Toasted Almond Pesto

Happy Wednesday friends!  And hello hello to my new followers, thank you for stopping by my blog, I'm grateful you're here!

First things first, GIVEAWAY!  The artistic geniuses over at Twig Creative are doing a giveaway for your choice of two pillow covers from my shop, Nonpareil Home! Head over to their blog for information on how to enter - http://twigcreativeblog.blogspot.com

On to what I was up to today--I have a great recipe for you all, Toasted Almond Pesto! Laziness is the mother of invention (wait, is that not the saying?) and that is definitely the case with this delicious pesto. Firstly, I hadn't really been attending to my poor little pesto plant and it was looking horribly raggedy.  (Learn how to harvest your basil properly over at The Skinny Gourmet.) So I decided to put it out of it's misery and harvest the whole thing all at once.  Secondly, I was way too lazy to go buy pine nuts (the nut classically used in making pesto), but I did have a whole bag of silvered almonds right in my pantry. Yep, laziness.  

But seriously, this is a super super easy and insanely delicious recipe, it came together in less than 5 minutes.  The almonds did give it more of a "nutty" flavor, which I personally really liked.  You can also add parmesan cheese to the mix to give it extra oomph.  

Toasted Almond Pesto

Inspired by The Little Ferraro Kitchen

Serves 4

• 3 cups basil leaves
• 1/4 cup almonds (slivered or chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil

1. Toast almonds by pouring them into a skillet and stirring them over medium heat until they are golden brown.
2. Put basil leaves, toasted almonds, garlic, salt, pepper, and half of the olive oil into a food processor.  Process until a puree forms, add more olive oil as needed to make a smooth, even, sauce.
3. Serve over your favorite pasta or as a sauce with chicken.  Store excess in the refrigerator.  To freeze pesto, spoon the sauce into an ice cube tray and drizzle some olive oil over the top.