The Bowditch House is a transitional housing facility. The Blast interns have started a garden, which has been a great success. We have had a wonderful turn out on vegetables and herbs. This garden was made for the residents who live at the Bowditch house to harvest and eat from. The residents have done a fantastic job watering and maintaining the garden. Since we are there only on Mondays the people there do most of the weeding. Monday July 31,2006 we were able to cook lunch with the Bowditch residents. (Recipes below!)

We made pesto pasta. Some of the ingredients used in the pesto were harvested from the garden that same day. We also made fried green tomatoes that we harvested from the garden. This was a lot of fun, and all the interns were having a great time cooking and interacting with the residents at the Bowditch House.

Pesto Recipe
Ingredients:
• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup Olive oil
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts or walnuts
• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced

Preparation:
–Place basil leaves in small batches in food processor and whip until well chopped (do about 3/4 cup at a time). Add about 1/3 the nuts and garlic, blend again.
–Add about 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese; blend while slowly adding about 1/3 of the olive oil, stopping to scrape down sides of container.
–Process basil pesto it forms a thick smooth paste. Repeat until all ingredients are used, mix all batches together well. Serve over pasta. Basil pesto keeps in refrigerator one week, or freeze for a few months.

Fried Green Tomatoes Recipe
Ingredients:
• 4 to 6 green tomatoes
• salt and pepper
• cornmeal
• bacon grease or vegetable oil

Preparation:
Slice the tomatoes into 1/4 - 1/2-inch slices. Salt and pepper them to taste. Dip in meal and fry in hot grease or oil about 3 minutes or until golden on bottom. Gently turn and fry the other side. Serve as a side dish - delicious with breakfast!