Sept. 28/Pesto!!! Galore.
Outfit:
Turquoise tee (Land’s End) bought on sale over the summer but it has been too hot to wear until now!
Levis
Turquoise/white/black scarf (Oscar de la Renta) garage sale about 10 years ago
Black boots (Liz Claiborne) consignment shop
Menu:
Breakfast: two slices toast with butter; cafe au lait
Lunch: quesadilla; three oatmeal cookies
Dinner: spaghetti with pesto, tomato and avocado salad; wine
Finances:
$30 gas for car 59 cents for eggs
PESTO!!!!
God bless generous gardeners and generous neighbors. My garden has been absolutely pitiful this year. My tomatoes have been a joke and my basil — so sad. I finally moved my remaining basil stalk into my kitchen window to save it from freezing temperatures (we’re getting close where I live).
So here is my measly basil:
So I’ve been feeling pretty poor lately, but I tell you what, I am RICH with the generousity of others. I ran into a dad at preschool today giving away HUGE bundles of basil. I spent the morning making pesto and freezing the remaining basil leaves. Here’s my bounty in this photo. I saved one stalk (out of about 25 I had) to give to a friend of mine in the morning (that’s the one in the vase). I made 5 jars of the pesto to freeze and have about another jar for dinner tonight.
When I first got the basil I immediately called up my super fabulous gardener neighbor to see if I could give him some basil. Well,their plant was still flourishing, he said, but would I like five big fat juicy tomatoes from his garden? YES PLEASE! So tonight we are eating pasta with pesto and yummy tomato and avocado salad, thanks to the generosity of neighbors and friends.
I’m hoping to do a little pay it forward tomorrow morning by bringing a giant batch of my biscotti and that stalk of basil to another friend and neighbor. I would bring her a jar of pesto, but I make mine a little different than most people because my child has severe nut allergies, so it is nut free. Our family loves it, but not sure everyone else would like it as much without pine nuts or walnuts in it.
Whenever I feel poor (monetarily) I bake! It always cheers me up, so I’ve spent the day preparing pesto and baking biscotti, laundry, housecleaning. It has been a good day!
My eldest daughter-in-law has a nut allergy. Would you mind posting your nutless pesto recipe? I’d really appreciate it!
Sounds like you’ve got all that you need. Your neighbors sound wonderful. I empathize with you, as all of my plants, both indoor and outdoor, died this year without putting up much of a fight. I would love to have your biscotti recipe as well, if you’d care to share. You have mentioned it several times now, and it always makes me think “Yum.”
Do schools/pre-schools do anything these days for children with nut allergies? I feel that they are very common these days, and I am just curious if the school system in your area does anything for those children who suffer from the allergy, especially since its so dangerous.
Tine,
Yes, I’m exploring work from home ideas. THanks for mentioning that.
Also, most schools are very careful. There is even a designated table for kids with nut allergies at many elementary schools. The preschool is very careful as well. Thank God.
It’s so wonderful when good fortune falls into our laps. The basil is beautiful, I keep meaning to grow my own herbs, but I never get around to it. And I loooove to bake, too—it always cheers me up. Now if I could just stop eating the treats after two, or even three pieces…
I’m not the best baker, so I only stick to the few items I continue to have success with: no knead bread; biscotti and oatmeal cookies. Usually when I attempt anything else it ends in a mess with me frustrated!