Green Goddess

This has been my summer of three weddings (including mine) and a funeral.  Lots of laughing, lots of crying, lots of family, and LOTS of eating and drinking.  It's been insane.  


Celebration after celebration of life, and  perhaps I took the liberty of overindulging.  Just a little.  OK, I basically spent months shoveling/pouring whatever I wanted into my maw with a devil may care attitude.  And now the devil has reaped his revenge by cursing me with what I can only describe as a not-quite-immaculately conceived wine and cheese belly.  I feel bloated.  Like a tick.

This is why I've cycled around to my health-binge persona.  I’m all about getting back into my exercise routine, and healthy living.  Until the next trip to Europe, when I will convince myself that if the gods created brie and Bordeaux, it’s good enough for me.

But for now, I turn for inspiration to my green goddess, my fantabulous friend Rebecca, who is living with cancer.  She is a rock star of health who basically told the cancer to go fuck itself with a diet of vitamins, enzymes, juices and raw foods. I myself am not brave enough to go the raw diet route.  Vegan is as close as I ever got. But after three years, I admitted defeat to my undying love of cheese and all things dairy.  I guess this makes me a backslider.  Then I added fish.  Definitely a backslider.  Or a Lacto-Ovo-Pesce-Vegeterian.  But that is just a dumb long ass name, so I’m going to stick with Faketerian, ok?

So, basking in my Faketerian glow, I've been futzing around with this recipe for a no-oil green goddess dressing and discovered that it makes a damn fine pesto.

Green Goddess Dressing

1 bunch of parsley (trim stems)

1 bunch of baby spinach (pre-washed salad spinach works well)

½ bunch of basil leaves

2 cloves of garlic (depending on how garlicky/spicy you like your sauces)

1 zucchini (roughly chopped)

2 cups buttermilk (or 1 skinned and seeded avocado and ½ cup of water)

The juice of half a lemon

1 tsp salt

½ tsp red pepper flakes

½ tsp black pepper

Put everything in a blender and give it a whirl till it’s smooth.  Add more liquid if necessary.  Makes around 1½ cups of dressing.  Use on salads, stir into soups, top chicken or fish, add it to your martini, put it on cake, really, whatever.  Will keep in your fridge for a few days.  I just drank a cup of it like it was gazpacho soup.  I’m not kidding.

Green Goddess Pesto

To the above recipe, add the following to the blender:

An additional 2 garlic cloves

½ cup walnuts (or pine nuts, or pistachios, or whatever makes you happy)

½ cup grated romano, or parmesan, or asiago cheese

This pesto is excellent on pasta.  After cooking and straining the pasta, combine the pesto with the hot pasta, and stir.  Add a few cherry tomatoes or some garbanzo beans, if you want.  Go wild.