Vegan Basil Pesto Recipe

I have a basil plant in a pot and 2 plants in the garden. One in the garden is huge and the other has been taking it's time to grow. I like when my garden plants grow at different times. Then I get continual produce with out a crop overwhelming my time at once.

I have been making and perfecting my pesto recipe this year and finally think I have it just the way I like it. I have been doing 2 variations. One with all basil and one with basil and Peppermint from a plant I have in a pot.

What you will need:

 food processor
Some glass jars with screw on tops, and or 8 oz. to 16 oz. mason jars with lids

1/2 cup raw walnuts ( you can use pine nuts or almonds)

4-5 cloves of garlic (If they are big then count them as 2-3 each)

1/3 cup nutritional Yeast (I use Lewis Labs. I think it is very tasty)

About 3-4 cups of stuffed basil leaves. A bit more or less is fine.( for basil mint, use an estimated 2 cups mint leaves and 2 cups basil leaves. You can ratio it anyway you like.)

2/3 cup Olive oil ( or any veggie oil of choice works to)

1 tsp. salt ( I use Kosher)

Juice of one Lemon

Put all ingredients, but oil into food processor and blend for about 20-30 seconds. Then while the processor is on slowly pour the oil in. Stop the process and scrape the sides if needed. when smooth and looking creamy, it is done. The blending takes only about another 30 seconds.

The pic. above is a basil mint blend and below is a basil only blend.

Some times my batch is big and sometimes small. But the measurements I gave will give you an estimated 14-16 oz.

That was the bigger batch and below was the smaller batch.

 You can do less salt if you prefer to. Depending on your diet. You can place these into the freezer for an estimated time of 6 months. Some people say a year, but until I know for myself I will go with the 6 months. In the fridge it only tastes fresh about a week to a week and a half. That was in the door. Perhaps if it was kept in the back and lower part of fridge it would last longer, but not sure yet.

Use it in pasta of choice.

On warm bread of choice.

I think it would be tasty mixed with some fresh cut Tomatoes as a salad/ or meal. Or baked on chicken then topped with fresh Tomatoes and or some Italian cheese of choice. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have been. Have a great day.

Updated note: You can use less garlic if you like, and more veggie oil if your batch is big. You can also add more or less nuts to. You can toast the nuts before blending. Lemon can be omitted. This recipe is very open to changes to appeal to your taste. I found that my extra big batch did not have enough oil and could of used more salt. I could be using exact measurements, but that would mean more tools and dishes to clean. Suddenly making the preparation of food boring and a chore. I want to learn the feel of the right measurements by weight, sight and taste, over time.

Slow roasted Tomato's recipe, uses and storage

During the month of July my Cherry Tomato's were growing well. Now that the heat index is in the hundreds, there are very few growing. I am hoping my tomato plants will produce again when the weather cools down. I had been giving tomato's away and drying them. Then I found a few recipes on slow roasting them. So I tried it out.

You will need:
Cherry Tomato's (That is what I used.) I read Roma's are good to.
Garlic cloves
Olive oil or other veggie oil you have
Salt ( I used Kosher)
Optional: Fresh Thyme and Rosemary (I used both)
Parchment paper, tin foil or you could just lay it on a bake sheet naked (Guessing on the naked sheet of course. Baking at your own risk).

I have read that you can preheat your oven to 200F and bake 6-8 hours, or 225F baking 3-4 hours, or 450F for 25-30 minutes.

I preheated the oven to 225F and baked for 4 hours.

Prep:

Cut in half and lay on baking sheet.

Drizzle oil on top of Tomato's. Top Tomato's with diced garlic and optional sprigs of fresh Thyme and Rosemary. I read that your racks should be in the upper and lower 3rd of oven. I had placed mine on lower rack. I baked for 4 hours at a pre-heat of 225F.

Once baked, they looked like this below.

They are great just out of the oven and best warm in general. I took a glass jar and put them inside with oil to cover the roasted Tomato's.

These can then be stored in the fridge or freezer. I stored mine in the fridge. They are great with Pesto and noodles of choice.

Very simple to prepare. Cook your noodles, drain, add back to the pot and add pesto and roasted Tomato's. Heat and stir till warm. Serve.

Another fave of mine is:

Sourdough bread or your choice of thick sliced bread with pesto and roasted Tomato's on top. Warm in the oven or microwave. Super yummy.

I will blog my Pesto recipe soon. You can use store bought or your own recipe or type of pesto. Remember, fresh and home made tastes better.