I first met Jennie a few years ago. She’s beautiful and inspiring, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled for her when her book Homemade With Love was published.

In Homemade With Love,
Jennie shares how to set up a homemade kitchen, including creating
the perfect pantry—from the dry goods you should always try to have on hand, to
what to stock in your fridge and freezer. From there she covers the everyday
basics, offering shortcuts with homemade baking mixes to use as the base for
all the yummy treats you’ll want to make for the family, as well as other homemade necessities like nut butters, ricotta, chicken
stock, marinara and yogurt.

As soon as I opened the book I knew I had to make her homemade Basil-Walnut Pesto.

My kids absolutely love pesto, it’s a staple item in our pantry, but I have to admit, I had never made it from scratch before, I’m guilty of purchasing it in a jar from the grocery store. 

On the night I served Jennie’s Fettucine with Basil-Walnut Pesto for dinner I didn’t tell the kids that I had made the pesto from scratch. My kids can be pretty finicky and I was worried they wouldn’t want to try it. I waited until the little man had almost licked his bowl clean and then I told them. I showed them a basil plant that I had purchased that day to plant in a large pot on our back patio and explained that it was one of the ingredients used to make the pesto. The smell was divine. 

I had actually doubled the recipe when I made it, so I have some in a jar ready for dinner one night next week too, maybe for homemade pizza night. I love pesto on pizza. I cannot believe how easy it was to make. I will never purchase ready-made pesto again.

I also started researching growing basil at home and came across these 7 tips for growing mad giant basil plants from Offbeat Home and Life.

Here are the details for purchasing Jennie’s book:

HOMEMADE WITH LOVE: Simple
Scratch Cooking from In Jennie’s Kitchen

by Jennifer Perillo

Running Press; Hardcover; $27.50 US/$30.50 CAN

240 pages; 8 x 10; ISBN: 978-0-7624-4723-7

E-book ISBN: 978-0-7624-4834-0

Full-Color Photographs throughout by Penny De Los Santos

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of Jennie’s book Homemade With Love, but would have purchased it anyway because she’s amazing and I love supporting my friends.