Presto Pesto!

My dark green thumb is getting lighter. My husband tends to accuse me of being a fairweather gardener, but I braved the heat and humidity yesterday to prune and tend the garden in the middle of the day.

I reaped three more zucchini, five cucumbers, and three more cups of basil. The eggplant is flowering, which means we should have our first one of the season next week, and the cherry tomato plants are studded with small green globes ... bring on the tomatoes! I had to seriously prune the zucchini plants because they were covering up the peppers. Now that the peppers can see the light of day, we should have some in the next couple of weeks.

All of this to say: It's looking good out there! And it's looking good in the kitchen, too. Yesterday I finally got some pine nuts and fresh grated Parmesan ... which means PESTO!

It was the first batch of the season, but there will definitely be more. I don't think I considered how much basil 8 plants would yield when I ordered that many. Most likely I ordered 8 because we love basil and I usually don't do a great job of keeping it up throughout the summer. However, the garden rules keep me doing the hard labor -- so anticipate many recipes sporting basil this summer.

One of my favorites (which may sound weird, but you have to try it) is fresh pineapple with chopped basil, lemon juice, and a dash of sugar. YUM!