• Prep Time:  20 minutes
• Cook Time 50 minutes
• Total Time:  1 hour 10 minutes
• Course: Appetizer
• Cuisine: Italian
• Servings:  24

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Chickapea Vegan Mac
• 2 Tbsp vegan butter
• ¾ cup plant-based milk
• 3 lbs baby potatoes
• 3 Tbsp avocado oil
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

Pesto Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh basil
• 1 Tbsp hemp hearts
• 2 garlic cloves, paper skin removed
• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 lemon, juice of
• 1 avocado, pit and skin removed
• 1/8 tsp salt
• ½ tsp onion powder 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425° F.
2. Lay washed and dried potatoes out on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
3. Drizzle the potatoes with avocado oil and sea salt, mix well.
4. Bake potatoes in the oven until a fork can press easily into them, usually 35 minutes.
5. Remove the potatoes from the oven and let cool slightly.
6. With a flat glass, press each potato until it flattens slightly into a disk.
7. Reduce oven temperature to 400° F and cook flattened potatoes until the white insides of the potato that are visible when crushed begin to brown, roughly 20 minutes.
8. With 10 minutes left on the potato timer, prepare Chickapea Vegan Mac (heat 8 cups of water in a large pot over high heat until boiling. Add pasta, decrease heat to maintain a gentle boil. Stir and cook pasta for 5 minutes).
9. While pasta is cooking, add all pesto ingredients to a food processor.
10. Process pesto until it reaches a thick sauce-like texture with no chunks.
11. Set pesto aside.
12. Drain and rinse pasta with cool water.
13. Return the pasta to the pot and add vegan butter, plant-based milk and contents of the Chickapea vegan mac sauce package.
14. Stir until creamy.
15. When potatoes are done browning, remove from the oven and let cool almost completely.
16. Place the potatoes on a serving tray then top each potato with a teaspoon of pesto, a tablespoon of Chickapea vegan mac and a piece of sun-dried tomato.
17. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Recipe Notes:

• Avocado oil is recommended for this recipe, but any vegetable oil with a high smoke point will work.
• Oat milk is used in the vegan mac as it is thicker than most plant-based milk and is nut-free.
• This pesto is specifically made for this recipe as it contains no oil and will not run or become messy when served.
• The amount of pesto made in this recipe is exact and will all be used to make these bites. It can, however, be doubled and then divided to keep half in the refrigerator to add to meals throughout the week.