No garden is complete without an herb garden. Whether you use them for cooking, preserving, or home remedies, here is a list of must-have herbs from our Untrained Housewife community.
Grow Your Own Basil
I’m so excited to be sharing about growing basil. It’s one of the things that we’ve managed to not kill for years, and we use it constantly in our cooking! The basil you see in front of my daughter (and behind her, too) all started from a $3 plant from our HEB grocery store. Here’s […]
Growing Basil in Your Garden
Basil is one of the most-used herbs in my garden. It is a nice companion plant for tomatoes, a wonderful addition to tomato sauces or salads and a must-have for amazing pesto. Basil is an easy-to-grow annual that does in the garden as well as in containers- or even indoors on the windowsill as a […]
Knife Skills: How To Chiffonade Basil
The delicate leaves of the basil plant are easily bruised when chopped for your recipes. One of the popular techniques for cutting basil without imposing as much injury to the leaves is the knife skills technique of chiffonade. The word “chiffonade” is French and means “made of rags.” The leaves are left in very long […]
12 Uses for Fresh Basil
Basil is a fragrant herb that is plentiful during the late summer. There are many things you can do with basil, and they are not limited to cooking! Here are 12 uses, including how to make basil oil and how to use it for a home remedy, plus how to grow it well and preserve […]
5 Thai Basil Wrap Recipes
Thai basil wraps are comfort food in Thailand and a few other Asian countries. They are often sold in Thai restaurants as a cheap and quick meal. Many restaurants bring the ingredients to the table so the diner can assemble their own wraps while they eat. Rice wraps are generally found in the Asian section […]
Stuffed Manicotti With Spinach and Herbs
If you have a little spinach left, and are starting to enjoy some fresh basil too, it’s the perfect time for this manicotti recipe. It’s one of the great additions to the Eating Garden Fresh series and I think it’s a fabulous meatless dinner option! This is very simple recipe with simple ingredients but you […]
Spinach Pesto for Delicious Pasta Dishes
Pesto is traditionally made with basil, olive oil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, lemon, salt and pepper. I have a full garden bed of basil, but none of it is ready to harvest yet. However, my spinach overfloweth! So, I am making it with a bit of different ingredients. Here’s what I used: 3 cups of loosely […]
How to Make Herb Butters
How to Make a Salsa Garden Container
I love grouping my container plants according to garden themes. There are many themed gardens you can try planting. But a favorite garden theme of mine is the Salsa Garden! First, you need a container sized tomato plant. Then, you need a large container with potting soil mix suitable for vegetables. You’ll want a variety […]
Drying Sweet Basil in a Home Dehydrator
It was time to begin harvesting our sweet basil crop – this year I picked up a cheap dehydrator (not the brand I want for long-term use but it will work for now) to make preserving herbs a lot easier. Harvest basil in the morning when essential oils are the most concentrated in the leaves. […]
Sweet Basil Steamed Carrots
Fall produce is some of my favorite and the recipes are warm, sweet, spicy and full of flavor. This recipe combines the zest of fresh basil, with the sweet carrots glazed with maple syrup. So good my kids asked for thirds. Ingredients: 12 medium carrots in 1/8″ slices 4 Tbl unsalted butter 3 Tbl pure […]
