From My Kitchen

Happy Thursday to you. Years ago, when my girls were young, I had two friends(identical twin sisters)who were Italian. Their family had owned a well known restaurant in the city where we lived and the gals were great cooks. I had never cooked anything Italian before then from scratch, but soon grew to love Pesto on anything. One summer they shared their family recipe with me and I've been making it ever since. It is amazingly simple and the best part is that besides being delicious, it freezes really well.

I'm sure many of my blogging buddies have similar recipes and I've even tried adding different herbs to it, but I love is with basil. Here is it for your enjoyment.
 Pesto Sauce, yields two cups.
2 Cups fresh basil leaves, tightly pressed
1/2-1 Cup Olive Oil-just enough to process the basil
4 cloves of fresh garlic
 1/2-2/3 Cup Parmesan or Romano Cheese(I've always just used Parmesan)
1/2 tsp. salt(I decrease this to 1/4 tsp.) 1/2 tsp. pepper
~In a blender or food processor, fitted with a steel blade, combine basil, garlic, salt, pepper and oil. ~Process until finely minced
 ~Add cheese and process to mix
 ~Freeze in ice cube trays. From freezer, let thaw to room temp. Do not cook or heat.
 Mix with hot pasta and serve. I had made this and put it in ice cube trays, then when frozen transfered the cubes to ziploc freezer bags; this makes it easy to take out a cube or two for dinner. I also put in it freezer containers, as shown here, for a larger serving. I usually put out Pine-nuts for people to sprinkle on it. My hubby is wild about this recipe and will always help me make it. We've just trimmed our first basil crop today and we have a good amount of Pesto in the freezer.
We also put pesto on chicken or salmon and use it for pizzas.
 Hopefully, in a few weeks, I'll be making another batch. I hope you enjoy this!
 Joy to you!
Noreen