Swiss Chard Pesto-Salsa

I have a lot of swiss chard in my garden right now, which means its time to find a tasty way to eat it. After making this recipe, I am so glad that I grew swiss chard! 

So this isn't a pesto like you would use on pasta, but it also isn't a salsa that you would eat with chips. It's a delicious in between like a...palsa...or salsto. Either way, it has a surprising and fresh taste that goes perfect on quesadillas!

Swiss Chard Pesto-Salsa

Ingredients:
5-6 oz swiss chard (about half a bunch)
1/2 oz fresh cilantro
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. hot sauce (I used Homemade Hot Sauce)
2 tbsp. pepitas
1/4 cup olive oil

So simple to make! Wash and dry the swiss chard and cilantro, and then chop everything together in a food processor to the desired consistency. Keep refrigerated.

We decided to use our first batch of pesto-salsa in rabbit quesadillas, and they were delicious! I was too hungry to take a very pretty picture, but two tortillas stuffed with rabbit, grilled onions, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and swiss chard pesto salsa made an excellent meal! I kind of felt like I was eating at a fancy gourmet farm to table restaurant. Well, a girl can dream :) Enjoy!

Garden Fresh Basil Mint Pesto

Oh, how projects get started...Someone asked a question on one of the other posts about drying mint,
      ...which made me think about all of the mint in my garden that I haven't used ONCE yet this year
          ...which made me google what I could do with all this mint
               ...which is when I ran across a recipe for a pesto made with mint!

I get to use more basil and the mint at the same time? Score! The recipe also calls for sunflower seeds, and I just happened to have a sunflower ready to be harvested. Love it when that happens!

As you can see, the birds have already been munching on my sunflowers, and I was planning on giving the rest to the chickens. They will be disappointed that I found this recipe. So, I gathered the sunflower seed into a bowl.

The I harvested the mint and basil (making sure to pick extra as a treat for the rabbits- it is so easy to get side-tracked when playing in the garden). By the way, I do not recommend for anyone crack open all of the little sunflower seed shells to get the seeds out. It takes forever, and my fingers still hurt. Next time, I will give the sunflower seeds to the chickens and buy the seeds already shelled even though it was fun to use our own seeds.

The recipe goes together quickly and I love how it turned out. It uses very little oil, which makes it light, and the sweetness of the mint balances out the slightly bitter taste of the basil for a great combination!

If you want a pesto to use with pasta, I recommend the Basil Parsley Pesto, but if you are looking for a dip for crackers or veggie chips, this is the one!

I found the original recipe on the Meghan Telpner Nutritionista's blog, and then tweaked it a little.

 Basil Mint Pesto
1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
1 1/2 cups fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pecans, toasted on 350 degrees for 10 minutes
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix all of the ingredients together in a blender or food processor. Yep, it's that easy!

What else do you use mint for???