My Top 10 Favorite Herbs, Their Uses, and a Recipe (Part 1)
I love herbs, they’re so versatile, you can use them for so many things. Here are my favorites, some great uses, and a recipe or two.
1. Basil is an excellent culinary herb, it’s great to throw in almost any dish you’re making. It’s one of the key ingredients of pesto. It plays a part in herbal folklore, and it’s great in homemade vinegars.
Basil Pesto
2 cups of fresh basil leaves
2 cloves of garlic
2 Tablespoons grated Romano cheese
½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup pine nuts
½ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Throw all the ingredients but the olive oil in a blender, or food processor and process until mixed. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mixture while it is being processed. Let the mixture stand at least 5 minutes before serving. Makes one cup.
2. Mint is one of my favorite herbs. It comes in a variety of flavors. It’s great for making herbal tea, minted sugars, and as a garnish.
Minted Pea Salad
1 package (20 ounces) frozen peas
½ cup of sour cream
¼ cup of chopped fresh mint
salt to taste
6 green onions chopped
6 slices of cooked crumbled bacon.
Thaw the peas if frozen, drain thoroughly. Combine the sour cream, mint, salt, onions, and bacon. Chill and garnish with fresh mint sprigs.
3. Lavender is the little herb that could. It can do anything. Lavender has anti bacterial properties, so it’s great for healing. The scent is known for its relaxation properties. It’s also great in a cut flower arrangement, a dried flower arrangement, potpourris, and it turns out great as a pressed flower.
Herbal Oatmeal Bath
2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup fresh rosemary (1/2 cup dried)
1 cup fresh lavender flowers
½ cup baking soda
Place oatmeal in a food processor, and process until it has a powder consistency. Add cornmeal and continue processing. Add rosemary, lavender, and baking soda and process for 5 minutes. Fill small muslin bags with the mixture, and store in a closed glass container.
To use: Place a bag in the bathtub with the water running. You can also use the bag as a scrub. The oatmeal softens your skin. The rosemary’s great for your complexion, and the lavender gives it all a wonderful scent.
4. Rosemary has one of my favorite scents. My garden is not complete unless I include at least one rosemary plant. The evergreen scent is great for Christmas, tuck a few sprigs into your winter wreaths for extra scent. Rosemary is great for potpourri, the blue green leaves are delicately beautiful as a garnish. It’s a versatile seasoning, for chicken, lamb, pork, pastas, and sauces.
Rosemary Cookies
4 ounces of butter
3 ounces of sugar
6 ounces of whole wheat flour
3 large spoons of fresh chopped rosemary
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the flower and chopped rosemary. Knead mixture well. Roll out on floured board and cut into small rounds. Place on greased baking sheet and bake at 450` for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown.
5. Cilantro (Coriander) has wonderful fragrant leaves, which are often used in Mexican dishes, and salsa. Coriander is the seed produced by this plant duo. Coriander is a great addition to spicy dishes.
Salsa
2 ripe tomatoes chopped
2 jalapeno peppers (or mild peppers if your tastes don’t run toward spicy) chopped
½ cup fresh cilantro chopped
juice of ½ lime
½ small onion chopped
Combine ingredients and toss to mix, serve fresh with corn tortillas. Yum!
Today we had 5 of my favorite herbs, tomorrow I’ll share 5 more!
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POSTED IN: Garden Recipes, Herbs
1 opinion for My Top 10 Favorite Herbs, Their Uses, and a Recipe (Part 1)
My Top 10 Favorite Herbs, Their Uses, and a Recipe (Part 2)
Feb 14, 2008 at 1:39 am
[...] I shared my top 5 favorite herbs, here is the rest of my top ten [...]
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