Eat Like a Rabbit

The following post is in reference to that little bowl filled with green at the top left hand corner.

A few situations happening in just a week's time started me thinking about this post. It started when I read one of the many magazines in our office (unfortunately I do not remember which one) that said basil was hard to acquire for a pesto sauce and recommended some alternatives.

One day, a coworker ran into my office saying she needed to see me. It sounded urgent, so I welcomed her thoughts at which she asked me how much I was selling basil for. After smiling over the emergency of lousy basil at the grocery store, I shook my head and said "I cannot sell my basil for anything because Fay [the latest tropical storm that passed through] has stripped most of the leaves from the branches of my large bush." She said she would have to work without it, then.

Recipe for Pesto Sauce

• 1 cup spinach
• 1 cup basil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan chesse

Mix in blender or mortar and pestle. I find sometimes I had to add a touch (sometimes more) of olive oil to the mixture in order to get it to blend. It's a labor love to mix it without an excess of liquid, but I love the taste.

We have since gravitated to walnuts instead of pine nuts in all of our pesto dishes, even though pine nuts are the traditional form and tend to have a sweeter taste. I also am happy with all basil and no spinach, but the pesto is much healthier and a bit less strong with the spinach. I think I have changed myself!