I believe in rewarding hard work, particularly when it’s mine…
I’ve never had a food processor of my own. Our city house was small and had very limited kitchen storage. My stand mixer lived in the linen closet for lack of somewhere else to put it, so another large counter appliance was out of the question.
When we moved into this house with it’s plentiful kitchen storage, I started wishing for a food processor, but I couldn’t think of enough uses for one to justify the cost of the Cuisinart I wanted. So I made myself a promise – if I grew enough basil to make and freeze pesto, I could buy myself my Cuisinart.
Now before you get excited, my basil is still struggling. I’m hopeful that some warm weather over the next week will have me making basil from the garden next weekend. In the meantime Mike and I decided I could still reward myself with the food processor for all my hard work in the garden this summer 
Plus, I’m a believer in hedging my bets, so on Sunday when I was at the market and the cute Hmong woman with the organic produce was selling basil for $1 a bunch, I bought 5.
Tonight the Cuisinart, fresh from Costco, was put through it’s paces to convert 12 cups of basil to 6 half-pints of pesto. Hmmm did it taste and smell great! All six jars are cooling their heels in the freezer for use this winter. And now I can’t wait to see if she’s got more this weekend (and if my basil perks back up) so I can get that number to an even dozen.
Yum.
YAY for you. I love my food processor, can’t imagine life without it in fact. Mine stays on the counter due to less copious shelf space than your kitchen, but it has earned its place there. How did you make your pesto? Did you add cheese and nuts then freeze? I make mine without cheese, (sometimes without nuts) and freeze in ice cube trays, but then can never get the cheese/basil ration just right (not that it matters, it is delicious anyway!)
Enjoy the FP, it is the most used appliance in my kitchen, amazingly.
You will love the Cuisinart, and you will LOVE having that pesto in mid-winter. It’s like having the smells and tastes of summer all over again when you use it.
Congratulations – we finally broke down and did the same thing, pesto made any other way just doesn’t work too well. Someone gifted me with a ton of those 4 oz jelly jars, and that’s what I used, with used canning lids. Perfect for a serving, and it doesn’t get discolored after opening like the larger jars I had used earlier.
You deserve it for your hard work this season. It’s hard to start a garden from scratch.
PS: I don’t have time to answer my comments, (with the cow freshening) but yes, I’m canning most ( and freezing some for cobblers) of the nectarines, and I do leave on the skins. But, I leave the skins on peaches, and pears too, because we like the skin. Won’t win me any prizes at the fair, but it sure makes it easier!
I’m a big fan of my Food Processor — it’s our new verison of “fast food.” A few of my favorite uses:
1. Chicken salad spread with leftover chicken meat, red onion, celery, handful of parsley, pine nuts, homemade mayo, and salt and pepper.
2. Shredded carrot salad with oregano or thyme
3. fresh fava bean, english pea spread/dip with parmesan, lemon juice, a nice handful of mint, olive oil, salt & pepper
4. and, of course, Gazpacho! (garden potpurri depending on what I have on hand — tomato, bell pepper, cucumber, onion, celery, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, redwine vinegar, salt, pepper, etc.)
Wow, you really are being industrious. I’ve had a Cuisenart and have had a small, but useful amount of basil on our plants. So, I’ve also made pesto to freeze, but not near as much as you’ve managed with your new machine. I just put it into small freezer bags that we happened to have on hand because I used to use them at school and that has worked well. They stack easily.
Ali – glad to hear you use yours a lot. Mine is actually going to live on the counter because we have managed to fill most of our cupboard space with pots, pans, good local food stocks and other things we never had room for before. Oh well. Since it’s actually the stainless version at least it looks nice. As for the pesto, I make it complete and then freeze it in small jars – I think about 5 or 6 ounces in a jar. My salt was a bit off last night but by the time I realized I’d already jarred half of it. Oh well, we’ll just have to add some when we use it.
Kathi D – I know and I can’t wait! I didn’t make any last year because I killed my basil (big surprise) and never remembered to buy some at the market. I really missed having it!
Nita – that’s it, they’re the little round jelly jars. Are they really only 4 ounces? That makes sense as they don’t hold much. I do feel like I did a lot of work this summer – does it get easier? Thanks for the tip on the nectarines. I did 40 peaches last night into 24 half pints, 8 quarts and 1 pint. Of course I didn’t see your comment about leaving the skins on until I’d already peeled them all
Good to know for the pears though!
Einat – thanks for the ideas!
Joan – Yeah, Mike’s telling me that canning is my new obsession. He’s probably right, but these tastes of summer in the winter will be more than welcome. I’ve done ziplocs in the past – they are nice. We got a big new freezer a month ago (need to post that) and luckily we have plenty of basket space for things like pesto!
My KitchenAid multi blade just broke (it was defective) and I just paid $270 for the thing a year ago. They want $40 to replace it. I don’t think so. At $40 a blade, I might as well cut my losses and go for the more reputable processor. I went to Costco today and picked up a Cuisinart.
I didn’t see one like the one you’re showing.
Anita – bummer that they didn’t have it at the Costco you went to. We got the last one at our store, marked down on clearance. I actually need to call Cuisinart because we didn’t get the second 11 cup bowl that was supposed to be in the box. I would have returned it but I knew that Costco didn’t have another. Oh well. For the deal we got on it I can buy another bowl if I need to. Enjoy your new FP!