Our WWOOF volunteer Lauren helping to plant the last of the winter squash
Along with our nightly side of cultivated greens from the garden, we mixed the dandelion pesto into some fresh spinach tortellini. Delish! Dandelion greens are loaded with vitamins (vitamin C, A, B1, B2, B6 and abundant in vitamin k) and minerals ( calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium). They are a great antioxidant and help to stimulate good kidney and liver function.Here’s how Lauren ( our WWOOF volunteer) made her pesto:
2 cups of fresh and cleaned dandelion greens
2 1/2 cups of fresh spinach
3-4 cloves of garlic
juice from 1 lemon ( I’d use some grated lemon rind as well!)
1- 1/2 cups of toasted almond slivers
1/2 cup of olive oil
2 Tbls. nutritional yeast
This was all put into the food processor and blended together. It made two 1 pint jars of pesto, which is already gone! We’ve also been smearing dandelion pesto on our mid-day grilled cheese….sharp cheddar, home-made sourdough, our own bread and butter pickles, and sliced avocado. These we put under the broiler until the cheese is bubbling and gooey. I can only say, I sure hope those dandelion weeds that Lauren eradicated bounce back quickly…we’re out of pesto!!
Try some and let us know what you think.
Fernwood Nursery & Gardens 
This sounds delightful! What did we all do before we learned about pesto??
Pesto is gold! Mix any green thing with nuts, garlic, and olive oil and you can’t go wrong!!
I often think that I should be eating all those plants I’m weeding out! But, so far, they’ve always ended on the compost pile. Maybe this will give me some incentive–the pesto looks delicious.
Some days I wonder why I just don’t throw in the towel and farm weeds….prolific, high in vitamins and nutrients, and….don’t need weeding!!!
J > Pesto is green gold! Waste not, want not!
Pesto is green gold! Our freezer holds many containers of pesto for the winter…truly the essence of summer in a jar!!
Wowsah! Food for the gods. Never thought of making pesto out of dandelion greens.
yummy and good for you…and how cool is it that the wees are being utilized!! try it!
Surely this talented young lady would like to check out the weeds of a friend in neighboring NH and help prepare one of those delicious meals. 🙂
I’ll send her on over, Judy! Recipes like this do offer a new perspective on the weeds we’re all growing!!