Green Vegan Meal

Hey Everyone! I tried a new recipe today, it turned out to be a combination of a few recipes and one I made up. Let's call it, "Pesto Pasta with Kale and Stewed Tomatoes" It tasted awesome, Liz and Carly (my neighbors) tried it out and liked it a lot as well. For the recipes that I found online, I will credit the site and attach the link so you can try them out too! Here it is:

Fresh Basil Pesto: Simply Recipes

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
• 3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

I didn't have a food processor nor pine nuts so I used my mini blender and excluded the pine nuts. I also happened to be growing fresh basil from a plant in my room and so I used that, which is organic and locally grown by Shenandoah Growers in Harrisonburg (video)! I also chopped my organic garlic cloves which were used in an earlier post, Local Dinner, and added them to my basil in the blender. Olive oil went in next (I was generous) and then grated parmesan and some salt and pepper to taste. I blended it until it was of pesto texture and refrigerated it. Here are some pics of that process:

Next I moved on to cooking the kale. Now, this was my first time cooking kale and it is a lot easier than it sounds. Kale is a very nutritious super food and increasing popular in vegetarian and vegan diets. Kale was cultivated in the United Kingdom during World War II because of the Dig for Victory campaign. The vegetable was easy to grow and provided important nutrients to supplement those missing from a normal diet because of rationing. Kale is very high in Vitamin K, Vitamin C and rich in Calcium! 

To cook it you simply bring a pot of water to a boil with a pinch of salt and submerge the kale for 3 minutes. Drain the kale and place it in a cold water bath until you are ready to use it. Here's some pics:

Lastly, I whipped up my own recipe of stewed tomatoes. I seeded and chopped a tomato (from the farmer's market) and put it in a pot on the stove over medium heat with some olive oil, oregano, a splash of tomato sauce and some chopped celery. I let it remain at this temperature for about 15 minutes and then removed it from heat. 

Now it's time to boil your favorite type of pasta noodles (vegan, if you want a completely vegan meal) and add all the sub recipes together! This is what you get:

A locally grown apple for dessert and you have a delicious, easy-to-make, homemade and local meal! Buon Appetito!

Thank you for reading and look out for my next post in a few days! Also a special thanks to Earth Talk for having me and some fellow vegetarians and vegans on their JMU Radio Show last night! 

~Ryan

"Did you ever stop to taste a carrot? Not just eat it, but taste it? You can't taste the beauty and energy of the earth in a Twinkie."

- Astrid Alauda