Fresh Almond Kale Pesto - Grilled Cheese and Pasta

Well.... Hello. It's been awhile hasn't it? I haven't really had a free weekend to devote to this blog or to cooking for that matter... it's been quite hectic around this time of year... especially since I'm graduating next month! I bought a huge bundle of kale the other day and let it just sit in my fridge. I never got around to making anything with it.... because ... well.. I've been eating out way too much for my own good. I wanted something super simple and definitely wanted to just use the ingredients I had... I came up with this ... kale pesto.. with almonds (I never have pine nuts on hand..). It was delicious. It was spicy because of the raw garlic, and also had a burst of the kale flavor with every bite... and the best part is.. it was totally healthy.... kind of.....

I ate the kale pesto by itself, also made it into a creamy pasta sauce ( added milk) and for breakfast, I cute a few slices of cheese and spread on some pesto and had the perfect grilled cheese sandwich :) I surely didn't make enough pesto.. but not to wry.. my bunch of kale still looked like I barely made a dent in it.... more pesto to come! ( or chips.. and smoothies.)

I eyeballed the recipe and adjusted to taste. I threw a clove of garlic, a small handful of almonds ( better if it's toasted) and a handful of kale into the food processor ( I have a mini 3 cup one) gave it a few pulses, and drizzled in some olive oil on the top ( not very much.) I mixed in the parmasan cheese and lemon juice to taste, also added a bit of salt and pepper.

For the pasta : I boiled some soba noodles. While that was cooking, I heated a small pan with a spoonful of pesto ( this will serve one) and added a bit of 2% milk to the mixture.  I gently stirred it up and adjusted to taste. I never want the milk to mask the taste of the pesto so my pesto ratio to milk was quite high... more like 2:1. I drizzled some balsamic over the top of the pasta ... and strangely that made for quite the satisfying lunch.

Along with my grilled cheese, I made some kale, chicken sausage, potato hash. It took a lot longer than expected to fully cook.... thought the potatoes would be a lil quicker.. so I'd suggest pre boiling the potatoes before cooking this... until almost done ( not too soft) and then cutting it up into small pieces.