Canning for the Canned pt.1

Trinh and I have done it again! Our cooking has taken us to the land of savory this week. We present "Canning for the Canned" or "Yes, We Can, Can!" -- dancing is optional. This week we conquered Pesto and Green Serrano Hot Sauce. And then we canned them.

Last week we discovered this lovely website: Giver's Log which features some really cool ideas for homemade gifts and fun things to do. Both recipes for this week can be found there - we made some small modifications to fit our particular needs - for example the grocery store didn't have the red peppers needed, we selected some green ones.

For canning instructions check out a step by step guide here.

Feeling hot, hot, hot!!

For our adventures in Pesto - May we present "Leslie and Trinh's Presto Pesto"

I am proud to say a good portion of the basil used in the Pesto came from my garden. The poor basil plant got a hair cut. It's looking a little on the bald side right now. We simply added all the ingredients to the food processor (success! I broke down and purchased one after we attempted to use the blender - to no avail!). We slowly added olive oil and then pine nuts. Then after boiling the containers we deposited the pesto inside and topped it off with a cluster of pine nuts.

Who want's a haircut?

Do you think we need some more garlic?

Ready to give the mixings a spin!

Oh, so pretty! Our finished product.

Check out the next entry for our continuing adventures as we had too many photos to fit in just one!