Oct 2, 2008

Homeschool-science, life skills, pesto madness








We have bought, planted, watered, pinched back, weeded, used and harvested our basil from our garden.

I share with you my basil pluckers, honestly we learned a lot along our basil path. I am happy to have my little homeschool children along side me in our Basil:science/life skills lesson- as prior to them entering into the garden lessons, it was only me doing all the work. It would be a half day job of making the pesto...but now it is cut down to only 1 1/2 hours of pesto making time.
How we love our basil and that pesto sauce that we have frozen into ice-cube portions, awaits for us to call it out of its designated spot in the freezer and onto our forks.
*When we freeze it, we leave out the Parmesan cheese, as this doesn't behave itself in the freezer.
Recipe for Pesto:
Tons of fresh basil
extra virgin olive oil
salt
black peppercorns
pine nuts (pignoli nuts)
heaps of fresh garlic
blend in your food processor, scoop out into ice cube trays, cover each tray with wax paper and an elastic to keep other freezer flavors from effecting your pesto. When frozen, pop out and and place in your chosen freezer container, labeling the date. It will keep for 12 months, or until your next harvest time. It is full of natural goodness and certainly will keep away the colds with all the wonderful properties of garlic.
Yes, we did eat it by the spoonful, just to see if we had the proportions right. Some of it never made it to the freezer, as it was so good we couldn't wait!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I`m literally drooling on my keyboard right now. It`s been nearly a decade since I ate pesto! My mom used to make it in huge batches to freeze, too, but she put the cheese in. How I loved biting into a big chunk of garlicky melted Parmesan . . . I have to find some basil here!

Quinne said...

Hi Kimmie :) What a fun project! Great pics, too. Love you, Q

Anonymous said...

So cute, Kimmie! What a fun way to make some great food!

javamamma said...

I LOVE pesto! Looks like a fun time!

Julie said...

Yum, Yum, I looove Pesto. Homemade is the best!!!!

Annie Chase said...

I really love your homeschooling style and that experiential learning. I have always dreamed of doing that to a certain degree with my kids.
My dad made pesto spaghetti once from packet. I remember loving the taste of the green spotted spaghetti. Unfortunately I haven't had it since. Maybe a Christmas break treat? Now I can't wait to come home.

Annie Chase said...

oh!!! and did you edit some of the pictures? like adding green to Meemer's hair and extra blue to princess sunshine? It looks great.

Rob said...

Hi Kimmie, What a good lesson, school was never that much fun when I went. Bob.

Renna said...

I have never before made pesto. I always assumed it was some fancy schmancy recipe which required fine-tuned culinary skills. Hah! Who knew it was so simple? Thank you for sharing the recipe!

It looks like it can be a lot of fun to make, too, given the right crowd in the kitchen with you. ;-)

Renata said...

Yummmm fresh basil - I just love the smell of it! That pesto looks yummy. Thanks for the tip about putting wax paper on your icecube trays - I hadn't heard it before!

Anonymous said...

Hi Kimmie!
What fun, it looks like everyone learned a lot and had a great time in the process! I love reading your blog, it always reminds me to take a step back and let God lead the way in our homeschooling and in our lives.
Love, Velvia

FHL said...

What a great (not to mention yummy) project!

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