Pesto - A Basic Guide

Step 1: Place garlic cloves, pine nuts, basil and parmesan cheese in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until roughly chopped, then process until it's the consistency you want. I like mine to have some texture.

Step 2: Add the lemon juice and olive oil, process briefly until combined.

Step 3: Remove to a bowl, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Depending on your cheese, it may not require any salt at all. Adjust olive oil as you see fit.

Note: I don't add too much olive oil at this point, since I don't know how I'm going to use it. If it needs more oil, it can be added when you use it. It's also more compact for freezing.

Step 4: If not being used immediately, it freezes beautifully. You can place in ice cube trays, then into a bag when cubes have frozen. Or simply put meal-sized portions into snack-sized baggies and freeze.