From the garden: arugula pesto

Pesto is one of my favorite go-to ingredients when I want an easy and delicious meal; but it wasn't until I moved to Uganda and went a couple of years without it, that I realized how it easy it is to make from scratch. My garden is shady, so leafy greens are the best things to grow, and pesto is also a great way to use the my herbs.  I often make a double or triple batch and then freeze what I don't immediately need.  Pairing basil pesto with my home-made sun-dried tomatoes never disappoints.

Basil pesto is certainly the most common, but you can make pesto from any variety of herbs or leafy greens.  Last year I had a huge amount of arugula in my garden, so I used it to make arugula pesto.

Here is the recipe I use, which can easily be adapted.

Ingredients:

About 1 cup of packed basil/arugula/cilantro/kale/whatever you want
1/2 cup of pine nuts (walnuts are a great substitute)
1/2 cup of olive oil
3 cloves of minced garlic (but I like to use more)
1/4 tsp of pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Blend all your ingredients except the olive oil until they are ground together in a thick paste

2. Slowly start adding the olive oil and continue to blend.
3. Add salt, pepper, and pepper flakes to taste.

4. Pour into a container to serve or store.  If you're not using it within a couple of days, pour your pesto into freezer bags to freeze and use for later.

Here are a few other recipes to use with pesto:

Turkey, pesto, onion, cheese, and poppyseed sliders
Pesto and cheese stuffed chicken
Roasted garlic chicken pesto pizza
Pesto ranch crock pot chicken thighs

Ingredients:

About 1 cup of packed basil/arugula/cilantro/kale/what you want
1/2 cup of pine nuts (walnuts are a great substitute)
1/2 cup of olive oil
3 cloves of minced garlic (but I like to use more)
1/4 tsp of pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Blend all your ingredients except the olive oil until they are ground together in a thick paste
2. Slowly start adding the olive oil and continue to blend.
3. Add salt, pepper, and pepper flakes to taste.
4. Pour into a container to serve or store.  If you're not using it within a couple of days, pour your pesto into freezer bags to freeze and use for later.

Drying herbs

I've been away from my own home for so long this year and I missed making food from what I can grow on our small piece of land or buy fresh at the local markets. 

When i came back, my herb garden was definitely in need of some attention.  Some of my herbs had been crowded out by weeds, some had gotten spindly for lack of pruning, but others had absolutely exploded.  With these, it was the perfect opportunity to harvest a little crop and dry the herbs for future use.  There were other bundles of herbs I had hung to dry before I left and they were now finished and ready to use.

I simply cut off trimmings of my herbs, wash them thoroughly, tie the ends together with a rubber band, and hang them at the top of one of our cabinets, where it is cool and they get good air circulation.  When they are dry and brittle, I take the leaves off the stems, crush them into smaller pieces, and place them in containers until I need them in a recipe.

It's always a lovely feeling to cook with something I grew and processed myself, and drying herbs is such a simple way to do that.

Fresh thyme, rosemary, oregano, and lavender

Dried thyme, rosemary, oregano, and lavendar

Herbs hanging to dry

Dried oregano and sage

Sage bundle

P.S. My husband and I have an ongoing argument about how to pronounce "herb."  Is the "H" silent or not?

Starting an herb garden

Although I've made my fair share of mistakes, I have found herbs easy enough to grow and way more rewarding than I had predicted.  I kept adding more plants whenever I could find the starters, and now my herb garden is one of my favorite parts of my home.  I really love being able to use fresh herbs in my own cooking while also learning how other cultures use spices and herbs.

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