Farmer's Market Dinner

I love farmer's markets. I think they're the greatest thing ever. I'm a big believer in eating local and buying local, and what's more local than farmer's markets! Or even your own backyard! My own garden is currently in containers because I was completely overwhelmed with my gardens when we moved in. So next year I'm definitely planting a veggie garden. Right now, my side porch holds a container with green bell peppers, a container with basil & borage, an earth box with summer squash & cucumbers, two pots with a tomato plant in each, a pot with chives, and a pot with hot chiles & thai chiles. The porch also holds our grill and sometimes we can even stand on it :)

Anyways, my basil is going crazy. I planted two plants from a 4-pack from your favorite greenhouse and mine, Lucas Greenhouse :). They are huge - I picked a giant bowl of basil today and I've been picking a handful every day for about two months. It's crazy. But I decided its time for some pesto. Pesto is typically basil, garlic, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese all blended then EVOO is added gradually to make it delicious and saucy. I have no pine nuts though, so I used a mixture of walnuts and almonds (cause I had both of those in my pantry). I use garlic like its water, so I buy a huge container of pre-minced garlic. I put in three heaping teaspoons of garlic and I sprinkled grated parmesan cheese to cover the top. Then I added probably 3/4 cup to 1 cup of mixed walnuts and almonds. On top, I filled my 14-cup food processor with basil. My guess is 6-7 cups of basil? Something like that. Anyways, I pulsed it till it was all chopped and then turned my food processor to 'on' and added oil till it looked like pesto. I split the pesto in half and put it in a container to freeze, so I have it for later. I bet I'll have to make a batch of pesto like this at least one more time before my basil is spent.

Hubby and I are eating healthy (he's working out right now) so we can try to lose some weight, so I am trying to plan more vegetarian dishes. Tonight we're having a pesto pasta. I'm making bowtie pasta (cause they're fun) and I chopped some grape tomatoes that I got at our farmers market (a pint for 1.50 - amazing). We are also so lucky to have a cheese farm (I don't know what to call it) nearby that sells goat cheese and feta. So I picked up some feta the other day and will top off our pasta with some feta. I make a full pound of pasta so we have leftovers for lunches, and will only eat a small portion tonight. I'll split it into four so we each get a portion tonight and a portion for lunch.

We'll see how my pesto turns out.. but this is truly a local dinner. I bet you can find great food at your local farmers market and I encourage you to try growing your own veggies! It's not hard (you just have to remember to water them) and you'll save so much money in the long run.

Bon Appetit!