Last night my husband harvested the basil.  Drying herbs is not my thing, so I decided that turning it into walnut basil pesto and freezing it was a good idea.  I prepped the basil, removing spent flowers, stems, and the occasional insect while giving homework advice.  A thorough rinse and a few good whirls in the salad spinner and the basil was dry enough to store in the ‘fridge overnight.

The recipe calls for 3 1/2 cups of basil, packed.  Wow…packed is pretty subjective. You don’t pack it like brown sugar.  You just mash it with enough force that it doesn’t come springing back at you.  General approximation is 1.5 ounces per cup. 

Most pesto recipes call for pine nuts.  Pine nuts can be expensive, and not always easy to find.  Walnuts, are cheaper, easy to find, and also have omega-3, something most of us could use more of.

This is done with the food processor, one measuring cup, and a spatula.  First in was all the basil, then the parmesan – not the super expensive chunk that you grate directly on a dish, but something nicer than the green can,  walnut halves, a pinch of salt (watching it there, the parm is pretty salty), and 2 garlic balls (equivalent to 8 garlic cloves).   Yes, a lot of garlic, and more than the recipe asks for.  Most people would not use this much.  I like garlic.  This all gets pulsed until its well mixed.  Then, with the motor running, drizzle in olive oil until the pesto is hummus like, or as thin as you prefer.  I used 1/2 cup in all. 

Taste test!  Very nice.  Maybe could use a little more salt, but depending on what it will be used with, I’d rather check the seasoning then. 

Now on to preservation.  Freezing is my preference.  As usual, I scoop!  There were 23 scoops.  Had I not sampled it on pasta and toast, there would have been 24.

Another successful harvest!  Of course, someone one will ask what you DO with this?  Plop it into pasta sauce, or into plain pasta, thaw it for, salad dressings and dips, sauces, roasted vegetables…endless possibilities!

My husband grows lots and lots of things in his garden and gives them to me.  Last week’s harvest was garlic…a whole bowl of tiny garlic (no fertilizers or chemicals in his garden!).

It took me over an hour to peel all the cloves (at this point I will declare my love for hulu.com).  There were 9.5 ounces when all was said and done.  There was also a distinct smell of garlic in the air.

Now…what to do with it?  First, let’s read this fun and informative blurb from UC Davis:

“As with all low-acid vegetables, garlic will support the growth and subsequent toxin production of the bacterium Clostridium botulinum when given the right conditions.  These conditions include improper

home canning and improper preparation and storage of fresh herb and garlic-in-oil mixtures.  Moisture, room temperature, lack of oxygen,

and low-acid conditions all favor the growth of Clostridium botulinum. When growing, this bacterium produces an extremely potent toxin that causes the illness botulism.”

Translation:  Don’t put your garlic cloves in oil and assume that’s good enough.  Got that?  Good.   I really don’t have room in my fridge for jars of garlic oil, anyhow.  My solution is to make paste and freeze it.

Toss garlic into the food processor.  Add maybe a tablespoon of olive oil, and a scattering of kosher salt.  Process until it looks like paste (definitely not rocket science!)

Next, take the 2 tsp. scoop (oh how I love my scoops!) and make balls on a cookie sheet (parchment or waxed paper would have been better than foil, but I was out).  Freeze for a few hours, and drop into a quart sized zip top bag.

My batch made about 30 balls (1.25 cups) of garlic paste.  I used them in the artichoke chicken and garlic mashed potatoes over the weekend, and it was amazing – none of that chemical off taste that the commercial jarred garlic has. 

Did you know that you reap more benefits from garlic if you let it sit for 10 minutes after you have chopped it?  It takes that long for the chemical reaction to complete its cycle.  Read all about it at The World’s Healthiest Foods.

I watched with interest the article on the Doomsday Vault.  Of course there are plenty of questions like, who's going to go up to Norway and get those seeds, will the earth be too polluted to plant them, and will there be any bees left to pollinate them?  It's very thought provoking, but since we aren't going to need those seeds for the foreseeable future (knock on wood), I'm turning my attention to the near term:  spring.  It's coming, I swear (brave talk--there is 4" of snow on our patio and it's still coming down).  I'm thinking about seeds that will produce (pun intended) safe and healthy food for my family.

This year my husband (he of the green thumb) is planning a big vegetable garden.  Because Michigan weather is so fickle, we will need to turn our family room into seed starter central.  Here is a cool site I found for making seed starting pots out of newspaper.  Apparently you can put the whole thing right in the ground.  Economical and environmental!  Gardening is a fun family activity; everyone gets involved from the selection of the seeds to the composting of the cobs.  What I like most, though, is being outside with the kids and having the opportunity to teach them about being stewards of the earth.  Doomsday?  I don't think so.