We all know I have a mad love affair with basil. Last year, I planted two plants. Two. Basil. Plants.

WHAT. WAS. I. THINKING.

I clearly use WAY more Basil than two plants-worth and ran out incredibly too soon for my liking.

This year, I remedied thought I remedied that situation…. I mean come on, can you ever have too much Basil?

We planted 5 plants this year and yet I’m still kicking myself for not having enough….

I started school again this past week and already I think I’ve studied more than I did in my first degree… all 3 1/2 years combined. So after spending the entire day Sunday camped out on my porch with my freckled face in the books, I decided to “do something for me” and make some basil pesto.

I loosely used Cook’s Illustrated’s recipe…

Here’s what I used:

• As much Basil as I could harvest… never enough.
• A handful of Parsley… or more
• About a quarter cup of slivered Almonds, roasted… or toasted.
• EVOO
• Spepper…
• Garlic… not enough.
• Lemon juice… meant to but I was a space cadet and forgot… don’t be like me.

I harvested both the basil and parsley from our herb garden and gave them a great rinsing….

Then browned the almonds in a pan until they were golden and very aromatic….

After they were finished,  I put the garlic in there to roast a little bit too… (note: I’m saying roast but I know it’s not the right word… but after 10+ hours of studying today, I’m struggling a bit with right words)

When the garlic is done, throw everything into the food processor and give it a go until smooth…

This was our easy meal Sunday night… we tossed the pesto together with some buttery noodles and called it a day.

Can we be real? Straight up? Face to face? Hermana to (fill in the blank)?

Eating/making food from my garden validates me. It seriously makes. my. day. It makes me feel like for just one day, one little awesome day, I could possibly have turned my black thumb into a green one. I feel sustainable, independent, like I want to stick it to the (Walmart) man…

And then I come back to reality and realize that I only have enough basil to make four servings every other week… but just for a moment, that was me…

Am I making sense anymore? It’s been a long day. And I’m done talking.

Off to dream about pesto…. and bacon. Don’t ever forget the bacon…