Garden Fresh Basil Pesto

That garden we planted last Spring? Well, the harvest has been a struggle, to say the least. With the heat, and the rain, then the heat, and then the rain again--the unpredictable weather has taken a toll on all chances of getting peppers and cucumbers--yet basil? Basil thrives.  It grows so fast and full that I cannot keep up, as you may have seen here. When we were in California last month, I was talking to Matt's aunt who loves gardening, and she suggested making pesto with all that basil. One, you can freeze it and save it for pizza making, garlic bread spreading, and pasta sauce. Two, who doesn't love garden fresh basil? This isn't ever going to be a cooking blog, but because I've invested in sharing my green thumb aspirations with you and the very start of this garden of ours, I only see it fitting to share about the bounty my garden yields. So, besides the two juicy tomatoes and peanut sized red pepper? Pesto. It yields pesto (woohoo!).

Ingredients

2 cups fresh basil leaves

2 cloves fresh garlic

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

parmesan cheese

Simple Garden Fresh Pesto Recipe: Chop your garlic in the food processor and add parmesan cheese to help thicken up the garlic // Add in pine nuts, basil, and a pinch of salt // Once chopped, slowly drizzle in the olive oil // Give the processor one more spin--and that's it! 

I scooped my pesto into an airtight freezer container to use for a later day. I will probably be making ten more batches of basil before the freeze comes--at least. And for other garden news, Fall is here so that means I can plant some kale which does really well this time of year (yay!). I might get to that this weekend!

PS. How to build a raised planter bed.