The basil in our garden went chaotic this year and I needed to find a good use for it. Everyone suggested Pesto. I found a great recipe on allrecipes.com. I am not a huge fan of pesto – it is a little too strong, but the spinach and other herbs in this recipe complement the taste and makes the pesto a little more subtle. All the herbs came from our garden.

I made two batches and it looks like I will still have a third batch before my basil is done :-). I froze my pesto into 2 inch ice cubes (this large ice cube container I found at Crate and Barrel but it is now available at West Elm as well). I plan on defrosting them into small glass containers for Christmas gifts.

We also used the fresh pesto to make tortellini pasta with a pesto sauce, and a chicken pizza with pesto sauce. Both were great but I preferred the pizza.