Minestrone is easy to make, and there are a ton of recipes out there with different ingredients. I don’t know that there’s anything spectacularly different about this one but I love it, and wanted to put it out there. Feel free to play around with the types of veggies and amounts. The basil pesto topping is a MUST! You can find that recipe in Recipes on this site, or in the Forks Over Knives Cookbook.
Even though I have a gazillion vegan/vegetarian cookbooks, I don’t refer to them too often. I have this thing about feeling like I have to create the recipes myself. Whatever. Anyway, last night I made my minestrone (I guess I should post that recipe too), but I wanted a pesto to top it off. Prepared pestos and recipes for them contain lots of olive oil, cheese and nuts. Well, this recipe, created by Del Sroufe – author of the Forks Over Knives Cookbook – ROCKS! No oil, no cheese, and fewer pine nuts than traditional recipes. It came out so creamy, so rich, you would NEVER know it didn’t have the traditional ingredients. I haven’t tried it but you can leave the nuts out, and use lite silken tofu, to make it even lower in fat. I seriously licked the blade of the food processor like I’d just made cookies. Ridiculous. If you like pesto, try this recipe!! You won’t be sorry!