Basil Pesto, Garden Fresh

My daughter asked, how come you haven’t made this since last year? Because I finally have enough basil to make a pesto! She had no idea that some dishes are seasonal.

Ingredients:

• 40 – 50 leaves of fresh basil
• 1/3 cup of olive oil, cold pressed extra virgin
• 1/3 cup of walnuts (or whatever nuts you choose)
• 1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
• 1 box of rotini noodles
  (or substitute steamed cauliflower if you are on a low or no carb diet or gluten-free diet)

Boil water for the pasta. When the pasta is almost done, put the nuts, olive oil, basil leaves and salt in the food processor. Blend it all until you have a thick, green paste. You can taste it, if you want to be careful about the amount of salt (or just because it is absolutely yummy!). Drain the water from the pasta, put the pasta in serving bowl, and mix in the basil pesto paste. You can either eat this right away or refrigerate it and serve cold the next day.

Optional: the traditional way to make pesto is with parmesan cheese, so you can also had 1/3 cup grated parmesan to your pesto. In addition to experimenting with different nuts, pesto can also be made from sage or parsley. If you have any variations you want to share, please do so.

This is one of my favorite summer treats. It has two healthy fats, olive oil and walnuts. Contrary to popular belief, studies showed almond eaters lost weight instead of gaining.