Toasted pita with pestos

I think pesto is my new favorite food. You can make so many different kinds of pesto, and they keep in the fridge a long time (and freezer too!). Freeze your pesto in ice cube trays, then pop out and put in a ziplock bag for individual portions. Pesto is great when you are busy and don't have time to make a big weeknight dinner. I posted a recipe in fall of '08 for my mother-in-law's basil pesto. But this year I have been making artichoke pesto!!
You can find a gazillion different artichoke pesto recipes on the web, and now here is number gazillion-and-one.
Artichoke Lemon Pesto
1 can artichoke hearts (8 oz), drained
5 T olive oil
5 T grated pecorino cheese (or you can use parm.)
1/3 c. fresh basil leaves
4 T. fresh lemon juice
1 cup nuts (I use pine nuts, but you can also use walnuts. toast them for a different flavor if you like)
2 cloves garlic
salt to taste

Throw the artichoke hearts, nuts, and cheese in the food processor and pulse a few times. Then add all other ingredients and whiz it up. You can add more oil or water to loosen the pesto if it is too thick. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt.

Now that you've got your pesto, you can get to work putting together your fast dinner. Spread the pesto on a whole wheat pita, and top with a big fat slice of roasted red pepper (recipe posted earlier this year). Slap it in the toaster oven for 5 minutes, watching to make sure the pita doesn't get too crispy. Serve with a salad or soup.

Pesto can be made from: basil, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, hearts of palm, olives, roasted red peppers, and even figs!
Try pesto in these other fun ways:
on baked potatoes, over chicken or fish prior to baking, with a baguette and brie, on apple slices, tossed with boiled chilled shrimp for a fancy shrimp salad, swirled into your tomato soup, as salad dressing.

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.