This grocery bag will permanently smell like basil and I am pretty happy about it.
I spent an hour of the weekend making pesto to last us until next summer…two batches of almond basil and two batches of walnut pistachio basil.
It was pretty therapeutic to listen to a podcast while washing and plucking the leaves off the stems. Meanwhile I was taking big deep breaths inhaling the delicious aroma of freshly picked herbs. Have you guys heard of the “Teacher’s Pet” podcast? I’m very sucked in. I’ll probably finish it before digging in to the new season (three!) of Serial that just got released.
But back to basil!
I didn’t really measure things, but I added leaves until they reached the top, then raw nuts, salt, olive oil, and garlic infused olive oil.
I only used a little bit of the garlic infused oil because it doesn’t take much for the flavor to permeate the whole batch. I also used less oil than I’d use if I were making it for use right away. But since I’m making it to store in the freezer I want it to be as condensed as possible, and this way when I go to use it I can add more oil at the time I’m cooking.
It took four sessions using my big food processor, so that should give you some idea of how much basil I was working with!
The photos don’t even do it justice. The smell! The color!
Sad to jar up the last of summer, but there’s no more appropriate day than the first day of fall, right?
Our tomato plant is still taking over the yard and putting out pints by the day, so I’m trying to figure out when to pull it up. Normally I’d leave it as long as it is producing, but it really is starting to invade the back patio in a way that’s inconvenient. Previously, I said I’d give it til October 1st (because I let it grow into January last year and regretted it when I had to deep clean the stains off the patio that winter rains caused), but it’s been in the 90s the past few days (!!) so the weather is really not giving our garden a good indication of what season we are in.
Anyway, as I was adding more things IN to the freezer, I also took a big casserole OUT to eat for dinner that night.
I was feeling lazy and our dinner plans were leftovers anyway, so it was nice to have something new that was already done.
Every once in a while (when we have extras of something that I’ve bought on discount or been gifted) I will cook an extra meal to have on hand for “just in case” times like this.
It’s a little hoarders-esque, but it’s mostly due to my frugal, anti-waste personality traits.
This was a kale artichoke crab casserole with brown rice noodles and a little goat cheese on top. I’m guessing the catalyst for making it was a bunch of leftover crab. It was yummy and the kids even liked it, which I was a little nervous about because they’ve never really been exposed to casseroles.
