How to Make Pesto
Tweak this one to suit your tastes, we use fresh ingredients and alter this recipe for certain meals or to use in cooking.

This recipe serves four.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of Black Olives
1 1/2 garlic clove
2 c. fresh, lightly packed basil
2 1/2 tbsp. pine nuts
2/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
2/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 c. grated Romano cheese
salt and pepper to taste.

Use course Sea salt if available and fresh ground pepper corns




Steps:
1. Place the garlic, basil and pine nuts in a food processor, Olives
blend for 10 to 15 seconds.

2. Add olive oil, garlic, basil and pine nuts.

3. Add the grated Parmesan and Romano cheese,
mix until the pesto has a pasty texture.

4. Place the pesto in a small bowl and serve with pasta, breads or use in other dishes.


Tips:
Pesto freezes for up to six weeks.

That sounds yummy!

It IS good!! I've had a hard time not taking bites as I made it and tonight it will be served with a herb bread.
Your post reminded me I forgot the Salt and Pepper.


The main course is roasted chicken that has been sprinkled with cumin, some chicken broth for extra flavor, finely chopped onion, lemon, garlic, salt and pepper.
Then placed over a bed of White and Brown rice.

I'm thinking a white wine maybe.

I'm coming to your house for dinner...sounds much better than my salad and yogurt....LOL

You on a diet or turning into a blond bunny?
A good Salad is all right and makes a great addition to all most any meal but unless its one of the really really good ones I can't see it in its self.
my opinion

just trying to eat healthier....I make salads with all sorts of good stuff..avacados pecans, cranberries, goat cheese etc...I try to eat 2 a day...a big meal salad at lunch and a smaller side salad at dinner....trying to get in more fruit and veggies

I see it was one of those meal in its self salads, I like those

thanks for the recipe! I agree, sounds great!

As for salads as a meal, I like to add grilled chicken to cesar salads then roll a bit up into a tortilla. Kids love them and dinner is prepared in less than 20 min - and tastes great!

Tortilla's don't last around here at all. They get ate for breakfast with eggs, herbs, sausage, and/or all most any left overs.
I like the chicken wraps with lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, some times a dressing or herbs.

Yeah, thinking we ought to have stock in Mission too. LOL Looking forward to getting back to making my own soon though! Gotta love a perfectly planned out kitchen!

Right now we are stuck on Tia Rosa flour tortillas if we buy them.
I can post the recipe we use to make them with and our board is literally just that as it was a piece of cabinet at one time.

In Central America there was this little old lady who sold fast food in this one village. Her frijoles, beef, chicken, burritos and tortillas were absolutely great and she was health conscience as well even if she did role the flour shells on the thigh or her skirt.

yep...roll ups..torillas...love them. Whole foods Market has a great corn and bean salad thing on their salad bar...has lots of stuff in it...including chicken....I buy that and corn torillas....add avacado and make roll-up sandwiches out of that too. Now I'm hungry lol

So often around here our avocados are not what they should be and we have to be really careful choosing, I love' em.

Peanut butter and jelly is good too.

I can personally attest to Avocados being best when allowed to ripen so long they fall easily from the tree. Gotta love em. Just wish we had better pickings around here. Don't think they will grow all that well unless in protected environment...remember that whole enclosed courtyard idea.....hmmm...

It would take a courtyard for the ones I remember in the Rectory's garden, this one was huge!

Just have to get some genetically altered, or prune a bit.

I wouldn't mind as long as they dropped those green squashy thingys!

Thank goodness we have Whole Foods Markets here....at least I can get organic fruits and veggies....not as good as getting them from your own tree but better than the genetically altered ones.

genetically altered aren't all bad, it just allows for more fruit in less space...and more resistant to pests and disease naturally. The problem comes when growers pick the fruit 3 mos early and ship on to the markets when they are not fully ripe. The flavor is very different and the fruit meat is not as good in texture...not to mention it is piled on with sprays to discourage mold and pests that may arise in transit. Gotta love the farmers markets.

Well, I had to ask someone in the store how to pick out a good avacado! Now that I buy them, I can't stop. I just eat them...scoop them right out and maybe I'll some leftover to put on my salad! I do find that the ones from Whole foods to taste much better than our local grocery store...in fact, all the organic fruits and veggies taste better than the ones from the regular grocery store....much more flavor.

We have the Wild Oats health food store chain here and if you look really closely at the label its the same as being sold in the grocery stores, just at a higher price.
We've been in their stores when we travel and its all the same from one state to the next except for liquor and fresh breads.
I admit some of the foods are much better then what can be bought in the other stores and we tend to only buy certain items any way.
Some of our places care about the produce and others don't so it pays to know which ones carry what and when and I think that may be pretty much universal but I may be wrong too.

Yeah...I do the shop at both places thing....can't afford to buy everything at Whole Foods Market...though, Whole Foods is a lot less expensive than Wild Harvest. We have both stores...my local Shaw's has a small wild harvest section as well.

Nice string of posts....wish I had checked the boards earlier in the weekend. Avocados ar not in season yet over here, butwhen they are,we get the biggest, most buttery ones imaginable. More than I could ever eat. It gets to be, like, oh..avocados again... (sigh) A couple ways to use avocados to make them last longer:

Avocado Mayo: Mix equal parts pureed avocado with mayo and season with lime juice and S & P. Keeps almost a week and can be used on sandwiches or salad dressing base.

Freeze the pulp: Scoop out pulp and freeze. You can make Guacamole with it.

To ripen them, place in a BROWN paper bag with a banana in a room temperature place.

I'll post some avocado recipes when I have time.

Or to keep from turning brown you just drop the seed back in

That's right!!! Not too many people now that one! Learned that almost 15 years ago!!! You put the seed back into the guacamole and it stays fresh longer! Halleh-whatchamacallit....it works!

Kinda drunk now...sorry.

Had a new restaurant blessing tonight and it was anopen bar and all.....

(hiccup)

Think I'll go tobednow......

The seed helps, but keeping it airtight - and sqeezing as much oxygen out as possible helps too. I make up huge batches of guac. when I find them best in season. Then just put into freezer baggies (or would be better to use the machine that sucks all the air out and seals the food -haven't gotten one of those yet) and place in the freezer. Nothing better than fresh taste in the middle of winter.

I grow quite a few veggies and such, and have found the best way to get good produce is to trade with other growers in the community for fresh milk and eggs or other things I haven't had the time to plant or just didn't have the space for. Works out great and I always have more than I need. I usually freeze a good deal of fresh produce (squash, peppers, etc) already chopped or sliced in small freezer baggies, so that they are easy when I am cooking just to toss in. Saves a bit of time in meal prep, and don't have to worry about having a messy glob of vegetable matter on the bottom of my fruit bin. Dehydration works great too and saves on freezer space.

..just my two cents worth...

We dice our garlic and put it into small jars with a tad of olive oil. Works great that way and saves a bunch of money instead of buying it all ready made up.