real life….{presto pesto!}

i love basil. the look of those bright, shiny green leaves. the smell…..yum!

for years, i’ve watched one of my best friends grow pots of basil every summer and make her own pesto. “it’s easy,” she said!

usually, anything “easy” i muck up pretty badly. but this year i finally did it!

at the beginning of the season, i purchased my basil plants – i got about four 4” pots of basil. i planted them in one large container, set it on my deck in a sunny spot and just let it grow. i don’t usually grow anything edible – my attention wanders and i’d rather not have anyone depending on anything from my garden. but the basil was pretty maintenance-free. i had to water a few times during the hottest periods in the summer. aside from that, easy-peasy!

i was told to harvest the basil before it begins to flower. i’m not really sure what happens when it begins to flower….it stops producing leaves? it dies? the world ends? i don’t know. to be honest, several times mine began to flower before i got around to harvesting and it all still turned out just fine. sometimes i just picked the leaves, other times i pruned it down pretty well to stimulate new growth.

from those 4 plants, i made about 5 or 6 batches of pesto this year. i pruned it yesterday – we’ll see if i get any more growth!

and as it turns out, making pesto really is easy! just harvest your leaves – use just the larger ones. i think the small ones can be a bit bitter. don’t forget to rinse!

add all your ingredients to you blender or food processor….

and presto! you’ve made pesto! (ha! sometimes i’m so corny!)

my recipe:

2 cups of basil leaves (no need to pack them down or anything)
4 cloves of garlic (as you can see, i use the diced garlic from a jar. so sue me!)
1 cup of nuts (pine nuts or walnuts. i use walnuts – less expensive and no real difference in taste)
1/4 cup of romano cheese (most of the time, i forget the romano so i add extra parmesan)
1 cup of parmesan cheese
approximately 1 cup of olive oil – whatever is needed to achieve proper consistency.

blend well. enjoy!

if i manage to get any more growth on my basil plants, i’m considering putting one of them in a smaller pot and moving it indoors for the winter.

do you grow any herbs indoors? which ones?