Fresh Pesto

Yesterday I made my first ever batch of fresh pesto using the basil I am growing in my garden.  It is so hot that most of my garden is just burning up in spite of it getting late afternoon shade and my watering efforts. 
I planted 2 basil plants which are doing pretty well, and I am keeping the blossoms pinched off of them.  I went out and harvested 2 big handfuls and made Pesto, which I didn't take any pictures of. This is a stock photo of basil...

I first put 4 cloves of garlic and a handful of walnuts in the food processor and ground them up. ( used walnuts because they are about $2 a pound and pine nuts are $30 a pound!)
Then I added the 2 handfuls of basil with a small sprig of fresh oregano I also grew in my garden. Then I threw in 2 big handfuls of fresh  spinach and processed it until it made a paste.  Then I added about 1/3 cup of parmesan, and with the processor running, I streamed in olive oil until it became the consistency I wanted, not too thick, not too runny.  I also added some sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

I tossed this with some hot angel hair pasta, and garnished it with chopped fresh tomato and some more parm.

It was yum!  The spinach kept it from getting so strong, and the walnuts added a nutty taste.  All that planting and watering was worth it! If I had to buy the basil, the cost would be just too much.

Hope you are keeping cool today!

SG

Nice gestures

On Monday I received a nice surprise from one of our graduate students - flowers! In appreciation for helping her. Sometimes they mention me in their dedications, but I think these are the first flowers I have gotten. Really brightened up my day....

It has some lovely full size roses

Some tea size roses and some Zinnias.
And it came in a mug with seashells on it...love that beach stuff! What a great girl, and her husband picked it out. While he was at it, he sent her roses. He is very well trained for an engineer....

How My Garden Grows!

With all the rain, then sunny days, then no rain and heat, my garden is really growing. The pepper plants are not as big as I would like, and have started blooming. The tomato plants are blooming, and the lettuce is ready to harvest.






Tomato plants are starting to bloom, I may have them a little crowded, time will tell.

These are Better Boys, with one Roma in the center.








This is the squash and cucumber. They haven't started to bloom yet, but I need to watch them closely and do the pollinating, so I won't get strange crossbreeds. I forgot and put the cukes and squash in the same pool.

Also, the marigolds I planted don't seem to be coming up very well.




These are the pepper plants, with lettuce and spinach sowed about them.







All in all, so far this experiment is going pretty well. I just hope I get some produce out of this! The pools should last 2 or 3 years, then I'll transfer it all to a raised bed.