Zero Waste Garden-Radish + Spinach Leaf Vegan Pesto
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It’s that time of year in the garden…We can see all the seedling sprouting and now it’s time to thin them out to ensure our vegetables have room to grow. Most seeds have a 65-75% germination rates so you tend to plant more than you need to have a full producing garden. We have taken the term zero waste very seriously in our garden this week and used our radish and spinach leaves we thinned out to make homemade pesto! Oh and the best part, it’s vegan!
We were inspired by Permacrafters, an online eco school, to make pesto with radish leaves. We decided to take it to the next level and use our spinach and radish leaves we thinned out to make pesto. It turned out amazing! We even topped it off with a few pansies from the garden to make a beautiful afternoon snack.
First, we thinned out our radishes and spinach. We had about a cup of greens. You want to thin these two vegetables out when they have 3+ strong leaves. This is typically 3 weeks after planting depending on your outdoor temperatures. Instead of composting them, save them to make pesto! Wash them and let them dry on a compostable Swedish dish cloth instead of a paper towel. Click here to shop swedish cloths (use code THEPURPOSEFULYOU at checkout for 10% off).
We mixed all the ingredients listed below (you probably have them all in your home) in a blender/food processor and voila, homemade vegan pesto out of “waste” from our garden!
Ingredients
1 cup of radish & spinach leaves/seedlings (combined)
2 tbsp of nutritional yeast
1/4 cup cashews
1 garlic clove
Half a squeezed lemon
1/4 cup of olive oil
Pepper
Add Pansies (optional - they are edible! I choose organic when posisble)
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