I’m a little late posting this week….sorry.  I’ve been a little distracted with my veggie garden duties.  The Magic Garden (Magic because I don’t know what I’m doing) is in the delicate stage where it is growing rapidly and needs a lot of extra love put into the soil!  (I water and talk to them daily….and no…they have yet to talk back.)

This year looks like I will have a bumper crop of cucumbers, bok choy, tomatoes, lettuces, miscellaneous peppers, eggplants and herbs.  The herb part has me kind of overwhelmed already.  They are growing really fast which is good but unfortunately, I don’t have the homegrown veggies to eat with them yet.  Boo. Hiss.

Last year, my basil was just dreadful.  I probably didn’t help the situation by calling it puny and wilted.  (In case you didn’t know…basil is very sensitive to name calling…unlike sage…sage has a weird personality and likes to be teased.) 

I moved my plants this year and gave them a little more attention.   They just ate up my compliments like it was a good fertilizer.  Things like “Oooo, your leaves are so big and strong.  I’ve never seen anything like it!”  (No wait, that wasn’t my plants….that was another situation…)

I went out the other day and my cute plants were just begging to be snipped.  The bad part was that I didn’t have any homegrown tomatoes to serve it with.  (I had a sad pint from the grocery store….the grocery store is like an orphanage in the world of tomatoes.)

Snipping large parts off isn’t an option so early in the season so I pinched off the flower buds and some leaves just below where the leaf pair begins.  (Rumor has it this encourages the plant to continue to fill out during the season.)

When all was said and done, I had a little less than a cup of basil.  Arghh!  What am I going to do with that?  I know…the basil would be the perfect companion to the small amount of tomatoes I needed to use.  Plus, I felt bad for that the tomatoes…they have spent so much of their life not being cared for.

I introduced the two to each other in food processor and it was the start of a beautiful friendship….and an awesome pesto sauce.  The first batch of basil of the season is always the tastiest to me.  It really made my tomatoes sing!!!

Tossed with the hot casarecce pasta and it was a great light summer dinner. (Casarecce looks like a rolled-up scroll.  It is a great sauce holder and grabs hold of pesto beautifully. If you can’t find it, just use your favorite pasta.)

Over the next month, I’ll probably have to continue the hard work out there because if you think organic veggies are good…..you should taste the love filled ones!

*New on my blog, I will be posting the recipe as part of the word document AND right below will be the printable recipe.

Roasted Tomato Pesto

Ingredients

1 pint grape tomatoes, roasted in 225-degree oven for 2-3 hours

1 cup fresh basil

2 cloves of garlic

½ cup pine nuts

½ cup fresh parmesan, the good stuff

1/3 cup+ olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Directions

In your food processor, twirl your garlic until it is minced.

Next, twirl your nuts.  (That sounds weird.)

Then, add the cheese and tomatoes and twirl until they are chopped.

Finally, drizzle in the olive oil slowly.  You may not use it all.  Just add it until you get to your desired consistency.

Taste.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Toss with hot pasta.

Roasted Tomato Pesto
Ingredients
  • 1 pint grape tomatoes, roasted in 225-degree oven for 2-3 hours
  • 1 cup fresh basil
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • ½ cup pine nuts
  • ½ cup fresh parmesan, the good stuff
  • 1/3 cup+ olive oil
  • Salt and Pepper
Instructions
  1. In your food processor, twirl your garlic until it is minced.
  2. Next, twirl your nuts. (That sounds weird.)
  3. Then, add the cheese and tomatoes and twirl until they are chopped.
  4. Finally, drizzle in the olive oil slowly. You may not use it all. Just add it until you get to your desired consistency.
  5. Taste.
  6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  7. Toss with hot pasta.