 If you check out my new book The Plant Paradox, you may notice I use quite a bit of pesto in my recipes. Why? Well, two reasons. First of all, it's delicious and it adds great flavor to any dish. Second, it's probably the perfect food. It combines two of the healthiest ingredients on the planet, olive oil and basil, to make a versatile, flavorful sauce. Now, basil is part of the mint family and as you've listened to me before, basil affects your mood, it's great sources of polyphenol and what's not to like about olive oil. Now, a lot of stores make pretty good pesto. You know, I like the versions sold at Costco and Trader Joe's, but this time of year it seems like basil is taking over the garden, so it's the perfect time to make your own. I keep things pretty traditional with my pesto. Basil, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, Parmesan Reggiano cheese, and a little sea salt. So to make your pesto, take your basil, and I like a lot of it, a couple nice big handfuls, and then you're going to put in the Parmesan Reggiano, please, Parmesan from a green can is not Parmesan cheese. Spend the money for the good stuff. Then you're going to add some pine nuts. Now I like a lot of pine nuts, there's some very interesting new research that pine nuts may actually fight inflammation better than most nuts, and then you're going to take two cloves of garlic that are peeled, put in some sea salt, and then put in a little olive oil right now just to mix it around, and then we're going to pulse that. Be shy with the olive oil, and as the olive oil goes in, it's going to get creamier and creamy. So you turn it on low and get the olive oil in, and so when you're happy with the consistency, you're done. It's really that easy. Once you've made your pesto, the possibilities are endless. That's why I always have a batch in my refrigerator or freezer. You can also freeze it in ice cube trays for easy, single-serving pesto. It's delicious on miracle noodles, tossed with roasted vegetables, with wild-caught shellfish, with eggs, or whipped with an avocado to make a really great dip for veggies. And to see pesto in action, check out my Portobello pizza recipe. There's a video here on my YouTube channel, and the recipe is in my new book, The Plant Paradox. So if you see basil on sale at your local market, or if it's growing like weed in your backyard, stock up and make pesto. I promise you, if you freeze a ton of this summer, you'll use it all year long. I'm Dr. Stephen Gundry, and I'm always looking out for you.