Vegan Basil Pesto

It’s almost August - where does the time go? On the cooler mornings, I love heading out to the garden to trim, weed and kill bugs - I’m getting pretty good at killing bugs if I do say so myself. I do still have to take a deep breath before I squish them but I’m improving.

The garden is doing well (hence the bug-killing), I’m picking zucchini, patty pan squash, and green beans most days. The winter squash is starting to fruit - actually, we have a few that are a good size at this point, and the turnips - are getting bigger every day. 

A couple disappointments - first the eggplant. Last year we had a fantastic harvest. I planted a dwarf variety and they were so prolific - this year they did absolutely nothing except mock me every time I came into the garden. I pulled them out last week and replanted the space with another round of green beans. The other disappointment - okra. It’s growing and it looks healthy but there are no flowers or fruit - I’m sad - I love okra - we’ll see what happens. 

On the other hand, the basil is doing very well - I made 4 batches of pesto this afternoon and I still have a lot of basil left in the garden. The dill, cilantro, and parsley are ready to harvest and dry. Our garlic - all 50 heads - is drying as we speak and I anticipate enjoying it in fall and early winter. 

So speaking of pesto - I love it on pasta, pizza, flatbreads, and roasted veggies. I’ve been making a vegan version for many years now and I usually get rave reviews even though there is no cheese or pine nuts. I use walnuts and nutritional yeast (for that cheesy flavor) - it works for me and I get no complaints from Dan. Actually, we had a freezer disaster this winter and I had to toss all of my pesto and apple butter (because it spoiled) so this is a restocking year - because we have a shiny new freezer.

Ingredients:

2 cup basil

2 Tbsp lemon juice

3 cloves garlic

5 - 6 Tbsp nutritional yeast

1/3 cup walnuts - toasted

1/2 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Using a food processor, pulse basil until chopped into small pieces.

Add nutritional yeast, garlic, lemon juice, and walnuts.

Pulse pesto until it is well incorporated.

Add olive oil in a constant stream until basil pesto is smooth and consistency is to your liking.

Pack in ice cube trays or small containers and freeze

Thanks for stopping by!

Checkerboard Salad

It’s been a crazy and fun-filled week. I’ve been working at a communal garden in Minneapolis and this year the garden is on the Learning Garden Tour so we’ve been working extra mornings to weed and get things looking spiffy for the event tomorrow. I’ve also been working in my own garden - weeding, watering, and pruning - I’m not sure if I’ll get the dirt under my fingernails out anytime soon. 

We’ve been enjoying kale, swiss chard, and turnip greens in our salads and the zucchini and patty pan squash are starting to ripen. I’ve noticed tiny green beans forming and the tomatoes are starting to produce fruit - still green but I expect we’ll get some toward the end of the month. The eggplant is disappointing - they just glare at me; they don’t grow, they don’t die, they just stare - not sure what I did to piss them off or how to fix the problem.

We had Dan’s sister and brother-in-law over for dinner tonight and you know me - let’s try something new cuz -why not? We grilled a large plate of veggies; sweet potatoes, peppers, onions, asparagus, zucchini, and patty pan squash from the garden. I topped it with a chimichurri sauce (all herbs from the garden) and it got good reviews. 

In lieu of a traditional green salad, I made a checkerboard salad; a little feta, a little watermelon, and a little cucumber; topped with good quality olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and thinly sliced basil and mint - it was visually beautiful and delicious, and not as complicated as one might think.

Ingredients:

1 block of sheep’s feta

1 seedless cucumber

watermelon 

3 - 4 basil leaves -thinly sliced

High-quality olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

Chop feta, watermelon, and cucumber into 1-inch cubes. Arrange on a plate, alternating cheese, melon, and cucumber. Drizzle w olive oil and balsamic vinegar. 

Finely chop basil and spread it on the salad - serve!

Thanks for stopping by!