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Who loves a good pesto? I do!
I don't miss pasta. I love the sauces! Pasta makes me bloat! I have been Gluten-free for 7 years now. Many of my digestive issues such as bloating are a thing of the past. Gluten gave me daily headaches fatigue and stomach trouble as well as skin rashes like eczema!
If I am going to have pasta now, I choose a grain-free version as well as gluten-free. Why? One reason is that the lectins contained in even gluten-free grains are often inflammatory for people with arthritis. So that means I even skip gluten-free pasta that is made with rice or corn. I consider these pasta choices to be processed foods. The grains have been refined big time. If I am at someone's house who made a gluten-free dish for me and used this pasta, no worries I will eat it, I just don't make it a habit.
Making alternative pasta noodles with my Paderno kitchen top spiralizer is my favorite way to enjoy a pasta dish. I have used carrots and zucchini mostly, but even a sweet potato will do the trick.
Rather than boil the veggie pasta, I choose to lightly saute them. That way they stay in shape and don't disintegrate if boiled too long and they also retain more of their precious nutrients.
Another favorite pasta alternative is shirataki noodles. Thrive Online Market calls them Wonder Noodles! They are actually made from a tuber, the konjac root! They are low carb and have no flavor. They take on the flavor of what you add them too. You can drain and rinse them and have them cold or hot. They are a perfect noodle for soups and Asian style foods too.
Traditional pesto is made with fresh basil, pine nuts, olive oil, salt, and parmesan cheese. That combination of food is too risky for people with inflammation issues such as RA and Spondyloarthropy like me.
So I changed it up!
I easily used my Ninja processor for this quick recipe. Using the larger mixing cup I used basil, about 2 cups, as well as another 2 cups of herb greens blend or whatever greens you have in the fridge! The cup was about 3/4 full. Next, I tossed in 5 fresh garlic cloves, peeled. Don't forget the olive oil, 1/2 cup, the pink salt, 1/2 t and finally 2 T of nutritional yeast.
I love the Ninja IQ setting. It pulses for the first 10 or so seconds and then blends for another 35 seconds. The pulsing lets the olive oil slide on down.
Today, my husband and I enjoyed some grilled chicken apple sausages and dipped heartily into the pesto.
Nuts are often a higher inflammation food as well as dairy. This simple recipe lets you enjoy pesto without causing your body inflammatory markers to creep up.
Have you used nutritional yeast before? It is flaky, it looks a bit like goldfish food! It's actually just B vitamins! Yep! Great for energy so be mindful how much you eat at night. I love to sprinkle some nutritional yeast on veggies like broccoli or stir it up in mashed cauliflower. Anytime you are wanting to add a little cheesy flavor, nutritional yeast is a good choice if you are avoiding dairy.
The greens including the fresh herbs like the basil are great for detoxifying your liver. A healthy liver means it can get rid of toxic waste in the body and not let it build up.
Last but certainly not least is the olive oil. Healthy fats like olive oil are needed to not only break down and use fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E and K, which are major influencers and players in the immune system, but olive oils will help your body produce prostaglandins. Some prostaglandins promote inflammation and some inhibit inflammation. We need both!
Who knew that such a tasty dish could be a recipe for lowering your overall inflammation in your body?
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Buon Appetito!
Brandi Loyd, FNTP