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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

Quick Basil Pesto

May 18, 2016 by HappyGoStuckey 2 Comments

This is the time of year when we trim our bright green plants and stock our freezer with homemade Basil Pesto. Because really, when it’s mid-January and we loathe that we’ve been cold for what feels like months, what could be better than something springy and green and fresh?!

So maybe take the plunge. Buy a basil plant, make some pesto and hide some behind the popsicles for later.

This pesto makes an excellent soup garnish, (recipe coming soon!) or a healthy pasta sauce– especially mixed with greek yogurt and fresh parmesan.Below is my favorite Pesto recipe. It’s simple and pretty easy to throw together. It freezes well even in a glass jar, if you leave enough head space at the top or freeze it in ice cube trays.

pesto2

(You will need a food processor for this recipe. If all you have is a small one-cup chopper, make the recipe in two batches.) 

Print
Quick Basil Pesto
Author: Cynthia Stuckey
 
Slightly Adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Book of Sauces
Ingredients
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 oz. of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • ¼ cup of toasted almonds or walnuts (The original recipe calls for pine nuts.)
  • 2 cups of Packed Basil Leaves, washed and dried
  • 2 tbs. fresh Parsley (optional)
  • ½ cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • ¼ tsp of salt
  • ⅛ tsp of freshly ground pepper
Method
  1. Turn your food processor on and drop the cloves of the garlic through the top opening. (This will result in a good mince.)
  2. Add the nuts and the cheese and blend briefly until the nuts are ground up.
  3. Add the basil and pulse again.
  4. Add the oil in a slow steady stream through the top opening.
  5. Stop half way through the oil. This will result in a thick paste.
  6. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and then add however much oil you need to reach your desired consistency.
  7. Add salt and pepper and then taste for flavor.
  8. If the pesto tastes flat, try adding more parmesan or a pinch more salt.
  9. Use the pesto right away or store well covered.
  10. If you are storing it in the fridge for a few days, pour a small amount of olive oil on top to slow the discoloration.
3.5.3208

 

On Pinky Pledges & Laying Stones
What Grown-Ups Get to Do (and a free printable.)

Trackbacks

  1. Creamy Pesto Pasta (In 12 Minutes!!!) | Happy Go Stuckey says:
    September 26, 2013 at 12:46 am

    […] 1/4 Cup of Prepared Basil Pesto (We like one from Costco– or homemade would be even better!!!) […]

    Reply
  2. Twelve Minute Creamy Pesto Pasta says:
    May 18, 2016 at 5:58 pm

    […] Cup of Prepared Basil Pesto (Homemade or Costco has a great […]

    Reply

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I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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Throwing it back but not way back: remember last y Throwing it back but not way back: remember last year when we *discovered* the whipped, frothy, goodness of Dalgona Coffee?

I made it again today for the express purpose of seeing if it would still work with less sugar and I rather like my lightened up version!

(Tip: in my opinion, it makes enough for two— especially because I use instant espresso— so it’s pretty strong! Not warm where you are yet?  Tap the little flag to save this post for later.)

✨Whipped Coffee✨ 
2 TBS. instant espresso
2 TBS. cold water
1 TBS. maple syrup or simple syrup
1-2 glasses of ice and milk

Whip/ Beat the espresso, syrup, and water with an electric beater, immersion blender, or hand-held milk frother until frothy and light in color. Scoop over the milk and ice and enjoy!
🪡Do I seamstressed to you?🪡 Really though, 🪡Do I seamstressed to you?🪡 

Really though, after completing my first embroidery project, I feel like it might just be the cheapest, prettiest, stress relief out there. I am officially a believer in relaxing this way. And PS, if I can do it, you can.

Thank you, @thebarmyfox for bringing this lovely art into my life!
Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all the answers, yet.

While you sit in a season of waiting,
the calendar can often be a cruel companion, reminding you that days go by, weeks, months— with what feels like very little change in the right direction.

Perhaps you can easily assent to: 
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but you strain to see just how it will be when: “...a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

Wherever you and I are today— whether we wander, wait, stand firmly planted, or some pressed together combination of all three — we can take heart.

We are not alone.
And this will not be wasted.
What seems to be an unending blank space, an indefinite pause, is a space for new things.

Long before all is made right, and whether or not it all is tied up neatly with a perfectly crafted bow— we can know this:

We do not have to know the outcome to be faithful today.

✨Joy is not disregard for reality as much as it is obstinacy against despair.✨
Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. T Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. There. I said it. These days I’m gravitating to the true & the beautiful as rest for my weary self... and I wonder if you are too.

So much so, that I’m starting a new little offering, it’s called “The Feast: Wonder for the Weary” and the first issue goes out this weekend. It’s a bit more personal (okay this first one is WAY more personal. 🤭) It will be a little bit of everything, all with the goal of offering REST to both the feasters & foragers alike. If you’re already a subscriber— no need to do anything, if not— click through my bio to “keep in touch” and join the feast.✨
We are a people of both lament and praise. We hol We are a people of both lament and praise.

We hold questions without answers— yet we hold them in hands already full of good things.

We hold our daily bread, our daily gifts, and we hold the daily closeness of the God Who Sees.

The God who is no stranger to our lament, and Who Is the reason for our every hope.
He does not grow weary of our asking. Of our need to be told again, He will. 

You friend, are not invisible.
You are seen and cared for by the God who does all things well. (Even when they feel anything but.)
Married love ambition: making the kids roll their Married love ambition: making the kids roll their eyes at our “gushy-ness” as often as possible. 

President & CEO of the Lance Stuckey Fan Club— in every season, but especially on days like today.
Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty k Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty kitchen.😍🌧📚

On this chilly Saturday, we spent entirely too long browsing for books at our library and then all came home to a fire, mochas, and cocoa, respectively. Of all the things we do not know at this very moment, we know the gifts abound, and are worth counting.

PS, if you haven’t spread whipped cream on a foil-lined baking sheet to freeze, and then cut out cute shapes with cookie cutters to top your coffee or hot cocoa, may I suggest you get thee on that at once.
“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provide “If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.” — Corrie Ten Boom

✨File under, things to save in a fire.✨

The prayer journal pictured here contains six months of the hard & the sweet.
Six months of prayers asked & answered for ourselves and for others.
Six months of seeing through prayer, not how it changed our circumstances necessarily but how it changed us.

I always appreciate a record like this— being able to clearly see the paths we are led down, rocky though they may be? Priceless.

The ways God has come near us & drawn us to Himself again and again are written on these pages and I’ll treasure it forever.

Also pictured: Psalms Illuminated Scripture Journal. Highly recommend. Thank you always, @allifarnell
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it th “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

While scrolling through my photos today, my heart was heavy to realize how far back “before” was.

Before masks and distancing, before loss, before other, more personal bits of hard. Multitudinous change, neither all bad nor all good.

With our free time, we’ve introduced our girls to Tolkien, Bilbo, Frodo, and especially Samwise the Brave. They are officially hooked and we are delighted to watch them discover another world where evil doesn’t win, and the courage of the small matters much. {they close their eyes at the Orcs and we haven’t had a nightmare yet!}🤞🏻😂😬
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