Make your own Basil Pesto sauce

I LOVE pesto sauce on my sandwiches but it's so expensive at the store...so I wanted to see what it was like to make my own. All you need is

2 cups fresh basil leaves (packed into measuring cup)
3-4 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil (choose a a flavorful olive oil for pesto)
1/2 cup pine nuts
3/4 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

Now let me warn you the pine nuts are quite expensive but my mom said it's what makes the pesto taste good (cause I was trying to find a substitute). So I went for it anyways. You could try adding less and see if you notice a difference, just a thought. Also basil can be expensive as well but you could easily grow your own, I took some from my mom which helped in cost.

All you do is put the basil leaves and sliced garlic into food processor until basil and garlic is finely chopped, adding oil through the feed tube as you process. (You may need to take off the lid and scrape the sides with a rubber scraper if you have a hard time getting the basil all chopped.) (I don't have a food processor but I used my magic bullet, the best thing ever!!)

Add pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, and lemon juice to the chopped basil mixture and process 1-2 minutes more, until the pesto is mostly pureed and well mixed.

Let me know what you think if you make your own...we really love it and think it taste great!! It might just be worth it to me to make it by scratch! You can store it in your fridge for a few weeks or freeze it. I plan to put mine in an ice tray to freeze and then store in a zip lock!

(thanksKalyns Kitchen for the wonderful recipe w/ a little touch of me in it!)