Ridiculously Easy Walnut Sauce

Recently, I’ve been going through the recipes in “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease” by Caldwell Esselstyn and I’ve been finding some serious gems.  I bought the book a long while ago and didn’t really take the time to go through the recipe section, mainly because they seemed really simple and pedestrian, and also because they didn’t have pictures!  So sue me, I like picture books.  Thankfully, my mom doesn’t need pictures to be happy and started trying out various dishes in the book a couple months ago.  I tried some of the stuff she made and it was ridiculously good…my mom’s an amazing chef, but a well-executed bad recipe is still bad.  I decided to take a closer look myself, and I’ve found some things I’m definitely going to keep in my permanent recipe arsenal.  Probably the simplest recipe in the book might be one of the best – their “Miraculous Walnut Sauce.” With a name like that I figured I should try it – who knows what could happen, maybe I’d learn how to dunk a basketball or win 1 million dollars.  Unfortunately, neither of those things happened, but this sauce is still pretty damn good.   Use it over raw or cooked veggies, use it in a wrap, use it as a dip for steamed artichokes…the options are nearly endless.  It is relatively high in fat due to the walnuts, so if you’re trying to lose weight, I’d recommend adding more water and/or using it sparingly.  The recipe in the book doesn’t call for lemon, but since I add lemon to everything and I was planning on eating the sauce over kale, I threw it in.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tablespoons low sodium tamari or soy sauce
• Juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend.  That’s it.

Sometimes the best things to eat are the simplest, if you use the right ingredients.  This is a perfect example of that.  Try it and tell me what you put it on.