. You will need:

• blender
• jelly strainer (I got mine at ACE hardware)

Ingredients:

• 4spinach ice cubes
• 2 carrots chopped
• whole stalk of romaine lettuce
• 4 leafs of kale
• 1/2 a green apple
• 1/2 of lime squeezed
• 1/4 inch of ginger
• 1 Cup water

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Directions:

• add water, spinach ice cubes and blend
• add romaine lettuce and apples and blend
• Squeeze lemon juice and add kale. If you feel you need more water to help you mix ingredients, add more :)
• Lastly add the remainder of your ingredients, carrots, and ginger.

*TIP* Add ingredients in slowly. If you over stuff your blender it will not mix.

Blend until it is a puree.

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Wash your jelly strainer with soap and water. Rinse well. Drape it over a big glass and pour your green mixture. Squeeze the jelly strainer to help reveal your beautiful green juice into your glass.

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The jelly strainer will catch all of the fiber and ruffage from the vegetables and fruit and just give you the straight juices.

*TIP* I found that if i filled the jelly strainer too much it was hard to squeeze and made a mess. In order to prevent this you can squeeze the jelly strainer over a big bowl and then transfer to a glass cup.

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I like my juice COLD. So add some spinach ice cubes, or regular ice cubes to your juice to make it cold. Or stick it in the freezer for a couple of minutes. You want to drink the juice as soon as possible, while the juice is at its maximum nutrient level.

What is your favorite green juice mixture? Let me know if you try this jelly strainer trick!