Gluten Free Pesto Pasta

So.... In a perfect world, I would have made this recipe 2 weeks ago when I had my last batch of fresh carrots from the market!!! I say that because my farmer friends from At Home Organic Farms tell me to use carrot greens in my pesto. It is the best way to make it! Unfortunately my greens went bad before I had a chance to make the pesto so I just went old school. I am going to give you two versions of this recipe because carrot greens are not always available and pesto is something I like to have around!




INGREDIENTS

With Carrot Greens:
1 bunch of basil leaves (approximately 50 leaves)
1/2 cup carrot greens (not the actual carrots, just the leaves)
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Original Pesto Sauce:
1 bunch of basil leaves (approximately 50 leaves)
1/2 cup parsley
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts, almonds, walnuts, or no nuts if you want nut free
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (if not adding nuts you can increase the cheese to 1/2 cup. Or increase to 1/2 cup if you like it cheesier!!!)
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Gluten Free noodles of your choice! Here I used Rizopia Vegetable Rotini because they were on sale at Loblaws 2 for $4 and they are very pretty and taste delicious! My other favourite gluten free pastas include Trader Joe's brand gluten free pastas and Tinkyada.

DIRECTIONS

Cook pasta according to the package.
In a food processor, (I love my Cuisinart!) while it is running, I drop the garlic through the tube. Once it is all ground up, I stop the machine and add the basil, carrot tops or parsley, parmesan cheese, and nuts and turn the the machine on again. Then, while the machine is still running, I pour the olive oil through the tube, until everything is blended! 
Pour the pesto sauce over the warm pasta, stir, and serve!
YUM!!!

Canadian Living Salad Recipes

Every spring, as the weather starts to get nice and the days longer, I get ambitious and decide to plant and grow my own vegetables. However, I don't really know what I am doing in the garden and then I am not very successful. This year, I have decided to have At Home Organic Farms do my garden professionally. They build the garden, plant the vegetables, ones that my family and I get to choose, and come two times a month to fertilize it and take care of it for me. I mentioned that I saw a squirrel in my garden and the next day pest fencing was installed! They weren't kidding when they called this garden, a "just add water" farm. I even got to name my garden; Jo's Best Ever Kitchen Garden, it doesn't get more exciting then that. Well, actually it does. On Mother's Day, I woke up to seedlings in my garden!
Anyways, tonight I tried two new salad recipes that I got from the June Issue of the Canadian Living Magazine that just arrived the other day. I decided on these recipes because they had all the ingredients that I just planted in my new organic garden. Both were delicious and easy to make. The first was Spicy Greens With Maple Soy Vinaigrette and the other one was Roasted Beet and Feta Salad. These recipes are gluten free, assuming you use tamari or gluten free soy sauce.
I can't wait to see what becomes of my beautiful organic farm that is growing right in my very own backyard and, as for my fabulous Canadian Living Magazine, I will be making the Sticky Glazed Grilled Chicken With Cucumber Salad for dinner tomorrow night!
Here's to delicious, healthy, gluten free eating! Cheers!!!!