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1. Place all ingredients (including fennel bulb) in a food processor and blend to desired consistency.
Inspire yourself with your own pesto creations. Try any leaf or green vegetable. Pesto makes a great garnish on any dish, but especially for bean, potato, corn, or rice. Enjoy!
How Does This Ayurvedic Recipe Improve Wellness?
CLINICAL AYURVEDIC REVIEW
Capture spring freshness with this perfect & easy to prepare pesto. A lightness distinguishes this pesto from others. The crispy, vivacious texture of fennel bulb is tempered by a cool quality the calms the mind and increases clarity. Pumpkin seeds impart a nutty flavor, without the heaviness of pine nuts. Vinegar adds the zing instead of cheese.
Revitalizing
Spring offers tender young greens that revitalize your energy, called prana in Ayurveda. From asparagus, to fennel bulb, cilantro, parsley, and spirulina, tender spring greens are packed with chlorophyll, the substance that makes plants green, waking you up out of winter hibernation. The bright green color and fresh taste of fennel bulb is your cue to its revitalizing properties.
Reduce Spring Puffiness
Your body purges fats and toxins in spring which can cause blood congestion and water retention. On warm spring days, you might even feel that your face and hands are puffy with the extra water weight, which can also cause problems with blood pressure. Pumpkin seeds, fennel, and cilantro are all diuretics which help to purge excess spring water weight. As a diuretic fennel purges excess spring water weight and detoxifies the blood. Fennel has been shown to protect the liver of experimental animals from chemical toxicity. Their mild bitter taste directly decongests blood.
Cool & Refreshing
Although temperatures mid-spring may still be mild to cool, you might notice a warmth in your chest, even on cold days. Somehow, cool weather in mid spring does not chill you to the bone. That's because your body is prepared for cold after the long winter. It is unprepared for heat. Warm spring days make your core too hot. Fortunately, fennel and cilantro are naturally cooling (pitta reducing). You'll feel these cooling properties not only on the tongue, but directly as a freshness in the skin & eyes. Your mind will also feel more relaxed.
WHY EAT AN AYURVEDIC DIET?
Eating Ayurvedically makes you feel nourished and energized. An Ayurvedic diet is
tailored to your individual body type and the specific imbalances you are working with
at any given time. Ayurveda shows you your specific body type’s needs and what
should be favored in your Ayurvedic menu. Watch as you eat less but feel more satisfied because what you
are eating truly nourishes you. Since Ayurveda believes all disease begins in the digestive
tract, food is your first medicine. By eating a healthy diet that’s ideal for your body, you
experience optimal health.
Find out by taking this free, easy quiz.
You'll learn your body type, and whether Fennel Bulb Pesto is a good fit for your body type. Time to complete: approximately 1 minute.
See a complete list of all biocharacteristics.
INCREASES
Increases These Biocharacteristics (Gunas)
Functional Ayurveda helps you assess imbalances through 20 main biocharacteristics
(gunas).
Aggravating these characteristics weakens your body and causes imbalance.
By knowing which characteristics are habitually imbalanced in your body, you will be able to identify and correct imbalances before you get sick.
Every characteristic has an opposite which balances it (i.e. hot balances cold).
You restore balance by favoring diet and lifestyle choices that increase the opposite characteristic.
Taste is used to sense the most basic properties and effects of food.
Each taste has a specific medicinal effect on your body.
Cravings for food with certain tastes indicate your body is craving specific medicinal results from food.
Taste is experienced on the tongue and represents your body's reaction to foods.
Sweet taste causes physical satisfaction and attraction whereas bitter taste causes discomfort and aversion.
Kapha should use less sweet taste while Vata and Pitta would benefit from using more sweet taste.
One of the first signs of illness is that your taste and appetite for food changes.
The six tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent.
Do you crave foods with any of the tastes below?
According to the biocharacteristic theory of medicine,
people tend to get sick, over and over again, due to habitual causes and imbalances that are unique to the person.
Your body type summarizes this tendency, showing you the 'type' of conditions and imbalances that frequently challenge your health & wellness.
Using body type, you can also identify remedies likely to improve your strength and resiliency.
Your body type identifies physical and mental characteristics as well as your personal strengths and weaknesses.
The calculation of your body type is based on your medical history.
The 3 functional body types
(doshas),
are Catabolic (Vata), Metabolic (Pitta), and Anabolic (Kapha).
Catabolic individuals tend to break down body mass into energy.
Metabolic individuals tend to burn or use energy.
Anabolic individuals tend to store energy as body mass.
Catabolic people tend to be easily stimulated, hyperactive, underweight and dry.
Metabolic people tend to be rosy-cheeked, easily irritated, focused, driven, and easily inflamed.
Anabolic people are heavy, stable and grounded, but if they store too much energy, they could gain weight easily and have congestion.
Experiences vary according to the person and constitution. Individual results may vary.
The list of herbal-actions below has not be approved by the FDA and should not be used to treat a medical condition.
Restores the proper function of the body by cleansing the blood and balancing blood chemistry. In Ayurveda terms, they pacify Pitta in rakta. They were traditionally used to revitalize and detoxify after a long winter.
Herbs that promote urine formation, thereby flushing the kidneys and urinary tract while eliminating any excess water retention. As diuretics reduce water retention, they are often used to reduce blood pressure.
Cholagogues stimulate the production & release of bile from the liver & gallbladder. This refreshes and cleanses these organs, as well as increases bile in the small intestines.
John Immel, the founder of Joyful Belly, teaches people how to have a
healthy diet and lifestyle with Ayurveda biocharacteristics.
His approach to Ayurveda is clinical, yet exudes an ease which many find enjoyable and insightful.
John also directs Joyful Belly's School of Ayurveda,
offering professional clinical training in Ayurveda for over 15 years.
John's interest in Ayurveda and specialization in digestive tract pathology was inspired by a complex digestive disorder acquired from years of international travel,
as well as public service work in South Asia.
John's commitment to the detailed study of digestive disorders reflects his zeal to get down to the roots of the problem.
His hope and belief in the capacity of each & every client to improve their quality of life is nothing short of a personal passion.
John's creativity in the kitchen and delight in cooking for others comes from his family oriented upbringing.
In addition to his certification in Ayurveda, John holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard University.
John enjoys sharing Ayurveda within the context of his Catholic roots,
and finds Ayurveda gives him an opportunity to participate in the healing mission of the Church.
Jesus expressed God's love by feeding and healing the sick.
That kindness is the fundamental ministry of Ayurveda as well.
Outside of work, John enjoys spending time with his wife and 6 kids, and pursuing his love of theology, philosophy, and language.
Decided on using the bulb, used stems/fonds to enrich a soup stock. I found 1 bulb in food processor was at least a cup of fennel, so I just added more of all the other ingredients. Tastes good and look forward to trying it with roasted veggies and other recipes this week. Tastes different from other pesto's I've made. Learning that pesto is more art than science, love the creativity!
Delicious springtime pesto. I added the juice of half a lemon. Fennel adds a perfect light crisp flavor. We're using it on breakfast eggs, raw veggie salads, and with pasta. Try this recipe. It's so good and could not be easier.
- Catherine Inglese, Studio city, CA, 05-13-14 (Reply)
I love this! Only thing I changed when I made it again was to put a little less salt in it. It is a little confusing as to whether the intent is to use the stalk or the bulb, given the name of the recipe vs the ingredient listed. I decided to go with the stalk for the nice green color. The pumpkin seeds in this are amazing. Will be making this ALOT!
- Sara Lynne Moser, The Woodlands, TX, 04-20-17 (Reply)
Wow! I wouldn't change a thing in this recipe. It's fantastic!
Decided on using the bulb, used stems/fonds to enrich a soup stock. I found 1 bulb in food processor was at least a cup of fennel, so I just added more of all the other ingredients. Tastes good and look forward to trying it with roasted veggies and other recipes this week. Tastes different from other pesto's I've made. Learning that pesto is more art than science, love the creativity!
Delicious springtime pesto. I added the juice of half a lemon. Fennel adds a perfect light crisp flavor. We're using it on breakfast eggs, raw veggie salads, and with pasta. Try this recipe. It's so good and could not be easier.
- Catherine Inglese, Studio city, CA, 05-13-14 (Reply)
I love this! Only thing I changed when I made it again was to put a little less salt in it. It is a little confusing as to whether the intent is to use the stalk or the bulb, given the name of the recipe vs the ingredient listed. I decided to go with the stalk for the nice green color. The pumpkin seeds in this are amazing. Will be making this ALOT!
- Sara Lynne Moser, The Woodlands, TX, 04-20-17 (Reply)
SPRING DIET
The season is about to shift into spring. Are you ready?
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
The information and products on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any
disease.