Presto...Pesto!

More inspiration from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle led me to pull one of my large basil plants before the bugs took over. I pulled off all the good leaves and was left with a bucketful.

Later in the day, I found a basic pesto recipe from In Italy Online. I didn't have all the Animal, Vegetable Miracle ingredients. As it was, I had to use walnuts instead of pine nuts, which no doubt give the pesto a smoother taste. Plus, I used pre-shredded Parmesan. I'm certain this will taste even better with freshly grated cheese.

But this was my first homemade pesto, so I was mainly seeing if it was worth the effort.

Turns out, it was not only worth it, the whole process was a snap. All I had to do was dump the ingredients in a food processor and presto, I had pesto! And then some.

I had enough for supper that night. We mixed it with hot pasta topped with fresh shredded mozzarella. I served it alongside the last of our Farm-fresh cherry tomatoes.

There was plenty pesto left for our Sunday supper of grilled panini and pumpkin soup, and for three zip bags that I flattened and put in the freezer.

Camille Kingsolver says these pesto baggies are a snap to thaw in hot water and tossed into pasta as a quickie meal. Yay!