Last Friday my and I ventured to Ikea for the day. As if that was not enough, we stopped at a great Amish produce stand on the way home and bought about 30lbs. of eggplant, green peppers and tomatoes. We also picked up a big bunch of fresh basil.

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I couldn’t wait to turn the basil into fresh, reduced oil pesto.

Fresh Basil Pesto

  • 3 cups fresh basil leaves
  • 1 cup raw almonds
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup olive oil + more according to how thick you like it
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • salt and pepper to taste  
  1. In a food processor, blend together basil leaves with fresh garlic.   
  2. Add parmesan cheese, almonds and lemon juice.
  3. Slowly add in oil.

The pesto will be thick and not runny/oily like many pestos. Use the thick pesto as a spread or add more oil when you use in dishes like pasta!   

We added a little oil to ours as we mixed with Barilla Pasta Plus.

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We made an amazing caprese salad with tomatoes from my mom’s garden. They were so meaty and sweet. Perfect to mix into the pesto pasta!

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Yum!

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Have you given up on summer foods and moved onto fall foods?

For me, it depends on the day! If it’s hot and sunny I will want caprese salad but a chilly day makes me think of squash.