Fresh Basil Pesto

Whenever I make pesto, I always try to make a huge batch. Because there's nothing more disappointing than eating pasta that doesn't have enough sauce on it!

If you don't have a food processor, a blender works fine. If you don't have either- hope your knife skills are excellent!

Ingredients were all from Trader Joes:

• 2 containers fresh basil
• 2-3 cloves fresh peeled garlic
• 1 lemon squeezed
• a dash of cayenne pepper
• 1 large handful of pine nuts
• 4 heaping tablespoons of parmesan cheese
• fresh ground pepper
• 1/4 cup of olive oil

Chop up a few cloves of garlic (I used 3 for this batch)

Now add the basil. Make sure to leave off the stems. You can see I left one on! Woops!

Make sure to scrap down the sides...

Now, start adding your olive oil.

I added a little over 1/4 cup of the oil to get the consistency I wanted.

I tossed in a handful of pine nuts (they're even better when toasted)

I added 1 fresh squeezed lemon to the mix (prevents discoloration)

A dash of cayenne pepper for spice.

Some fresh ground pepper to even out the flavor....

Now put about 4 heaping tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. (Skip this part if you're vegan)

The cheese is in place of salt.  It adds a LOT of flavor. Mix that all up!

Now we have some pesto!

When I made dinner the other night, I added some of the pesto to my shrimp (with red pepper & olive oil) to make jazz them up before grilling:

I put those on skewers (4 to a skewer-except 1 had 5!)

I grilled them on high heat for about 2-3 minutes per side!

I think this weekend I'm going to have a slice of bread toast with pesto on it. Stay tuned.