- basil
- lemons
- oranges
- mandarins
It's an *enormous* amount of basil, and there's still quite a bit outside. It was starting to flower, so it was a must pick situation. ;-) I made a giant batch of pesto, but ran out of pine nuts, & still have 2/3 of the basil left.
I also juiced all of the lemons (there was another bowl not pictured), and have lemon bread in the oven. Yum!
I haven't figured out what to do with the oranges. The mandarins are sweet, but have lots of seeds. The navel oranges never got too sweet, so they are not good for juice. I have to get creative. Maybe marmalade. :-)
Other than that, Sam had a soccer game this morning, M is at Costco picking up our groceries, and I have a few things on my list for the rest of the day:
- Hit the library with the kids. We need to exchange our books.
- An easy run. I have a long run tomorrow, so today should be relatively short & leisurely.
- Yoga. Must.Fit.In.
- Look for swimming lessons for Nick.
- Plan a menu for next week.
- Go to the local produce stand
- Grocery store for a few things Costco doesn't have.
- Clean the fridge
- Start packing for my trip next week.
- Figure out what to make with some chocolate caramel bars no one wants to eat plain (cookies, maybe?), & sesame sticks that went uneaten & are now stale.
In other news, I made an easy & fabulous recipe last night - Pesto Quinoa with Shrimp & Tomatoes. Super easy & fabulous, especially with homemade pesto.
What about you? Any good recipes with oranges, or pesto? Have you made anything fabulous lately? Please share!
I LOVE the photo! How awesome to spend an hour in the yard and come back with all that. Very, very, very cool. I need to get something growing in our yard. I think this might be the year for me to finally plant a blue berry bush (maybe way too cold this year though/ gonna have to look into it).
ReplyDeleteWe have some very mature trees in our yard, so we got lucky. It's a rental house, but we benefit from years of prior gardening. ;-) We do have tomatoes, peppers, basil, & strawberries that we planted, but the lemons & oranges we take no credit for.
DeleteBlueberry bushes are easy. Plant once & then they mature & start really producing after the first few years. Also, you need two - different varieties. Don't buy just one - they need to cross pollinate (not sure that's the exact term) each other, or else they won't ever flower.
Love all the fruit - I'm hoping I have a similar picture to share soon!
ReplyDeleteYou can wash and puree the basil with a little olive oil and freeze in an ice cube tray. After the cubes are frozen you can store them in a bag and then pull out what you need later.
You will definitely have to get a garden going! What kind of fun things can you grow in Hawaii?
DeleteYou can always add sugar to the oranges for juice, or make smoothies with plain yogurt and orange extract. Marmalade is also an excellent choice, especially with the rinds on.
ReplyDeleteThe boys love smoothies, so we will try that, and I need to get myself going on the marmalade asap. :-)
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