Recipe with basil

Basil pesto (I'm doing such a basic basil recipe because it's a cheaper and easier one)

Ingredients: basil, pepitas (de-hulled pumpkin or squash seeds), parmesan cheese, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice

Preparing: If you have full/tall stems of basil, remove the stem from below the bottom set of leaves and keep the rest of the stems and leaves (you don't even have to chop them). Combine in a food processor the basil (leaves and adjoining stems), parmesan, pepitas (cheapter than pine nuts) and garlic. Slowly add the olive oil (or vegetable oil, even cheaper). When you get the right consistency, squeeze in some fresh lemon juice. Store in a jar in the refrigerator.

(Note: 8 cups of very loosely packed basil made 2 cups of pesto)

Eating: Really tasty on toasted raisin bread.

Dish history: Down in Argentina we made pesto all of the time, which is where we learned the stem-and-all trick, vegetable oil trick and non-pine-nut trick (we used walnuts that we harvested from the farm).