herbie garden pesto

my energy has been a 3 out of 10, which feels unfair because "I know all the right things to do for my health" and yet I am still human and fall off my own healing journey sometimes.

I talk with clients often about eating 30 different fruits, veggies, and herbs in week to support their body. each different color, plant variety, and veggie has its unique make up of phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, and healing properties and in turn this will support their vitality and energy.

Historically we would have been hunters and gatherers, munching on a wide variety of different plants, nuts, berries, and seeds; now, we buy a box of spinach and eat it for a week straight and still feel exhausted.

When I was assessing my energy, I realized I've been in a food rut. not eating much variety lately and not a lot of deep pigment rich food. I realized this and the hopped out of bed and ran out to the garden to make one of my favorite things.... GARDEN PESTO.

I'm not gonna lie, I don't really like the traditional basil pesto, it doesn't do much for me, but garden pesto?!?! WA-BAM. A mouth full of vibrancy, flavor, depth, and experience you had to be there to feel for yourself. Garden pesto is really why I grow a garden in the first place.

Here is the thing...there is no recipe. It is different every. single. time. A pinch of this, a clipping of that. Oh yes, some of those too. But what my garden pesto always has.... is variety. A wide mix of different herbs that are VITAL, perky, and full of life. Therefore, whenever I ingest that sweet, sweet herby chlorophyll it courses straight through my veins and brings me back to life every time.

Here is this weeks recipe; use what you have and make it fresh!

nasturtium leaves and orange flowers, tulsi, african basil, genovese basil, wood sorrel (wild weed with lemony flavor that pops up in my garden bed)

GARDEN PESTO RECIEPE

• three handfuls of regular Genovese Basil

• one sprig of African Basil

• one sprig of Tulsi

• two sprigs of lemon balm

• handful of nasturtium leaves and flowers

• handful of foraged wood sorrel for a pop of lemony taste

• 1/4 cup of parm

• 1/4 cup of walnuts (use any nuts you have on hand....I just don't like pine nuts because they make my teeth feel funny)

• squeeze of one lemon

• hefty pinch of celtic sea salt

• hefty drizzle of olive oil until it is smooth enough for you.

  
  

blend everything in your food processor until smooth, taste, and then adjust. Need more lemon? olive oil? salt?

blend until smooth

**don't have your own garden? no problem. grab a basil plant from Trader Joes, some arugula, nuts, olive oil and salt and that is perfecto!

have free space? next year throw a lemon balm, tulsi, and basil plant in the garden bed... they are beautiful, easy to grow, make lovely teas and pesto. you won't regret it!

Enjoy on crackers, on sourdough, over pasta hot or cold, or my favorite way - by the spoonful. Yum!

bon appetit.