spring, easter, and basil pesto

First off, a lovely Good Friday to all those who celebrate... and an early Happy Easter as well. Normally we would head down to visit with my uncle Wray (like here and here), its become our little tradition... we dye eggs and listen to Jesus Christ Superstar, and my cousin Mo is normally there from California. But this year we will be staying home to get ready for our vacation (only a week! from today!)... there are passports to be located, and laundry to do. We'll probably get our bags mostly packed, and see what we are lacking in toiletries. I'm sad we're not going, but hopefully next year we'll be picking up right where we left off.

In anycase, it's friday! Yesterday was a busy day, but I got a chance to meet up with Nick and hit up a Rita's here in the city for a cup of italian ice (mango, yummy...). Today should be a little more relaxed, but hopefully it will go quickly so I can get my weekend started!


In anycase, on to my recipe (more regular post below)!
I love a good basil pesto. Love! When my mom would make me a birthday meal growing up I would always want either macaroni & yeasty cheese or her homemade pesto, so much better then anything out of a jar. When I moved away I missed that dish... so I decided to figure it out on my own. Its gotten some tweaking here and there, to adjust to Travis's tastes (he's not a fan of pine nuts) and for what I normally have in my pantry (I never have freakin pin nuts anyway!)... and I couldn't be happier with the final result.


Megan's Classically Simple (but not quite Classic) Basil Pesto

as with many dishes, I eyeball not measure these ingrediants... so all measurements are approximate and can/should be adjusted to your likes


Normally it would be a lot more sauce heavy, but I've never made pesto for a full box of noodles before... and I uh, well I ran out of cheese... so embarassing. But still damn good!

1/3 cup peanuts (or you could certainly use pine nuts)
1/2 cup grated parmesaen cheese
1 - 2 cloves of garlic
1/2 ish cup of a good evoo (ex virg. olive oil)
a few turns from the pepper mill
as much basil as your pretty little heart desires*


1. Throw peanuts and garlic into a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped.
2. Add cheese, basil and pepper. (At this point stick your nose right into the top of your food processor and take a big whiff... doesn't that basil smell amazing?!)
3. Drizzle EVOO into running processor until mixture is smooth.
4. Look at pesto and give a little taste (be sure to turn processor off first), green enough? No? Then add more basil!

We ate ours with green beans and teriyaki pork... mmm.

* not specific enough? I normally add a few tsps of the pre-chopped stuff from a jar. Some people want it more basil-y though... so add more basil! Easy. Plus, I have no idea what that jarred basil translates to fresh basil-wise. I'd probably start with about 2 cups though.

The best thing about this pesto is that you can make a lot... and there is so much you can do with it. Obviously mix it with pasta. But also smear it on bread (toast it for a few minutes to make it extra yummy). Make a pesto pizza with pizza dough or french bread, pesto instead of sauce, and then some wonderful melty cheese (mozzarella or feta would be nice). For toppings olives, chopped up chicken breast, artichoke hearts or tomatoes would all work great.

Also you can easily freeze this to use later... but in that case make it without the cheese (it doesn't freeze nicely) and add the cheese when you are mixing it into your pasta.

After dinner Trav and I headed out for our favorite part of the first day of spring:

Mmm... Rita's. I got root beer favor.
It was a little chilly, but once we got back into our warm house our icy treat was very enjoyable.


So that's about all I have for you today. I'm about to make some hot chocolate since I can't seem to get warm! Then its just work, work, work. Have a great weekend!

PS. A question: what do you think about my recipe posts? Do you enjoy them? Or do you hate when I talk about food? Do they make you skip the entries? Let me know!!