Vegan Celery Leaf Pesto

It blew my mind when I first learned pesto could be made from items other than basil and could be eaten on foods other than pasta. Similar to how gazpacho specifies a cold soup, not necessarily one that is tomato based, pesto is a generic term for anything made by pounding. We all know modern day food pounding happens in a food processor, so bust that sucker out and prep your dipping items. This recipe also happens to be vegan, and made with pumpkin seeds, but only because I did not have any parmesan in the house. If you can find fresh celery, the leaves offer an intense spicy flavor and are packed with nutrients. I made this pesto because I grew celery this year, thus had a short period of time when I was inundated with leaves. You could substitute basil for a more traditional pesto, or arugula.

Ingredients:

• Handful of celery leaves (could also use arugula)

• Spinach 2 Cups

• Garlic 1-2 cloves

• Olive Oil 2-4 Tablespoons

• Pumpkin seeds 1 cup

• Nutritional Yeast 2 Tablespoons

• Salt - a lot

• Pepper - a little

• Red chili flakes - a pinch if you're feeling spicy

Directions:

Lightly steam the spinach either in a steamer or toss it in the microwave with a drizzle of water and nuke it for about a minute. Long enough for the spinach to start it's magic disappearing trick, but not long enough that you have a pile of green goo. Toss steamed spinach along with all other ingredients (other than olive oil) into the food processor and blend until a thick paste has formed. While processing, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Add as much or as little as you like until desired consistency is reached. If you over blend the olive oil it develops a sour/rancid flavor. Serve on pasta, as a dip, or...? Let me know how you eat it!