Nothing compares to the taste of homemade pesto. It has been a staple in our house forever. These days it is starting to feel like a luxury as the price of pine nuts has gone up so much (stop it, I know – listen to me!) but it’s a luxury I’m prepared to shell out for.
I love pesto with farfalle (perhaps a little too much), I often use it on pizza or mixed with some goat’s cheese in tortellini. However you like to enjoy your pesto it will be all the sweeter for making your own.
Homemade Pesto
A large bunch of basil, leaves picked
A handful of pine nuts
A handful of finely grated Parmesan
1 small clove of garlic (or a big one if you love garlic)
The juice of half a lemon
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper to season.
Makes about half a jar, I normally make double this amount.
Keeps in the fridge for a month (the top of the pesto must be covered by oil and the jar sealed) or can be preserved in sterile jars (I leave out the Parmesan to be added before use)
- Heat a wide flat pan on the stove over a medium flame and then scatter in the pine nuts to toast. Give them a jiggle every now and then to turn them about. After a few minutes all sides should be a toasty brown. Turn out into a pestle and mortar, allow to cool a little then grind to a coarse consistency.
- While this is going on: pick your basil leaves, grate your Parmesan, crush the garlic, squeeze the lemon and pop them all in the processor.
- Add in the pine nuts and olive oil then blend until the pesto is how you’d like it (I like quite a fine cut on the herbs, others prefer it more rustic).
- Taste the sauce, season with a little pepper and then either store as above or use right away – the choice is yours!
I love how traditions take hold with each year that passes. Without any prompting from us, Milla and Monty have been alive with talk of the annual spring egg hunt for days. And it would be simply impossible to hunt for eggs in the wood without the company of our very best friend Amy who started our tradition.
Not only do we hunt for eggs but Mama frantically tries to take close-ups of the eggs before they are discovered. Those children are fast!
Eventually, baskets full, they retire to a handy den to sit on logs and eat their haul. Chattering all the while about the sneaky chocolate-hiding bunny and sharing their news with one of their special people.
I do so love our little Spring tradition. How do you celebrate the season?
It seems to have become a little annual tradition around these parts. Spring flowers and a thank you for sending your votes my way.
Each year when I see Housewife Confidential’s name come up in the list of blogs nominated for an award in The MADs I feel overwhelmingly grateful to you, the people who take the time to appreciate it.
Last year so many of you nominated Housewife in the photography category you sent me to the final. It meant a whole lot that so many of you took the time to do that.
Truly, I love sharing this space with you. Housewife Confidential is like no blog I’ve written before because it is while here that I have finally grown into myself; settled down in my heart and found peace with who I am.
Thank you all for coming here to read, share, comment and join us in our little corner of the world.
Kat xoxo
I have been working hard on tightening up my focus. I’ve been ensuring that my focal point is on the eyes and yet I still wasn’t getting the sparkly clean eyes that I was seeing on other people’s pictures. I asked a couple of friends whose pictures had gorgeous eyes and the answer was a simple bit of editing.
I’m a bit lazy when it comes to editing – I’d prefer not to do it and when a picture really needs something it’s normally little more than a crop or colour/exposure correct over at Picnik (and now Picmonkey as Picnik is closing) for me. But recently I got an offer to try some photo and video editing software which piqued my interest not least because they also offered a second set for me to giveaway to you.
Old habits die hard and I am still unutterably lazy so all I have done to the two pictures above is hit the ‘enhance’ button and a quick select and sharpen to the eyes. My curiosity paid off and I think there is a noticeable improvement which can be seen when the pictures are alongside each other (original is left).
Aside from the idea of playing with eyes there was feature which hooked me in when I watched the video preview – the magic erase. Take a look at this video and tell me you’re not falling over yourself in excitement. How cool is that? In reality sometimes it is awesome and other times the picture is a bit too crowded to make it happen.
The picture below is a crop of Monty blowing bubbles in the garden. The ever present washing line which (along with the orange coloured shed) wrecks many pictures needed to go so magic erase and I had a little date and poof….
Gone! And not too obvious to my eye. I tried to take it out of the wider picture but there was a bit much going on and it started to look odd. I guess it is like every picture, a little editing on a good picture can really enhance it but it isn’t going to be possible every time – your basic skills have no substitute.
I’ve enjoyed trying something new with my pictures and I’ll be trying out the video software I’ve been sent in the next couple of weeks. Until then take a jump over here to read more about Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 7 and enter my giveaway.
