Pesto Recipe

Pesto Recipe

2 cups loosely packed basil leaves

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/3 cup pine nuts (found in the baking section or in produce with salad toppings)

2 cloves garlic

1/2 olive oil

salt and pepper

 

1. Combine basil, cheese, pine nuts and peeled/crushed garlic in a food processor and process into a rough paste.

2. With the machine running, slowly add olive oil to desired consistancy. It should be a thick paste.

3. Season with salt and pepper.

 

Can be refrigerated for a week or frozen for up to 3 months (but I've frozen for much longer in the deep freeze). 

 

Our family LOVES pesto! It can be pretty expensive though. So I made sure to plant lots of basil in the garden this year. I started them in newspaper starters, here. They germinated well and flourished in the garden. Basil loves hot weather, so we were very lucky!

 

I had 4 plants that resembled bushes!



I used scissors to clip the leaves off all 4 plants. My colander runneth over!

I prepare the recipe and freeze them in baggies, about 1/2 cup per bag (that's how much our family consumes in one meal, but you can bag as much or as little as you want!). I pull a bag out the day before I want to use it and homemade pesto is what's for dinner!

 

I have lots of freezer recipes and tips here.