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Jul
25

Friday Fun – Preserving pesto & peas

Last night, we picked up our first share of a local organic food co-op run by LoveLandLocal (and thanks to Nature Deva for telling us about it!). For a mere $120, we picked up:

  • 10 lbs green beans
  • 8 lbs organic peas
  • 1 lb basil
  • 10 lbs organic brown rice
  • 10 lbs unbleached white flour
  • 10 lbs unbleached bread flour
  • 5 lbs rye flour
  • 7-8 pounds each of garbanzo, pinto, & anasazi beans

    With all of this being organic, and most of it being local (OK, I admit that rice doesn’t exactly grow here in Colorado!!), I feel really good about the price we paid and it was fun going up to meet with the other co-opers, weighing the food, and then of course coming home to preserve it!

    So my Fun Friday recipe is for Basil Pesto. I made about a gallon of this last night and will freeze it in ice cube trays then vacuum seal the cubes in serving-sized portions so we can have fresh pesto all winter long.

    Blend the following ingredients in the food processor (you can use a blender, but I burned the motor out on our last blender making pesto in it, so beware!):
    2 c. basil
    3/4 c. Parmesan cheese
    3 T. pine nuts
    2-3 cloves of garlic (I tend to go heavy here, so you might want to use less if you aren’t a garlic lover)
    1/2 c. olive oil
    salt & pepper to taste

    We use this pesto on bread, pasta, and as a glaze/marinade for veggies or chicken. And the kids love it–I hope you will too.

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