Visiting my parents and kale pesto!

So today I'm with my parents, as you could tell from the title.

In case you don't know, Pennsylvania was (last I heard) in a state of emergency. Power was out everywhere, trees were down, there was extreme ice on the road, etc. etc. There were a lot of traffic lights near me that didn't seem to be working. It was a mess.

So this is what I came home to find.

Uhhhhh, yeah. Although we were lucky, considering our neighbour down the road had a tree hit her roof! (Hope you're okay, Julie!)

While visiting them, I decided to give them a bit of this kale pesto I made the other day.

You know, the kale pesto I mentioned yesterday.

And that's what you're getting today, folks.

Mmmmm, look at that vibrant green colour! Yes, please. You're going to feel SO SILLY for not making this sooner. It's that easy. It's, in my opinion, much more mild than a regular pesto. And it's not nearly as aromatic. (I DO love basil.) But this is so jam-packed with vitamins and health, and I think it's a nice change of pace overall. Also, this is what you should give to people who aren't really pesto fans as a way to get them into it. (Although the dark green colour might turn some people off. I'll admit, pesto isn't necessarily the most "attractive" of foods to some.)

ingredients:

• 5-6 cups kale, ribs and stems removed
• 1 cup of almond Parmesan
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
• salt and pepper, to taste

The other day I found this mug at Target and just.

I just couldn't resist. So this made an appearance while I made this pesto.

But anyway.

Today's essential mise en place.

instructions: 

1. Throw kale into a blender or food processor until it's full. Pulse a few times, add more kale, and repeat until it's roughly chopped.
2. Add the almond Parmesan, garlic, and lemon juice. Pulse the blender a few more times.
3. Add the EVOO and pulse a few more final times until it's a creamy texture.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This is my little blender. Many vegans either have this or the NutriBullet or the Vitamix. I think they're all lovely, really! I've had issues making cashew cheeses with this because it's not nearly as powerful as the Vitamix, but for a simple college student I think it works beautifully.

This is what the kale looks like when you blend it a couple of times.

Throwing all the stuff in~

Make sure you occasionally push things back towards the blades with a rubber spatula. (You can find these for a dollar at any nearby dollar store!)

Now, this is the kind of texture you're gonna want. If you find it's not this creamy, add a little more EVOO until it gets to this consistency.

And bam! Kale pesto, everybody.

And, as a bonus...

I made some fettuccine tonight and tossed some of the pesto on it! So, this is what it looks like on a finished dish. This recipe makes a decent amount, so far I'd say it'll be good for about 6-8 servings depending on how pesto-heavy you wanna go. 

Hope you enjoyed, dearies! I'm off to go get my mother addicted to Once Upon a Time!

xo, Kate

Introducing myself and almond Parmesan!

Hello everyone! So, here's my first post. Expect a lot of food, cats, book reviews, movie reviews, video game reviews... Just expect me to talk a lot.

First, here I am folks! The geeky gal behind the magic.

(Scary, right?)

A little bit about me... Well, I'm 24. I'm a Philly girl. I'm currently an English major, so obviously I'm a huge book lover. I have a quiet passion for science (Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of my current crushes; he's kind of precious). I'm afraid of birds and run in terror if one comes near me. (And by that, I mean if I see one a mile away I'm bolting for my house.) I'm always ready for a Netflix marathon and I'll push anyone out of the way for pizza. Because PIZZA. Oh, and I cook a lot. So you'll see lots of recipes. Like in this post. Soon. I promise.

Onto the next introduction!

Here's the inspiration for the logo, my wonderful little kitty Catsby!

Again, I guess you could tell I like books huh? I also like puns, so this was a win-win.

He likes waking me up before the sun comes up, spitefully pooping if I don't hug him every three seconds, and sleeping next to my face.

Now that introductions are out of the way, let's get cookin'! (I know that's why a majority of you are here, right? For the food? I don't blame you.)

AW YEAH.

So, I'm a vegan. I've been vegan for almost two years (woah!). I love playing around with food and recipes, and someday I'd like to come out with a cookbook for you guys. But for now I'll just lure you all in with some free recipes online, ha! I tend to run a lot of these recipes by my boyfriend (who eats and loves meat) in order to check if it would "pass" for the majority of people in the world, hehe.

Despite being vegan for that long and LOVING Parmesan before I went vegan, I only just started making my own at home. And I LOVE this stuff. It's kind of ridiculous. I pour this on EVERYTHING. I am a "bad" vegan in the sense that I tend to not actually like nutritional yeast*, but this is one of those times where I just can't stop eating it.

*Note: Nutritional yeast is often used as a cheese substitute in vegan cooking. It is often fortified with B-12 as well, so for all of you health nuts out there, hehe! It's also commonly referred to as "nooch" in the vegan community. I can't really speak for all of you, but I can usually find this in any grocery store. But please note that I live in a very vegan-friendly city, so perhaps it's easier for me. If you're interested in finding health stores near you that may carry it, go to happycow.net and enter in your zip code and refine the search to stores!

Let's get cookin'!

ingredients

• 1/2 cup roasted almonds (or really any kind of nuts, but these are my favourite)
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• salt to taste

Mmmm, look at dat mise en place. (Mise en place is a French term often used in cooking that refers to laying out your ingredients before you put everything together, basically. It means "putting in place".)

instructions:

1. Well, there aren't really many instructions to this. You can just throw everything into a blender and food processor until the almonds have been ground to a powder.

However, I tend to use a coffee grinder.

I only add a handful of almonds at a time, since coffee grinders tend to be kind of weak. 

This is the kind of texture you're looking for.

Sometimes the almonds just don't want to behave, though. So if you happen to have a mortar and pestle, that'll come in handy. But don't feel the need to go out and buy one. You could always just take a guilty little snack and eat the stubborn ones that won't grind.

And this is what it looks like when you're done! I added mine to a container just to make it look "pretty" but really just store it anywhere you want. I like putting mine in a sugar shaker and pouring it over EVERYTHING. It lasts a fair amount of time too. (Although I can't tell you how long, as I often devour it all fairly quickly.)

And ta da!

Super cute.

Well, I hope this was pretty nice for a first blog entry! Tomorrow's recipe will be for a lovely kale pesto, mmmmm! Keep aside some of this, as it'll be in that!

xo, Kate