I love this pesto, which is so versatile – it can be mixed into soup, thinned with water or more extra virgin olive oil to make a sauce, spooned over veggies, grains, beans. Pesto can be used as a thick pasta sauce, served over chicken, shrimp, scallops, tofu, grilled vegetables or even on bread instead of butter. You can use it as a dip for a colorful crudité platter, or with slices of gorgeous, baked purple yams.

Makes about 3-4 cups (I love this on just about everything; it keeps days in the frig & freezes well)

4 C loosely packed fresh basil and parsley	4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
you might choose mint or cilantro instead	1 tsp good salt, more to taste
1 C almond slivers; or substitute hemp seeds	1 C (or more) extra virgin olive oil… Don’t stint, it’s good fat!
6 cloves garlic (more if you want)

When making in a food processor, combine basil and parsley leaves with almond slivers, garlic, lemon juice and salt. Pulse about 10 times. You’ll have to stop food processor and scrape down the sides of the machine with a rubber spatula once or twice. Start processor, drizzle in olive oil (EVOO).

Taste and add more lemon juice and/or salt if you like. Store, covered, in the frig for at least an hour so the flavors can meld. I like to pour a thin layer of EVOO on top to help keep pesto bright green. As I’ve said above, yes, you can store pesto in the fridge for up to 5 days. Isn’t that great!?! You can also freeze if you’re not going to use it up by putting pesto on everything.

When making in a super blender like a Vitamix or DynaPro, add ½ C water to the recipe and put that together with the EVOO in the machine first. Then add everything else, including the parsley stems. You will need to stop the blender several times to scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula. Using a super blender yields a smoother pesto then when making in a food processor. Play with this and make the consistency you like…. True confessions – I add another ½ C of EVOO and more salt, too! See the paragraph above for info about flavor and storage. This is delish….