Dedicated to Discovery. Committed to Care.

Recipe of the Month

Walnut Pesto

walnuts

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups packed basil leaves, rinsed and stripped from the stems
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
  • 2 Tbsp softened butter or trans fat-free spread

Directions:

Place basil, olive oil, walnuts, garlic, and salt in a blender or food processor. Blend until thoroughly combined. Add parmesan and softened butter and blend for 5-10 additional seconds. Just before serving, add 2 Tbsp of the hot water you used to cook the pasta. Serve with pasta or spread on toasted bread.

Yield

4-6 servings

Adapted from:

The Omega Diet, 1998 by Artemis Simopoulous and Jo Robinson

Back to Nutrition Services

Recipe Archive

Nutrition Tip

As you savor this delicious pesto, know that it's packed with heart-healthy and cancer-fighting nutrition. Walnuts contain essential fatty acids (EFAs), or the "good fats." The body can't make these nutrients so you have to get them from a food source, making it essential. EFAs are involved in all aspects of your health: reducing blood pressure, enhancing the immune system, repairing cell membranes — even making you less prone to allergies and inflammation. Walnuts are a good source of Omega-3, a type of EFA.

Other foods high in Omega-3s include ground flaxseed and flaxseed oil, walnuts and walnut oil, Canola oil, and fish such as mackerel, salmon, sardines, herring, and blue fish; and fish oil.

Walnuts also contain ellagic acid, a potent cancer fighter. Animals and test tube studies have shown that this substance not only interferes with tumor growth, but is also linked to apoptosis, or natural cancer cell death. Healthy cells have a normal life cycle before going through apoptosis. Cancer cells, however, do not die, they multiply. Ellagic acid actually causes cancer cells to go through the apoptosis process.

To add more ellagic acid to your diet, include grapes, pomegranate, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and cranberries.

recipe nutrition label