Hello! 👋 I am Wendy—I love to create easy to follow recipes to inspire you to create something new! Welcome to my kitchen, where I write the why and how to each creation weekly. Glad you are here 💕!
Basil and more Basil is the theme of this post.
There’s nothing more satisfying than being able to step out of your backdoor and forage for something good to eat. It’s the highlight of my day—I think? what will inspire me to create something new or old for dinner or lunch, grin. As I mosey over to the garden I spot the basil plants, these are the ones we rooted indoors—it’s easy, you can too—Rooted Basil Indoors. These basil plants are big and bountiful now, so much so, it’s time to cut them back so they continue to bush out, not go to seed and provide lots of promise for our future basil. Interested in my garden? Read all about it weekly too.
Why Pesto you ask?
It was simple, I had all the ingredients, I was looking for something easy to create as we were taking a trip to camp. And I had a new blender I wanted to try out. It’s that simple for me today.
The How?
Pesto is so versatile you can make it the traditional method with pine nuts or swap out other nuts to your liking. I believe the most common swap is walnuts. But for me I only had almonds on hand. They were truly delicious in this recipe.
Almond Pesto
Makes about 1/2 pint
Ingredients
2 cups of fresh basil
4 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of lemon juice (I used bottled—fresh would be best)
1/2 cup of almonds
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of good olive oil (I used a Tuscan blend)—See recipe, you judge by consistency.
Crushed red pepper flakes (to your taste buds liking, grin)
S&P to taste (I used pink Himalayan salt & pepper blend)
💕
Directions
Put the first 5 ingredients into a blender, begin to blend and slowly add your olive oil to your mixture is the consistency of a creamy salad dressing. Stop, dip your spoon in, will it coat pasta? is it spreadable? not to dry? you will get a feel for it. If it’s too wet—not a worry, add a little more parmesan cheese. If it’s too dry—add a little more olive oil. Yep, you got it. Then add a little crushed red pepper flakes to spice it up, well if you like spice, we do. Blend quick to combine. Finish with salt and pepper to taste, taste buds know best. That’s it. Super easy right! Don’t over think it. Enjoy—have fun, and experiment.
How do you like your pesto?
Smoked Turkey Pesto on a Ciabatta Roll
This inspiration comes from frozen homemade sourdough ciabatta rolls. I simply pulled out the rolls, thawed, toasted and spread the Almond Pesto creation on top, added thinly sliced smoked turkey and red onions, topped with garden fresh Rainbow Swiss Chard. Yum!
You can download the Substack app to follow my weekly notes. This is a picture of my in-the-moment post from July 11.
Almond Pesto Pasta
Boil your favorite pasta, ours happens to be any pasta with nooks and crannies. For this recipe I selected Cellentani from Barilla. Cook according to the directions on the pasta box. We prefer our pasta Al dente. If you do too, just reduce your cooking time by 2-minutes. Then toss with your freshly homemade Almond Pesto. Dinner is served! Life doesn’t get any better than that! The below picture was also posted on notes on the Substack app.
Truly hope you enjoyed these simple, nutritious, easy to make garden to table creations. You can do it too—no garden needed. Easily swap garden ingredients with store bought. Or visit your local Farm Stand or Market—you will be glad you did.
That’s it for now. Were you inspired to create something new? Love to know if you do.
God bless you with lovingkindness!
Until we chat again, Enjoy 💕!
Wendy
P.S. a restack or ❤️ keeps us at the top of the stack so others can find us easily too.
I have grown basil before and although I love how the leaves look, I have not been in favor of the taste. I have even made pesto before, and although it looks SO good, even in your photos, and especially on the sandwich, I just cannot bring myself to use it when I have it. I stopped growing it for that reason and even stopped buying it. But your post and recipe sound delicious and I am sure it will inspire others!
Always delicious and pretty simple to make.