Pickles, Pesto and (S)Prouts

Saturday is generally such a pleasant day. I had fun in the house because the forecast said it would be overcast, cold and possibly rain or snow. Turned out to be sunny. It was cold but the sun was great. I did laundry in the morning and hung it out to dry in the sun. I did the bedding and the freshly made bed smells so inviting. I'll be asleep quickly tonight, for sure. I love the smell of nature's own perfume called fresh air!

My radish sprouts are reaching their peak and will go in the fridge tomorrow morning. They're very tasty. I like radishes a LOT and the sprouts taste just like eating the real thing only they're much easier to put on a sandwich. Ken tried the sprouts tonight and thinks they're delicious. I would enjoy growing the radish sprouts for Ken, Perla and myself.

I made two recipes today from my new cookbook "Nourishing Traditions". I bought the book because my sister, Kristine, has it and she recommended that I get it because it's chock-full of good information as well as tasty recipes. The cookbook arrived last Tuesday - I found it when I got home from work. I had to be away from home on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, then I went on the field trip to Cresset Farm on Thursday with Kristine and Kent. I mention this because we also made a stop at the Asian market. The produce was so fresh and beautiful. Kristine picked up several items for recipes in the book so I followed her lead and bought the ingredients for the (fermented) pickled cucumbers and the pesto. Then I got ready to prepare the recipes today and had to call her to find out where the recipes could be found in the book :-) I laughed out loud at myself - I was excited to make something that I hadn't even read about yet, all because of Kristine's enthusiasm about it. I used Korean cucumbers and they were weird! About half of the ones in my package were grown together lengthwise. You could say they were double-barreled cucumbers! The recipe (when I finally found it and read it) said you could pickle them whole or sliced. I opted for the sliced version. They should be ready to eat in a couple days. They came out looking luscious:

 We also found beautiful basil at the Asian market. The price was amazing! $1.39 for a large bundle that was about 1 1/2 cups packed after removing the leaves from the stems. I don't know if I've ever found basil for that price before. The recipe also has pine nuts, garlic and parmesan cheese as well as the usual basil and olive oil. Boy howdy, is it ever tasty! I think I'll have chicken and pasta tomorrow and toss the pasta with the pesto. Yummy! One container went in the fridge and one is in the freezer for another week. Come on over - I'll share with you!