Have you ever had a time where you just really wanted something to go right and it just… didn’t? This happened to me yesterday… I was really craving pasta salad, and thought it would be nice to add another pasta salad recipe to my blog. So I started working on a recipe that sounded really promising on paper – a creamy, mayo-free pasta salad with a caramelized vidalia onion, lemon and chipotle dressing. Sounds good, right? Except it came out weird. I can’t really describe it. It was kind of good, but it had this weird aftertaste that was just too funky for my liking. But I just felt soooo angry – I’m so used to my recipes coming out great on the first try that I was bamboozled in the face of failure.

And then I started thinking about how hard I am on myself. I expect perfection all the time. As much as I love blogging, I always want my photos and posts to be the best, my recipes to be the most delicious – and I get flustered if they’re not. I mean, God knows there’s a ton of better food photographers out there than me. Why can’t I just be content with the work I’m doing now? Unfortunately, I don’t have any good answers yet. This isn’t one of those posts where I come to a huge realization at the end, and have a “moral of the story”. I’m just really darn hard on myself, plain and simple. And I don’t really know how to fix it. I don’t know how it’s so easy for me to be nice to others, and so easy for me to be terrible to myself. I mean, if I was reading this same thing from someone else, I would say, “Hey, what are you talking about?! You’re fantastic, and the work you do is great!” But to myself, I say, “Be better. Be better. Be better.” like it’s a mantra I have on repeat in my head. I mean, I guess there’s always room for improvement in everyone. But there has to be a time where you can just say, “I’ve done enough”. Maybe not perfection, or mind-blowing achievements, but just enough.

So if any of you have any advice or tips on how to be content about where you are, I’m all ears.

Today’s recipe is one that I made on Nom last week. I thought it was about time an avocado toast recipe made its way onto this blog. For this toast, I paired a super-fresh parsley and cilantro pesto with creamy and rich tahini, topped with black pepper and red pepper flakes for a hint of spice. It came out absolutely delicious, and I hope you all love it! :)

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Green Pesto Avocado Toast w/ Tahini

This green pesto avocado toast is the perfect breakfast or snack, topped with a fresh and herby pesto, rich, creamy tahini, and red pepper flakes for spice!

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 2 Avocado Toasts

Ingredients

Pesto

• 1 Cup Herbs packed – I used half parsley, half cilantro
• 1 Small Clove of Garlic
• 1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Juice + Zest from 1/2 a Lemon
• 1/4 Tsp Pepper
• 1/8 – 1/4 Tsp Salt to taste

Avocado Toast

• 2 Slices Bread of Choice
• 1 Avocado
• Tahini
• Black Pepper
• Red Pepper Flakes

Instructions

• Start by making the pesto – combine all pesto ingredients into the food processor and process it until smooth. You want it to be a little liquidy – it’s much easier to drizzle on toast that way. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
• Toast your bread – either use a toaster, or sauté the bread in a little olive oil until the bread is brown on both sides.
• Prep your avocado – slice the avocado in half and remove the pit. Carefully, make cuts into the avocado to make thin slices. Then, using a spoon, scoop the slices out of the avocado.
• Assemble your avocado toasts – layer the avocado slices on to the toast (see the photos as reference). Then, drizzle a little bit of the pesto and the tahini onto the toast. Top with black pepper and red pepper flakes if you’d like a little spice.
• Serve and enjoy!

Song of the Day:

Tomorrow Is A Long Time – Nickel Creek