"I literally made the most pesto ever," said in my best Chris Traeger voice

Last weekend my mission was to use up all my basil before the fall frost ruined it.

For me fresh basil=pesto. I love pesto...and by love I mean looooovveeee. One of the reasons

that I married my husband is because he had the secret pesto recipe from an unnamed pasta restaurant that he worked at in E'burg (I kid, I kid, but I do have the recipe now).

Things I learned during the pesto process:

Pesto stains everything it touches.

Basil reacts with oxygen somehow(O-chemers any comments?) and turns your skin black.

The old trick about rubbing your hands with a stainless steel spoon to get rid of garlic smell actually works.

Meat tenderizers make for excellent garlic smashers.

The first step to making a giant bowl of pesto is to gather all your ingredients. Aside from basil, I ran out of pretty much everything and had to start making substitutions.

You will need:

lots of basil

lots of garlic cloves

lots of olive oil (ran out of regular EVOO so I used a garlic infus

ed olive oil to make up the difference)

lots of Parmesan cheese

a cup or so of walnuts

2 1/2 cups of sunflower seeds (roasted but unsalted) (the recipe called for pine nuts...which are delish but too rich for my blood)

First, peel the basil leaves from the stems. I totally underestimated how long this would take, so I enlisted my sous chef. I had to promise him a batch of whatever kids of cookies he wanted, but it was worth it.

I put all the leaves into the sink filled with water in order to wash them and pick out the less desirable leaves. Then I drained the water out and patted dry the leaves. At that moment I

realized that a salad spinner may have been a good kitchen tool to have.

Then I just started mixing everything together. The restaurant recipe called for a "bag" of nuts and a "container" of cheese, etc. Since I didn't know what the quantity of said "bag" was, I just started tasting and guessing.

First I tried using the blender. Alas, a magic bullet my blender is not and nothing mixed together except for the EVOO and basil. So into my mini chopper everything went and although it worked, the chopper is so small that it took many batches to finish. After each batch I poured the mixture into a large bowl and then mixed everything together with a spoon again at the end to make sure that the inconsistencies in my proportions were minimized.

Lastly, I put a "dinner party" amount in a plastic bag and then portioned individual pesto disks and froze everything. Now I can just pull out a disk and have pesto all through the winter (30 portions total). WIN! Even though it made the a giant mess, the most dishes ever and my breath smelled like garlic for a week (I was eating spoonfuls of the leftovers) I had tons of fun making this.

Happy Sherbert's Day!

Saturday was my birthday - yahoo!

I had some good friends over for some good eats and good drinks. Everyone was a winner.

The weather that day was nice - really nice. After a large pancake breakfast at McKenna's (still no frozen lemonade) I spent a few hours digesting and then went for a run followed by the greenest smoothie of all.

Kale, spinach, kiwi, peaches, mango

Then came a knock at the door... Erik's parents very nicely sent me birthday flowers!

Lilies are my fav

Guests came over bearing many yummy treats and we retreated to the back porch to enjoy the phenomenal weather.

First course: the snacks
Watermelon feta kebabs (Erik)
Spinach artichoke dip with pita (Greg)

Sadly did not get a picture of the dip...

These kebabs are a great party treat. I made them for our Mediterranean Seder and they were a big hit once again.  I originally got the idea from Fun and Fearless in Beantown.
Cut up a watermelon into bite size pieces. Drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette (careful, it comes out fast). Place a piece of feta on top and skewer with a toothpick. Last time I made them with a piece of mint on top and I think they were even better that way. I bet basil would make a good flavor combo too.

Second course: the salads
Tomato and Fresh Mozzarella (Alex and Sarah)
Carrot beet apple salad (Me!)
Spinach garlic and grapefruit (Greg)

I have previously shared with you my second favorite beet salad but this one is better for warm weather.

Use a cheese grater to shred up a roughly even portions of beets and carrots. I used 3 medium beets and three large carrots. Grate in a granny smith or other tart apple. (I recommend peeling the apple first). Make the dressing. 1 Tablespoon olive oil, 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar,  1 teaspoon strong dijon mustard, agave or honey to taste, salt and pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes if you like some spice. Shake up the dressing and poor over grated carrots, beets, and apple. Let marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving. HEAVEN.

Third course: the treats

Yummy summer fruit (Alex and Sarah) - sadly not pictured
Fancy coconut raspberry birthday cake - Erik

Love, love, love coconut

All courses: large pitcher of sangria.

I was so happy to get to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables in all of these dishes. We had a LONG, cold winter here in New England and sometimes it felt like I was going to be eating potatoes and root vegetables until they came out my nose.

What spring veggies/fruits/treats have you been enjoying? Anything people are particularly looking forward to as the farmers markets start up? I can't wait for cherry season!

A Mediterranean Feast

On Friday I had some friends over for a very merry Passover Seder. I decided to put a little skew on the traditional feast of matzo ball soup, roasted eggs, and roast beast by looking to our friends in the Mediterranean. Amanda worked as my loyal sous chef and here is what we whipped up:

Watermelon Feta kebabs with mint
Baked chickpea fritters served with sliced pickles, cucumbers, carrots, and greek yogurt
Collard green dolmas stuffed with a quinoa salad
Roasted eggplant dip
Israeli pickles
Lebanese carrot salad (which I completely forgot to serve...)
Honey cake

Alex and Sarah were all star guests and provided charoset (I finished the leftovers today for breakfast), and some of the best homemade macaroons I have ever had.

Sadly when I remembered to take some pictures my camera only took one photo before informing me that the battery was dead!

Alex does not look impressed here

Saturday night I had some leftovers and was able to take a shot of the dolmas I so painstakingly rolled. Dolma just means "stuffed" or "filled" in its original Turkish, which inspired me to roll these up in collard greens instead of the usual grape leaves. Also I did not have grape leaves... They took forever and were really fussy, but a fun food for a dinner party.

Collard dolmas, steamed collards, and quinoa salad with feta

I also wanted to use up my leftover collards so I steamed them according to this method from Healthy Tipping Point. I had never made collards before and honestly they were sort of "eh." A little too slimy for me. Maybe I cooked them too long? I'm really hoping to learn to enjoy them since they are basically nutrition bombs and wildly inexpensive.

Collards steaming - you can see how little they cooked down to in the photo above

After noshing on all of those healthy greens I finished off the meal with the remainder of the honey cake. My grandmother sent me the special passover mix specifically for our seder. I was a little nervous it was going to taste super dry (it uses potato starch instead of the forbidden flour), but it was actually very moist and everyone seemed to enjoy it. It tasted just like a spicy pumpkin cake.

It was the last piece - I ate it straight from the pan

Today the sun is actually out in Boston and it is a beautiful day. I am going to go stroll around the harborwalk and get some vitamin D on my fur!