If you eat with your eyes first, feast on this: hot pink beet pesto.

Traditional pesto is infused with basil, making it green and aromatic. The following pesto recipe, however, nixes the basil and replaces it with beets, resulting in a sauce that brings a deep, earthy, and rounded flavor as well as a vibrant color to all of your pasta dishes.

Beet works very well as a base to this pesto sauce, mainly because the root vegetable is dense. When cooked, beet becomes tender but remains firm. It then blends beautifully into a creamy sauce that can be flavored as you wish.

Often, I’ll blend cooked beet with fresh ginger and coconut milk for a makeshift detoxifying soup. Recently, however, I’ve been making the following beet pesto recipe to pair with my favorite pastas (gluten-free varieties). I blend the cooked beet with other common pesto ingredients, including pistachios and parmesan cheese, and voilà! Dinner is served.

If you are still craving pesto’s iconic basil flavor, you can add a small handful of the herb to the mix before blending. However, I find that this beet pesto recipe works better when the beet’s natural sweetness and unique flavor shines through. Basil may dominate the flavor profile.

Beet Pesto Recipe

Serves four to six

• 3 large beets
• 3 garlic cloves
• ½ cup shelled pistachios
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 cup finely-grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 pound uncooked spaghetti

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Wrap the beets in aluminum foil and place them into the oven. Let the beets cook for approximately 45 minutes to one hour. Set them aside to cool. Once cool, skin the beets and rinse them clean under warm water.

Transfer the beets to a food processor or blender. Add in the garlic, pistachios, lemon juice, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. Adjust the seasonings according to your taste preferences.

Cook the spaghetti according to package instructions. Drain and rinse the spaghetti and return it to the pot in which it cooked. Fold in the beet pesto until it evenly coats the spaghetti.

Serve and enjoy!

Related on EcoSalon
Baked Rosemary Beet Chip with Vegan Mayonnaise
Vegan Beet and Turnip Gratin with Thyme and Pepper
DIY Dip: Vegan Roasted Garlic and Beet Recipe

The post Beet Pesto Recipe for Hot Pink Pasta appeared first on EcoSalon.

This beetroot lip gloss recipe is a love letter to nature. It is so beautiful, and not only on your skin. You’ll surely want to eat it all up!

One of the best beauty tips I was ever given was: if you can’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin. Unfortunately, the thought of eating skin creams, lotions, or  make-up makes most of us cringe. And it should. Most cosmetics out there are dangerous to eat, and the fact that we automatically pair them with artificiality is only testament to how ingrained toxic beauty products are in the market and hence, in our lives. We were raised on the notion of cosmetics being good enough for the outside, but not for the inside. But with the skin absorbing 60 percent of what’s put on it, haven’t we been ingesting our beauty products all along?

While there are plenty of natural, organic beauty products on the market, nothing beats the quality, care, and conscientiousness of homemade versions. The following beetroot lip gloss recipe is sensational. It not only infuses your lips with all-natural, vegetable-based pigments, but also leaves your pucker moisturized, glistening, and lip-smackin’ delicious!

Beetroot Lip Gloss Recipe

Makes 40 ml

Ingredients

• ½ teaspoon beeswax
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 3 teaspoons castor oil
• 2 teaspoons jojoba oil
• A few drops vitamin E oil
• ½ teaspoon vegetable glycerin
• 1 teaspoon beetroot powder

Directions

Stir the beeswax, coconut oil, castor oil, jojoba oil, and vitamin E oil in a saucepan over low heat. Remove the saucepan from the heat once the oils have melted. Let cool, while occasionally stirring.

Meanwhile, combine the vegetable glycerin and beetroot powder together in a separate small bowl. Once evenly combined, whisk the beetroot powder mixture into the saucepan mixture until smooth and viscous. Let cool.

Spoon into small 10-ml plastic jars. Seal with a lid and carry with you and use as needed.

Related on EcoSalon
DIY Dip: Vegan Roasted Garlic and Beets Recipe
Vegan Chocolate Cake with Beets
DIY Beauty Recipe: Honey Sugar Lip Scrub Recipe

Girl Image from Shutterstock

The post This Beetroot Lip Gloss Recipe is So Good You’ll Want to Eat It (and Safe Enough that You Can!) appeared first on EcoSalon.