Sunday, May 26, 2013

Kale and Hemp Pesto



It seems that everyone is touting the benefits of Kale!  With many Americans suffering from various forms of chronic disease, this nutrient dense cruciferous vegetable is the supper food of note.  This strongly anti-inflammatory green has the greatest antioxidant capacity of all fruits and vegetables in addition to being an excellent source of vitamins K, A and C. 

Kale is a very good source of dietary fiber, calcium, iron and potassium.  If the benefits could not get better, it is also low in calories; one cup of raw kale is about 33 calories. 

With all of these great health benefits, I thought I'd make kale pesto for friends but I wasn’t satisfied to make it the traditional way with pine nuts and Parmesan cheese.  One of my friends does not consume dairy so I left the cheese out. if you want you could use nutritional yeast for the flavor of cheese. Instead of pine nuts I used hemp, which is very high in protein. Therefore, if you want to have this with just pasta and vegetables, the hemp would supply protein.  
Kale and Hemp Pesto

Ingredients
2  cups raw kale, firmly packed
1 bunch parsley leaves
3 cloves raw garlic or 6-8 cloves of roasted garlic
½ cup hemp
zest of 1 lemon (optional)
Olive oil

Add first three ingredients to food processor.   

Drizzle olive oil in while processing until kale reaches a pesto consistency
 I served it with buckwheat pasta and cod oreganata.






2 comments:

  1. I'm going to try this recipe but I want to add hemp oil.

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    Replies
    1. That would work too. Let me know how it turns out?

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