Simple Walnut Sauce.

As a now-whole-food-junkie, there came a time when I had to give up prepackaged sauces.  You know, like delicious Stubb's Barbeque Sauce?  Instead, I've learned to make my own - and for some reason, am always surprised at how quickly a sauce can come together.  

Take this delicious walnut sauce, for example.  It has that smooth, delicious nut flavor, is rich in good fats, vitamins, and minerals - and whips up in no time.  

Drizzle over some grilled or shredded chicken and you're in for a treat, my friend.

Once you get over the mental-block of making sauces from scratch, I think you'll learn to love the flexibility you can have with them!

Walnut Sauce

Adapted from Nourishing Traditions

 - 2 cups walnuts
 - 2-3 cups CHICKEN STOCK
 - 3 tablespoon rapadura or honey
 - 1/2 cup pomegranate molasses or 1/2 cup naturally-sweetened strawberry jam or 12 ounces concentrated pomegranate juice
 - 1 tablespoon high-quality balsamic vinegar
 - Salt and pepper

Step One:  In a food processor (or high powered blender!), grind the walnuts into a paste.  Gently mix in the stock and rapadura.  Note: If using pomegranate molasses, use the larger amount of stock. 

Step Two:  Transfer the sauce to a saucepan and add in the pomegranate juice, pomegranate molasses, or jam.  And then the balsamic.

Step Three:  Bring the sauce to a simmer and allow it to gently simmer and reduce over the course of 30 minutes.  This would be a great time to prepare your chicken, brown rice, or a side salad to go with it!

Step Four:  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  And then drizzle to your hearts content.

This would be a great sauce to mix a large batch of and freeze - it'd be delicious over any grain and with any meat.

And speaking of meat, tonight we're having friends over for steak!  And lots of heart-healthy roasted vegetables, of course.

But steak, too!

And veggies.

And steak!

I shall now go and do something more productive than blubbering on about steak.  And getting it eat it.  Which I do.

The end.

Walnut Sauce

• 2 cups walnuts
• 2-3 cups CHICKEN STOCK
• 3 tbsp rapadura or honey
• ½ cup pomegranate molasses  (or 1/2 cup naturally-sweetened strawberry jam or 12 ounces concentrated pomegranate juice)
• 1 tbsp high-quality balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper

1. In a food processor (or high powered blender!), grind the walnuts into a paste.  Gently mix in the stock and rapadura.  

   Note: If using pomegranate molasses, use the larger amount of stock. 

2. Transfer the sauce to a saucepan and add in the pomegranate juice, pomegranate molasses, or jam.  And then the balsamic.

3. Bring the sauce to a simmer and allow it to gently simmer and reduce over the course of 30 minutes.  This would be a great time to prepare your chicken, brown rice, or a side salad to go with it!

4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  And then drizzle to your hearts content.