Butternut Goat Cheese & Pesto Bites {dairy free option}
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 35-45
Ingredients
  • 1 large butternut squash
  • ½ cup of soft goat cheese
  • 2 tablespoons of unrefined coconut oil
  • ******************************************
  • To Make Dairy-Free Pesto:
  • 1 cup of soaked walnuts or cashews
  • ½ cup frozen or fresh spinach
  • 3 stems full of basil leaves
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • ½ tsp Himalayan pink sea salt
  • ¼ tsp garlic powder
Instructions
  1. Bake butternut squash in a 350 oven for 15 minutes and cool until ready to cut.
  2. In a food processor or Vitamix, blend all the pesto ingredients until creamy and refrigerate.
  3. After squash is cooled, cut in half and use a peeler to discard the skin.
  4. Cut the edges off the rounded halves to give it a more box square look. You can eat or freeze leftover slices.
  5. Cut halves into cubed squares, trying to keep them all similar in size for baking purposes.
  6. In a large bowl, mix squares with coconut oil and place on a cookie sheet, bake for 15-20 min. until they are firm but soft.
  7. Pipe goat cheese on squares and broil for 5 minutes to get that pretty golden edge. Drizzle pesto and enjoy immediately.
Notes
If time is of the essence you can pre-bake and cut squash. It will last in the refrigerator for a few days until you are ready to assemble them. I love the flavors of the goat cheese with the pesto.However, if you are vegan or dairy free you can just drizzle the pesto over the squash. I use other nuts in this pesto recipe because pine nuts have been very costly lately (not to mention they are mostly from China). I prefer to keep it in the states with the "somewhat" USDA standards...no disrespect to my Asian friends. Soaking nuts does help make the pesto creamy. Read my post on soaking nuts if you are new to this concept click on the P.S. below this post.
Recipe by Spoonful of Health Delicious Gluten Free Recipes, Paleo and FreeDiet approved at https://spoonfulofhealth.com/butternut-goat-cheese-pesto-bites-paleo-gluten-free-dairy-free-option/