One of my favorite things to do in the summertime is hang out in my backyard in the evening with my husband, while we listen to relaxing music coming through my patio speakers with glasses of refreshing white wine in hand, while munching on an easy appetizer dinner and laughing at our pup running around chasing her ball like a nut.
With temperatures steadily in the 80s and the sun blaring strong every day in the San Diego area for quite awhile, my house has been on the warmer side lately  – which means I don’t necessarily feel like turning on my oven or sweating over my stovetop to make dinner… or putting all that much effort into meal prep for that matter.
We’ve thought about getting air conditioning, but just when I’m over feeling hot in my house and want to see about getting it installed, it cools down and my house usually feels nice throughout the fall, winter and spring. So, here we are, 3 years into living in this house, and we don’t have AC. I’m thankful for ceiling fans, my pool, and air conditioned places that I can work like Panera!
This recipe was born out of me wanting a new crostini recipe in my wheelhouse that uses fresh produce and herbs and features a fun take on a classic pesto. This pesto incorporates in-season avocado, baby spinach, pistachios, fresh lemon, nutritional yeast, and basil from my garden.
It also uses a touch of sea salt plus just a clove of garlic. I don’t like pesto too garlicky, but if you’re a garlic lover, add in more to fit your taste.
The pesto has so much going on, the meat lovers in your life won’t even notice that these babies are meat and dairy free!
Besides the fact that I adore healthy appetizer dinners, especially this time of the year, this flavorful recipe can be whipped up in 15 minutes flat – giving you even more reason to love it.
To make it, slice up a French loaf and toast it in the oven. While that’s cooking, whip up the pesto in the food processor. Spread the pesto on the crostini slices, and add sliced tomato on top.
And just like that, your appetizers (or dinner if you’re like me & love apps for dinner) are ready to be enjoyed!
Avocado Pistachio Pesto & Tomato Crostini [vegan]
Ingredients
- 12 oz French/Tuscan loaf or any kind of thick bread
- 1 vine ripe tomato thinly sliced
- 1/2 medium avocado
- 3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup fresh basil
- 1 cup baby spinach packed
- 1/2 cup shelled pistachios
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast*
- 1 clove of garlic quartered
- Juice from 1/2 medium lemon
- 1/4 TSP sea salt plus more to taste
- Pinch of pepper
- Balsamic glaze for drizzling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice the bread loaf into 7 slices. Place on a baking sheet, and toast in the oven until lightly browned, about 7 minutes.
- While the bread is cooking, prepare the pesto: Combine the avocado, olive oil, basil, baby spinach, pistachios, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, garlic, sea salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse until well combined and mostly smooth. You may need to scrape down the sides once or twice to get everything well incorporated.
- Once the bread is done cooking, transfer the slices to a serving dish. Spread the pesto onto the bread.
- Place the tomato slices onto the crostini, sprinkle seat salt on top, and drizzle the balsamic glaze. Enjoy immediately!
Notes
Nutrition
And before I go, I wanted to share that I’m doing a giveaway on Instagram this week for a month’s supply of Siggi’s yogurts! It’s running 8/1-8/8, so head over to my Instagram page to enter.
Tell me… What’s your all-time favorite appetizer?
Wow these look so good!! I also like appetizer dinners. Hummus with pita bread and veggies is one of my favorite lazy appetizer dinners.
Agreed, you can never go wrong with hummus!
Those pictures are amazing! I could dive into that toast. Give me pesto and I’ll forego the meat. đ
Oh, that sounds like my perfect evening right there, Nicole! Hanging out on the back deck with the dogs, a glass of wine and a yummy appetizer or two. Speaking of appetizers, these crostini sound amazing. I’ve never had a pistachio-avocado pesto, but I could definitely be on board with it. We have a ton of basil in our garden right now just waiting to be turned into pesto! đ (And thanks for hosting that siggi’s giveaway, too!)
Oh yeah David, you’ve got to make some pesto soon with all of that basil that you have growing! Unfortunately my oregano is overpowering my basil plant this summer, so I’ve only got a bit of basil in my garden. I keep trying to cut the oregano back, and it keeps coming back with a vengeance! I’ve to start using oregano in my dinners more…
Oh yum, this pesto sounds delicious! I love that it doesn’t have cheese. Anything with bread is my favorite appetizer đ
Same here girl! I like to impersonate Oprah on that weight loss commercial to my husband and say, “I LOVEEE BREAD!” Haha. It’s true though, bread is my jam!
Eeek these are so right up my alley!! I LOVEEEE pistachio pesto and with those awesome tomatoes!? This sounds perfect!!
Thanks Ashley, it is one tasty crostini recipe! đ
This recipe SCREAMS summer! And I live in the Bay Area, and we get the heat MUCH worse than you guys do heheh! At least the evenings get cooler though!
True, I used to live in the Bay Area so I’ve experienced the heat there! But everyone by you has AC – it makes all the difference to be cool in your home! I’m looking forward to my house temps getting below 78-80 đ