I’ve admitted that I’m not good at and I don’t like gardening, but for the first time I’ve kept a basil plant alive! And I’m sharing some fresh basil recipes that aren’t all bruschetta.
My plant is a sweet basil plant from Bonnie Plants that I picked up at Home Depot, along with some other flowers that have since mostly died. I’ve been pretty good about watering it and pinching off the tops so it doesn’t flower.
I’ve been following RachaelGoodEats on Instagram for awhile now and so when she launched her website I was on it right away! I found this Lean Beef and Veggie Pasta Salad with Basil and put a variety pack of Banza Chickpea Pasta in my Amazon cart.
Rachel’s recipe calls for lean ground beef but I used lean ground turkey and I added red onions. I was a little wary of the pasta- I sampled one when it wasn’t quite cooked yet and it tasted like cardboard- very similar to what whole wheat pasta tastes like.
But after cooking it all the way and combining it with the meat and veggies it tasted great! Especially with a sprinkle of sea salt on top. 🙂
It was so easy and tasty, but you’ll notice there isn’t any fresh basil on top… that’s because when I got home today (after a 90+º day) my basil looked like this.
Womp womp. Good thing I took pictures of the live basil a few days ago. I dumped a ton of water on it, hoping it brings it back to life. If you can keep your home-grown basil alive here are a few other recipes that sound tasty.
Bruschetta from Pioneer Woman
Prosciutto Pesto Pizza Twists from A Zesty Bite
Nectarine Pizza with Fresh Basil and Reduced Balsamic from alexandra’s kitchen
Smashed Grape Cocktail from Verses from my Kitchen
**Affiliate links in the post.
Good on you for trying & reviving!