Basil Pesto

Thanks to Ruthie Hershberger, we have lots of basil.  So a little while ago I made pesto with it.  It was about 4 cups of basil.  I put it in the food processor and chopped it.  Then I added 4 cloves garlic and 1 cup toasted pine nuts and pulsed it smooth.  Then added about 1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese and added oil until it was the right consistency.  I'm going to use it in the vegetables that I'm making for dinner tonight.  And use it in pastas, pizzas, and whatever else later on.  Pesto is good.

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1 comments:

Joyce St John said...

That looks soooo good. Almost exactly like mine. I LOVE basil pesto. I need make some. I can almost smell it. Yummmm.

August 16, 2010 5:03 PM

French Onion Soup

I made a batch of French Onion Soup for lunch today before I went to work.  I thinly sliced two pounds of onions and cooked them with a bit of sugar in a pot over medium heat for at least half an hour until they were golden brown.  Now usually when making this soup I would saute the onions in several pans for about 10 minutes or so until they were golden brown.  But I didn't have enough space in the house kitchen, and Mom was canning peaches, so I just used a big pot.  It worked, just took a bit longer.  Then, after the onions were ready, I added 10 cups of beef broth and a bit of black pepper, covered the pot, and let it simmer for 20 minutes.  Then I put the soup in a serving dish, put some chopped toasted bread on it, and sprinkled cheese over it.  Now, if you know anything about this soup, you will know that the cheese used on top is usually Swiss, or some other good melting white cheese.  Then you broil the cheese until golden and puffy.  Unfortunately, we did not have Swiss, or my other option, Provolone, so I grated some Colby and sprinkled it on top.  It was good, even with the different cheese.

I have decided to increase the vitality of my blog and start posting pictures of the food I make with each post.  So here are pics of the French Onion Soup.  Just know, it tasted a whole lot better than it looks.  It is just basically caramelized onions in beef broth.  Not so great looking, but it tastes so good.

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Spaghetti and Meatballs / Zucchini in Dill Cream Sauce

I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tonight.  The classic spaghetti and meatballs.  You can never go wrong with the classics.  So yummy.  I also made zucchini in a dill cream sauce.  It sounds amazing, but in reality it was just okay.  I sliced some zucchini then cooked it in water with some dill.  After it was soft I added some butter, flour, and sour cream.  Then let it get thick.  It was good but not great. I also made cheese puffs.  Thick sliced bread with a thin layer of grated cheese, mayo, and mustard on top.  Sprinkled it with paprika and oregano, then broiled it until golden.  Yum, yum!

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Shrimp Salad

We have had some cooked, frozen shrimp in the freezer for a while.  Didn't know what to do with it.  Finally, today I decided to make some shrimp salad with it.  The basic for a salad like this, be it seafood or chicken, is basically mayonnaise, chopped celery and onion.  Lots of people add seasoning salt.  I do myself.  However, the shrimp I used was already salty for some reason.  I didn't want to add anymore salt, so Mom suggested I add some lemon pepper.  I did, then tested it.  It was okay, but needed something else.  So I decided to add some Chili seasoning.  So I made a chili shrimp salad.  It's really good.  Now to eat it with some toasted bread, lettuce, and tomato tomorrow.  Yeah!

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Zucchini Meatloaf and Zesty Zucchini Skillet

We have an abundance of zucchini and squash from the garden this year.  I knew I wanted to do something with zucchini for dinner tonight, so the other day I looked through one of Mom's cookbooks for zucchini recipes.  Two recipes caught my eye...Zucchini Meatloaf and Zesty Zucchini Skillet.

The funny thing about meatloaf is, everybody thinks their recipe is the best.  They have a family recipe that has been handed down from way back when, or they kinda make up their own recipe.  Whatever the case, I like meatloaf.  I'm not big on saying that one is better than the next.  There are so many different ways to make meatloaf.  So maybe that's why the Zucchini Recipe caught my eye.  It was a way to use zucchini and a different way to make meatloaf.

I used ground beef, grated zucchini, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, onion, beef broth, salt, milk, and an egg.  Mixed it all together and shaped it in a loaf on a baking dish.  The I cooked it for about an hour while I was preparing the vegetables for the other dish.

For the zucchini skillet I used zucchini, onion, carrot, green onion, and celery.  I cooked the veg in a skillet until they were tender, then added some garlic salt, basil, oregano, and salsa.

I also made mashed potatoes.  I think everything turned out pretty good.  Oh, and I made caramel pudding yesterday.  We ate that for dessert.

It's always fun to have friends over to eat your food.  So the other day I invited Ruthie and Reiley to come over for dinner since they are usually bored at their house while Loren is at school.  That was cool.

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Chicken pot pie

I've been thinking about making pot pie for a couple days, but Mom said it was too hot for it.  Today was a cooler day.  It was a good day for pot pie.  There are two ways to make it.  One way has crust on the bottom and top like a regular pie.  The other way has just some sort of biscuit mixture on top.  I wanted to make it the crust way.  We had three frozen pie shells, and since I was making 2 pies, I made one other crust from scratch.  The filling was chicken, potato, corn, celery, peas, chicken stock, and some seasonings.  I put in some salt and pepper, but I think I added a bit too much thyme.  It turned out good, though.

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Southwestern Burritos

I like burritos.  So versatile.  So good.  You can fill them with pretty much whatever you want and they are good.  Tryphena, Austin, and I were the only ones at the house last night.  I didn't feel like making anything that took a long time.  So I looked in the fridge, saw tortillas, and had the idea to make burritos.  I cooked up some ground beef, added corn, black beans, rice, some chili powder, and a bit of ground hot pepper.  Tryphena had the idea to add Ranch dressing.  They were yummy!

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