As previously mentioned in my Grain Free Peach Muffins post, I purchased a huge zucchini for $1 at a local farm in the ‘country’ of Pennsylvania. (Truthfully, if you live anywhere outside of Philadelphia, people assume it’s the countryside. I digress.) This wonderful $1 zucchini was, of course, destined to be ‘spiralized’ and enjoyed ASAP. To keep things interesting, I decided these zucchini noodles would be topped with homemade dairy free pesto and shredded chicken.
As a quick side note, I purchased a whole roast chicken from Whole Foods a few days ago, shredded it, and have been slowly picking away at it. (This is a great idea for quick, prepared meals). As if my dinner couldn’t get easier, all I had to do was plop some pre-shredded chicken onto my zoodles and I would be finished. I was already envisioning a comfy night on the couch with a heaping bowl of pesto zoodles.
I began with the homemade dairy free pesto. In my trusty food processor, I combined basil from my mom’s basil plant (thanks mom!), chopped pecans, olive oil, and garlic cloves. You can purchase pesto at the store if you’d like, but homemade is definitely something inexplicably wonderful.
This was my first time making homemade pesto and I was really happy with the results. Some recipes call for pine nuts but apparently there’s a shortage so they’re more expensive. I thought the pesto tasted great with the pecans and probably won’t use pine nuts when I make it again….