Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Early Spring--potatoes & pesto!

Early Spring
First, I went to pickyourown.org and created a "picking schedule" for my family. Noah will be 3 this June, and I think he will really enjoy going to different farms and picking fruits. We bought a used deep freezer off craig's list so that we can freeze fruits, veggies, and purees.

Aaron has been going down to the italian market every week to buy cheese. They make fresh mozz. right there, and its about $3/lb cheaper than any grocery store. He also discovered that he can get big bunches of basil for $2 each and has been making pesto.

Yum, PESTO!! I never liked pesto before, but I have realized now that I didn't like bottled pesto. Fresh is totally different. And its yummy on pasta, bread, baked potatoes, etc.
So here we go:
2 cloves garlic
2 c. basil leaves
3 T. olive oil
3 T. pine nuts
Whizz up in the food processor, then add 1/2 c. grated parm cheese. Then add 1/3 stick butter and whizz again. Keeps well in the fridge, and you can freeze it in ice cube trays for small servings.

By the way, baked potatoes are a great early spring treat. And don't just settle for big starchy potatoes--check out some of the smaller, more interesting varieties. There are red skinned, purple, small white, fingerling, sweet, yam, etc. All are fantastic baked at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Just wrap in foil and throw in the oven.
You can put all kinds of toppings on them to make it interesting. Jamie Oliver has a whole chapter on this in his book, Jamie's Dinners.

And yes, potatoes are good for you. Just remember to eat the skins because they have the most vitamins/minerals.