During the summer, I’m always on the lookout for fresh produce bargains. My latest find was 4 giant bunches of basil. Basil is an extremely delicious herb, but it sure can be expensive (I’ve seen it priced at $4.99 for a teeny handful during the off season!). The bunches I bought were discounted to only $0.99 each. Using it all up before it went bad was my goal. I started by making a tomato, basil, & mozzarella salad. Then, I pulled out the blender and got busy making batches of pesto. 2 of them I’ll freeze and the rest I’m incorporating into other dishes.

Here are 20 easy ways to use an abundance of pesto:

1. Pasta (The most obvious choice & also the most yummy.)
2. Meatballs (Works better with chicken/turkey over beef.)
3. Burgers (Same as meatballs, I like it much more with poultry.)
4. Pizza (Use it instead of tomato sauce or drizzle on top of a traditional pie.)
5. Sandwich spread (A nice change from mustard or mayo.)
6. Flavored butter (Mix 1/2 cup of pesto with 3 TBS of soft butter.)
7. Potatoes (Drizzle over roasted potatoes or into potato salad.)
8. Fish sauce (So good on tuna steaks or salmon)
9. Green veggies (Try it with peas, asparagus or string beans.)
10. Cucumber salad (Combine chopped cukes, red onion slices & pesto.)
11. Chickpeas (Mix with hummus or make a salad of whole chickpeas.)
12. Chicken salad (Add some pesto into the mayo for a neat twist.)
13. Eggs (Try it with Deviled or scrambled.)
14. Stuffed mushrooms (Moisten breadcrumbs with pesto.)
15. Minestrone (Drizzle on top of a bowl of soup.)
16. Meat marinade (Mix pesto & vinegar. Marinate overnight.)
17. Wing sauce (Try making wings with pesto instead of Buffalo sauce.)
18. Croquettes (Salmon + pesto = delish.)
19. Black beans (Use pesto instead of cilantro.)
20. Cream sauce (Mix pesto with heavy cream for a dairy delight.)

And, for my readers that hate cooking, if you happen to have extra leaves, they can always be used as a pretty garnish.