Tag Archives: pesto

In My Kitchen a long time ago

Here we are in winter, again. The holidays are over, thank the Gods! I have to admit that I am daydreaming of what to plant and where once the snow melts. Though I don’t get much sun anymore so not sure how that will work out. Oh well,we are still a bit away from that. In the meantime I have been instagramming a lot and have left the blog to collect a little dust. I just went poking around in here and realized I started this post a very long time ago and didn’t hit the publish button, better late than never.

Made these as a baking challenge, the chocolatiest cake pops you can imagine

We have some fancy apple cider vinegar. This will go into some sort of salad dressing

the annual Paczki, yum!

made these pesto chips for a valentines post, super easy and fast

made a large casserole, so froze a container for another meal later

We did a baking challenge in January, which was bread bowls. They turned out really well and tasted great

Pre karate training lunch

Using up leftover bits and pieces for a breakfast “pizza”

We are growing the world’s smallest terrarium, I was sceptical but it is working. I am still sceptical…

made chocolate 8 bit hearts

The “In My Kitchen” monthly theme host is Sherry, from sherryspickings.blogspot.ie If you would like to know what is happening in other kitchens or join IMK head over to Sherry’s blog and check out all the other IMK participants and join in.

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Valentine’s Day Pesto Cracker Chips

These tasty little things can pass as a chip or a cracker. Either way try them. These are super fast and easy to put together. These would be perfect for a Valentine’s Day lunchbox or as part of a cheese or charcuterie board to have with wine. You can change up the shape to suit whatever occasion you are celebrating.

Take a package of wonton wrappers and use a cookies cutter to cut out the shapes you want to use.

Place the shapes on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with pesto and just a very light sprinkle of salt.

Bake in a 350F oven for about 8 minutes, until golden at the edges.

Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Lasts for a few days, but ours did not last to make it into a container.

As you can see, we tried a few tree shapes that we could use for Christmas and pumpkins for Halloween.

One note about the pesto, if you are putting in a lunchbox check the pesto for nuts. Both pesto types that I bought contained nuts. Our school is nut free so I couldn’t put them in the lunchbox. I have to find a nut free commercial pesto or make my own.

You could also just brush them with a little olive oil and sprinkle of salt to make a plain cracker-chip. That is how I will use the rest of my wontons for the valentines lunchbox.

Chicken pesto flatbreads with arugula salad

This looks fancy but really is very easy, fast and delicious. Perfect for busy summer days!

I used prepared flatbreads and brushed with olive oil, add small dallops of pesto all over, added cut up cooked chicken breast (vegetarian option-leave out chicken) and topped with crumbled goat cheese. Then bake this in 425 degree Fahrenheit oven for 5 minutes.


Take out and top with arugula (dressed with balsamic vinaigrette) top with a few cherry or grape tomato halves. Drizzle with balsamic glaze. That’s it, quick, fancy and delicious. Just pop open a nice bottle of wine et voila!

Frugal Faux Pesto…aka basil pesto

I cannot really call this pesto as there are no pine nuts, or anything replacing them.  We really like pesto, but got used to making it without one of the main ingredients when Evie was in daycare, there was a child there with a severe pine nut allergy. Of course we couldn’t substitute walnuts because like most schools/daycares there is a no nut policy due to allergies.  Now we still make it this way, which we are ok with, because pine nuts are expensive.

We went to the local farmer’s market to get some nice fresh basil and we got a big bunch for the same price we would have paid for a little sprig at the grocery store.  It smelled soooo good.  We also got some local garlic braided with pretty dried flowers.  Evie can’t stop picking at it.  

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Pick off the leaves, wash and dry, need about 2-3 cups

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4 cloves minced garlic

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about half cup grated parmesan

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Blitz all of this in a food processor a few times, then blend more, while pouring in a constant stream of olive oil.  I used somewhere between half cup and a cup of olive oil.  Sprinkle in salt and pepper to taste.

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We kept some pesto for our supper sandwiches and Evie took some to school to dip her bread in for lunch.

The rest we will freeze to use later.  Probably for a dressing for pasta salad for a school lunch.  To freeze pesto I place a sheet of cling wrap over a mini muffin tin and fill the cups with the pesto.  The plastic wrap will make it easier to remove from the tins then wrap individually and place in a container or zip top bag.  That way you can pull one out at a time.

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For supper we made sandwiches on one of our favorite breads, foccacia would also be good.

grilled chicken, avocado and a tomato from our garden. You can omit the chicken for a veggie version

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