Since moving my basil plants outside (thanks Kris), they have really flourished! With such an abundance of basil I figured a batch of pesto was in order. See my step by step process below or click here for a printable version of the recipe.
Pesto
Ingredients
2 cups fresh basil laves
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup pine nuts
½ cup Parmesan cheese
¼ tsp. Pepper
½ cup Olive Oil
1. Add the fresh basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan cheese and pepper to the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until a coarse mixture forms.
2. Turn the food processor on low and slowly add the olive oil in a steady stream. Process until smooth.
Nutrition Information
Serving Size: ¼ cup
Homemade Commercial
Calories: 368 Calories: 290
Carbohydrates: 3 grams Carbohydrates: 4 grams
Protein: 6 grams Protein: 4 grams
Fat: 38 grams Fat: 29 grams
Sodium: 204 mgs. Sodium: 960 mgs.
Note: Although fat content, and thus caloric content is higher in the homemade, the fat sources are heart healthy (nuts and olive oil) and sodium content in the homemade is significantly lower than in the commercial product.
With an abundance of garden tomatoes I thought Salsa was in order. Here is a link to printable version of the recipe: Salsa Recipe.
Salsa
Ingredients
6 Roma or garden tomatoes cut into quarters
1 jalapeno, seeded and roughly chopped
½ large yellow or red onion peeled and roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
Juice of lime
1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves
1/8 tsp. cumin
Instructions
Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until just chunky. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Refrigerate at least an hour to let the flavors meld.
Nutrition Information Comparison
Serving Size: ¼ cup
Homemade Salsa Bottled Salsa
Calories: 13 Calories: 20
Total Fat: 0 Total Fat: 0
Sodium: 18 mgs Sodium: 300 mgs.
Carbohydrates: 3 g Carbohydrates: 5 g
Protein: 0 Protein: 0
Ingredients for salsa: Tomatoes,onion, jalapeño pepper, garlic, lime, fresh cilantro, and cumin 
Ingredients for salsa already to process 
Salsa processed and ready to refrigerate. 
I made so much(triple batch) of the salsa I decided to freeze some. I read that you can freeze salsa but that it is better if you cook it down some, so that it does not have so much liquid when it thaws. 
The next day I packaged and froze it.
Since I am having a lot of great tomatoes this year I decided to put up some diced tomatoes.
Did you know that canned tomato products contain a lot of sodium? Two cups of canned diced tomatoes have around 840 mg sodium. Two cups of my diced tomatoes that I froze have around 8 mgs of sodium.
These are washed and ready to start the process. 
I put the tomatoes in boiling water and boiled for 3 minutes . The skins should begin to crack. Then I put them in an ice bath for 3 minutes.
Then I peeled and diced them.
Then I packaged them in quart freezer bags, labeled them with name and date, and froze them for later use .
It’s going to be ketchup making time at my house soon.
I thought my plants might do better outside. So with the help of Kris Mesman, we transferred the plants outside in front of the Health Services Building.
These are my potatoes that I planted in a container. I like small potatoes so I planted 8-10 slices with eye of the potato in a container that was around 18” in diameter.If I had wanted less but larger potatoes I would have planted 4-6 slices of eye of the potato in the container.
With the second attempt, I had an abundance of plants. More than I could use so I have shared them with some staff and asked them to update on how they are doing. I’m also going to try some as container plants in the office.
Mona’s plants are progressing nicely and she has prepared her garden for planting time!
My seedlings did not make it. Guess my office has been too cold for them . My fellow gardeners have assured me it is still not too late to try again . So I am going to be planting once again . Would love to hear how other gardeners seedlings are progressing and any tips for me would be greatly appreciated. On Tuesday, May 21 I decided to plant
seeds in the jiffy pots that I had planted in March and that I did not have success with.
By Thursday May 23 I saw some green 🙂
I also planted tomatoes,peppers,zucchini, summer squash, chives, parsley, and basil in the new Jiffy pots.
