vegan spinach-pepita pesto and chickpea pasta

☼ TL;DR / RECIPE

(serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side)

INGREDIENTS
☼ Pesto:
- 2 cups baby spinach leaves
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1 cup shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
- 1 1/4 cup olive oil (solid measure)
- 4 cloves garlic
- juice of 1/4 a lemon
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
- 1/2 tsp garlic salt (or more to taste)

☼ Pasta:
- 1 package chickpea pasta or “rice”
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

METHOD
- Pulse pesto ingredients in a food processor until desired consistency is achieved. Add more olive oil, if needed.
- Prepare chickpea pasta or “rice” according to package directions. Toast walnuts, if desired.
- Gently fold pesto and walnuts into pasta. Serve warm or chilled, but always with love.

The chit-chat…

This past weekend, some friends and I went kayaking on one of Florida’s most magical rivers to celebrate a dear friend’s birthday. It was a perfect day with perfect Florida autumn weather; warm but not sticky with the sky a pale porcelain-glaze shade. This pasta, prepared with chickpea “rice” (which reminds me more of orzo pasta than rice), made for an excellent river lunch, tucked away in my backpack with some cold packs.

I love chickpea pasta every day, but especially on active days, as it provides a solid, non-heavy balance of protein and carbohydrates with taste and texture that always appeal to me. *Also: note that I had this originally packed in a glass jar, but the state park management forced me to switch to a plastic container. I greatly appreciate that this particular area has adopted a “zero waste” policy — truly, we only saw two pieces of trash the whole, five hour journey — but the 1970’s ban on glass containers should be revisited knowing what we now know about how much cleaner glass is for the environment than plastic.

We pulled our kayaks onto the sandy shallows in this sweet spot for lunch, complete with a rope swing… and a resident Disney-level-cute mascot.

He was persistent in demanding our snacks… As hard as it can be not to give a face that sweet exactly what it wants, please don’t feed wildlife! It seems nice, but habituating a wild animal to humans is actually one of the cruelest things you can do to him.

The most exciting wildlife moment came near the end of the journey, when two manatees swam right by our kayaks. As much of my current work centers around manatee protection, it was amazing to see some of my “clients” out and about.