Omnivore loving vegan, gluten-free & beverage recipes
Sara is an architectural designer turned work-at-home Mom. She lives in New Jersey by way of New England and New York, with her husband and 3 kids under 8. She loves design, being creative, and spending time with family and friends. She loves checking out local businesses and eats and being apart of the local farm to table community. Continue Reading
Spring and Easter Recipes Collection – We have gathered a list of Spring and Easter-themed recipes on Life’s Little Sweets, including cupcakes, candy, snacks, and more!
These Fresh Spring Rolls have vermicelli, cooked shrimp, carrots, cucumber, basil, mint, & cilantro all wrapped up in a rice wrapper. They are delicious when dipped in our easy peanut sauce recipe, plum sauce, or your favorite dipping sauce.
Whether you’re looking for warm soup recipes for the change of seasons, or comfort food to keep you company during the refreshing days of spring, you’ll find plenty of food inspiration here!
Nettle Pesto has foraged, wild, stinging nettles (Urtica dioica), fresh garlic, extra virgin olive oil, Parmesan cheese (or substitute vegan Parmesan cheese, if vegan), Kosher salt, and fresh ground black pepper. It's vibrant, vegetal, and loaded with vitamins and minerals. Try this Nettle Pesto on your favorite pasta, on toast and it's a great sauce to go with chicken, fish, meat, or vegetables.
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Pumpkin Gnocchi with Pepita Pesto is the perfect dish to celebrate the fall season. It is a simple, yet thoughtful dish to create and share with friends and family. The pepita pesto adds an extra pop of pumpkin and nuttiness that pairs perfectly with this pasta.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Hi Everyone! It's that time of the year again: Pumpkin is in season and we want to use it in whatever dish possible before the season comes to an end.
This year I wanted to find new ways to use pumpkin that are not sweet recipes.
What came to my mind was gnocchi. A basic gnocchi recipe is made with few ingredients: flour, potato, cheese, and egg.
Potato and pumpkin have a similar texture raw and cooked. In this recipe, pumpkin replaces the need for potatoes. They are both considered starchy vegetables which creates a great consistency for the pillow-like pasta I am sharing with you today.
This recipe uses canned pumpkin rather than roasting a whole pumpkin to save time. I also added ricotta to the pasta dough to make it soft in texture. The pesto sauce is made with a base of pumpkin seeds (aka pepitas), giving it even more pumpkin flavor and nuttiness. The natural and healthy fats in these seeds also give the pesto a creamy texture, while also having a slight bite to it.
After the gnocchi is rolled, cut, and boiled. You have the option of serving it as is with the pesto, or pan-frying it in brown butter for crispier gnocchi, then adding the pesto.
I personally love it both ways! The pesto can be done in a food processor or high powered blender. The garlic in the pesto really pops in this recipe along with the acidity from the lime and vinegar.
This is a great recipe for people who do not have a ricer to make potato gnocchi as well. Don't forget to pile on the freshly grated cheese for serving!
Here are some step-by-step photos to walk you through this recipe:
If you make this Pumpkin Gnocchi with Pepita Pesto and like them, please give it a rating in the recipe card below and let us know in the comments at the end of the post.
Pumpkin Gnocchi with Pepita Pesto is the perfect dish to celebrate the fall season. It is a simple, yet thoughtful dish to create and share with friends and family. The pepita pesto adds an extra pop of pumpkin and nuttiness that pairs perfectly with this pasta.
1. In a large mixing bowl mix together ricotta, canned pumpkin, Parmesan, egg yolk, flour, and salt with a wooden spoon.
2. Once most of the mixture is incorporated and starting to create a dough, pour the mixture onto a clean surface and start to shape dough into a flat disk.
3. Place disk back into mixing bowl and top with a warm, slightly damp towel and leave to rest for 15-20 minutes.
4. While the dough is resting, gather your ingredients for the pesto. In a food processor or blender, pulse together pumpkin seeds (I bought pre-toasted and salted and they tasted great. If you buy pumpkin seeds not already like this, you can place them on a sheet tray, single-layered, with 2 teaspoons of salt on 350 degrees for 8 minutes), grated parmesan, garlic clove, basil, parsley, lime juice, and salt. Slowly add olive oil as you start blending.
5. Once all of the olive oil is added and it has a textured paste consistency, this is perfect! Set aside and wait to serve with gnocchi.
6. Once about 15 minutes has passed, your dough is ready to be rolled out. Cut your dough into 4 even slices then roll into a log and continue to roll until it creates a ¾ inch thick rope. 
7. Once all four are rolled into a long rope, cut each into one-inch cuts.
8. If you want crispy gnocchi, melt butter into a saute pan, once it turns brown and smells nutty (creating brown butter), add sage leaves and gnocchi in one layer 4 minutes on each side.
9. Toss hot gnocchi with pesto and top with grated cheese, then serve and enjoy!
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Please note that the Calculated Nutrition is an estimate at best.
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