How did I live without homemade pesto?

[Anonymous]

Basil is super easy to grow. You can get a small plant in the produce dept, then put it in a pot - bam!

Thanks for the recipe!

[Anonymous]

Pesto is good on chicken or vegetarian chicken as we use in my house! It is also good on sandwiches and in omelets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can I make pesto without pine nuts or other tree nuts? DH is allergic to tree nuts, so we never get to have pesto in the house. Any substitutes I could try?

DS is also allergic to tree nuts and peanuts. While he tested negative for pine nuts, we do not want to risk cross contamination, so we make our pesto without pine nuts. And you know what, I actually think it tastes better. It's a little sharper, since the pine nuts sort of mellow out the flavor. I add just a little more olive oil and a little less garlic so it's not too sharp. When you make it fresh, it just tastes so much better than any pre-prepared nut free version.

[Anonymous]

I make mine with sunflower seeds, since my husband is also allergic to pine nuts. Sunflower seeds are also about 1/4 the cost of pine nuts.