The Original Green Machine

Continuing on my quest to suggest easy meals that lower your grocery bill without making you eat junk food, I thought it imperative to teach you a basic recipe for pesto--The Original Green Machine--in my opinion.  There's alot of hype about kale, green juice, green monster detox, and "green everything", but none of them go on spaghetti quite like Pesto, the original green pasta sauce.

A friend gave me this recipe years ago--the nice thing is that if you don't have enough basil, add more nuts and parmesan or parsley. (On occasion I have even bulked it up with fresh spinach. Kale would be an option as well).  If you like less spice, remove a garlic clove--you decide what makes your taste buds happy.  The best part is that making pesto home-made is cheap and will give you 2-3 times the amount that a store-bought jar will cost you.

If you have leftovers, store it in a jar and put it on the sandwich you are taking to class or the library!

Equipment:
Magic Bullet-type blender

Ingredients:
2 cups basil, packed
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/3 cup walnuts or pine nuts (walnuts cheaper)
1-2 garlic cloves
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 lemon juice, plus to taste
1/3-1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil--this is gradually added until smooth consistently.
1/2 tsp Salt & Pepper, plus extra to taste

Instructions:
1. Wash you parsley and basil.

2. Peel garlic cloves and coarsely chop nuts.

3. Grate parmesan.
4. Add all of the ingredients except for half of the olive oil.

5. Pack everything into the blender and begin pulsing.  It may require a few stops and shaking to get everything combined.  But persist.

6. Adjust flavors as you see fit:  more cheese, more basil, more salt, more lemon, or more oil.
You should have a beautiful, silky, bright green concoction waiting for your hot pasta.  No need to heat this!

7. Get your bread or pasta ready, because you are about to have one fantastic vegetarian meal!