pesto!

last weekend melinda brought me a bunch of fresh herbs from out of town. she gave me fresh and frozen lemongrass, mint and what i was most excited about...basil! it's funny how little things like fresh herbs that i can't get at the local supermarket can make me so giddy. i used the mint to make feta & lamb meatballs, i'm still trying to figure out what to do with the lemongrass but i'm thinking some kind of soup, and with the basil i had to make pesto. while making the pesto, grinding everything up in the food processor, and the basil smelled amazing, i looked out my kitchen window and got to catch a beautiful sunset. the kind of sunset where the sky turns bright orange, pink, and red. i'm sure those happen all the time here in new mexico, but i always seem to miss them! i served the pesto with parsley meatballs (i'm not lying when i say i'm obsessed with making meatballs) and angel hair pasta.

walnut pesto

2 cups packed basil leaves

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup grated parmesan

2 tbsp softened butter (optional: good to add if you're making the pesto to use with pasta)

add everything to food processor except olive oil. process then drizzle olive oil over and continue to process.