Basil Pesto - so simple and easy!

I did not grow up being fond of pesto.  I actually kind of avoided it.  Then we found ourselves having a bunch of cilantro left over years ago, and I found a simple cilantro pesto recipe (to be talked about later!), and fell in love.

We have been blessed with a lot of basil in our garden.  The other day Ezzie and I headed out and picked quite a bit.  Our basil is still quite bushy too!

Ezzie picking basil.  The basil is between two bell pepper plants.  He is such a great picker!

3 Bowls Full!

Basil will only grow during the warm months here, so Jon and I have talked about what to do with it.  We eat it fresh almost daily, but we can't keep up with it's growth, and we'd like to enjoy it in the cold months too.  We could freeze it, but this kind of is overwhelming to me.  What is the best way to freeze basil?  Will it taste ok?  Will I forget we even have it and then have wasted-freezer-burned-basil?  So, I'd rather make, and freeze, pesto.  Weird, and maybe illogical that making a recipe and freezing it seems easier and better in my mind, but whatever - we will have pesto at our command! ;)

If you are in need/want of an easy and yummy pesto recipe, here is what we do.  We love it.

Do you remember those bowls of basil?  Each one will make a recipe of pesto that will work for 1lb of pasta.

To each bowl's worth add:
- Fresh grated Parmesan 1/4 C
- Lemon zest 1/8-1/4 t
- A sprinkle of red pepper flakes (this is to your taste or heat level!)
- 1/8 t of salt (beware - it is very very easy to oversalt.  You may even want to omit the salt until you are using the pesto in your dish)

I then add in 2-3 garlic cloves and about 1/4 C olive oil.

 Then the processing begins. I add enough olive oil for a nice paste to develop.

Once done, I put a baggie inside a cup, invert the top, fill, and close!

 This little baggie goes into the freezer.  Once we are ready to use it, we simply drain our pasta, place it in the pot and heat until the parmesan is bubbling.  With the heat off, we then return the pasta to the pot and turn to coat.  So easy, and so yummy!

The thing I like about this recipe is that I almost always have the ingredients on hand.  The only ingredient that might be a miss is the lemon zest, but I froze a ton of that about a year ago, and we still use it! (It is still good :))

So, for your folks who like the recipe in one place apart from the pics, this is for you (and for me... I am one of those people :)).  Even though I eyeball this recipe most of the time (who wants the extra clean-up of measuring utensils???), here is the estimated recipe for you measuring folks who love to use lots of spoons and such :)

Basil Pesto - super easy
- 1 bunch basil (or 1.5-2 C loose basil leaves)
- 1/4 C grated parmesan
- 1/8 t lemon zest
- 1/8 t red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
- 1/8 t salt
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 1/4-1/2 C extra virgin olive oil

Add all ingredients to a food processor with 1/4C oil.  Process well.  Scrape down sides if necessary.  Continue processing and adding oil until everything is mixing well.

To freeze: place in plastic baggie, squeeze out extra air, close, squish contents flat and freeze!

To prepare: heat until parmesan is bubbly, and then add to your favorite pasta (1lb works for this recipe), meat, quinoa, etc.

Enjoy!

A garden

If you checked the color of my thumb, you would see it is black.  Since the dawn of my memories, I have killed every plant I have ever tried to grow - with the exception of a tomato plant a year ago.  We finally got one tomato in about November.  I kid you not - and this was after an entire summer of watering the stupid plant - it is beautiful though, no?

Well, this year Jon convinced me to try gardening.  It kind of freaked me out.  Well, after drawing up diagrams, and convincing Jon that we needed a smaller garden, we began the prep.  We donned our boots (which I LOVE.. thanks Marla!) took our turns tilling, getting fresh compost on a wet day, testing the soil and fertilizing, picking out plants, putting up fencing and prepping.

 

 And then... our garden started growing... real plants.  I cannot tell you how ecstatic I was!  I had very little faith that anything would grow - remember I kill anything I try to grow - with the exception of my kids and dog.  We got our first jalapeno, tomato, green bean shoot, etc.

And I found myself loving each visit to the garden.  It has actually become quite therapeutic!  Our garden is growing.  Part of eating healthier, for us, is trying to grow some of our own crops.  We are really enjoying the fruits that are being harvested already.  The kids also are growing a love for gardening.  It is love.

Those poles are for our cherry tomato plants.. they are over 8 feet tall!

So, we are loving all of our fresh produce.  Our biggest producer, you ask?  Our basil!  Our sweet basil plants are producing so much that I am making pesto (I'll post on this later :)) and freezing it for future meals.  We also have a thai basil plant that almost died, but it is beautiful and bushy now.  We aren't sure when exactly to harvest the leaves, but are so excited that it is alive.

As our garden produces and we make various recipes from it, I will keep you posted :)

And then there was a baby..

6 Months ago we welcomed Anja Joy into the world in a very exciting birthing experience, and our lives were forever changed.  It is hard to remember what life was like with only 2 kids.  With each child, I have not been able to imagine how things would be - how I would be able to love each one in a way that speaks to their needs - how we would even function.  However, even though each child brings with him/her a lot of adjustment and change, s/he also fits so perfectly into our family and us with him/her.  It is amazing how we are created to love so fully, even after we already fully love.  I hope that makes sense :)

So, with Anja came the nagging reality that my health is more fragile than I have given thought to.  I have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes three times.  With Ezzie and Lina I was borderline, and simply had to watch my diet and remain active.  With Anja I was still testing borderline, but my body was not functioning well on its own.  I had to take meds each day.  Even though I was taking the lowest dosage I really struggled with feeling like I was doing something wrong.  

My midwife, Sylyna, shared with me that I should consider getting tested about 3 months after Anja was born to see how my body is handling sugars.  Given that I have very little information regarding my biological family's medical history and the little I do know involves brittle diabetes and type 2 diabetes, it was very important for me to see how my body was doing.

So, I went in for testing.  I did not have a positive experience with the doctor.  I left the office feeling like a fool for thinking anything could be wrong with me - after all, I wasn't fat enough or old enough, according to him, to be concerned.  I just have to exercise and eat well.

Well, I got the bloodwork back after calling (they said they would call me... yeah, not impressed with this office), and discovered in my own research that I am bordeline diabetic.  Basically, I have pre-diabetes.

So... now I know I am in the yellow zone.  What do I do?

Well, I struggle with taking care of my own body, and lack a lot of self-discipline in general.  

With my pregnancies I worked hard to eat well and take care of myself because I was not only affecting myself, but my children.  Without being pregnant, the pressure isn't exactly there in the same way - though the reality is there that if I don't care for myself my ability to care for and be with my family may be cut short.

So - what does a girl do?  I follow my own advice to my kids:  I start small.  I try, and when I fail, I try again.  I give myself grace, ask for help, and keep going.

So, this blog will be changing a bit.  I will not be focusing on family updates as much (and you can see how horrible awesome I have done in the past on this :)), but will be sharing about things regarding food and changes we are making in our family diets.  

We are not following a "diet," but are embarking on a journey one step at a time towards health.

I hope you will enjoy the posts that are coming.  Most will have to do with food, and others might just be fun updates on other things in our lives.