A fall day...

 What do you do on a rainy fall day?  You bake, make soup, clean up the garden, and go for a hike. My basil got a bit out of control.  I decided to make it into pesto. It turned out pretty good.  I've never made pesto before, but I had to do something with all of that basil.  

Homemade Pesto

1/2 cup walnuts

2 cloves garlic

2 cups fresh basil leaves

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed

1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

In a small food processor or blender, add the pine nuts and garlic cloves, and gently pulse to break up the mixture until coarsely chopped and chunky.

Add the fresh basil leaves, salt, and lemon juice, and pulse again to break up the basil leaves into the pine nut mixture.

With the food processor running at a low speed, slowly pour in the olive oil through the feed tube or opening. If your food processor doesn’t have an opening, simply add it in batches, running the blade in between, until all the oil has been added.

Add the finely grated parmesan cheese to the food processor, and process again until everything is well incorporated and the pesto is smooth. Taste and adjust with additional salt and pepper or oil to your liking.

The basil pesto can be used immediately or stored in a jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or frozen in airtight containers or ice cube trays for up to 6 months.

I put it in muffin cups and stuck them in the freezer.  Hopefully, that will work.  

I tried it on a slice of bread and thought it was pretty good.  I could see using it on my Nana bread pizzas or garlic bread with pasta. 

I got some grow lights and will see how that works.  I brought all of my herbs inside as it is supposed to freeze tonight.  My garden window is certainly a garden.  

It was the perfect fall day, so I made wild rice soup and Texas Roadhouse Rolls. It was a great soup day, as it was a cold rain with hard winds. 

The nice thing about my bread recipe is that it also makes a great cinnamon rolls.  We will have rolls in the morning. 

Dollor did a lot of sleeping this weekend.  We took him on a 3-mile hike down the Michelson Trial on Friday.  That is the longest walk he has been on.  Then on Saturday my cousin and her husband came for lunch.  It was his first time having company over.  A big day for a little dog.  It was the last nice fall day.  We had a good visit.  

My husband harvested his pumpkin on Friday.  It was 73 lbs.  That was a good 33lbs. more than last year.  Every year he makes gains.  My pumpkin was only 3 lbs.  Obviously, I am a slow learner.  

Fall has been wonderful.  I certainly cannot complain.  I've brought in all of my garden decor and cleaned out the vegetables.  I'm sure the snow will fly soon, but will enjoy every minute of fall I can get.

What is your favorite season and why?