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 :)

Welcome to the Blog!

Hello, and welcome to my food blog!

I have been wanting to start a food blog for years now, because I love cooking, baking, and all things kitchen. Luckily, I have a wonderful boyfriend that is the opposite of picky and will always try anything I make, and with a smile no less!

My kitchen space is pretty small, but I make it work and utilize the space I do have as much as I can.

Now, a little about me as a chef.I have always been interested in cooking, but really didn't get into it until I went away to college. While living in the dorms, I did some make shift cooking (in the microwave-ekk!) but it really took off when I moved away from campus and had a whole kitchen at my disposal. I loved trying new recipes and it became a way to relax and escape from school and work.

Now that I live on my own with an actual salary (a teacher's salary, but a salary no less) instead of a part time minimum wage job, I can experiment with more ingredients and different types of food. I also am a chronic, obsessive "freezer"... living alone made me get into the habit of making everything as if I wasn't cooking for one, then freeze *gulp* seven portions of the dinner. I would then take those for lunch or re-heat them for dinner, but most of the time (before I met Conor, the boyfriend) my freezer would look like a Lean Cuisine Factory most of the time. Now he so generously takes the leftovers of my hands for me almost everyday... what a guy :)


Food Loves
Mushrooms: Anyone that knows me knows I basically put them in anything I can when I cook. Whenever a recipe calls for mushrooms, I usually double it.
Peanut Butter: My favorite sweet, especially when paired with chocolate!
Garlic: I literally put it in everything! I buy it in a large jar already minced so that I can scoop out spoonfuls easily :)
Pasta: Need I say more?
Cheese: There are few varieties I don't care for, but mostly it's all love love love.

Food Hates
Tomatoes: I can't stand the consistancy of raw tomatoes. Cooked and in ketchup I can deal with.
Sour Cream/Mayo: I group these together because I hate them both for their consistency and texture. Gross.
Avocado: Again, I don't like the texture.
Anything too sticky, sweet, sour, or spicy. Alrighty? :)

Please follow along on my cooking adventures and feel free to comment whenever you can!

Mandy