Spring has definitely sprung here in Chicago! finally!! So long winter! See ya! Ba Bye! Arrivederci! Ciao!!

Time to open up the windows, crank up the grill, clean off the lawn furniture, and enjoy the sunshine! And thats just what we did!

Heres a couple of appetizers we enjoyed over the weekend. CAPRESE EGGPLANT TOWER

Grilled eggplant
Fresh mozzarella
Ripe and juicy tomatoes
Red onion
Fresh basil
Brush eggplant with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and grill. You can either grill the red onion slice or just keep it raw. Stack in any order you want.

Drizzle everything with your best extra virgin olive oil, and don't forget a couple slices of good bread. I like the holes you get with a chiabatta, it's not doughy at all. Oh, and don't forget to open up your favorite bottle of wine to enjoy with this.

GRILLED ZUCCINI WITH PESTO AND PINENUTS

Grill your zuccini, and spread on your favorite pesto! so simple, so good!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! :)

I love pesto! or for that fact, anything with basil, so it's no wonder that I always keep a jar of it stocked in my pantry,or in my freezer when I make it homemade. I think it enhances a lot of dishes and it's a way to add a lot of flavor. Pesto is exceptionally good when brushed on shrimp, and oh so easy to prepare!

I decided to grill my shrimp inside because A, it's too cold outside!!, and B, I wanted a good excuse to use my new Le Creuset grill pan!! I love the size of it, not too big, and not too small, fits perfectly on one burner, and great for grilling shrimp. But of course any indoor grill pan will do.

Another thing I always have in my house, are those sweet little Campari tomatoes, I always have a bowl of them sitting on my counter. To make this sauce, I just slit the top and bottom of each tomato, put them on a cookie sheet with olive oil, crushed garlic, salt and pepper. Roast them at 400 Degrees till they pop open a little, and the juices start to run. Pour everything over some hot pasta, oil and all,, and mix in some fresh basil!

If you don't feel like having pasta, the shrimp certainly stands alone by itself, I usually marinate them for about an hour in a ziplock bag with just some crushed garlic, a little olive oil, salt and pepper. When they're on the grill, then I brush them all over with the pesto.

BUON APPETITO!!

After successfully growing tons of Basil this year, and before the first frost comes, I new I needed to get busy and make some pesto. Last year I made it for the 1st time and after a day, it turned a dark green, not to appetizing! So this year I did a little research and found that if I just blanch the basil in boiling water for 15 seconds, then immediately take it out, and put it in an ice bath it stays a vibrant green!! Then all you have to do is squeeze it out, throw it in a food processor, with 1 lg clove of garlic for every 2 cups of basil, 1/4 cup of walnuts (or pine nuts) salt and pepper, and then stream a little EVOO in there and the result is not only delicious, but 4 days later it is sill as green as ever!! It was so easy and so much more flavorful then store bought!! You must try it sometime!!