Hello again everyone,

Yesterday was a busy day in our house! Andrew worked on a home improvement project in the basement. He has been working on re-routing the hardwired internet so that we can take the wifi point from our basement out of the old bunker and into the finished portion of our basement. He is so handy and good at things like this while I barely understand what he is up to. He added an ethernet connection from the bunker into the finished portion of the basement where his desk is. I think he also added a new ethernet switch, but I honestly don’t know what all he did. What I do know is that he got a new tool- a drywall saw. This let him add a plate for the ethernet connection going through the wall.

Meanwhile, I harvested about 8 pounds of tomatoes, some cucumbers, and a TON of basil from our garden. To give you guys an idea of just how much I’m talking about, here are some photos of the cleaned produce.

To be perfectly honest, even getting that far took a long time, those are piles of basil leaves/branches. I still can’t believe all of that basil came from two plants. After letting the basil dry a bit, it was time to get cooking. I love making pesto—it’s so delicious and versatile! We use pesto in pasta, on sandwiches, and on caprese salad (which is a summer staple for me). Cooking in general is also a way I relax (and cooking for others is one way I show that I care). I’ve had friends ask me for my pesto recipe, which I would love to share if I had one. I learned to make pesto by feel rather than quantities. Here is what I can share though: take clean basil leaves, olive oil, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and garlic and blend in a high quality blender or a food processor. I prefer using a food processor. People like different amounts of the ingredients and like a different texture. If you want it to be smoother, you use more olive oil. If you like it a bit thicker, don’t blend/process as long and use more pine nuts. Garlic and parmesan really are to taste. Feel free to add salt and pepper as well, we are just a low sodium household and I prefer to add salt/pepper when I’m using it in the future. Guys, it took me over an hour to get all the basil leaves off the stems and make the pesto yesterday. Andrew even came up and helped de-stem the basil for a while. It was a lot of work to do this much at once, but it is a labor of love. Overall, I made three big batches of pesto in our food processor. Here is the thing about pesto though if you don’t know it yet—it doesn’t keep very long in the fridge, especially if you don’t use preservatives. So after putting the pesto into jars, all but one went into the freezer. It will keep great in the freezer, just thaw and use! For storing jars in the fridge, I have learned a great tip in the last year or two: every time you put the pesto in the fridge, make sure there is a layer of olive oil on top. This helps with browning/oxidization and will keep it good for a bit longer! Even so, pesto should really be used in a week or two in the fridge. Below is a picture of all of my jars of pesto that Andrew took.

I can’t wait to share my love of cooking with our future child. While we wait for a match, I’ll keep sharing what we are up to with you!

~Natalie