I Love Pesto

Not too long after we were first married, CJ introduced me to pesto as something that could be a staple in our diet. I have since developed a great love for pesto and its versatility.

The first time CJ and I had pesto I made it from scratch. It is surprisingly easy to make. The recipe I used is:

• Put a handful of pine nuts and fresh basil in a food processor with some parmesean cheese and garlic cloves.
• Blend.
• While mixing with a spoon, add extra virgin olive oil until your pesto is the consistency you want it.

Easy. However, fresh basil is not cheap, nor are pine nuts. I found that this was a pretty expensive way to make pesto so CJ and I started looking for different pesto at the grocery store. The first one we tried was by McCormick and came in an envelope for about $2 for 4 servings (enough to go with half a box of pasta), we had to add water and oil. This pesto was a little boring and didn't seem to have much flavor so we moved on to Buitoni's pre-made pesto that came in a plastic package ready to eat. We definitely liked the Buitoni better than the McCormick but 6 - 8 servings of Buitoni costs about $4 at Walmart and I even paid $6 for it once at Harmons when Walmart was out of stock.

That was over a year ago. Recently, in the last month or so, CJ and I were dinking around Costco and saw that they had a large pre-made pesto in a plastic package for about $7. This package has about 18 - 24 servings if it is being added to pasta. I was excited to see this and the next time we were planning on eating pesto we got the Costco variety. I am pleased to announce that the Costco variety is very, very good. I even like it better that the Buitoni variety.

Pasta is a popular way to serve pesto but there are many other ways as well. My other favorite way in on a sandwich. Pesto can be added to a sandwich in addition to or as a replacement for miracle whip/mayo, mustard, relish, etc. One of my favorite sandwiches that has pesto on it is the Milano at Zupas. Delicious.

Here is a list of a few other ways that pesto can be used:

• With any kind of pasta including tortellini and ravioli.
• On pizza as the only sauce or mixed in with marinara or alfredo sauce.
• In Lasagna.
• On all kinds of sandwiches: turkey, chicken, grilled cheese, BLT.
• Mixed with sour cream or cream cheese as a dip for crackers.
• On tomatoes.
• Added to broccoli cheddar soup.
• A replacement for garlic butter on French or Italian bread.
• On baked chicken or fish.
• In stuffed tomatoes.
• With gnocchi.
• Added to mac & cheese.

I'm sure there are a ton of other ways as well, those are just the ones I could think of.

The recipe I listed above is for basil pesto and the only kinds of pesto that CJ and I have purchased are also basil pesto, but there are many kinds of pesto. Other kinds are probably more difficult to find in stores but they are probably just as easy to make from scratch. Here is a list of types of pesto that I've heard of:

• Basil pesto.
• Mint pesto.
• Rosemary pesto.
• Cilantro pesto.
• Spinach pesto.
• Red pepper pesto.
• Arugula pesto.
• Parsley pesto.
• Walnut pesto (this could be any of the above pesto made with walnuts instead of pine nuts).

As you can see, pesto is very versatile and can be very fun to experiment with.

As I'm sure you noticed, one of the main ingredients in pesto is extra virgin olive oil. Because of this, some people might think that pesto isn't a very healthy option for cooking with. Of course, if pesto is consumed a lot, the consumer is going to consume quite a bit of fats and calories. However, when consumed in moderation, pesto is extremely healthy. Here is the nutritional information for the Costco variety pesto that I currently have in my refrigerator.


As you can see, there is quite a bit of fat per serving but most of that is the healthy, unsaturated fats. There is also a surprising amount of vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, and protein with very little sodium and sugar.

To sum up: pesto is great. I hope everyone gives it a try to find out for themselves how great it really is.