recipe #20 - baby spinach pesto

I don't know about you, but I hate throwing food out. I'm always drawn to the pre-packaged baby spinach containers at the grocery store but as a house of one, i find it hard to finish them without throwing half of it out. Cut to the following week and I buy another one, and throw half away once again; it's a vicious cycle. When I noticed mine starting to go bad this morning I realized I had to do something, thus baby spinach pesto was born.

Baby Spinach Pesto *my apologies for the instagram photo - my camera is charging*

Ingredients:

-2 cups of baby spinach *easily adaptable to how much baby spinach you have*
-2 cloves of garlic; sliced
-1/4 tsp of basil
-1 1/2 tbsp pine nuts *easily adaptable to whatever nut you may have on hand since pine nuts are crazy expensive i just happened to have a few lying around*
-1/8 cup olive oil
-1/4 cup parmesan
-a pinch of herbamare *or salt, i just prefer to use herbamare*

1. Put everything in food processor and pulse until blended. I added a bit extra olive oil until it was a sauce-type consistency.

Voila! Congratulations you didn't end up having to throw out half a container of baby spinach. I plan on using mine as a pizza sauce later on tonight. How about you?

-mjb

recipe #19 - Chia Seed Preserves

To say I've become a bit obsessed with chia seeds would be an understatement. Not only have I been making my own chocolate chia seed pudding for breakfast at work for a few weeks now (recipe to come, once I take a proper photograph of it and not a silly instagram), but I have also been adding them into everything under the sun; sauces, salads, etc. They are chock full of health benefits including fiber and omega 3 to name a few.  When I saw that Oh She Glows had made a jam recipe, I knew I had to make my own or three, peach, peach-raspberry and blueberry.

1. Peach 2. Peach-Raspberry 3. Blueberry

Here's my adaptation for peach preserve:

Ingredients:

-3 cups pealed and cut up peach pieces
-2 tbsp honey
-2 tbsp chia seeds

1. In a medium pot, add peaches and honey, bring to a boil at a low heat level.
2. Once boiling, turn down the heat and mash up the fruit for around five minutes.
3. Stir in chia seeds and let it thicken for twenty minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Remove from heat and let cool; add to jar/container. It lasts in the fridge for around a week.

*For peach-raspberry/blueberry preserve:

I used the same recipe as above, however I used maple syrup instead of honey.

I've been enjoying mine with oatmeal in the morning. It makes it taste like pie filling. Other uses on waffles/pancakes/chia seed pudding/toast/etc.

-mjb