Lately, my favorite thing to do has been to sit outside and watch the handful of bees pollenating the basil in my garden. They do this every day and it is pretty fascinating to watch how hard they work to help benefit my garden and themselves. I got pretty lucky with my basil this year, considering I didn’t plant a single basil seed when I started my garden in March. It just all grew back from last year — and then some. I have been picking it when my new friends stop buzzing around in the mornings and decided to do a full week of fun green recipes. Ladies & Gentlemen, welcome to Basil Week.

Being Italian, I think it may be in my DNA to love basil. That’s why when the Mix & Match section of the Food Network magazine came this month and it was dedicated to pesto, I instantly pulled out my food processor to make my own concoction. I used almonds instead of the standard pine nuts, and used mozzarella instead of parmesan . Then I topped it off with some jarred roasted red pepper. It was so delicious that I ate half of it straight out of the tupperware without it ever making it to my burger. Oops!

What You Need:

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 roasted red pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1/4 cup olive oil

What To Do:

1. In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients except for the peppers. Blend them together until mostly smooth. This will take several minutes. If the mixture is still pretty chunky, add some more olive oil and continue to blend.

2. Stir in the pepper pieces until they are evenly distributed throughout the pesto.