My Pesto is the Besto

I would easily consider pride to be one of the ugliest sins.  No one ever wants to admit that they struggle with pride or over-confidence....well I guess I'm letting the cat out of the bag, because that's something I have a tendency to struggle with!
And when I say I struggle with pride, it's not the vanity version of the word, it leans more on the side of over- confidence.  I like to think that this is attributed to the fact that I have red hair and had to over-compensate for being made fun of when I was younger.  You can't feel too bad about yourself when people make fun of you, if you truly think you are awesome, right?  Don't judge me, I have red hair.
You may be thinking to yourself, what does pride have to do with pesto?  Well, everything.  When I studied abroad in Florence, Italy, I was able to take a food and wine pairing class.  The "food" section was made up of a three hour, very hands on, cooking session.  We made everything from spinach lasagna with traditional bolangnese to cannoli cake.  On the first day of class we made pesto with trofie pasta and it was love at first sight.  Not only did I fall in love with pesto, but by the end of the semester I had decided that I was, hands down, the best Italian scholar and chef around.
Now, I know that's not actually true, but sometimes I think I believe it.... embarrassing, I know. Ok, back to the pasta.  My brother JP came into town this past weekend, and guess what I made him?  The besto, pesto that he ever did have!  I've included pictures and my recipe.

Trofie pasta with pesto

Salad and pasta

JP, Andrew and Boone so excited to eat their pesto pasta!

Recipe:

-2 1/2 cups of packed fresh basil leaves

-a few leaves of spinach (I learned this from my best friend in culinary school, Katie, she says it helps keep the pesto green.  I will fully admit that Katie is ten times the chef I am)

-1 large garlic clove (I usually don't put garlic in mine, but most recipes call for it)

-3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

-1/2 cup pine nuts or walnuts (I always use walnuts because I am poor)

-salt and pepper to taste

-1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

-1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place basil, spinach, garlic, cheese and nuts in a food processor and season with salt and pepper.  Blend until a coarse mixture forms.  While the processor is running, gradually add the lemon juice and olive oil and blend until the pesto comes together.