Healthy Eating….Fresh herbs from the garden or your window sill…

 

Fresh Herbs

Fresh Herbs are something that I always have in my fridge and my garden..Don’t you?

Also, I want to show you that it is not time-consuming to give your food that little extra pizzazz…Food should be tempting, it should be fun and enjoyable as well as good for you…and the occasional treat…Have it! Enjoy it! Safe in the knowledge that most of the time what you and your family are eating is good, healthy food… but never boring!

Some herbs you can grow at home and pick fresh knowing that they are pesticide free. How satisfying is that???

They are also something that I sometimes forget that I have or keep meaning to use and end up throwing them away. Does the same thing happen in your house?

It is always those tender herbs like coriander, basil, mint, parsley or chives…The hardy herbs are the ones I always keep in the freezer.

Well, no more will I be throwing away my herbs I decided that I would use my herbs more or less immediately or do something with them.

I think herbs always lift an ordinary dish and make it a little bit more special  for example, if you are having a salad just snip a few herbs and toss them in with your normal salad vegetables or if you fancy a salad and have no salad in the fridge then a salad made of freshly picked herbs from the garden or the hedgerow makes a refreshing change.

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Freeze some chopped herbs in ice-cube trays and then all have to do is drop one or two into your cooking when herbs are needed.

Or make some lovely herb butter ideal for melting over your fish or dropping in a sauce.

 

Add mint leaves to that bowl of ice cream and see how much more refreshing it is.

 

Or sprinkle some herbs into that omelette you are making and see what a difference it makes. It suddenly looks so much more appetising.

Herb Omellette

Mix chopped parsley with some chopped garlic and a little lemon juice and sprinkle it over your steak, chicken or your fish.

Now, who doesn’t like a dish of pasta with some lovely fresh pesto drizzled over it so it coats the pasta?

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Doesn’t that look enticing?

A quick herb pesto made by whizzing coriander, mint or parsley with olive oil, a handful of chopped walnuts and nice hard cheese like parmesan or pecorino takes 3/4 minutes to make.

Much more basil than you can use then make a lovely pesto it will keep in the fridge for at least a week.

Green Pesto:

  • 2 cups of fresh basil
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1/4 cup of pine nuts…sometimes I toast mine for a slightly nuttier taste.
  • 2/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan or pecorino cheese.
  • Salt and pepper to taste.

Wizz all the ingredients in your blender or food processor some people think that a blender makes smoother pesto. Except for a 1/3 cup of olive oil and cheese.

Then slowly add the remainder of the olive oil and then pour into a bowl and stir in the cheese and season.

If you are using a pestle then blanch the basil or coriander leaves in boiling water for 5-10 seconds until they are wilted and then put in ice-cold water.

If using coriander add a little lime juice to the pestle and use walnuts.

For Red Pesto add skinned tomatoes with the basil.

If you haven’t tried a beetroot pesto then it’s a must if you love beets. It is awesome on toast as a crostini it is to die for…

  • Roast two medium beetroots and then skin and chop them.
  • 1/2 cup of roasted almonds
  • 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil.

Blitz all the ingredients together.

If you don’t use all your pesto within the week then freeze it in ice-cube trays. They can then be popped in a pasta sauce as required.

You should now never have to throw any of those tender herbs away ever again.

I hope this post has given you a few ideas of what to do with your tender herbs so have fun, experiment, use different nuts when you are making pesto, a squeeze of lime juice whatever takes your fancy.

Note: one of the herbs I really struggle with growing is coriander/cilantro…it goes to seed or just dies I see everyone around me with beautiful pots of coriander and mine just doesn’t I have tried seeds, planting coriander with the roots and nought works…I saw this tip on utube and thought well I use a lot of coriander root included and can use a few of the roots and try this method will it work I haven’t a clue if you have tried it successfully please let me know…

Therefore I have made use of a plastic bottle that would normally be recycled(we can’t_drink water here from the tap…I cut the bottle in more or less half…cut the roots and a little of the stem of my coriander threaded the roots through the bottle top so they were hanging down..then filled the other half with water and put the two half together so the roots just go into the water..the water should be changed every 2 days and hopefully, I will get coriander…Fingers crossed…

I hope you are enjoying these healthy eating posts from this whimsical English lady who is living her dream in sunny Thailand…Note: I still have to cook and clean… I love life and laughter and am slightly crazy or bonkers whatever you wish to call me …oh, and my new handle from a cooking friend who shall be nameless is Wikipedia Carol… Like I know all…I wish…haha

If you have any thoughts on anything I would love to hear your comments and will answer you as soon as I can…I just love to talk and make new friends.

Have fun with your food and experiment…If you love it it will become a family favourite and if you don’t ..Well, we all have made those dishes..lol so we won’t make that again will we????

45 thoughts on “Healthy Eating….Fresh herbs from the garden or your window sill…”

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  5. D. Wallace Peach

    I love growing herbs and always end up with more than I can use. I dry many of them and make different herb mixes for my daughter for her Christmas stocking. I love the idea of making herb butter and keeping cubes of it in the freezer. I might do that today! Thanks, Carol. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

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  15. karenb

    Thanks for the info. I love herbs and don’t use them as well as I could. I do put basil in strawberry smoothies though. YUM! And I made a basil mixed berry ice cream a couple of weeks ago that is delicious.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. blondieaka Post author

      They both sound amazing uses for basil…. I will have to try it..I tend to use mint a lot but I do love basil as well…Thank you Karen 🙂

      Like

  16. Sumith

    Beautiful post Carol! Very well said herbs always lift the ordinary dishes in its ambiance and freshness. I always have few herbs grown in my kitchen.

    Liked by 2 people

  17. dgkaye

    Fabulous and colorful post Carol. Who doesn’t love fresh herbs, and thanks for some new ideas on how to use then. Whodathunk to put mint on ice-cream? yum! 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  18. Sam Monaco

    There is nothing that like better than using fresh herbs. I try to cook with everything fresh when I can. I love your idea of fresh mint in a bowl of ice cream. On my way to buy some fresh mint 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    1. blondieaka Post author

      I hope you enjoy Sam and when you get your mint ..root a sprig in water and then plant it and you will have your own..freshly picked..It even works if you only have a windowsill 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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  20. Rex Trulove

    I grow lots of herbs and definitely prefer fresh herbs for cooking. A few days ago, I made a big pot of spaghetti and used fresh herbs out of the garden. In was fantastic.

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Rex Trulove

        Yes, they are easier to grow than most people think. It is simple to multiply any of the mint family by rooting stem cuttings in water; basil, thyme, sage, oregano, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, and catnip can all be easily propagated that way. Some, like oregano and sage, are not only very tolerant of soil types, they actually prefer poor soil, too. Most are even drought-hardy, except the super tender ones like basil.

        Liked by 2 people

  21. ellenbest24

    Wow my mouth is watering, how scrumptious are your pictures. I pick the first flush, the best first growth leave them whole as possible freeze on a flat tray and when solid gently bag and suck out residual air before sealing. I have found a whole sprig of mint added to crushed potatoes three months later tastes like freshly picked. And if you want finley chopped you rub the frozen bag between your hands briskly and it chops for you. How wonderful is fresh chopped herbs christmas day without the chore of chopping. Love your blog and this post. Wonderful!

    Liked by 1 person

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