Growing up, my brother would always joke with me every time I ordered a salad that didn’t resemble iceberg lettuce – he’d call whatever I was having a “weed salad.” Little did I know at the time – but weed salads were the da bomb.com nutritionally speaking and usually contained one or two sprigs of dandelion leaves. Dandelion is not a weed. Let me repeat. Dandelion is not a weed! Ok, maybe it is, but it doesn’t mean you need to treat it that way.
To me, dandelion is miraculous, not the butt of jokes. It has amazing powers to detox your liver and I’m always looking for ways I can include this super green into my diet. It’s rich in iron, high in calcium, has more protein than spinach and is packed with antioxidants (all those things that keep you looking and feeling young). Instead of juicing a big bunch of dandelion greens I had in the fridge this morning… I made this instead: Dandelion Pesto & Pizza. Enjoy!
- 3 cups washed and cleaned dandelion leaves
- ¾ cup olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- ½ cup walnuts, lightly toasted
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ⅓ cup raw parmesan cheese
- zest of a lemon
- juice of half a lemon
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor or vitamix and blend until creamy and smooth
This pesto has an intense flavor and a little goes a long way. It’s fabulous on top of pasta (buckwheat noodles are my favorite), as a dressing, marinade, on top of crackers or used as pizza sauce like I did below:
- 1 ezekiel sprouted grain or brown rice tortilla
- 2 tablespoon pesto
- 1 ounce grated goat cheese
- ½ tomato sliced in to three slices
- red pepper flakes (optional)
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- As the oven is preheating, place tortilla in oven for 3 mins to thaw or get slightly crisp
- Remove tortilla and top with pesto, goat cheese and tomato
- Bake pizza for 8 mins or until cheese is melted
- Remove from oven and let stand for 2-3mins
- Cut pizza into slices and enjoy!
Bon Appétit,
Food Babe
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Ok you have asked for food stories here’s what I remember. I was about 2 or 3 years old. And Mom had married a super anal man who insisted I eat everything on my plate, or I was not allowed to leave the table. On this particular night Mom had prepared whatever else and Butter Beans. Well I just did not like them. Nothing about them at all. I pleaded with Mom. ” Please don’t make me eat these or I will puke”. Her reply, ” Now you know you have to do what he sais, or you can’t leave the table”. OK. I had to eat them, I mean ALL OF THEM!!! So I ate the gross things and immeadiately ran to the trash and vomited all of them out. I told her I’d puke! And another time when I was about 13 years old I had a paper rout and did’nt think I was going to be able to deliver the papers. I had a stomach flue. I begged my brother to deliver for me and he refused. So I did it and came home and was sick right in front of him. He remembers this to this day and still apologises. And I just laugh.
What is the life span of this pesto once I refrigerate it?
This stuff is awesome! Jeni, I kept this for about 4 days before I finished it and it was still fresh and delicious. I bought more dandelion greens to make some more this weekend. It didn’t darken like basil pesto can, but the flavor is very similar. I threw some red onion rings and a few olives on mine, and one pizza was really filling. I can imagine it mixed into a veggie salad, too. And for very little effort, that’s the nice part!
Thank you Jill!
OH MY GOODNESS, The dandelion pesto is to die for! Not only did I make a wonderful pizza with it I put it on my favorite type bagel. I love blueberry bagel with pesto, tomato, ham (one thin deli slice) and a small amount of raw cheddar cheese. The dandelion pesto made my bagel stand up and talk to my taste buds. Wonderful recipe that I am looking forward to trying on other items.
I forgot to mention I toast the bagel under the broiler as well…warms it up and melts things just right.
This looks so good! I was wondering if you think raw pepitas would work in place of the walnuts? Thanks 🙂
I have made the pizza with basil pesto many times but will definitely try the dandelion pesto. I put very-thinly-sliced raw brussel sprouts, fennel, black olives, raw mushrooms, and tomatoes on mine and top it with fresh spinach leaves and some mozzarella cheese. Delicious!
im all about the natural but that is not pizza lol
When I had a bad skin rash, my uncle who is a doctor and an acupuncturist suggest my mom to go out in the back yard to take out some dandelion leaves and boil them in water. Then I had to drink the juice. It was gross but amazingly it helped wipe out all the rash fast. So it sure does help detoxify the liver like a miracle!
Where can you buy dandelion leaves in Charlotte?
I love, love, love dandelion greens. I found them at Whole Foods last summer and I am addicted! I have plenty in my yard but I don’t want to eat anything that grows out of my back-filled city yard so I would like to grow some in a raised bed. Can I buy seeds? Maybe I should just snap off a blossom and plant those seeds? Any farmers out there with advise? Thanks a lot!
Can I buy dandelion seeds? You’re probably the first person ever to utter those words.
Just transplant them from wherever they grow into your garden. The seeds are attached to their beautiful little fluffy puff balls. They seem to grow in all sorts of odd places.
There many different types. The one with the angular pointed (not rounded) leaves and single stemmed flowers growing from the base (not multiple flowers on one stem) is the one we use.
wow, that looks interesting. never tried dandelion green before, so i’m very curious. do you think that the pesto would work with almonds, pistachios or pumpkin seeds instead of walnuts? (my son has food allergies to most nuts).
thank you!
I was wondering could you leave out the Parmesan cheese? Not that I really want to but I am clean eating with no dairy. Thanks so much. Katie
Try substituting nutritional yeast for the Parmesan cheese..
I don’t know if they still do but I heard that they used to make wine out of dandelions too so this would be another way to get dandelion into your diet. Are the walnuts in the recipe chopped or whole?
My daughter is allergic to nuts…what can I substitute?
Roasted sunflower kernels is an option. But I often don’t substitute and just skip that ingredient.