When you have a garden full of fresh basil and parsley why not make some pesto right? Pesto can be used on so many wonderful things; for a pizza instead of sauce, for grilling chicken as a marinade, and especially over pasta!

Using a good amount of basil and a little less parsley makes a nice balance in taste than typical basil pesto. But feel free to make it all with basil if you prefer.

Instead of typical pasta I also needed to use all the zucchini from my garden as well. What better than to make Zucchini Noodles of course!

Many people might just buy a Spiralizer or zucchini spiral cutter for the zucchini noodles, but since I already had a serrated Pampered Chef peeler, that’s what I used.

They look like the bottom orange and do a great job! Just use like you are peeling the skin off and it really doeasn’t take any time at all.

Messermeister 3-pc. Pro-Touch Peeler Trio

I used about a 1/2 cup of pesto with about 4 cups of spiral zucchini which was about 4 of them. I topped it with a few pistachios and called it dinner!

Seriously, doesn’t that look like pasta?? Love it and I hope you’ll give it a try!

The nutrition info below is just for the pesto sauce.

Print

Nut Free Basil Parsley Pesto

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Calories 144kcal

Author Brenda Bennett

Ingredients

• 3 cups fresh packed basil leaves
• 1 cup fresh parsley
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt taste and adjust
• pepper to taste

Instructions

• Place all ingredients into blender.
• Pulse into smooth consistency or to your liking.
• Taste and adjust salt if needed.
• Makes 1 cup.
• Keep refrigerated.

Nutrition

Serving: 2g | Calories: 144kcal | Carbohydrates: 3.4g | Protein: 2.5g | Fat: 15.6g | Saturated Fat: 2.9g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 154mg | Fiber: 0.9g | Sugar: 2.2g

The post Nut Free Basil Parsley Pesto and Zucchini Noodles appeared first on Sugar-Free Mom.

What do YOU do when given an abundance of basil?? Using it for a caprese salad is a great idea but you can only eat so much before it goes bad. Making pesto is the best way to go and you can simply double this recipe if you want to make more than a cup.

Typical pesto sauce has pine nuts in it and although I love them, my youngest has a nut allergy. Leaving them out still makes a delicious pesto sauce, but certainly use them if you can since they add such a nice flavor.

This recipe takes no time at all. Everything is thrown in a food processor and pulsed to combine. Pour it in a mason jar in the fridge and you’ve got a fantastic spread to add to sandwiches, vegetables, pasta or even marinade some chicken with it.

So it may not be the lowest in calorie or fat, but it is all natural, homemade, no artificial ingredients or preservatives and it’s made with heart healthy olive oil. Works for me 🙂

Print

Homemade Pesto Sauce: Nut Free

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 16

Calories 99kcal

Author Brenda Bennett

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cup basil leaves loosely packed
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• Optional: if no nut allergies, 4 tablespoons pine nuts

Instructions

• In a food processor, pulse basil, garlic, salt, pepper (add pine nuts if using) until chopped.
• Add in half the olive oil and cheese and pulse to blend, add in the rest and continue to pulse until combined.
• Makes 1 cup.
• Keep refrigerated.

Notes

Weight Watchers PointsPlus:3*

Nutrition

Serving: 1tablespoon | Calories: 99kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 110mg | Potassium: 17mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 0.02g | Vitamin A: 142IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 0.1mg

The post Homemade Pesto Sauce: Nut Free appeared first on Sugar-Free Mom.