Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

Now that the basil is starting to take off in the garden, it's pesto time. Pesto is such a great summer dish - the only bad part is boiling the pasta. It heats the kitchen up so much. But it's well worth it. You will notice that there really is not a strict recipe here (your are very observant). It's a matter of putting the ingredients together and tasting. It's spinach tortellini-the pesto didn't make the pasta THAT green! Pesto in a Flash 1/4 c pine nuts* 2 glove garlic - rough chop about 1 c fresh basil about 1/4 c fresh parsley about 1 c Parmesan or Romano cheese grated Olive Oil Salt/Pepper Lightly toast pine nuts in a skillet. Remove from pan and let cool. Place a small amount of olive oil in pan and cook garlic until fragrant. Remove from pan and let cool.  Place basil, parsley, pine, and pine nuts in food processor. Pulse until rough chopped.  Add cheese and pulse.  Pour about 1/4-1/2 c olive oil into food processor and pulse. Taste. Add salt...

I'm sure you are all much relieved that this is the last Easter Brunch entries. These were quite easy to prepare and different than regular stuffed mushrooms - there are no breadcrumbs to be found in there! Pepita Pesto-Stuffed Mushrooms (adapted from Cooking Light ) 20 cremini or white mushrooms, stems removed 2 T olive oil 6 T pepitas - toasted 1 c parsley 1 c cilantro 2 oz parmesan cheese zest of 1 orange 2 T fresh orange juice 1 clove garlic minced 2 T olive oil hot pepper flakes to taste salt/pepper Heat a large skillet and add a little olive oil.   Place mushrooms in stem side up.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  You will start to see a little liquid gathering in the caps.  Flip over and cook another 5 minutes or so.  Place stem side down on paper towels to drain. Place 4 T of peptias and the remaining ingredients, except olive oil, into a food processor. Pulse until ingredients are chopped.  With food processor running, drizzle in ol...