Pesto Pasta with Sauteed Mushrooms & Asparagus

I absolutely LOVE pesto and decided it was a pasta kind of night :) Stephen said this might be one of the best pesto dishes I have made, imagine if I could have used real Parmesan cheese! Here is my take on a vegan, gluten free pesto!

Update to original post: The second time I made this I did it with green beans instead of asparagus and it was delicious!! This is really a recipe that you can custom make to be whatever ingredients you want!

Pesto Ingredients

Roughly 3 cups basil

Vegan parmesan cheese

1/4 cup walnuts

about 1/2 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

1 clove garlic
Brown rice, quinoa or corn pasta

Mushroom Ingredients

2 cups asparagus, chopped into small pieces
2 packages of baby bella mushrooms, sliced

2 tablespoons vegan butter

salt and pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions: 

• Put all of your pesto ingredients in a blender or food processor (minus the olive oil). 
• Pulse the ingredients until well mixed
• Slowly start to pour the olive oil into the blender or food processor until the pesto has the desired consistency. It should be somewhat liquid but still have some thickness to it. 
• Cook your favorite rice, quinoa or corn pasta & drain- set aside
• For the mushrooms, put the butter into a pan and begin to melt. 
• Put the garlic in and saute for approximately 2 minutes
• Add all the mushrooms and saute for about 5 minutes. You will want them to be soft, but still have some bite to them
• Combine the mushrooms, pesto and cooked pasta and mix all together!