Poetry and Pesto

May 14, 2011 by paladinipotpie 5 Comments

First light of day…six of the clock…a time for poetical inspiration…In pajamas and flip flops, I wander o’er our tiny back yard carrying my mug of tea. The roses are glorious this year! All is peaceful – except for my sixty-five pound puppy who insists on running back and forth tossing a ball at me… and then picking it up and tossing it again when I ignore him. I’m amazed at how much the garden has grown the last few days while I wasn’t looking. I see our very first little green tomato. and several almost-ready-to-pick crook necks. But my greatest delight is the basil! It’s almost ready for a first picking. We always grow lots of basil. We use it fresh all summer, but I also do three or four big harvests when I cut off almost all the mature leaves and make pesto for later. It grows back quickly . So with basil on the brain, I thought I would pull out my pesto recipe and share it with you this morning. Pesto has to be one of the seven wonders of the cooking world! It’s still early enough in the year for you to plant basil…it grows fast and easily. Or you can get it fresh at the market. Mmmm…can’t you just smell that wonderful spicy fragrance! Wash the basil and pick off the leaves. You will need 2 tightly packed cups. Place basil leaves in blender. Add 2 cups olive oil. Add 1 cup finely minced garlic and 1/4 cup pine nuts. (salt and pepper if desired) You can also add 1 fresh habañero pepper if you like it spicy. Blend until smooth You can freeze it in these 2 ounce portion cups to enjoy all winter!

Author: paladinipotpie

Welcome! My name is Andrena Paladini and this is a blog about family and love and faith and fun. I call it Paladini Potpie because a potpie is like an adventure in a crust. You never know what might come up, but it’s always going to be good! Think of the best potpie you’ve ever eaten…hot flaky crust holding a rich savory sauce and all kinds of pieces of meat and vegetables…and who knows what? As a family, we’ve chosen to live within the parameters of God’s love and protection. This is the crust of our Paladini Potpie. The crust never changes. Within this crust, the savory sauce of family love binds it all together. That is also fairly constant. But beyond the crust and the sauce we can add just about anything! Good ideas come our way and we’ve adopted and adapted them to add to what John calls our treasure box of memories. These stories and ideas from John’s treasure box of memories are the ingredients I’m putting into our Paladini Potpie. (Okay, so this ridiculous mixing of metaphors about treasure boxes and potpies is exactly what I’m talking about. Silly and ungrammatically correct. But both illustrations work… so we’ll mix them together and it’ll be just fine!) John and I have been married for 30 years. Our children have wonderfully doubled in number since David married Amanda, Monica married Dan, and Matthew married Sarah. And the newest little treats that have been added to our potpie are six adorable grandchildren - Ethan, Angelina, Nathan, Audrey, Maleia and Caleb! I hope you’ll subscribe to my Paladini Potpie blog, and keep up with all the fun new ingredients I add. Hopefully you’ll enjoy our stories and ideas, and find something you’ll want to put into your own potpie! Bon appétit!