wuz cooking tonite?

well, last night was oven-roasted chicken with garlic & rosemary (page 328) with sauteed green beans with parmesan cheese (page 472) and a side of risotto with parmesan cheese (page 244). the chicken was juicy & tasty - and easy other than the basting every 15 minutes. micah actually ate his green beans for the first time (of course w/o the cheese). i was almost as excited about that as when he first starting walking. it has been a while since he has had a vegetable that was not pureed. but the parmesan added a really nice flavor to the fresh green beans. the risotto was a bit bland for me. it was still tasty but i think i would opt not to water down the stock i was using. over all a tasty dinner.

tonight's dinner was fast and simple. pesto by the food processor method (page 176). since i do not own a mortar set, the food processor method was my only option. we have this amazing fresh basil growing out in our glorified front yard. we have had our fill of fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil this summer. i have even tried my hand at a couple of fresh batches of pesto. this recipe, by far, topped them all. i was skeptical since i had made it a couple of times. i never found to be scrumptious. this version was. now, perhaps it was because i was actually following a recipe and trying to comply with required measurements, but i think the dab of butter plus the variety of cheeses made all the difference. john said it was the best pesto i had made to date. definitely a repeat.