Basil Pecan Pesto

There is a crepe restaurant in town that serves a basil walnut pesto I have often raved about. Since I was having a Crepe Party, I decided to try see if I could capture the pesto flavor on my own.

I opted to use pecans for two reasons. First, I like the flavor better. Second and mainly, they were on sale 🙂

The below is basically the recipe I followed; however, something to note about how I cook is that I’m not a huge fan of measuring, so I approximate.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup walnut halves
• 2 cups tightly packed basil leaves
• 2 large garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino romano cheese
• scant 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

I got the recipe from this site: http://www.healthyfoodforliving.com/basil-walnut-pesto/

I used more nuts and less basil. I also used grated parmesan cheese and recommend not adding any salt since the parmesan is full of it.

I chopped the pecans in my food processor first and then added the remaining ingredients, incorporating more oil until the pesto reached the consistency I wanted.

This is quite delicious with savory crepes and also would be a great ‘sauce’ for a pasta dish.

Spinach – The Universal Food

I have come to absolutely love spinach and add it to pretty much everything now! I just recently decided to incorporate spinach into a smoothie and it’s one of my new favorite vitamin packed snacks.

You will need:

• 1 frozen banana
• a handful of frozen strawberries (about 5)
• a handful of spinach, fresh
• juice, I like 100% cranberry juice

Add all ingredients into your blender and keep adding juice until smooth…YUM!

Stovetop S’mores

For years I have been known for my love of marshmallows, which in my case, naturally led to a love for s’mores. In order to continue to enjoy this messy dessert at any time, college became an experiment grounds for the many ways that marshmallows could be roasted to ensure that the timeless snack didn’t go extinct from our diet. Needless to say, the stovetop became the most common form of creating the perfect roasted marshmallow. (There were other more dangerous methods found, but since I do not want to be held responsible someone’s house turning into the roasting grounds, I will leave the others unmentioned).

What you will need:

• Graham Crackers
• Large Marshmallows
• Chocolate Bar or Chocolate Chips
• Peanut Butter is highly recommended
• A metal fork

Any good s’more maker knows that preparation is key. If everything is not ready by the time your marshmallow in perfectly roasted, your s’more will suffer. Spread peanut butter on your graham cracker (I now think that s’mores without peanut butter are boring).

Place your chocolate on as well and then place one or two marshmallows on your fork. Turn your stove onto high and watch the magic happen! Since I am not overly patient, I love that the stove will give your marshmallow the desired golden crust in just minutes (if you like the burnt taste, you can accomplish that as well, just be careful!)

My camera was struggling so my pictures are a bit fuzzy, but I can guarantee that I enjoyed every bite of this s’more!!

Why a Food Blog?

I have often found pleasure in cooking; however, recently it became evident that I might have something more to share. Co-workers seem to often sniff their way to my desk only to discover the most recent concoction my kitchen produced. And it actually was a co-worker (thanks Bridget :)) who demanded I begin blogging so that the world could benefit from my cooking experiments. So come along for some do’s and don’ts and expect to get a handful of yummy recipes along the way!