Super easy, and crazy delish vegan pesto chik'n sandwiches

One of our all time favorite things to whip up is pesto.  If you have some basil, some nuts or seeds, nutritional yeast or parmesan cheese you are well on your way to making a reeeeally tasty lunch or dinner! Since life was turned upside down by Covid-19 and we all started staying in, we've been planning our meals way ahead of time. Like in two week increments. We've been having our groceries delivered by PeaPod & Instacart, and we seriously feel like these shoppers and drivers are heroes. We make sure to tip really well and we leave big notes of thanks on our front door. We read about people tip baiting shoppers and after the groceries were delivered they would change the tip to something way less or nothing at all. Can you even? Like what even are you? Especially in these times. ugh. We try to make up for those monsters. We also use the chat option in instacart and do our best to explain items to them or steer them to where we think they may be in the store. We've had some really funny interactions. That may be a whole other post! But really we can't say enough good things about both services. 

Back to pesto! Look at this beauty! We whipped these sammies up for a quick and easy dinner! We had these classic fluffy sesame buns that we had to use up and some leftover roasted red peppers and some basil on the counter calling to us!  The pesto came together in literally 5 mins and we had enough for the sandwiches and for another night this week. Probably mixed in with some pasta! 

This pesto really couldn't be easier. In a food processor or high powered blender, like a magic bullet thingie, Add the following:

1  1/2 cups basil

1  1/2 cups spinach

2-3 tsp minced garlic (or to taste)

2 heaping tablespoons toasted walnuts

1 heaping tablespoon pepitas (pumpkin seeds) or more walnuts 

1/2 cup Nooch aka Nutritional yeast 

(you could also sub your favorite vegan parmesan or regular parm if not vegan) 

1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

1/4 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)

dash of red pepper flakes (optional) 

Process until everything starts looking almost smooth. Then slowly add 1/2 cup of olive oil, continuing to process until totally smooth.

That's it! You have yourself some delish homemade pesto!

 (keeps in the fridge up to 4-5 days, can also be frozen) 

You can do so much with this stuff! But since we already started talking about these sandwiches let's continue...

We had some of our fave Boca original Chik'n patties on hand so we popped them in the air fryer for a few minutes and then topped them with some of the pesto and some Violife vegan mozzarella. Then into the toaster oven they went for another few minutes. If you don't have an air fryer you can just do it all in the toaster oven.

While we waited we mixed about a tablespoon of the pesto with 2 tablespoons of vegan mayo to spread on our toasted buns! 

You could mix more of this and keep it in the fridge for sandwiches and wraps! It's so tasty! 

Once our Chik'n patties were ready we put our sandwiches together! Some lettuce, the patty with pesto and mozzarella, and a roasted red pepper! (or you could go with sliced tomato!) 

So Easy! 

Holy Moly! So Super Tasty! Even meat eaters would say so! Truly. 

We hope you'll give these a try! Or even just the pesto! Toss it with some pasta! Or brush it on some grilled tofu! Or roasted potatoes! So so good! 

Happy Eating!

xo J&A 

PS. If anyone would like to give PeaPod a try, this link will give you $20 off your first order and FREE home delivery or pick up!