Roasted Tomato Pesto (vegan) & Gardens for Health International
Gardens for Health International
Malnutrition is one of the critical challenges in our world today. Many existing solutions are well-meaning, but provide mostly short-term interventions. In Rwanda in particular, malnutrition is a pervasive challenge that threatens the health and economic growth of the nation (it costs Rwanda 11.5% of its GDP, is a contributing factor in 21.9% of child mortality, and 44% of children under 5 years are chronically malnourished.
Gardens for Health International is an incredible organization that is transforming the way that malnutrition is treated in Rwanda by utilizing agriculture. Their innovative approach operates at the nexus of health and agriculture to fight malnutrition by:
- partnering with health centers in Rwanda to integrate agricultural support and comprehensive health education into the clinical treatment of malnutrition;
- and, advocating for policies and programs that include agriculture in the prevention and treatment of malnutrition.
They are currently working in 18 partner health centers, and this year alone they expect to serve 2160 families (10,800 individuals).
Website: www.gardensforhealth.org
Roasted Tomato Pesto
Surprise... It just happens to be vegan!
Pesto is one of the easiest things to make on your own... it takes like 5 minutes and when you make it at home, you can control what goes in it. It can actually end up being super healthy!
Forgive me on this one-- I was throwing together dinner and wasn't planning to put this one up on the blog, so I didn't really pay attention to my measurements when I made this. But it ended up being so yummy that I had to share. The good thing about this is that the measurements shouldn't matter all that much (believe me!) because the combination of ingredients will taste great pretty much any way you put them together. Also, feel free to adapt this to your tastes and to what you have in the kitchen!
What I used:
Handful spinach
A few leaves of dinosaur kale (toughest part of stems removed)
Handful of fresh basil
1 small roma tomato (use any kind)
2 cloves of garlic
About 2 tbsp almond meal
About 1/2 cup of walnuts
salt
pepper
olive oil
Let's Get Cookin:
1. Preheat the oven to 450 F
2. Arrange your tomatoes on a sheet pan with the cut sides up. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. You want to do the same with your garlic cloves, but put them in a little foil pocket after seasoning. Stick them all in the oven and roast for 25 to 30 minutes, until the tomatoes are caramelizing (it should smell awesome).
3. While your tomatoes and garlic are roasting, you can prep the rest of your ingredients. Put your spinach, kale, basil, walnuts, almonds (or almond meal), and some salt and pepper into your food processor.
4. When your tomatoes and garlic are ready, add them to the food processor. Make sure you scrape in the juices on the sheet pan, too! It's the yummiest part.
5. Add some olive oil (I would start with at least a tablespoon) and start blending. You can keep tasting and adjusting the olive oil and salt levels to the taste and consistency that you like! The great thing with this pesto is that the juices from the tomato will add their own liquids, saving you from having to add a ton of olive oil. Yummy and healthy! What more could you want?
Once it's ready, you can use it however you want! I had it with pasta, and combined it with the pasta, some of the starchy pasta water that the pasta boiled in, and the pesto. It was great! But i think it would be amazing on sandwiches/paninis, or even used as a dip for some veggies. If you don't use it all at once, you can store it in an airtight container with a little olive oil on top.
