Pesto, Pesto, PESTO!!!

Yes, it's Pesto!

I have to be honest, up until I saw this post on the Brown Eyed Baker last year and made it for dinner, I had never had pesto.
Can you believe that?
Yeah, me neither.  But there's a reason.
I avoided it mainly because I thought I'd have the same kind of reaction to it as I do Caesar Salad dressing.  I'm not allergic to it, but I get wicked indigestion.  Aren't ya just so thrilled that I shared that with ya?  ;-)
Oh, that dressing and sun dried tomatoes.  Yeah, those little red things do it to me, too.

Makes you want to go out with me to lunch, hunh?

Anyway, I have avoided pesto up until this point (or rather, the night I made it last year) thinking that it would reek some sort of havoc on my body, but I am happy to report that I can eat pesto without ANY problems!

Are you still reading or have I totally lost you with my discussion of my intestinal issues.
Ok, I'm done.
Enjoy this recipe.  It's good and I made more than we needed, so I stuck it in the freezer to save for a later date.  Not sure what I'll do with it, but I do have some thoughts.

And did you know there are nuts in pesto??!!  I didn't!  Usually it's made with pine nuts, but I have to admit I love Michelle's recipe because it's made with walnuts which is much less expensive than pine nuts.  Those babies are good, but they're just so darned pricey!  They make really awesome Pignoli Cookies though!!

Oh, and I just have to share...KC from Chat n' Dish gave and extremely nice shout out to 365 today!  She talked about the blog and my baking adventure and said she really enjoyed the Blueberry Lemon Bread.  Check out the video here on FoodChannel.com and you can see her make Italian Lolli-Burgers, as well!  Thanks, KC!

Adapted from the Brown Eyed Baker's Basic Pesto Recipe.
Basic Pesto - makes 1 1/2 cups

3 cups fresh basil
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup Romano cheese
3/4 cup olive oil

Combine the basil, walnuts, and garlic in a food processor or blender and pulse 5-7 times.  Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while the machine is still running.  Scrape down the sides of the blender or processor and add the cheese.  Mix a few more time by pulsing to completely blend.

Ok, I didn't make it this way.   I messed up and shoved everything into the blender except for the oil which made for great difficulty (I'm not sure that even made sense) when it came to blending everything together.  Follow the directions.  It will make you life much easier, believe me.
I rate everything I make on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and this Basic Pesto earned 3 1/2 rolling pins.
It is so delicious over the plain pasta we had and has a "kick" to it.
I'm interested now to see what the difference is in taste when using the pine nuts.

I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!