{"id":7602,"date":"2016-04-21T12:31:38","date_gmt":"2016-04-21T18:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hottie-biscotti.com\/blog\/?p=7602"},"modified":"2016-04-21T12:31:38","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T18:31:38","slug":"almond-cilantro-pesto-and-yogurt-dip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hottie-biscotti.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/21\/almond-cilantro-pesto-and-yogurt-dip\/","title":{"rendered":"Almond Cilantro Pesto and Yogurt Dip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes I am a good meal planner.\u00a0 I look through the fridge, freezer and pantry to see what we have, what needs to be used, etc. and plan our week of meals out that way. \u00a0Other times I find myself on Tuesday mornings after I drop the kids at school (this is when I like to grocery shop since I only have one child to accompany me) with no idea what we have in the fridge and pantry which leaves me searching for recipes on pinterest and making a grocery list while in the parking lot of HEB.<\/p>\n

Thanks to my inabilty to plan,\u00a0I sometimes come home and discover we already had 8 cans of tomatoes, or goat cheese, or couscous, or a dozen chicken breasts I could’ve thawed out, etc. \u00a0Herbs are tricky. \u00a0Often all you need is a few tablespoons for a recipe. \u00a0Thankfully I’ve managed to keep rosemary and thyme alive in the back yard, but parsley and cilantro are another story and\u00a0so I have to buy them. \u00a0They’re not expensive, but when you don’t need much they often get forgotten in the bottom of the produce drawer. \u00a0I bought cilantro for a recipe because I thought rather confidently “I know that I have parsley at home, but no cilantro.” \u00a0Not the case! \u00a0I had two almost completely full bundles of cilantro at home already, so when I unloaded groceries I now had three bundles.<\/p>\n

What am I going to do with all of this cilantro?! \u00a0A while back I made a peanut and cilantro pesto, so that’s what I thought of first. \u00a0I didn’t have any peanuts. \u00a0But I did have almonds…<\/p>\n

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At this point I had no plan for the pesto I’d just made, but I knew that I could save it. \u00a0Freezing pesto in tablespoons to have on hand for later is a trick I am so glad I learned. \u00a0Having something on hand in the kitchen is nice, but having pesto on hand is especially nice because\u00a0you can incorporate some fresh herby-ness to a meal even when you don’t have fresh herbs or if they’re out of season.<\/p>\n

The best way I’ve found to freeze pesto (this also works well for tomato paste) is to line a baking sheet with parchment, use a cookie scoop or tablespoon to divide up the pesto, and then pop the pan in the freezer. \u00a0Once frozen solid you can put all the pesto balls into a freezer bag (I learned that labeling your bag is very helpful!) and take one or more out as you need them. \u00a0They thaw out pretty quickly.<\/p>\n

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Of course I wanted\u00a0to try some of the pesto right away. \u00a0I ate some on a chip and it was good, but strong (like most pesto) and needed to be cut if I was going to eat it as a dip. \u00a0Plain Greek yogurt seemed like the perfect choice.<\/p>\n

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I played around a little with the ratio but found a 2:1 yogurt to pesto was pretty good. \u00a0Of course you could start there and add more yogurt or more pesto depending on your tastes.<\/p>\n

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The same thing could be done with mayo to make a nice sandwich spread. \u00a0You could also spread the pesto on chicken breasts before baking, stir in to hot pasta, use as a dipping sauce for grilled meats or serve with grilled vegetables. \u00a0Excited to try some of those out as summer and grilling season get underway!<\/p>\n

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Almond Cilantro Pesto<\/h3>\n

Ingredients<\/em><\/p>\n