So, We have this garden.....

This year our garden sucked. It did, and I am not ashamed to say it. We had so many 100+ degree days this year, that not even our cacti wanted to live. It was miserable. Until about 3 weeks ago. The weather began to be a little kinder to us, and what did survive outside EXPLODED, most especially our basil. So- I trimmed it back today-
And THIS is what I cut off. To be fair, I was saving the plants from any potential caterpillars or other basil-eating bugs...never garden when you are hungry. (I left plenty to regenerate, though, haha)

Bless hub's grandma, for she helped me process all of this stuff. Easily 10 pounds of basil- stemmed, of course.
Yes, I know that there is some rule about cutting basil just before flowering, but really, we paid little to no attention to the garden this summer since everything was dying in the heat. We just kind of resigned ourselves to having to buy produce this summer, and with a sad heart we did. So imagine my surprise when I walked out and saw 2 and a half feet of basil. But the flowers have not gone to waste. They now sit atop the kitchen table and make a most interesting arrangement. See?

 I would never throw away the blooms. That's where all the seeds that will make me more basil next year are. The dining area smells divine.

So, de-stemmed I think this is still a pretty impressive amount of basil leaves.

SO. With alllll those leaves, and olive oil, salt, pecans, pine nuts, lime zest (can do lemon juice, friends, but I was out of lemons so I made do with this), and some love, I made pesto. And a lot of it. That was really a lot of leaves, y'all. They filled the right side of the sink. At least, before I washed em down a few times.

10 jars- all full to the brim. All I can say is whoah.

Pesto is delicious- and traditionally blended with parmesan....Since I have discovered that life is better for me dairy-free, ours is made without, but I added tons to this 'chicken pesto salad' that hubs loves. I made enough for him and a co-worker or 2 to share, since he has a friend at work that always asks for it. Basically it is canned chicken (not my favorite, but it's late and I didn't want to have to cook up some actual chicken to shred), freshly shredded parm, 2 or 3 heaping tablespoons of pesto and extra pine nuts mixed together . He almost never comes home with leftovers. Since I used pecans in the pesto itself, I am hoping this time will be the same...

Since I cannot eat this (as much as I love- LOVE- parmesan, it kills me), I decided to make myself a pesto-tomato salad with some nice smooth goat cheese crumbles. It. is. DIVINE.

 I might not have mentioned it yet as this blog is still in its infancy, but Pops (our very doted on son) and I are gluten free and dye free (we try, anyways, with the dye- that crap is in soooo much these days), and I am dairy-free too. This has made for some very interesting dietary changes for us- and I will share some recipes, and probably from my soap box, too. ( This post very nearly started out as a rant based on my witnessing a man giving his infant RED GATORADE in her bottle today at pop's game. I vented, erased, and re-posted. These days I am trying for mega-positivity- but that soapbox is still here somewhere)

So, what do you all grow,if anything? If not, what incentive would you need to start a little garden of your own? I have fixed the commenting issue, I think, so if you have something to share, please do! I would love to hear from you!