I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s in a rural area where supplies were limited in scope and adventurous cooking usually involved a recipe that was pretty bland. My father, who grew up on very plain food liked it that way. Give him some boiled beans and bread and butter and he was a happy guy. My maternal grandmother, whose parents came here from Bavaria, taught my mother to cook sauerkraut and pot roast and to put onions in just about everything except pie and cake. And my mother’s Aunt Jenny, whose parents came from Prague, was an outstanding baker who taught Mom to make kolaches and brioche as well as amazing dinner rolls.

While there was plenty to eat, one thing we never had at home was pasta. The only spaghetti I was familiar with came from a can of Chef Boyardee.

Little did I know that years later I would become a big fan of pasta (we used to buy it in 10 pound boxes) and grow my own basil to make pesto. But I’d never tried carrot top pesto until we got a big, beautiful bunch of carrots in this week’s CSA share. It seemed a shame not to use those beautiful green tops so recipe hunting we went.

Because cheese sometimes doesn’t agree with me I was delighted to find a vegan carrot pesto that doesn’t use any parmesan - although you certainly could add it if you wanted to. It’s definitely a tasty dish and one that we will enjoy any time we get a bunch of carrots in our CSA share.