Pesto!

My basil crop ended up producing fairly well for us, this year. [My Roma tomatoes, on the other hand? Still green.]

Last year when I made pesto, I did all the chopping by hand. And let me just say, chopping handfuls of basil into tiny pieces with a knife isn't too exciting.

This year?

Hello, new kitchen friend.

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I fully enjoyed this new kitchen appliance. [And thank you, Dana, for the KitchenAid recommendation.] I'm not exactly sure what else this will come in handy for, yet, but making pesto ROCKS with it.

Here's the pesto recipe I use:

2 cups basil (washed)
1/4 cup pine nuts
3 garlic cloves
1 T lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil

*The recipe also calls for 1/4 cup parmesan, but since I'm freezing it, and cheese doesn't freeze so well, I add that later.

This is what I do after the pesto is all blended up:

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That doesn't look very pretty, I realize. But it tastes really good. And that's what matters.

And here it is, frozen in handy chunks. That way when I make pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce or pasta, I can just grab a couple of cubes out and plop them in for extra flavor. Mmm!

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