A Passion For Pesto

I was pregnant with our first daughter and nearing the end of my allowed time for plane travel so my husband, Mark, and I flew to southern California for a brief visit with his lifelong friend, Carrie, and her (then) husband. 

As dinnertime approached, they picked huge handfuls of basil from their tiny garden, gathered pine nuts, fresh garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and grated Parmesan, and measured everything into a food processor. They cooked spaghetti and added a large dollop of pesto to each plateful. The brilliant green color of this unusual sauce seemed quite odd for food, but the intense, multi-layered flavor immediately stole our hearts and tastebuds.

That was almost 26 years ago. Early in our marriage, Mark and I never served spaghetti without pesto - even after our young daughters began to eat 'regular food.' In fact, I never made a red sauce for our spaghetti until one of the girls came home from eating dinner at a friend's house and mildly complained about how odd it was to have red sauce, rather than pesto, with pasta.

Our love of pesto has continued through the decades. Each summer, I fill our freezer with as much of this lovely stuff as possible with basil from our small garden. And each winter, usually sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I mournfully serve our last bit of frozen, garden-fresh pesto before I begin to purchase packaged basil to carry us through until the next growing season. (The winter light in our house doesn't seem quite strong enough to sustain healthy basil plants.)

Today, I satisfied my pesto craving again and made a small batch for dinner. Paired with whole grain pasta, some cooked chicken, and a green salad, we can dream of summer as we make our way through winter.

Simple Pesto Sauce

2 cups fresh basil leaves with stems removed
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated/shredded Parmesan cheese
3 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of pine nuts or walnuts
       (VOE - we generally use walnuts because we 
                                 always have them on hand)
                                                              
freshly ground pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in food processor and puree. Serve 1-2 tablespoons per plate of pasta. Cooked chicken, shrimp, or tuna can add flavor and 'bulk' to your meal.

VOE - Pesto freezes, thaws, and re-freezes exceptionally well. Fill an ice cube tray with the sauce and you'll have an instant flavor boost available for all of your favorite dishes.

Cranberry Walnut Truffles

If you've spent any time with me in my virtual kitchen, you already know what fun I have creating a new recipe, which uses ingredients that I have on hand. If you love really dark chocolate and surprises, try these low-sugar, low-fat, antioxidant-rich truffles.

Cranberry Walnut Truffles
Makes 16-18

3/4 cup fresh cranberries, washed and sorted
4 ounces low-fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar (add 1-2 tablespoons more for a slightly sweeter truffle)
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup walnuts, grated fine

Place cranberries in a metal steamer and covered saucepan over high heat, about three minutes, until berries 'explode' and become very soft. Yield is approximately 1/4 cup. (VOE - turn off heat before opening pan to avoid additional explosions :)

Combine cream cheese, confectioner's sugar and cocoa thoroughly, and then stir in cranberries. Refrigerate 7-10 minutes, until slightly hardened. Pour walnuts into shallow pie or quiche pan, and line storage container with foil or waxed paper.

Remove truffle mixture from refrigerator and roll into balls with your fingers, approximately the size of a walnut. After you create each ball, roll it in crushed walnuts and place in container. (VOE - making truffles is messy business, but so worth the results) Do not stack truffles.

Return truffles to refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour before serving, perhaps with a glass of semi-sweet red wine or sherry. Keep refrigerated until they're gone. ENJOY!

Thanks, Joy (of Cooking)

By the time I received my Joy of Cooking cookbook, more than three decades ago, I'd already become well-acquainted with one recipe that my mother had always made for Christmas - Almond Crescents. After my husband and I married, I learned he had grown up with the same delicious holiday treat. They soon became a beloved recipe in our home too.


Fast forward 25 years. Today, I can't seem to use any recipe without giving it my own spin. Those of you who are regular readers of this blog also know I have a 'thing' about whole wheat pastry flour; I don't bake without it. We're crazy about cinnamon too and, although I do like almonds, I've switched to walnuts because we always keep them on hand.

So, with thanks to the Rombauer sisters (the authors), my mother, and my husband's mother, and a few adjustments, I give you:


Walnut Crescents
Makes 3-4 dozen

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 canola oil (*the original recipe calls for all butter; oil makes a flakier, flatter & larger cookie)
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
(the original calls for 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, but I reduced this because my flour is denser and previous cookies were too dry and crumbly)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional in original recipe)
1 cup ground walnuts

confectioner's sugar
cinnamon (there is no cinnamon in this part of the original recipe)

Cream together butter, oil and confectioner's sugar. Add vanilla, cinnamon and walnuts. Combine thoroughly and form a large ball. Cover completely and chill, about 20 to 30 minutes.


Form small crescent shapes with chilled dough - about 1 1/2 inches long - and place on greased cookie sheets. Bake in 350 degree pre-heated oven, about 15 minutes. Let cool just until easy to handle.

Stir together additional confectioner's sugar and cinnamon in increments of 1 cup sugar to 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Roll/cover each cookie in confectioner's sugar. Cool thoroughly before storing them in an air-tight container.