Pesto!

My basil plants were looking more and more distressed as winter lingered. I kept pinching the flowers off to keep it from flowering and dying. (Seeing as they were inside plants, I didn't imagine that bees would help them pollinate so that I could get seeds.) However, the plants went on strike when they got only the most pitiful amount of sun from our west facing window. They whined, and they moaned. They started dropping leaves. I gave them a pep talk, but they just gave me a pained look while breathing out a deep sigh.

I gave in. I told Matthew that basil seeds would make a great Valentine's Day gift. Then I plucked every leaf off of those whiny plants. I had been waiting for an excuse to pick enough leaves for pesto, anyway.

Ingredients:

3 small cloves of garlic

3 cups basil (approximately)

3 Tbsp olive oil

1/3 cup grated parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. In your food processor, chop the garlic until it splatters all over the processor walls.

2. Put in the basil and parmesan, and pulse or chop until it is the consistency that you desire.

3. Add the oil, salt, and pepper, and pulse until combined.

4. Store in the refrigerator up to a week. Otherwise, freeze either in freezer safe containers. Another option is to make pesto "ice cubes" in an ice cube tray and then, once frozen, put them in a bag or container for convenient portion sizes.

Pesto in jars!

Pesto on toast!