Spinach Pesto {or aka Spinach Basil Pesto Nut-Free}

I'm not overly fond of spinach. Especially if it is cooked! (Like my dad in this way, hehe) I do like baby spinach in salads, covertly in berry smoothies, Subway sandwiches, and QuicheSquares, and ummm, that's about it! Yeah, not my very favorite. ;) But don't I know how good green leafy veggies like spinach are for us! :D 

So I had this crazy idea the other day of using up some spinach I was afraid would go bad before the kids could eat it all up in Berry n Spinach smoothies. Was there such a thing as spinach pesto???

Wait a minute?! What am I thinking??? I'm not even sure I like pesto, and spinach pesto??? But hubby was home and he's trying hard to eat more whole foods, greens and such; I really needed to use some of that spinach, and for some unexplainable reason, pesto sounded kind of good and intriguing. ;) 

But, when I looked for recipes, all pesto need at least one very important ingredient. Yep. You know what it is: basil. In fact it seemed a quick Google search didn't even produce many spinach pesto recipes. 

And yes, my kitchen did not have any fresh basil! (I needed to make dinner in 30 minutes so no running to the store! I doubt our small city grocery stores had reasonably priced and decent basil this time of year anyways :) lol) 

So, crazy girl I am, I said, "Ah well! I can be brave and weird and make spinach pesto without the basil. Right???" 

I chose this recipe over at Two Peas and Their Pod blog. It called for a lot of spinach and not that much basil, and so I went for it! Guess what?! It was DELICIOUS! Very different, unique, super healthy, and good! Win, win! :) 

Here's what I made below. By the way, I used a blender stick and although I had to go a bit slow through the four cups of spinach, it did a great job! 

Aren't all the colors so pretty?! :D 

Pesto, a little colored spiral noodles, some yummy Win-co sausage links, and the tiniest bit of Alfredo sauce (that's what the kids had with their pasta and sausage, but they couldn't eat the whole jar right?! Lol) 

Here is the link to Two Peas and Their Pod blog post. They have such a wonderful blog; I'm looking forward to exploring it more! 

And yes. You MUST get some spinach and maybe basil too (wink wink) and make this pesto this week!!!! Seth raved about it for days. I guess I know what I need to fix on his next weekend off ;) 

http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/spinach-basil-pesto/

Do you like pesto? Ever had pesto made with spinach and basil? I'd love to know how else we should try the pesto! Would love to hear from you so leave a comment when you can :) 

                          ~enjoy~ 

{hello again}

Hello! It has been over a year since I've been able to blog. My family had some trying circumstances last year and we had to make several moves around the country and for 9 months I barely had cell service and only Internet when I could get to town or stood in a half window! Lol. So needless to say, blogging was really hard to do, and near impossible! 

We finally have moved (again!) to a lovely new rental house and we have constant internet! And I can blog again! Yay!!!! :) 

And.... My love for cooking and baking has grown again in my heart. Truthfully, this past year has been the hardest, I think, of my life, and it felt like so many things that normally bring me joy lacked luster, spice, and love, including cooking and blogging. However, little seeds fell from those plants and are sprouting again ;) 

So! 

First up are a few things I've discovered and enjoyed this past week..... Check out their separate posts on the main page :) And always...  Enjoy your kitchens, enjoy cooking for your family! Because when you cook and bake with love it doesn't have to gourmet or fancy to be right! <3