I was late to the pesto party. Up until 2010, I probably couldn’t have even told you that there was basil in it. {Don’t hate.} Until… one of my roommates started having it every night {well that or Kraft Mac and Cheese}. I was intrigued, and then I was hooked. While I like the pesto in a jar just fine, it’s hard for me to use up the whole jar before I start thinking that the contents are getting a bit questionable {which probably explains why she had it every night}. If you have a food processor, making it yourself could not be simpler. Plus it is so much fresher and you can easy to control the amount you’re making so you don’t end up wasting money. Not convinced you should make your own yet? It you make your own, you can use cashews. I wish I could take credit for this pesto recipe, but I can’t. It’s from the Tupelo Honey Cafe cookbook and just like the name implies it is made with cashews instead of pine nuts. I love pine nuts, but these cashews take this stuff to a new level.

Cashew Pesto from Tupelo Honey Cafe

{makes about 1/2 cup}

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves {pack as much in there as you can}
1/3 cup salted cashews
2 cloves of garlic
juice from 1/2 of a lemon {1 Tbsp}
pinch of salt
a few grinds of fresh ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil

Add all of the ingredients to your food processor and process. Technically you are supposed to drizzle the olive oil in gradually as you process, but my food processor isn’t fancy enough to have a hole into which to drizzle. I’ve never had a problem just doing it all at the same time, but if you do, try the adding it gradually method. One of our favorite dinners is whole wheat pasta {fusilli, spaghetti, it doesn’t matter} tossed in pesto with these oven roasted tomatoes. Add a healthy amount of parmesan cheese and a bit of cracked black pepper and I call that dinner.

{This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. That means that if you head over to Amazon from the link and choose to buy the book, a tiny bit of the money you spent on the book will come back to me for the referral.}