Homemade Pesto

Last summer, I started a little herb garden on my back deck.  This year, I've expanded the number of herbs I've planted and my husband started a vegetable garden.

Hopefully our harvest out plentiful!  While we wait for our veggies to pop up, I decided to make a little homemade pesto.  I use this stuff on just about everything: sandwiches, salad, pasta, fish, you name it!

Recipe:
 1 1/2 cup of packed FRESH basil
1/3 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp of pine nuts
1 tsp of sea salt
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced

Directions:
1. After I picked my basil from the pot, I soaked it in cold water for about 10 minutes, rinsed each leaf off, then let them dry on the towel until mostly dry.

2. Get the rest of your ingredients ready...

3. dump EVERYTHING in a food processor...

4. Blend everything together and BOOM...pesto :)  You can store it in the fridge for about a week...otherwise, if I make a big batch, I like to freeze it in little individual containers.

After playing around with different amounts of each ingredient, this is how I like it best.  It tends to be a little "crunchy," which is how I like it, so feel free to adjust according to how you like your pesto!