Hey everybody! All right, so tonight I have a super yummy quick recipe. They’re called:
Squoodles with a Creamy Pesto
It’s made with avocados and pumpkin seeds.
I use the pumpkins seeds ’cause guess what? Pine nuts, the last time I checked they were the price of gold. Like literally, 36, 38 dollars a pound.
So let’s get cracking ’cause this a quick one.
First, I’ve got these yummy squoodles (squash noodles). Simply use a spiralizer – I just use a little handheld spiralizer like this one, but you can use any type of spiralizer you might have. You can click on the link provided and get it for less than $15 on Amazon, like I did – definitely a staple in my kitchen!!! 
The secret, y’all, to this pesto, is avocado. So I’m going to take my avocado and I’m going to scrape it right into my food processor. I’m going to do two avocados for this recipe. Who likes avocados?
I do! I do!
Okay, so I’ve got almost my whole avocado in the food processor, and here is the key for getting the stone out. Just get it right in the middle, push and twist so it doesn’t cut your hand, right?
So I’ve got two avocados and they can be a little bit on the firmer side, that’s okay, because we’re going to get them into our bowl and process. Mine are pretty firm. Got this huge bag of avocados and I am so excited because avocados are like Christmas for me. I’m going to break them up a little bit, and you can use, obviously, a softer avocado. Either way, if it’s a little firmer, that’s okay. Not a problem.
In the meantime, I’m getting my water boiling because we’re going to blanche the squash noodles. Add about a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil.
Okay, that is part one. Part two is our pumpkin seeds. Now, I have already toasted these a little bit. I like to toast the nuts and the seeds to release some of the natural oils, and I have a quarter cup of pumpkin seeds. So those are going into the avocado mix.
I’m going to add two tablespoons of feta in here. We’re using feta instead of parmesan, just a little change. It’s a little creamier. And I’ve got two good tablespoons in there. But the avocado, you guys, is going to give it a nice creaminess too.
Black pepper, I’m going to add about half a teaspoon of coarse ground black pepper, and I’ve also got kosher salt. Add about half a teaspoon of salt in there as well. We already have some natural saltiness from the cheese so we don’t need a whole lot. You know what I mean, jellybean.
Okay, and then I have granulated garlic. Instead of fresh garlic, I’m using a shortcut and I’m putting in a teaspoon and a half.
Now I’m going to add a little bit more olive oil, another quarter cup.
Okay, you guys, this is looking so good. The last part of it is basil, fresh basil. I’m going to put in about … I’m going to ballpark it. I’m going to put in about half a cup. I’m going to have to cut my poor little plant down to next to nothing, but that’s what she’s here for. Fresh basil, there’s nothing like it.
So I’ve got my basil. I have this beautiful layer of the pumpkin seeds and my feta cheese and my avocado. Mmmm, it’s going to be so good. Now the last part is, I’m going to add … because I’ve already added a lot of oil, I’m going to add about a quarter cup of water into here. It’s not going to water it down. It’s just going to give it a little bit of liquefying power.
I wish you could smell it right now. Garlicky and basil-y and ding! I love it. Okay. So let me tell you how easy this is with this fun little spiralizer. And all you do is you put your squash in there, and you make zoodles. Try it; isn’t that fun? It’s like power tools for the kitchen. You can spiralize zucchini, beets, boy, what else? Potatoes, sweet potatoes … So many fun things. And voila! Just like that, you have oodles of zoodles. One squash per person. So I’ve got one that’s going into the mix right here. What do you do with this thing afterwards? Ding!
All you have to do is throw this in to boiling, salted water. I’m going to take the broccoli, going to add some tomatoes in. Blanched broccoli, if your kids don’t like broccoli, just blanche it. Just a little bit of heat. Little bit.
And look at the volume on that. Look at that. So fun! Just a little bit, and I’m going to let that go for just a couple minutes. If it was boiling, it wouldn’t even be a couple minutes. It would be like in and out. I told you I was going to blanche the broccoli too, so I’m going to throw that in too. Then in the meantime, I’m going to cut up some tomatoes.
Okay, we’ve got some little bit of red, and I am not going to cook these. I’m going to keep these raw. Then we’re going to top this off with a little bit more fresh basil for some, you know, just that something. Because it needs a little something, and a little shave of parmesan.
Then here is where it all comes together. This is the fun part. Okay, I’ve got my broccoli and my zoodles. I’m going to take those out and give them a quick strain.
So we’ve got … Free facial with every steam. I always love that. Free facial with every steam, whenever we strain the noodles. And then I’m going to take our beautiful avocado pesto that we made, and this has pumpkin seeds and garlic and olive oil. Mmmm. I could just eat, like, a spoonful.
So the squoodles are not so long that you can’t handle them, you can cut them; I keep one pair of scissors for the kitchen only. They look like fettuccine. Anybody who says, “I don’t eat pasta,” or “I don’t eat vegetables,” give them this. This is like … Yeah, they won’t know. They’ll just think they’re eating fettuccine.
And I’ve got my broccoli. That was a great suggestion, by the way, guys, to add the broccoli on. Lot of pretty color in that. Then, you are done with that, and we’re going to add some tomato to the top. And how about a little shaving of parmesan? It’s so pretty! Yummy Yummy!
Okay, final bit of garnish and a little bit of parmesan. And I hope you guys make this because I think you’ll really enjoy it, and it’s super simple. Just a little bit more fresh basil on top. Take my scissors and cut a little bit of that. That makes it super easy. I’ve got a little bit of pepper, and that, my friends, is dinner.
This is our squoodles with creamy pesto. We made it so easy. And this is The Real Dish. Real life. Real food. Real people. Real love.
All right, big kiss. Ciao for now.
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