Here we are – knee-deep in loads of one of my favorite summer herbs, basil.
I think one of my favorite things to do with the kiddos is to introduce them to delicious food made with simple ingredients, straight from the garden! The basil plant was starting to get a bit unruly and rather than let it go to flower, the girl(s) and I decided to give it a haircut! If you’re like us and enjoy an abundance of basil during the growing season, please scroll to the bottom and enjoy this EASY basil pesto recipe!
Of course, this resulted in some delicious basil pesto for their pasta lunch. It seems like my kids just can’t get enough pasta. Are your kids the same!? This is a great (and tasty) recipe to mix it up and encourage them to eat some heathy herbs as well. Even the pickiest of eaters won’t be able to resist!
The girls (my daughter and the neighbor’s sweet girl that we watch throughout the week) really had a blast giving the basil a “hair cut” and turning it into a yummy sauce for lunch! They washed the basil and gave it a spin in the salad spinner to dry it a bit. The kids really like being hands on in the kitchen so I used my trusty Pampered Chef Manual Food Processor to blend the pesto. I do have an electric food processor and use it with larger batch things, but for this recipe we use the manual one. As a bonus, it’s is much easier for the kids to clean (they do the dishes)!
As you can see, we don’t apply much science to this recipe. The girls basically shoved as much basil as they could in the processor on top of the pecans. What makes this recipe a bit unique is that we actually use pecans instead of pine nuts. I was out of everything else…It is also helpful to use pecans, because my husband is slightly allergic to walnuts and I have yet to find affordable pine nuts at our grocery store. I also try not to buy ingredients that don’t have a multitude of uses (ahem, pine nuts in our house) because they WILL get shoved back in the pantry somewhere and wasted.
We then put the lid on the handy dandy processor and blended it up with some good old fashioned elbow grease. They like this part also, except that they struggle to go fast enough to actually chop. It’s still a bunch of fun though! I prefer my pesto to be a bit “chunky” as I’m a texture freak when it comes to food. You can keep blending it until you achieve the desired consistency. I think that is the great thing about pesto, you can vary the ingredients AND texture to create numerous outcomes. I enjoy the chunky pesto on toasted focaccia bread with some fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. The easiest was to enjoy it is just tossed on some pasta; which makes for a super easy, toddler-approved, and shhhh… healthy lunch! Basil pesto is definitely one of the simplest recipes to make with garden excess!
I hope you’ll enjoy this recipe as much as our family does! Please let me know how it turns out and how you made it your own <3
Farm-Fresh Basil Pesto
Ingredients
- 2-3 Cups Fresh Basil
- 1/3-1/2 Cup Pecans, Walnuts, and/or Pinenuts (Can sub any combo of these)
- 1/2 Cup Olive Oil Extra Virgin
- 3-4 Cloves Fresh Garlic
- 1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese (Can sub Romano or any combo of the two)
Instructions
- First, combine basil, nuts and garlic in food processor. I like to use my Manual Food Processor from Pampered Chef. Pulse ingredients a few times then scrape down sides of bowl.
- Add cheese(s) and pulse mixture a few more times, continuing to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Finally, slowly add olive oil to your mixture. If using an electric food processor you can slowly add it while it is running. If using a manual one, just slowly add some, then blend, add more, then repeat.
- Blend mixture until it reaches your desired consistency. I prefer my pesto to be a bit "chunky"
- Salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
This recipe was adapted from this lovely one at Simply Recipes
Enjoy!