Basil Pesto

Yesterday afternoon, after all my chores were done, I finally had time to sit down and take a break and read through some magazines. It was a beautiful day so I was relaxing on my patio looking through the May issue of Country Living. I saw a recipe for homemade pesto. It called for 3 cups of basil. I looked over at my basil plant(above) and figured I had enough to make it. There is something so satisfying about growing things and turning them into wonderful dishes to serve my family. I would have loved to put this on pasta but I'm doing the low-carb thing right now so I can lose some weight. Instead I pounded out some chicken breasts and spread the pesto on them, and then put some goat cheese on top of that and rolled them up and baked them. Wow, unbelievably good. My daughter loved it too. After I was almost finished eating I realized I could have mixed a little pesto with some cream to drizzle on top. Oh well, next time.

Here's the pesto recipe just in case you don't have the magazine. If you have it, it's on page 150.

Pulse 3 cups of basil leaves with 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup pine nuts, 2 small cloves garlic and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese in food processor until finely chopped. Sprinkle in 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper, and process until smooth. Store in refrigerator for one week or frozen for three months.