Cheap, easy, fresh-as-can-be PESTO!

All the supplies

Basil and cheese in the food processor

All done!

I lovvvve pesto. However, in the store it about $5 for 6 ounces. It is expensive! Instead, I decided to make it myself. There are only a few ingredients: basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. I also add a handful of onions for flavor, but classic pesto does not use this. I have also recently stumbled upon sun dried tomato pesto and like it even more than basil pesto.

Anyway, this is the cost breakdown.

1/2 container of pine nuts: $8.50
1 block Parmesan cheese, grated: $5.99
2 bags of basil fresh from the farmer's market: $7
1 clove of garlic: $1
1 handful of onions: $0.15
Total: $22.64

I then froze the pesto into about 6 ounce portions. It made 9. So for almost exactly half the price, I can make my own basil pesto and have the freshest and best ingredients possible. Yum!

Chili on a cool Colorado evening.

I made chili!


Chili is one of my favorite winter-y dinners. It's easy, it's quick, it's (relatively) healthy, and I can make it full of veggies. I always use tons of mushrooms (different kinds if available) and switch between vegetarian and made with ground beef.


I also include:
1 jar Pinto beans
1 jar Kidney beans
2 Green peppers
1 Packet of chili mix
1 jar of spicy salsa
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 red onion
1 yellow onion
1 jalapeno
1 jug of V-8 juice (my secret ingredient!)

It's not an exact science, I think of all the 20+ times I have made chili, it has always been different. I wouldn't even attempt to make it on a stove at this point, it is just so flavorful after simmering away in the crock pot for 8 hours.

The plastic you see in the pictures is one my favorite cooking "supplies". It is a crock pot liner. I haven't been able to find them in Colorado so far, but my wonderful mother knows how much I love them and has been sending them to me in every "care package". They save so much cleaning time; you just lift them out of the crock pot when you are done cooking and toss them into the trash. They don't alter the taste at all. Anything that allows for less cleaning is great in my book :)