Pesto, independence and austerity.

Hello everyone, I expect you thought I was dead.

I'm not. I've just been doing a really boring thing called WORKING. Basically it's this place where I go for most of my life and I can't wear pyjamas or eat crackers with mayonnaise all day or watch Gossip Girl (at all). As you can imagine, it's taken me months just to schedule in time for these basic human rights, so writing about whatever I've been shoving in my cake-hole has rather taken a back seat.

But the sight of my sad little home page with the last post from JULY sitting on it has propelled me into action. Today, for your delectation dear reader(s)(Amy) I write about PESTO! Pesto and independence.

I've also moved away from my Grandparent's house since they bought a dog who was intent on separating my face from my skull, so I have plenty of lovely space to cook in. At first I was worried that a year of having my knickers laundered for me and my meals prepared either by my Nana or a restaurant would have rendered me completely incapable of living alone.

Not so! I have done laundry, I have swept floors, I have cleaned toilets, and I have not starved to death. I am very smug about this, for it is most unexpected.

Another thing (there will be a pesto recipe soon, I promise) is that I'm really quite poor at the moment after an especially heavy festive season - so beans and lentils are my staple diet. It's hard to jazz up beans after the 14th consecutive day of eating them, but I'm a capable independent woman who lives NOT IN HER GRANDPARENT'S HOUSE and I can make beans tasty, even on the 15th day.

I made a sort of Tuscan bean stew with tomatoes and chili and some soft old veg I found in the fridge, which is not terribly appetising, I accept, but it certainly was cheap. I also made some lovely pesto to put on top of the stew, which is a very nice easy way of pepping up a boring bowl of tomatoey beans. I didn't have all the really real and correct bits handy, but it was still jolly nice, so give it a go.

1 packet of basil leaves (I didn't bother removing the stems)
1/2 packet of flat leaf parsley (ditto the stems - what's the point when you're going to marmalise them in a minute?)
2 fat cloves of garlic (I'm a bit excessive on the garlic front, so do feel free to include just 1, or even 1/2 if you're elderly or STUPID)
juice of half a lemon, or to taste
4ish big glugs of olive oil
Salt + Pepper
Grated knob of parmesan - however much you've got knocking about really.

Put everything in a bowl and jhoosh it up with a hand blender. Check for seasoning and add more salt/pepper/oil/lemon. Three greedy people topped their stews with this (some had seconds) and there's still plenty left for pasta tonight. Go team austerity!