If you are looking for more ways to use up the last of the lovely basil growing in your garden this season, then try making a pesto sauce! It can be frozen and then thawed in the wintertime for a taste of summer. We've been using this sauce tossed with raw cucumber noodles, cooked quinoa noodles, or to top baked wild salmon!
To make cucumber noodles, you will need a spiralizer. This handy kitchen tool makes noodles out of vegetables....zucchini, carrots, kohlrabi, sweet potatoes, beets, cucumbers! You can watch this short video I posted to Instagram a few weeks ago of me making noodles from yellow summer squash. You can order one here. If you don't have a spiralizer, then just enjoy this sauce tossed with cooked noodles, drizzled over baked chicken or cooked winter squash...or? Leave a comment below with more ways you are using it!
Cucumber Noodles with a Raw Pumpkin Seed Pesto Sauce
1 cup raw pumpkin
seeds, soaked
1 cup water
½ cup freshly
squeezed lemon juice
2 to 3 garlic cloves,
peeled
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 cups fresh basil,
packed
½ cup extra virgin
olive oil
Other Ingredients:
3 to 4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
nasturtium flowers (or other edible flowers)
fresh basil leaves
To make the sauce, place pumpkin seeds into a bowl and cover with filtered
water. Soak for about 6 hours. Then drain and rinse.
Place pumpkin seeds, water, lemon juice, garlic, and salt
into a blender and blend until smooth. Then add the fresh basil and blend
again. Add the olive oil and blend on low speed until combined. Taste and add
more salt if necessary.
Use your spiralizer to make the cucumber noodles. Place them into a bowl and toss with about 1 cup of the pesto sauce. Add any additional ingredients. Serve immediately. Place extra sauce in the refrigerator for up to a week (or freeze in ice cube trays). Yield: about 4 servings
More Nourishing Sauce Recipes:
Mustard Green-Lime Pesto
Tomato-Basil Marinara Sauce
Blueberry Syrup
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Alissa Segersten holds a Bachelor's of Science in Nutrition from Bastyr University. She is the founder of Whole Life Nutrition, the mother of five children, a whole foods cooking instructor, professional recipe developer, and cookbook author. She is passionate about helping others find a diet that will truly nourish them, and offers elimination diet recipes, healthy gluten-free recipes, paleo and vegan recipes, as well as tips for feeding your family a nourishing, whole foods diet. Alissa is the author of two very popular gluten-free, whole foods cookbooks and guidebooks: 
Sounds delicious! Would you please clarify: Does "raw pumpkin seeds" mean without the shell?
ReplyDeleteThank you for all of your wonderful sharing!
-Tanya
Tanya- Yes raw pumpkin seeds without the shell. They are often called pepitas and have a green color. You should be able to find them in the bulk section of your local health food store. :-)
DeleteSounds yummy, will definitely have to try it out! I don't have a spiralizer (yet) but I take my veggie peeler and peel zucchini and basically just keep peeling until I reach the seeds and it makes fettucine-like noodles that you can steam or sautee and I actually prefer them over regular pasta. I also just found a black bean pasta that was pretty good too and full of protein. I think they'd both be fantastic with this sauce :)
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! Thanks for sharing Nicole. What's the brand of the black bean pasta you found? Thanks! :)
DeleteAh, this looks great. I've been eating a lot of cucumbers lately so the spiralizer sounds perfect. Thanks for sharing about the summits going on, as well.
ReplyDelete