Homemade Pesto

I've always loved pesto. Pesto chicken sandwiches, pesto on my pasta, pesto pizza. It all sounds good. But I guess I never really thought of pesto as being something that I could make at home. Every time I've ever eaten it, it's been something I've ordered from a restaurant or cafe.

Back in late December, I made a trip to Trader Joe's (oh how I love Trader Joe's! We don't have one by us, so now the trips I make are even more important!) and I bought myself a basil plant because it smelled amazing, had huge leaves and well, it was only like..$3.99!  Can't go wrong. Never having had a basil plant of my own, I started thinking about what to cook with it. 

It's pretty amazing. On New Year's Eve (before heading to work) I made us a Margarita pizza with fresh basil and tomato. So delish. But you can't have the same pizza all the time. So then I discovered the joy of making pesto. And I realized how simple it really is! 

I found a recipe on this site and made my first delicious batch, even with out the pine nuts (we didn't have any then). I used it on pasta and chicken and E loved it.  I made a second batch after buying some pine nuts and made an incredible pesto chicken breast roll up with swiss cheese. An amazing recipe from my mom that I will (eventually) post here (someday).

Pesto is so simple, so delicious, and a great reason to prune your basil plant of it's larger leaves! My little plan is doing well and the leaves are looking big again, I may have to make another batch soon!

XO