Basil Pesto with NO Nuts

My husband is allergic to nuts. Yes it makes things a little difficult but I have pretty much figured out good substitutions for certain things. And luckily he still lets me eat peanut butter... as long as I am not in the same room as him.
With the tremendous amount of basil we grow ever summer, I really wanted to find a good pesto recipe without nuts. The following is a combination of a couple recipes I found on the internet and I think it is great, and you won't even miss the nuts!

Ingredients:

2 cups freshly picked basil leaves, rinsed and dried in a salad spinner

1 clove garlic, halved

pinch of salt

1/3 cup olive oil

squeeze of lemon

1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese**

Pulse the basil, garlic, salt and half of the oil in a food processor. Scrap down the sides of the bowl and add the squeeze of lemon. Slowly add the rest of the oil while pulsing the processor. Pulse until just mixed, don't over mix or your pesto will turn brown instead of bright green.

**If you are eating the pesto right away you can add in the parmesan. If you are planning on freezing the pesto, wait until you have defrosted it and add it then. Makes about a 1/2 cup.

I love to use this recipe for Martha Stewart's Chicken Fettuccine with Pesto Cream Sauce:

http://www.marthastewart.com/344301/chicken-fettuccine-with-pesto-cream-sauc

Just use my pesto recipe instead of the frozen pesto she recommends and everything else in the recipe is the same. Delicious!!

Sara Foster's Heirloom Tomato Salsa

If you don't have a Sara Foster cookbook, you should get one. They are all good. My favorite is Fresh Every Day. It has some of our all-time favorite recipes, including the following salsa recipe.
Her recipes are relatively simple, with lots of fresh, healthy and real ingredients. Sometimes the amount of butter or oil and salt she uses can be a bit much for me, but you can always adjust.

Heirloom Tomato Salsa
**This makes a lot of salsa! If you are not planning on serving it to a big crowd you could definitely half it. Or you could make the whole recipe and after a couple days add a can of black beans to it for tacos, quesadillas or something else.

2 pounds mixed heirloom tomatoes, or any garden fresh variety (4-5 medium), cored and diced
1 small red onion, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, cored, seeded and minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
grated zest and juice of 1 lime
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
2 TBS white vinegar
1 TBS sugar
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Place the tomatoes, onion, jalapeno peppers, garlic, red pepper, lime zest and lime juice in a large bowl as you prepare them. Drizzle with the olive oil and vinegar, sprinkle with the sugar, cilantro, salt and pepper, and toss gently to combine. Taste for seasoning and add more salt or pepper if desired. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to marry the flavors before serving the salsa. It will keep for up to 1 week.

Zucchini Casserole

This is a great recipe to combine lots of fresh veggies and herbs from your summer garden or farmer's market. Plus, if you grow your own, it uses up some of that never ending zucchini that you might have! The recipe was supposedly made up by my father when he undoubtedly had way too many zucchini...we used to eat it all the time when I was a kid and amazingly I never got sick of it.

Ingredients:
2 medium sized zucchinis, cubed
2 TBS olive oil
1 small onion, chopped, about 1.5 cups
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 lb. ground beef
1 TBS worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
3 medium tomatoes, cubed
1 heaping tsp fresh oregano
1 heaping TBS fresh basil, sliced
1 cup fresh grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil zucchinis in water until slightly soft, about 5 mins. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Saute the onion until soft, about 5 mins. Add the garlic and stir for 1-2 mins. Add the meat, breaking up with a spoon, worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 10 mins. till meat is brown. Add tomatoes, basil, oregano and cook 5 mins more.

Butter or spray with cooking spray a casserole dish. Place half of the zucchini in the dish, then half the meat mixture and half the mozz and parm. Layer again using the rest of the ingredients. Cook for a half hour or until cheese has melted.

Serve with a little extra grated parm and thick crusty bread to sop up all the delicious juices!