Basil Pesto

Pesto always has parmesan in it, and as all of you should know by now, I can't eat it. I decided to make my own basil pesto for a pasta sauce I make because how hard could it be? Answer: easy peasy lemon squeezy. Minus the lemon because there is no lemon in pesto. I got the recipe right here. It even has the parmesan if you decide to go crazy and add some of that poison to your own pesto someday.

INGREDIENTS:
4 oz of basil paste (the store didn't have fresh basil, can you believe it??)
Handful of spinach
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. pine nuts
3 tsp. garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Before we go any further there is something I need to say. Basil freaking STINKS. Why does it smell that bad?? It's almost enough to turn a girl off of pesto forever! I don't remember store-bought pesto smelling that awful. This is probably the stinkiest thing I have ever made, and it was a struggle to trudge on through this despite the malodorous herb. On the other hand, I found the perfect place to hide my drugs should I ever start...drugging. Moving on.

Look at all those sexy ingredients. Alright, put the basil paste, spinach, and pine nuts in the food processor and pulse a couple of times. Then add the garlic, pulse some more, scrape the sides and then add the olive oil a little bit at a time, pulsing in between additions. Remember to scrape the sides every couple of times to make it blend evenly. Add in salt and pepper to taste and bam, you're done. Yes, it still stinks when you're done. 

I took so many pictures for this recipe and I didn't add them all because I don't have enough words to caption them with. I emptied out a minced garlic container for this recipe, so I washed it out and put the leftover pesto in it for storage. Like avocado, it browns if exposed to air for too long. Don't let your stinky pesto spoil, cover it up.