The garden kept giving and giving this year and our basil was one of the rockstars. One of the best parts of basil is that it can easily be turned into pesto. Regular pesto is good and all, but when I make
mine I substitute cashews for pine-nuts as I like their creamy and rich consistency so much better.

So, after waiting for enough basil to grow, I cut the plants 2/3 of the way down as to keep them growing and pulled the leaves off the stalks. I put them in mr food processor and added olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt, cashews and fresh Pecorino Romano cheese. After a few magical pulses of the machine, a bright-green bounty of flavor remained. We ate part of the batch and froze the rest in meal-sized portions in freezer bags for use this winter. Can’t wait for a cold, snowy day to taste this little bit if summer.