Fresh Pesto in December

I guess one of the trade-offs of Houston’s 100 degree summers and 437% humidity every day for 5 months straight is that we still have fresh herbs in the garden in December. My SIL gave me one of the best gifts on Thanksgiving Day: a huge bag of basil and another of oregano. You should have seen my happy dance! I snagged some fresh spinach at the market and made a batch of fresh spinach pesto to use in the Pomegranate Pesto Pasta Salad recipe I made for the POM Wonderful recipe contest. I used the oregano in the stuffing in the POM pork chops, and put both herbs in some butter to top our tilapia last night. In case you’re not already jealous, the farmer’s market newsletter just announced they have fresh corn and tomatoes coming from South Texas. Yup. That’s right; you can get fresh tomatoes and corn in Houston in December!

I just cracked the ice cube trays full of the super green pesto into a zip lock bag and put it back in the freezer. We will be enjoying fresh pesto in January and February too. Huzzah! The boys and I have been eating the pasta salad for lunch all week. Here’s the recipe I got from Kalyn’s Kitchen. I used walnuts instead of pine-nuts, ½ the oil and I had 1 cup packed basil and 3 cups packed spinach. I wanted omega-3s from walnuts, plus I had them in the house.

Kid Appeal Tip: Kids are attracted to brightly colored things. That’s why they are mesmerized by cartoons and can’t resist candies. OK, fine. The sugar in candy helps too, but give a one year old a choice between a handful of Skittles or a square of milk chocolate and see which one he goes for first. Use their interest in color to get them into food. Fresh fruits and veggies come in a spectrum of rainbow colors. This pesto will turn noodles uber green, and can be a green blanket lightly spread on a piece of bread. Talk up colors when you eat. Compare colors before and after cooking. I always rave about how cool it is that a vegetable is such a cool shade of purple when we eat cabbage. I’m pretty sure the reason Big Boo’s favorite color is red is for his early love of grape tomatoes.

Now is a good time for me to say this since I just poked around on this great source of inspiration, No Recipes: don’t be afraid to make changes to recipes. Leave out an ingredient if you don’t have it, change proportions, and make substitutions. Sure, you’ll alter the flavor some, but if you like the ingredients, you’re bound to like the finished product even if you strayed from the instructions. Some processes like bread making and candy making are rigid, but most of the time you can improvise. This makes it easier to re-use items you have left-over in the fridge and you aren’t handcuffed to running to the grocery every time you run out of the right ingredient. Sometimes I come up with my favorite compositions when I’m winging it in the kitchen. Be brave. Make your own rules!

2 cups (packed) fresh spinach leaves

2 cups (packed) fresh basil leaves(use any proportions of basil to spinach that you'd like)

2 T garlic puree or finely minced fresh garlic2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (or less)

2/3 cup pine nuts (or less)

1 1/3 cup good quality grated parmesan cheese (or less)

Wash and dry spinach and basil. Put it in food processor and pulse until well chopped. Add garlic, pine nuts, and parmesan and blend for 2-3 minutes. With lid and processor on, drizzle in the olive oil until you reach desired consistency. Use less oil for a paste (that's what I made) use more oil for a thinner saucier pesto.

Kid Appeal Tip: It's often a challenge to get kids to eat leafy greens. I've been serving salad at least once a week since Big Boo was on table food, and he's just now getting to the point where he'll eat the leaves/lettuce in addition to the other chopped veggies. Pesto is a great way to get basil and spinach into a little one's diet until they can appreciate the crunch of a whole leaf. If the raw garlic makes gives it too much bite for your tot, leave it out.

We will be enjoying pesto again on friday night pizza night. Mmm, is it Friday night yet?

What else should I put on my pesto pizza?