It’s been tough going on the idea of meatless Monday with my hubby-trying so many things and he’s not having any of it!

However, I did hit on a variation of pesto that he did actually tell me was good (okay, he wanted it with chicken, but it’s something!).

As many of you know, a traditional pesto is fresh basil, parmesan, pine nuts, garlic, salt, pepper and evoo.

But since I can’t have many things that come from a cow-I have to create other ways of getting the same effect while using other products.  Hence my use of sheep’s milk romano!

Pesto does NOT have to be basil either.  Let’s face it-it’s hard, even if I drive the 20 miles to Sprout’s, to find fresh product here in rural Anthem New River.  But, thanks to the triple washed bags of arugula, kale, spinach and combos of all these dark greens and more-you can switch out the herb for the healthier veggie.

Also, this time of the year you can find bags of pecan, walnut and cashew pieces at a fairly reasonable price instead of the $23 a pound for the delicious but “totally out of my budget” pine nuts.

I splurged and went with some gourmet linguine-wild mushroom in flavor and coated it with this pesto version that I whirred up in my food processor while the pasta was boiling for the 4 recommended minutes:

6 C mixed greens (my had arugula, spinach and kale)
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/2 C toasted pecans
1/3 C shredded romano
1/3 C evoo

That’s it-mixed it into 12 oz of linguine.  RESERVE 1/2 C of the pasta water and stir it into the sauce BEFORE you mix it into the pasta.  The product is very thick and the water will help it stick as well as thin it out enough to be palatable.  As with all pestos, this is very, very rich!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and you‘re all looking forward to 2015!