{"id":4,"date":"2013-09-10T22:21:45","date_gmt":"2013-09-11T02:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/?p=4"},"modified":"2013-12-26T16:31:04","modified_gmt":"2013-12-26T21:31:04","slug":"basil-pesto-and-pasta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/?p=4","title":{"rendered":"Basil, Pesto and Pasta"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\tTweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n

Do you ever wonder what to do with all the basil you have grown in your garden or in a container?   I don’t know about you but I have the most prolific crop this year.  Of course, I love fresh basil on tomatoes with mozzarella cheese, I love it made into pesto and serve with pasta and I love to use it to season soups and sauces.<\/p>\n

\"Freshly<\/a>

Freshly Picked Basil ready to make Pesto<\/p><\/div>\n

BASIL IS PART OF THE MINT FAMILY <\/strong> it is an aromatic herb.  It can be eaten fresh or dried. There are so many RECIPES<\/strong> for using basil where to start.  My favorite is on fresh tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.  I pick the fresh leaves,  place several on top of each other, roll them up and then use my kitchen shears<\/strong> <\/a> to snip them into small pieces.  Your joyful kitchen<\/strong> should have kitchen shears.<\/strong><\/a>  I use mine for all kinds of things, especially cutting raw chicken.  They will cut right through bones making easy work of cutting up a whole chicken.  And, of course that will save you money not having to buy chicken already cut up. Also works great for cutting sausage that is in CASINGS<\/a>. But I regress, back to BASIL.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Kitchen<\/a>

Kitchen Shears<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

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\"2<\/a>

2 cups packed Basil<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Cutting<\/a>

Cutting rolled basil with kitchen shears<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

\"Basil<\/a>

Basil growing on the deck<\/p><\/div>\n

Basil growing on the deck<\/p>\n

Making your own BASIL PESTO<\/strong> is a great way to enjoy fresh basil into the winter months. I freeze it using ice-cube trays and when frozen pop them out and store them  in plastic containers or bags.  Then you just add some cubes to make PESTO PASTA.<\/strong>  There is <\/span>nothing better than remembering the lazy, wonderful days of summer when you bite into pesto pasta in the dead of winter made with your own or store-bought pesto. It reminds you of those long evenings before dark when you were leisurely dining enjoying the evening.<\/span> I also dry basil leaves in my  <\/a>DEHYDRATOR.  <\/strong> I do not have the patience to gather the stalks of basil, tie them with string and hang in the basement or some other dark out-of-the-way place.  It takes too long and when I have done this I seem to forget about them.  So the DEHYDRATOR<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>works for me .  <\/span><\/p>\n

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Basil Pesto <\/div>\t
2013-10-19 13:13:34<\/div>\t\t
Yields 12<\/span><\/div>
A delicious recipe for Basil Pesto that is easy to freeze.<\/div>\t
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Write a review<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t
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Ingredients<\/div>\t\t\t
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  1. 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed<\/li>\t\t\t\t
  2. 1\/2 cup Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano Cheese, grated<\/li>\t\t\t\t
  3. 1\/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts<\/li>\t\t\t\t
  4. 1\/2 cup extra virgin olive oil<\/li>\t\t\t\t
  5. 3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced<\/li>\t\t\t\t
  6. Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper, to taste<\/li>\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t
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    Instructions<\/div>\t\t\t
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    1. Combine the basil in with the pine nuts or walnuts, in a food processor. Pulse a few times. (If you are using walnuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first before adding the basil) Add the garlic and pulse a few more times.<\/li>\t\t\t\t
    2. Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula.<\/li>\t\t\t\t
    3. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended.<\/li>\t\t\t\t
    4. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.<\/li>\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t
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      Notes<\/div>\t\t\t
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      1. I like to pulse the basil first then add the nuts so they will not be too finely chopped. When they are larger they add an interesting texture to the pesto.<\/li>\t\t\t\t
      2. Serve with pasta, or over baked potatoes, or spread over toasted baguette slices; you decide it will be yummy!!!<\/li>\t\t\t\t
      3. I make a pasta salad by adding the pesto to shell pasta with chopped red onions and frozen garden peas.<\/li>\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t<\/div>
        By Cissy Mathews - Tidbits of Joy<\/div>
        Tidbits of Joy https:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n
        \"Pesto<\/a>

        Pesto in ice cube tray ready for freezer.<\/p><\/div>\n

        My family will  be enjoying pesto pasta salad for the weekend.  I hope you too will be making something yummy in your Joyful  Kitchen<\/strong>, the heart of your home.<\/p>\n

        Joy Always, Cissy<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Tweet Do you ever wonder what to do with all the basil you have grown in your garden or in a container?   I don’t know about you but I have the most prolific crop this year.  Of course, I love fresh basil on tomatoes with mozzarella cheese, I love it made into pesto and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,15],"tags":[20,18],"class_list":["post-4","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recipes","category-tips-and-gadgets","tag-basil","tag-glycemic-friendly"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_04411-e1376935916735.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42obF-4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4"}],"version-history":[{"count":56,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9523,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions\/9523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}