Cooking with Kids: Vegan Pesto and Pasta

Quick and easy less than 30 minute Vegan Pesto and Pasta Recipe. Tips – When cooking this pesto recipe with kids, it is best to use two bowls, one for dry items and one for wet and allow the kids to help you measure the allotments.

Health Benefits of the Pesto Ingredients

• Spinach – A great source of iron for vegetarians. Contains calcium, Potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin B-6, Folate, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and many more nutrients. (Read more about spinach)
• Basil – A great source of Vitamin A and magnesium. When choosing basil go for the darkest leaves without spots.
• Garlic – Helps lower high blood pressure. Contains Vitamin C, Copper, Manganese, Iron, Vitamin B-6, Selenium, etc (Click here for  more information about the nutrients in garlic)
• Nutritional Yeast Flakes – Good source of natural antioxidants. Protein, Magnesium, Copper and Manganese, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid and Zinc. (Click here to learn more nutrition facts regarding nutritional yeast)
• Olive Oil – Can help lower bad cholesterol levels.

“Tocopherols (vitamin E), beta-carotene (vitamin A), phytosterols, pigments, terpenic acids, flavonoids (luteolin, quercetin, squalene), and phenolic compounds (oleuropein, tyrosol) are all found in olive oil.” (source) (Click here to learn more nutrition facts regarding olive oil)

• Walnut meal – A vegetarian source of Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Rich in copper, zinc, manganese, potassium, calcium, etc. (Click here to learn more nutrition facts regarding Walnut meal)
• Course Sea Salt – Sodium helps regulate water within the body, but don’t over do it. (Click here to learn more nutrition facts regarding Course Sea Salt)
• Fresh Ground Pepper – We typically, use cayenne pepper in our recipes instead of black pepper, but it is important to know the health properties of both because black pepper is not as strong as Cayenne pepper so you shouldn’t automatically substitute one for the other without making measurement adjustments. (Click here to learn more nutrition facts regarding Fresh Ground Pepper)