What can you do with a dandelion? Dandelion Pesto.

Dandelions, as I've said before, are amazing. The whole plant really. Beyond their simple joyful colour and the happiness blowing their seeds can bring, they also can be food and medicine. Tea made from the leaves and roots is detoxifying, and liver-cleansing. Tea made from the flowers can cure a headache. If you gather the leaves before the blossoms bloom, they make a tasty addition to salad (you can still eat the leaves after they blossom, they'll just be more bitter.)

I happen to actually enjoy the bitterness of dandelion leaves (which is also very good for digestion) and collected about 2 cups worth from around my neighbourhood and made dandelion pesto with them. It was rather good, though I may have gone a little extreme with the garlic. Here's my basic recipe:

Dandelion Pesto
 2 cups loosely packed dandelion leaves
2 or 3 garlic cloves (I think I ended up using 5 - too much!)
a handful of walnuts
1/3 cup olive oil (approximately)
salt to taste
a dash of honey
a splash of balsamic-vinegar

 Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender and blend until relatively smooth. Taste, add more oil if it seems to thick to you, more honey if it's too bitter, more salt if you think it needs it, more garlic if you're crazy...
Serve over pasta. Enjoy!

yum.