Not-Pesto: Five Minutes, a Blender, and Whatever You've Got · Thaena Inc.
Use what you have. Skip the waste. Make something delicious. Your microbiome will notice even if you don't.
The Toolbox · From Dre's Kitchen · March 2026 · Reading time: ~3 minutes
I made this between meetings last week. I was at a friend's place and she has this beautiful indoor Gardyn garden on her wall, just greens everywhere. So I started picking. Kale, basil, cilantro, some fennel that looked good. I threw it all in a blender with cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic, and olive oil. I didn't have a lemon so I squeezed half a grapefruit. It was delicious.
I've been making versions of this for a while now and I keep not calling it pesto because it isn't pesto. It's whatever you have. That's the whole point.
🎬 Watch: Not-Pesto, Between Meetings
The greens in your fridge that are starting to look a little sad? Those. The herbs you bought for one recipe and then forgot about? Those too. Parsley, dill, kale, arugula, whatever mix of things happens to be in your crisper drawer right now. None of it needs to go to waste and none of it needs to be specific. You're not following a recipe. You're using what you have and turning it into something you'll actually want to put on everything.
The base is simple: greens, nuts, garlic, olive oil, nutritional yeast, citrus, salt. The trick is to put the greens in the blender first, then the olive oil, then the nuts on top. That gets the blade moving without having to add water or over-process anything. Blend it, taste it, adjust. Some days I add cheese. Some days pepper flakes. Some days it's five greens and some days it's two. All of it works.
I like to think about this as one more tool in the toolbox for making eating at home actually fun. Not aspirational, not a whole production. Just: you have a blender, you have some greens, you have five minutes. Now you have a sauce that goes on pasta, eggs, roasted vegetables, bread, salad, honestly anything. It lives in the fridge for a week. You made it. It's yours.
Why Your Gut Loves This
The cool thing is, when you make something like this, you're doing your microbiome a real favor without even trying. Every different green you throw in brings different polyphenols, different fibers, different compounds that feed different microbial communities. Kale and cilantro and basil are not interchangeable to your gut bacteria. They're different inputs supporting different populations. So this chaotic, use-what-you-have approach is actually one of the best things you can do for microbial diversity: rotate through lots of different plants, even if it's messy, even if it's not a plan.
The cashews and nutritional yeast are doing quiet work too. B vitamins, healthy fats, a little prebiotic fiber. Your gut notices even when you don't.
As a bonus, when you make a sauce fresh you're also skipping the emulsifiers and preservatives and added sugar that end up in most store-bought versions. Not because jarred pesto is the enemy (it's not, buy the jarred pesto, eat the jarred pesto). But because making something yourself, when you can, is one more way to lighten the load. And it takes five minutes.
That's it. A blender, whatever greens are about to give up on life, and a few staples. Something delicious that's also good for you, made from stuff you already had.
The Not-Pesto
A big handful of whatever greens you have: parsley, cilantro, kale, basil, fennel, dill. A handful of raw cashews. A generous spoonful of nutritional yeast. A lot of garlic. Juice of a lemon (or grapefruit, or lime, whatever citrus is around). Olive oil until it blends smooth. Salt until it tastes right. Cheese and pepper flakes if you want them.
The trick: greens in first, then olive oil, then nuts on top. Blend. Season to taste. Put it on everything.
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