I got my second bunch of basil this week, so I figured I should probably do something with it, other than just add it to the jar on my counter with the first batch of basil. Basil lasts a long time if you put it in a jar of water on your counter.
So, this week I tried out two recipes with basil. I have lots of tomatoes on hand too, so I decided to use lots of veggies and I made spaghetti sauce.
Spaghetti Sauce
4 Large Tomatoes
3 Green Onions
1/2 Cup fresh basil leaves
3 Cloves garlic
Salt & Pepper to taste
Cut the tomatoes in rough slices, slice the green onions, and place all ingredients in a pan. Simmer over medium/low heat until tomatoes are cooked down. I cooked mine for about 1.5 hrs but you could do it faster (I was trying to cook off some of the excess water from the tomatoes). After veggies are done, place in a food processor and pulse until all chunks are gone.
Serve over pasta and topped with grated parmesan cheese.
Basil Berry Sparkling Ice
I found this recipe here on Kroger’s website. But the measurements were confusing for me, so I didn’t really do exactly what they said.
8 Large Blackberries
6 Fresh Basil Leaves
2 Cups Blackberry Sparkling ICE (it’s a brand Kroger sells but any blackberry sparkling beverage will do)
2 Cups Sparkling Lemonade
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
Put the blackberries, basil leaves, and lemon juice in a pitcher. Mix up and let set for a few minutes, or until ready to serve drinks. Right before serving, pour the blackberry sparkling ICE and sparkling lemonade into the pitcher.
I refrigerated my drinks before opening them but if you don’t refrigerate first, you will want to serve this over ice.