Things that currently make me happy January 21, 2009

Jake and I just paid off our Amex card that we used for the wedding, total payment was $3,103.98 and now it’s gone 🙂 YAY!  Next to go is Sallie Mae, we’re kickin her out of the spare room as Dave Ramsey says.  After that is our loan from my mom for our honeymoon.  Then all we have to do is pay off my student loans which will hopefully take less than a year if I’m making more than minimum wage once I graduate 🙂

I am growing basil in three little pots on my kitchen table.  I had them in the windowsill, which was much cuter, but apparently they didn’t like the cold and started to mold. 😦  I am quite excited to use them for future pesto excitingness 🙂  

We are going home this weekend and I get to see my mommy.  I am very excited to spend saturday with her. 🙂 We are going to the DMV to get our licenses renewed (fun I know), I am FINALLY changing my name on my license!  This isn’t set in stone but then I think we’ll go look at the apartments I want to move into in May and go get some pots for my other herbs and a book on how to actually take care of them.  Poor herbs.  We’re also going to go over a friends budget with them so they know how much they can afford in rent and finally get their own place 🙂 yay them!  It’s very exciting to see what God is doing in their lives.

I got a new car, that’s exciting.  I like it a lot.  I need new seats, the drivers side is ripped and the passenger is getting there.  The outside is really scratched up, but you can only tell up close and I have one odd-ball rim.  haha, it really is funny, 3 of them match, one doesn’t.  But it’s me, and I like quirky, and she’s quirky.  Her name is Ginger and she is very zippy.  She has a vtec, that’s exciting 🙂  All my other cars have been slow.  AND she’s a manual so I am ACTUALLY driving again stead of just pressing the “go button.”

I’m taking pottery and photography this semester.  I am SO excited to make people’s Christmas and birthday presents.  I am nervous about sucking at both and for my first photography project I took a roll of film that ended up not even “rolling.”  So, I took no pictures and have to go back and do it all again.  Taking the roll that didn’t work was fun though, Jake and I had fun walking all over Newberg picking cool things to take pictures of.  If I end up with any cool photos or pots I’ll take pictures/scan them and upload them to the bloggy.

That’s pretty much it for now.  I just needed to focus on happy for a bit because I am SO NOT motivated for this semester and have bad bad bad senioritis.

Pistachio Pesto Pasta January 4, 2009

Disclaimer: I’m not sure the measurements I used in this recipe because I was combining two recipes.  The measurements I put are estimates, you should just use your best judgement and feel free to add or subtract if you try this recipe 🙂

 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb linguini pasta (whole wheat is better for you)
• 2-ish cups of fresh basil leaves (I used 4 packs of the Fred Meyer organic fresh herbs found in the produce section)
• 5 garlic cloves (4 – 6 depending on your love for garlic 🙂 )
• 1ish tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1/2 cup pistachio nuts
• 3/4 cup(ish) Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino cheese (or a combination of the two) (I couldn’t find this in the store so I just found a Parmesan, something mix that looked Italian and got it.)
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Place basil leaves and garlic in food processor or blender and process until leaves are finely chopped. (This took a while for me.  Don’t try using the blender, get most of the Basil leaves chopped up in a food processor, when most of them are all chopped, then add it to the blender with lemon juice, nuts and cheese.)  Add nuts and process until nuts are finely chopped. Add cheese and lemon juice and process until combined. With the machine running, add olive oil in a slow, steady stream. After the oil is incorporated, turn off the machine and add salt and pepper to taste. If not using immediately, store in an air-tight container with a thin coating of olive oil on top to keep the sauce from turning dark. Pesto will keep well in the refrigerator for a week or more. 

Cook pasta according to package directions, Drain, transfer to a bowl and toss to coat with 2 Tbs (ish) olive oil.

Put pesto on pasta and toss to coat.  If you want you can grill up some chicken in olive oil in a pan.  Add some pistachios and basil leaves on top for garnish.  

Other Options: If you don’t like pistachios you can use pine nuts or walnuts.  Some people prefer to toast their pine nuts. Using walnuts yields a more woodsy flavor. The amount of olive oil can be adjusted depending on the desired final consistency (thicker or thinner).