Avocado-Pesto Brown Rice Fusilli Pasta with Tempeh

In our weekly "online farmer's market", Papa Spuds' dropoff was a bunch of basil. We had some avocados and I came up with the thought that a pesto-avocado pasta might be good. Sure enough, a google search brought up an Avocado-Pesto Pasta recipe which looked good. We didn't have walnuts or pine nuts in stock, but usually have Brazil nuts; my friend Brenda Davis years ago taught me that Brazil nuts are a great source of brain-healthy selenium, and it's good to eat one nut a day. So, I tried the recipe with Brazil nuts!

I simply put in our VitaMix blender the basil bunch, 3/4 cup or so of the Brazil nuts, 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (the only kind I use), a pinch or two of salt, and between 1/8 - 1/4 cup Eat in the Raw's Parma! vegan "Parmesan cheese". I blended on low-medium (I think I set the VitaMix to "4") for 30-45 seconds till the pesto was well-blended, adding a little more oil to get it a little liquidy.

I made organic brown rice fusilli pasta by Tinkyada (ricepasta.com); once it was done and drained, I added some avocado and tomato (I had chopped an avocado and half of a tomato into maybe 3/8" cubes) to the pan. The heat was off, but I covered the pan for a minute or so to slightly warm the tomato and avocado. Then I served the pasta and topped with the pesto. Some sauteed tempeh and salad greens completed the meal.

My wife and I loved the pasta! I would like to try a variant - I think it would be good with additional ingredients mixed in to the pasta, such as a little cubed raw onion and artichoke hearts. The VitaMix makes it so easy to on-demand make things like pesto and then easily clean up!