Walnut Arugula Pesto

I’ll admit, last week was a little indulgent. It was my birthday week – what do you expect? Between the chocolate chip cookie dough grahams and the brown sugar pound cake, I needed to detox a bit (not that you would know it by my frozen custard indulgence yesterday).

I’ve been in love with pesto for a while, but am always stuck on the regular sweet basil kind. You’ve seen me use it in sandwiches, pizza, and pasta salad. I wanted to try something a little different and had heard about using different greens in place of basil.

What I came up with is visually similar but flavorfully different. The arugula is slightly bitter and peppery and the walnuts really give it a heartiness. Another major win – my kids will eat anything they can’t pick off pasta. When I tossed half this pesto with a box of pasta they couldn’t stop devouring it along with all its leafy green nutrients.

While its great on pasta this pesto would also make a great appetizer spread on slices of crusty bread. It could also make an appearance as a sandwich spread or in a side dish tossed with some steamed vegetables.