Kale-Walnut Pesto

This one derived from a recipe I found in Real Simple Magazine, just added a few personal touches.  This is great because once you make the pesto you can use it in lots of different ways.  Some of my favorites are below!

Ingredients

• walnuts (1/3 cup)
• kale (1 bunch, remove thick stems, tear/cut into smallish pieces)
• hard cheese, parmesian or pecorino (1 cup grated)
• garlic (1 small clove) ~being somewhat of a garlic lover, I added extra and it was very noticable, still good, but might be best to stick with one!
• olive oil (1/2 cup)
• salt & pepper to taste

Cooking

Boil water add kale, remove in less than 30 seconds, when bright green.  Combine kale, pecorino, garlic, walnuts, salt and pepper in food processor, when finely chopped add olive oil.  Voila!

Meal ideas

1. Great with pasta: I recommend toasting additional walnuts and adding cheese topping as in original recipe with your favorite pasta (organic whole grain spirals shown above are a great choice) and some fresh diced tomato and/or red pepper
2. Flatbreat pesto pizzas: spread pesto onto whole weat flatbread, top with freshly sliced tomoatos, arugula, grated cheese and bake/toast in toaster oven
3. Use on sandwiches as spread (great with tomato basil veggie burgers)