Garlic Scape Pesto

In the Fall, I plant my garlic cloves and in the Spring, the garlic starts to sprout. By the end of June it's time to cut off the garlic scapes so that my garlic bulbs will grow nice and big. But what do you do with those garlic scapes that you cut off? I occasionally use it like normal garlic, chopping finely and adding to recipes but this time I decided to make a pesto with it!

Ingredients:
10 - Garlic Scapes
1/4 - Cup of Pine Nuts
1/3 - Cup Parmesan Cheese
1/2 - Cup of Olive Oil
1/2 - tsp of Salt
1/2 - tsp of Pepper

Directions:
Roughly chop your garlic scapes.

Measure out your pine nuts.

Break up your cheese into small pieces.

Put the scapes, pine nuts, cheese, salt, and pepper into a food processor and cover with 1/4 cup of the olive oil.

Process until all of the big lumps are gone, adding additional olive oil as needed.

Once done, it will look something like this.

Put into a container or bowl and your pesto is complete!

Boil some water and cook 1/2 box of pasta (serves 2 - 3). Once cooked to your liking, drain the pasta and then put it back into the pot.

Scoop in small portions of the pesto and mix into the pasta; add as much as you like. I like everything to be well coated so I end up using about 1/3 of my pesto.

Plate and serve with some additional Parmesan cheese on the side.

Indian Quinoa

This is another random creation that I wasn't really sure what to call but because of the Indian spices, I settled on "Indian Quinoa". I had this as a side with dinner but it can also be eaten on it's own (cold) as a healthy snack for at work.

Ingredients:
2 - Tbsp Olive Oil
1 - Small Pepper (Chopped)
1/2 - White Onion (Chopped)
6 - Button Mushrooms (Chopped)
1 - Clove Garlic (Chopped)
1 - Tsp Grand Marsala
1 - Tsp Paprika
1 - Tbsp Curry Paste (This was a Butter Chicken one)
1 - Cup Quinoa
2 - Cups Beef Stock


Directions:
Heat a large pan over Medium-Low heat (4/10). Add the Pepper.

Add Onion.

Add Mushroom.

Add Garlic and then let cook for 5 or 7 minutes or until everything start to turn a little translucent.

Add in the Grand Marsala, Paprika and Curry Paste.

Mix everything together and let simmer for a couple of minutes.

While the mixture is simmering, rise the quinoa.

Add the quinoa to the mixture.

Mix everything together.

Add the beef stock.

Raise to a boil and then bring back down to low (3/10).

Occasionally stir until the liquid has been fully absorbed. 20 - 25 minutes.

Put into a serving dish and you are all set!