Spinach Pesto

A couple of months ago I decided that it might be prudent for me to start being a little more choosy about the foods that I provide and prepare for my family and myself. I mean I'm getting pretty close to the age where my dad had his first open heart surgery. Granted, there have been some advances in the drugs that can be prescribed to combat hypertension and hardening of the arteries, but I began to wonder if diet might be a more effective answer to these maladies.
I started to look for recipes that might meet my palate's requirements and still be far more healthy than what we had been consuming.
One of the recipes which I discovered was called spinach pesto. One of the things that intrigued me about this recipe was the potential to tweek it and make it a little different each time. I've made it a half dozen times and I'm pretty sure that no two have been exactly the same.

This is super simple to prepare. All you do is throw the raw ingredients into a food processor. I heated a handful of walnuts over a burner on the stove just until they started to turn color and release some nutty aroma. I threw in two cloves of garlic. I put in two glugs of olive oil. That probably translates into about a quarter cup. Next I added the juice of half a lemon. Of course it wouldn't be spinach pesto it it didn't have spinach. I put in a whole bunch that I purchased at the farmer's market today. I cut off the tips of the stems but most of the stems went into the processor. Today I mixed a handful of shredded mozzarella and a handful of shredded parmesan cheese. Today, to kick it up, I put the flesh of a whole jalapeno minus the seeds and the veins. I let the food processor whirl away for a couple of minutes and when I was pleased with the consistency, I added just a bit of salt. I didn't add pepper today because of the jalapenos.

It was just wonderful! The split cherry tomatoes along with the sprinkle of parmesan added just enough fruity and aesthetic appeal to make this dinner a great satisfying and healthy meal.