Recipe Post: Vegan Faux Fredo with Kale/Walnut Pesto

You know I typically stick to simple, but delicious recipes because I don't like taking a lot of time to cook. But sometimes, when I have some extra time, I really enjoy tackling a higher maintenance recipe. Tonight was one of those nights. This is decadent, but still healthy! You will need a food processor and a high speed blender (or at least one of these--washing it out between uses). It is vegan and gluten-free.

I stole the original recipe from Healthy Recipe Ecstasy. So give that blog a read when you have some time. I'm posting the original recipe below, along with the changes I made (in red) to please our diets/palettes. It's always fun to add your own twist to recipes!

INGREDIENTS

• KALE PESTO:
• 3 cups kale (fresh with tough stems removed or frozen)
• ¼ cup raw walnuts (I could not find raw walnuts, so I used regular walnuts from the bakery section)
• 2 cloves of garlic
  
  
• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil (I had some infused olive oils on hand so I did 2 parts regular olive oil and one part hot red pepper infused olive oil to give it a little kick).
• 1/4 cup of Nutritional Yeast
• Coarse salt & black pepper to taste
• PASTA ALFREDO:
• ¼ cup vegan margarine (I used 1/4 cup unrefined, organic coconut oil). 
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups canned white beans, rinsed and drained (Three cans of organic White Northern Beans)
• 1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened soy milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
• Coarse salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 pound whole wheat penne pasta (I used my Mung Bean Pasta "go to" for this. See picture below). 
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for serving (I skipped using any extra oil).

INSTRUCTIONS

KALE PESTO:

1. Transfer the kale, walnuts and garlic to a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. With the motor running, add the olive oil in a steady stream and process to a coarse purée.

PASTA ALFREDO:

1. Cook pasta according to package. Drain and keep warm, retaining one tablespoon pasta water.(I didn't bother with the tablespoon of water).
2. In a large sauté pan over low heat, melt the margarine. Add the garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Transfer the margarine mixture to a blender or food processor, and add the white beans, vegetable broth, soy milk and pasta water. Blend until completely smooth.
4. Pour the sauce back into the pan over low heat, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook until the sauce is warm.
5. Add the sauce to the pasta, and mix until all the noodles are covered in sauce. Divide pasta among 4 bowls. Top each bowl with 2-3 tablespoons kale pesto and some olive oil.
6. NOTE: At first, it may seem like you have too much sauce for the pasta, but the noodles quickly soak up all that sauce. To reheat leftovers, I like to slowly warm the pasta on the stove and add ¼ cup broth to help loosen up the sauce.

Look how creamy the white bean sauce is. It looks like we splurged on heavy cream, but this recipe gets rid of all of that unhealthy dairy.

Here's my pasta "go to" these days. It's packed with protein and fiber--and it's gluten/wheat free!

Why I stopped using lotion

I have never been a fan of perfume. I find it over-bearing. But I have always loved lotions. They leave you smelling nice--and at least temporarily--make your skin feel soft. So why did I stop using them?

A few years ago I started having some hormone issues (as women in their 40's tend to have). One of the bio-identical hormone specialists I went to gave me a progesterone cream to use. It's not like I had never used a topical medication before. Believe me, I have had some wicked encounters with poison ivy and other allergies. But for some reason, I just thought of them as topical--treating the surface of my skin--not soaking into the skin. With the hormone cream it really hit me--this cream soaks through my skin and into my blood stream (so that the change in hormone levels shows up in blood work). In fact, warnings on the medication caution you to be careful not to get it on towels, furniture, kids, spouses and pets because they don't need progesterone.

If a hormone is soaking through your skin and into your blood stream, what else is? My guess would be all the bizarre chemicals in the lotions I've been piling on my skin every day.

Here's the list of ingredients in a bottle of lotion I found left in the house:

Look at all the ingredients! I realize it's a bit blurred, so I typed in the first several ingredient below. You get the idea. I don't know what these things are--and I don't want them soaking into my skin--and therefore my body.

water, cyclopentasiloxane, butylene glycol, c12-15 alkyl benzoate, stearic acid, isocetyl stearate, trimethylsiloxysilicate/dimethiconol crosspolymer, dimethicone, isopropyl palmitate, fragrance, glyceryl stearate SE... 

So you ask, "Do you just walk around with itchy, flaky, ugly dry skin all the time?"

I do not. But when it comes to skin care I have turned to Mother Nature for help. First, for prevention, I do dry skin brushing.

And as a moisturizing I use these:

The ingredients:

Coconut oil--coconut.
Grapeseed oil: grapeseed oil and vitamin E

If I want to treat myself to a little aromatherapy, I add a few drops of essential oil.

I have no fear of any of these ingredients soaking into my skin.

I even use the coconut oil on my face. My skin has never looked better, and it never causes a breakout. Plus, I've read that coconut oil has a natural SPF of 7. This is an extra value add for me because I am allergic to every sunscreen I have tried (plus, I worry about the chemicals in them too).

Our skin is the largest organ in our body. It constantly takes in and expels (sweat) toxins.

Shouldn't we worry about the toxins we put on our bodies just as much as the ones we put in our bodies?