Walnut and Basil Pesto

The basil plant has been saved from the flood.  Sadly it’s one of the only parts of the garden that is not water logged.  So glad I brought it inside in anticipation of making pesto!

Pesto is so easy to make.  If you grow basil and own a food processor, there is no reason to buy pesto!  It’s also very easy to alter to keep you taste buds guessing.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups basil leaves
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2/3 cup parmesan cheese (fresh grated is best!)
• 2/3 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Just throw it all in a food processor and let it run.  Add more olive oil if it’s too pasty.

I divided mine evenly into four freezer safe containers.  Now I’ll have the fresh basil taste in the dead of winter.  Yay!

As always, label and date, and into the freezer it goes!

This concludes the canning week!  I hope you enjoyed!

Herb Conserve

The herbs are growing wild around here!  Even though I only spent a dollar per seed packet, I don’t want the fruits of my labor to go to waste.

Are you noticing a trend around here?  I don’t like to waste!  I never knew how strongly I felt about it until I started writing about it.  So glad blogging helped me learn that about myself!

So anyway…I made more herb butter.  It considered drying some, but it’s just so humid!  I couldn’t think of a cool, dry place to dry them properly.

I also have been told that they can be frozen in water in ice cube trays, but I didn’t have any ice cube trays.

Besides, butter is just better than water.  It gives your food even more flavor!

I made them really concentrated.  That way I get more flavor bang for my calorie buck.  Now they are tucked away safely in my freezer, just waiting to kick my dinners up a notch.  Bang!

Oregano!

Chives!

Basil!

Do you worry about wasting food?  Or does your quirkiness shine in another area of your life?