Adventures in Gardening: Making Basil Pesto and Neglect

 

It’s been a really fun summer having my garden however there were quite a few weeks where I was out of town, or just didn’t want to spend a lot of time taking care of things. Garden neglect. It was then that problems like these that arose – Giant zuchinni’s.  We let our zucchinis just grow too long and they got huge!  But at least we could pretty much use just one of them for dinner 😉

Here is a picture of my overgrown garden today. The tomato plants have totally taken over the place, and yet I still haven’t been able to harvest even one yet. Although I noticed these lovely ladies hidden deep in the plant that my dog can’t reach. Lets hope they make it to my kitchen.

 

The basil has been amazing all summer long. Last week I was able to harvest some and make some fresh basil pesto to freeze…it is so delicious.

Here is my fresh basil pesto recipe:

Ingredients:
3 cups fresh basil
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pine nuts (you can toast them if desired)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
In a food processor or blender, combine basil all ingredients and pulse until smooth.

I was also able to get some carrots recently as well from the garden. I did plant them all too closely, so I get weird looking ones, but they tasted great in my soup.

I will continue to still get zucchini, carrots, tomatoes and basil during the next month or so. All in all I have enjoying having a garden this year. I really want to next year plant some pumpkins or other squash type produce – but I think I will need a bigger garden.

What are you harvesting right now? Any favorite recipes you would like to share?

Happy Gardening everyone!

See the other posts in the Adventures in Gardening series:

• My Adventures in Gardening: The Fall
• My Adventures in Gardening Part 2: Where did my Dirt Go?
• My Adventures in Gardening : Hello Seed
• My Adventures in Gardening: Popsicle Stick Garden Seed Signs
• My Adventures in Gardening: Little Seedlings
• Planting Indoor Seeds as well as Outside too
• Karrie Karrie, How Does Your Garden Grow?
• Dog for Sale – Loves His Veggies