yummy

the herb garden has been especially prolific, so i decided to take a big bunch of our basil and make some fresh pesto sauce. paired with the macaroni grill rosemary bread i make in the bread machine, and a salad from the garden, and it was one of the best dinners i've ever had! i thought i had better share these recipes! i'm a big allrecipes fan. whenever i need a recipe, i don't mess with the low rated stuff. i search for the five-star-rated-by-a-gagillion-users variety and the food usually turns out super good. if we love it, i take it out of my online recipe box, print it up and put it in my tried and true recipe tin that houses my family's best. between the old and new i am slowly building up an arsenal of homerun recipes. here's a couple i highly recommend...

pesto sauce... mix together in food processor: 3 cups fresh basil leaves, 1 and 1/2 cups chopped walnuts, 3 cloves of garlic, 1/3 cup shreded parmesan cheese. while it's processing slowly pour in 1 cup exta virgin olive oil. add coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste (it needs quite a bit).

store in a jar. it's pretty strong. we like it strong but you can warm/ dilute it with more evoo to your desired thickness when you're ready to eat. use it as a pizza sauce too. mmmmmm. to go with it i like some yummy bread. and if you haven't had the rosemary bread from macaroni grill you haven't lived. i found a recipe online for my bread machine (i heart my bread machine) that, to me, tastes just the same and is a little slice of heaven.

rosemary bread: put the ingredients in your machine in the order your instruction manuel says. or, put it in however you want, like me. but it always says that at the beginning or the recipes so i guess i better say it! select the white bread cycle. i don't know if it works the same in the oven, but you could try. and for sure have olive oil and good balsamic vinegar ready to dip it in.

1 cup water

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon dried rosemary

2 1/2 cups bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

my sister taught me something that has made my salads waaay better: after slicing up tomatoes, cucs, avocado, whatever, season them before adding to the salad. so sprinkle the pile of chopped goodness with coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper completely before adding to the lettuce. it makes such a difference in flavor!

and finally, crack open a diet coke, fight over whose turn it is to bless the food, and enjoy a delicious meal with your family.

Comments

[heathie]

wow, so proud of you. I am having a way hard time cooking dinner lately. What can I say, at that time of day I just want to float on a raft in the pool. Little ol' selfish me.

[micayla]

I am all hungry now, thank you for sharing the bread recipe. I have been wanting to make bread for weeks, so may just try out this recipe this week.

[tara pollard pakosta]

YUM!
I LOVE good recipes! thank YOU!
i have some tried and true ones too if you want them!
tara

[april]

That looks divine, Kelly. Will have to add it to the menu for this weekend.

[tiffany]

thanks for sharing these recipes! can't wait to try both of them. and thanks for such a great blog. i love stopping here to be uplifted and inspired.

[alexandra]

I've only ever made pesto with pine nuts - love the idea of using walnuts! Will have to give it a try.
Everything looks so yummy - thanks for sharing!
A.

[andi]

Your dinner looks amazing! And I am totally going to have to try that yummy bread recipe...

[Amy]

I'm going to try this tonight, my basil plant is huge and I need to do something with it! Perfect! I have never thought of using walnuts either, I'll probably like it better than pine nuts!

[Sarah]

I am so hungry now!!! It all looks so fresh and tasty. Thanks for the recipes.

[cathleen]

Your pictures are so beautifully clear I just want to reach in and grab the food. Seriously, this looks to be a scrumptious feast. Thank you for the recipe.

[Holly]

i.am.salivating.

[angie dunn]

hey kelly!

i'm a stranger that checks into your blog every so oft & wanted to tell ya...er...you're awesome.

fer real. could your mia post be any more profound? answer is no. thanks for your words, thoughts & rules. couldn't agree with them more. they uplifted me today, yo.

[Kristine]

I have no idea how I came upon your blog, but this is my lucky day! I love, love, love Macaroni Grill bread and my bread machine. I am going to try out this recipe right away! Thanks for sharing!

[likely]

do you think that fresh rosemary would work? I don't see why not. I am asking because I have grown it and I have been trying to find good recipes for it. I have dried as well, but I wonder if fresh would be even better....

it all looks delicious and I like the idea of trying out recipes and adding them to the arsenal.

[Kristen]

that dinner looks so very yummy. i have been a big fan of salads this year - have almost completely stopped cooking veggies.

thanks for the recipes.

[natalie]

i am definitely trying that bread recipe out. i love breadmakers, they take all the work out of it for me. and i will give the pesto a try. i may need to trade you some fresh basil for fresh eggs!

[Krista]

Yummy! Thanks for sharing the recipes! I am going to try the bread tonight. I absolutely lOVED your little knit sweater and hat on your fall reminicing blog. I would love to learn how to knit. Maybe this fall you will inspire me to try something new and CUTE! Fall is my favorite season too. Yesterday morning I had a glimpse of it with the cool morning air. Yummy! Made me want some apple cider and a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie! (here is a fun easy recipe for them too 15oz can of pumpkin, one spice cake mix and chocolate chips. Add everything together,stir and bake at 350 degrees for 14-18 minutes. ) Sorry for the long post. I love reading your blog you are such a wonderful person.

[Whitney]

That bread sounds divine.

And that Diet Coke picture looks familiar. Is it from my kitchen table?

[Erin]

This bread is one of the reasons I go to Macaroni Grill, so I decided to make it last night. IT WAS DELICIOUS and the perfect bread for my BLT. Yum!

[lola]

I made some Pea Pesto (sub peas for basil) the other day & I can't explain how good it was! I ate the entire batch in one day. We had fresh peas, but I'll deal with frozen ones if I have to!

[Lexi]

I made this for my Mother-in-law's birthday dinner last night and it was D*E*L*I*C*I*O*U*S! we ate almost the entire loaf in one sitting.
I'm so happy I stumbled across your page. Thanks!