tutorial on pesto, Evelyn & Larry, Ellie's quilt done

Michael was up at 6 AM Thursday morning (6/21) to leave at 7 AM for golf….he didn’t really have time to make breakfast for himself….so I got up and made him a breakfast sandwich (toast/ham/cheese/egg) to go!  

I wanted to be up early myself to celebrate the summer solstice…wanting to enjoy every single minute of daylight  (https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/6/19/17479094/summer-solstice-2018-june-21).  

First up was doing a harvest of my basil (I hope to harvest again before the end of the season):  

and then heading to the kitchen to make pesto:  

Making pesto is easy and I use it in several recipes.  I love to have it in the freezer over the winter for the fresh ZING it adds to dinners.  A favortie dinner in the summer is simply cooking pasta, tossing it with cubed, fresh garden tomatoes and pesto, then shaving some parmesan on top...heaven!  Another quick dinner is a modified Margarita pizza....I spread pesto on dough, placed sliced tomatoes on top and cover with mozzarella and a little parmesan.

First up I put 2-1/2 ounces of basil leaves in a food processor...or in my case, my NINJA blendar:

Add in about a quarter cup of some toasted nuts.  Mostly I used pignoli nuts, but when I don't have them, I default to pecans.  I've done a taste test with and without and you should definitely put in nuts!!  The easiest way I've found to toast nuts is in the microwave.  Place them on a single layer on a plate and zap for 1-1/2 - 2 minutes.  Once they become fragrant....they're done:

Next add in 2 - 5 cloves of peeled garlic:

Give it a few pulses first, then add in the olive oil.  My old recipe called for 2 cups of olive oil at this point....in my opinion that's way too much.  I make a more concentrated pesto and for this amount of leaves (about 2 cups tightly packed) I added in 1/2 a cup of olive oil.  If you want to make almost fat free pesto, instead of olive oil use KEN"S NORTHERN ITALIAN FAT FREE DRESSING.  

I read many years ago that if you are freezing pesto you shouldn't add the Parmesan, so I don't.  When I thaw it out to use, I am almost always also adding Parmesan to whatever I'm making.....so it's not like I don't have cheese in my pesto.  I freeze it in 1/2 cup containers and it's never hard to use that amount up once I thaw it out.

I got 5 half pints done, and by then I was starving and made an omelet for brunch.  I read my book for just a bit after that, and headed downstairs just as Michael got home from golf with 2 birdies and an 84  :~).  I spent the rest of the afternoon getting a label done:

and working on the binding for Ellie’s quilt.  

At 6 PM we picked up Evelyn & Larry:  

and headed off to Hwy 55 for dinner.  Michael and I both got the shrimp ‘burgers’, 

he got tator tots with his and I got onion rings (which I haven't had in FOREVER and were totally yummy!!)  

We shared a concrete (like a DQ blizzard) with caramel and chocolate chips 

and sat there and talked and talked and talked.  It was a delightful evening, and when we got home I finished up the binding on one side of the quilt:  

This is now ready for Ellie to pick up, as she is going to sew down the other side of the binding by hand.  

The rest of the evening was spent watching TV…and of course continuing to rip apart the old Colorwash border.