Dairy free pesto pasta sauce

Last weekend I whizzed up this sauce to go with my pasta. But not pasta as you know it. These ones are made with edamame (soy beans) and mung beans, water and that’s it! They are Organic, Vegan, Gluten-free, Non-GMO and Kosher. You can find them from your health shop. They are protein packed and taste great. They have a range of different flavours such as; adzuki spaghetti, black bean spaghetti and soy bean spaghetti.

I have also been using a bit of nutritional yeast in my “cheesy” meals. This is because this yeast has that cheesy/nutty flavour. Its perfect for vegans as it contains B12 as well as a range of B vitamins including folate. It is high protein providing 9gm per 2tbsp. It is naturally gluten free. And I know you may think of yeast think that’s a bit weird, but it contains one called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It is found in all of us and has very rarely caused opportunist infections (like a lot of bacteria in our bodies will do).

This yeast is beneficial to us because it can support our immune system by interfering with the signals which cause inflammation. Thus, having an anti-inflammatory action on the body. It can increase effectiveness of your brush boarder enzymes (enzymes which aid digestion). Therefore, increasing ability to breakdown food. They can reduce the amount of reactions to foods by strengthening the wall of your gastrointestinal tract and reducing the amount of degraded protein getting through.

This food source would be helpful to condition such inflammatory bowel disease, diarrhoea, constipation and would be a great food source for vegans and pregnant women.

For the pesto sauce:

You need:

- 2 small - medium avocados

- Fresh (handful) or dried basil (1-2 tbsp)

- 1 tbsp. savory yeast flakes (sometimes known as nutritional yeast)

- A handful of spinach

- Juice of one lemon

- 2 cloves garlic

- 1 cup almond milk (use more or less depending how thick you like your sauce)

Method:

Add all ingredients to blender or food processor, except the lemon juice.

Blend until all mixed and sauce is a smooth consistency.

Add lemon juice and blend again.

Mix sauce through your choice of pasta.

I mixed the sauce through the fettuccine shown above, with some vegetables and chicken.

Ref:

Jespersen, L., Lindegaard Pedersen, L., & Moslehi-Jenabian, S. (2010). Beneficial Effects of Probiotic and Food Borne Yeasts on Human Health. Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3257658/