Summer is coming to an end and while not everything was a success over at my little community garden plot, the basil thrived. Never mind that I didn’t even plant basil. Hey, if it shows up in my 10 ft. sq. plot, it’s fair game.
I thought I’d share a few pictures of my successes none the less. Not too shabby for my first time gardening if I do say so.
Who knew okra flowers were so beautiful?
Sweet Potato Overload
The Rogue Basil Plant
My much anticipated tomatillos
My pretty purple eggplant flower just days before the entire plant was completely consumed by potato bugs. Insidious Mongrels.
Considering I didn’t receive the plot until late June and my overall gardening skills are pretty much nil, I’ll chalk this first summer up as a success. I may even get brave and try my hand at a little fall gardening. In the meantime, if anyone has an ingenious method for getting rid of potato bugs naturally aside from flicking them, one at a time, to see which one flies the farthest, I’m all ears.
Tomorrow my family will be feasting on okra, but today it’s basil and what better way to make use of a large quantity of the delicious green leaves than to swirl them into a gorgeous bowl of fresh pesto. I like to add a few cupfuls of spinach to mine as well just to up the healthy meter a bit higher.
Whipping up a batch is super simple as long as you grab a food processor and not a blender like I did. I knew instantly after the first attempt at mixing that I went in the wrong direction but I was too darn stubborn to change it up at that point. Future mental note made; food processor.
Add a pile of basil, a hearty cup of pine nuts, a couple cloves of garlic, and a few handfuls of spinach. Grind them up good (in a food processor if you know what’s good for you).
Turn the processor back on and slowly pour in a cupful of olive oil until it’s completely incorporated. Now dump in some grated parmesan.
Swirl it together, salt to your liking and you’re ready to cook up a feast. And seriously, just wait until you see what we cooked up with our basil infused spoils. The recipe is arriving at a blog near you on Tuesday, so be sure to stop by and bring your appetite, you’re going to need it!
Spinach Basil Pesto
Total Time: 15 min
Ingredients:
3 Cups Basil, Packed
3/4 Cup Pine Nuts
2 Cups Spinach, Packed
4 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1 Cup Olive Oil
2/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese
Salt to Taste
Directions:
Drop the basil, pine nuts, spinach and garlic into a food processor and mulch.
With the processor on, slowly pour the olive oil in until incorporated.
Mix in the Parmesan cheese.
Salt to taste.
Comments
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Wow Julie looks beautiful and quite tasty too!
Nothing like fresh homemade pesto. Looks really good! I like that tomatillo plant. Hvae a great weekend!
You are the real deal! I so wish I had a garden. I’m on it… next year. 🙂 I did buy a massive bunch of basil at the Farmer’s Market only to have it go black the next day. What’s up with that? But I plan to go back and buy more asap so I can make some pesto! 🙂
this looks beautiful! Love the vibrant color–freeze these in ice cube trays and you will love yourself in the winter! anne
Oh my gosh, it’s so EASY!! The pesto in a jar here is super expensive, so I always chicken out from buying it even though I loooove pesto.
Could this recipe be done without the pine nuts??
Your garden looks awesome, btw
You have a nice garden there, great variety. The spinach basil sounds great, VERY healthy too! Have a wonderful weekend Julie 🙂
Congratulations; sure looks good. I am making this pesto, I usually make it with just basil but this must really be tasty.
rita
OH! The tomatillos make me a little jealous! I make a killer salsa verde and really need to have my own tomatillo plants since the ones at the store are sometimes a little questionable looking.
I do however have a couple of basil plants that I planted as well as some rogue ones that are showing up in other parts of my flower beds so I need to try this pesto recipe. I’ve never made it before and I really love pesto!
Congrats julie! This looks so beautiful and easy to make. There is nothing better than spinach basil.
Have a great weekend.
What a beautiful garden…and what a lovely pesto. Sounds like the perfect way to celebrate the end of summer. I hope you are having a relaxing and joy-filled weekend. Much love from the hot hot state of Texas. Thank you for sharing another delicious recipe, my friend.
I can eat pesto with a spoon…I love it. But it’s a bit strong sometimes which is why I like to control what goes in it. Great recipe!
On a separate note, I was thinking of you this morning and hoping that you are minimally affected by the hurricane. Hope all is well!
You’re such a cool lady! Your kids are so lucky. 🙂
You may have just inspired me to find a community garden. For when I move to the UK. Where it’s not 1 million degrees outside.
Until then, I’m gonna haul my butt to the store, buy all of the above ingredients, and make this pesto. Looks great!
Nothing like fresh pesto- this looks delicious!
What a nice community garden – sounds like you had some nice success, especially for a new gardener! I took a break this year and joined a CSA – the chipmunks got to me. Like the idea of incorporating spinach in this pesto recipe – I actually tried swiss chard and it was nice too.
great looking!
Ooh I love the addition of spinach in this – it sounds much more appetizing that an overabundance of basil.
Newbie here!
I love that you tried gardening this year. My original plan was scrap this year so I am hoping to try my luck in gardening summer 2012.
Pestos are bestos 🙂
Mmmmm….I love pesto!! I think your garden was definitely successful and delicious too! I love okra, tomatillos, sweet potatoes and basil…especially if it’s rogue basil! Great job lady!!