i heart pesto! (ROTW)

Sometimes you just need to spice up a night and make it a little more fun.  The other night I decided to do just that with a scrumptious cheese platter and a recreated pizza that we enjoyed on a date night last week.  It was the perfect little night with no TV, jazz music playing, and plenty of quality time. 

LaFuze Happy Hour!  With fontina, raw cheddar, and brie cheese....oh how I love thee, cheese.

The husband absolutely loved it!  Isn't he just so handsome?!?!

Then, I set off on a mission to recreate this spectacular pizza that we enjoyed on a previous date night.  It was called the "Carlsbad" and included pesto sauce, grilled chicken, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and feta.  We are regulars at pizza so I decided to step it up a notch and make my own pesto!!!  

J's Awesome Pesto:

6-8 oz. fresh basil leaves

2/3 c. pine nuts

1 head of garlic

about 1/4 c. olive oil

Salt & pepper

*This was an experiment, so not everything is exact!

First, I started with placing the basil leaves into my food processor.  

Next, I added all of my garlic cloves.

Then, I measured out and added the pine nuts.

Lastly, I drizzed olive oil into my food processor and let it go.  I stopped the machine about three times to scoop the sides and add more olive oil.  You can create whatever consistency you would like by adding more/less olive oil.  

At the end I added salt and pepper and gave it one more quick stir, again.  

I just LOVE the color!!!

I'm already thinking about some variations next time....toasting the pine nuts, roasting the head of garlic...maybe when I have more time!

We made our pizza on the grill again, so once one side was cooked we slathered on a nice layer of our pesto.  

Then we topped it with chicken sausage (I had to cook it before it went bad, so subbed it in for chicken), sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and feta. 

We crossed our fingers, threw it back on the grill, and waited to see how our creation turned out.  

Holy Smokes!!! This pizza was beyond amazing!  The flavor was intense, delightful, epic, ________ (insert any other amazing word here).  The husband was super proud of me, I was beaming, and our tummies were extremely grateful.  

I did make a gluten free version for myself using Udi's pizza dough.  The one thing I love about this dough is that it's all ready to go, but the taste still doesn't measure up to regular pizza dough...I guess I need to bite the bullet and make my own dough one day.

I urge you to immediately get out to the store and make your own pesto!