I wanted a fast and healthy lunch, but we were gone over the weekend and the fridge was looking pretty bare, except for some on-the-verge kale and mushrooms and some parsley and cilantro. I was surprised they were still good, and frankly, pretty glad. Thankfully, the farmer’s market is open tomorrow so I can restock. This delicious lunch came together rather fast and would also make a great light dinner. You can use the pearl couscous like I did, but feel free to use any rice or grain that you like. The pesto recipe makes just over a cup and you may have leftovers—great to mix with some cooked pasta for another tasty lunch.
INGREDIENTS:
1-1/2 C vegetable broth
1 C pearl couscous
10 baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
2 bunches of kale, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp olive oil
½ C pepitas
Cashew Pesto
¾ C cashews
2 garlic cloves
1 bunch Italian parsley
1 bunch cilantro
1 Tbs nutritional yeast
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 C water
Salt and pepper, to taste
DIRECTIONS:
In a small saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Stir in the couscous, reduce heat to low and cover; cook for 10-12 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed. In the meantime, to prepare the pesto, puree the cashews and garlic until finely ground. Add the parsley, cilantro and the rest of the pesto ingredients.
Blend until smooth and scraping the bowl if necessary halfway through.
You can either steam the mushrooms and kale, or what I decided, was to lightly saute them. In a large skillet, add the mushrooms and kale; drizzle with the olive oil. Saute over medium heat for just 2-3 minutes, or until the veggies soften. I added a drizzle of water too in order to steam the kale a bit. In fact, if you don’t want to use oil, you can certainly just use water. It’s all about presentation 😉 so I served the kale-mushroom mixture and couscous side-by-side and put a scoop of the pesto in the center. I then sprinkled some pepitas on top. Feel free to mix it all together, then serve. Enjoy!
- 1-1/2 C vegetable broth
- 1 C pearl couscous
- 10 baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
- 2 bunches of kale, torn into bite-sized pieces
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ½ C pepitas
- .
- Cashew Pesto
- .
- ¾ C cashews
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 bunch Italian parsley
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 Tbs nutritional yeast
- 2 Tbs lemon juice
- ½ tsp apple cider vinegar
- ⅓ C water
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- In a small saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Stir in the couscous, reduce heat to low and cover; cook for 10-12 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed.
- In the meantime, to prepare the pesto, puree the cashews and garlic until finely ground. Add the parsley, cilantro and the rest of the pesto ingredients. Blend until smooth and scraping the bowl if necessary halfway through.
- You can either steam the mushrooms and kale, or what I decided, was to lightly saute them. In a large skillet, add the mushrooms and kale; drizzle with the olive oil. Saute over medium heat for just a 2-3 minutes, or until the veggie soften. I added a drizzle of water too in order to steam the kale a bit. In fact, if you don't want to use oil, you can certainly just use water.
- It's all about presentation 😉 so I served the kale-mushroom mixture and couscous side-by-side and put a scoop of the pesto in the center. I then sprinkled some pepitas on top. Feel free to mix it all together, then serve. Enjoy!
