Creamy Avocado-Spinach Pesto Zoodles

I hate when people start launching into “I could never be a vegan” or “I could never live without gluten” speeches.
I’m always like “You know that from experience or are you just guessing?”
Most of the time, people are just guessing.

My point is: you don’t know you can’t be (or do) something until you have actually tried it. Even Albert Einstein said it: "The only source of knowledge is experience."
This is even more true when it comes to food.
How do you know you don’t like oysters if you haven’t tried ‘em?
How do you know you can’t survive without grains?

I appreciate when people try being paleo or vegan and then are honest about it: “I’ve cut gluten for a week, but then I walked by a pizza parlor and couldn’t resist getting a slice” or “I went vegan for 2 weeks, but it didn’t last. I failed after catching a whiff of a bacon and egg taco!”
You’ve tried, and failed — or better yet — you’ve found out that it wasn’t something for you.
That’s cool, now we can have a conversation about.
When it comes to food/nutrition you have to try, guessing is not enough. Otherwise how do you know?

Personally, I’ve tried being vegan — it didn’t last more than a few days. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m a dairy, egg, and meat-eater. I’m a your average omnivore and I’m okay with it.
Sometimes I still like going vegan for a couple of days, or take a 7 days vegan challenge. But I can’t do more than that. I have limitations.
I believe it’s an experience worth having at least once; there’s always something to take away from it.
For instance, in my case — after going vegan for a couple of days — I appreciate even more Parmesan cheese, poached eggs, or bacon.
But when it comes to gluten, I have no problem at all living without it. I don’t miss bread, pasta, or pizza.

And when I do, I make my myself a cauli crust pizza, or a cauli crust grilled cheese or some yummy zoodles.

Yesterday I made some extra creamy super delicious avocado-spinach pesto and served it over zoodles.
It was so good, I could not not share with you guys.
It’s so easy too. You’ll make the pesto by adding avocado, baby spinach, raw almonds, garlic, lime juice, sea salt, and chili flakes to a food processor. Then, you’ll process until you have a silky-smooth and creamy pesto sauce.
Said and done.
I love the bright green color of this sauce — it’s greener than green leaf. It looks healthy. It is super healthy.
The pesto is chock full of micronutrients thanks to the avocado, spinach, and almonds. The avocado is rich and creamy and it takes the place that cheese has in pesto.
This means that this pesto is completely vegan; and if served over zoodles it’s a gluten-free + grain-free.
So let’s say you’re going to try being vegan and gluten-free for a week, well this recipe would be just perfect.

Creamy Avocado-Spinach Pesto Zoodles                                                                    Print this recipe!

Ingredients
Serves 4

1 avocado, halved and pitted
3 cups baby spinach
2 tablespoons almonds
2 garlic cloves
Juice of 1 lime
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
Red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved 

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 medium-large zucchini (or any other pasta you like)

Directions

Add the flesh of the avocado, spinach, almonds, garlic, lime juice, sea salt, and chili flakes (if using) to a food processor. Process for 2-3 minutes, stopping to scrape down sides as needed, or until smooth and creamy.
If it’s too thick add more water, one tablespoon at a time.
Take a taste and adjust seasoning. Add olive oil and set aside.

If you wish to serve the avocado-spinach pesto over zoodles, using a spiralizer create zucchini noodles (always read the directions for your spiral slicer as they vary by brand - I use this spiralizer.) If you don't have a spiralizer use a regular vegetable peeler to vertically peel long, thin strips of the zucchini. This will form more of a wider "noodle" from the zucchini, like fettuccini.
Place the noodles in a covered microwave safe dish and microwave them on high for about 2 minutes. Alternatively, you can cook them in boiling water for 2 minutes.
Transfer zoodles to a large serving bowl, add pesto and halved cherry tomatoes and mix well.
Serve immediately!

Nutrition facts

One serving yields 184 calories, 16 grams of fat, 10 grams of carbs, 4 grams of protein.