Cooking with Homegrown Herbs

I have used these and other herbs for years in many dishes. Look up ?Thi food online-- you will find many recipes that will work. My personal favorite is Thi Basil Chicken. I use bell pepers and onion instead instead of the Thi pepers which are more spicey than my family likes.
I have to say that roasts, kabobs, fish esp Salmon and lamb are all great with herbs.

You can dry them at about 200 degrees on a cookie sheet or in a cake pan for about three to five hours. Makes the house smell yummy and it saves you a lot of work. I use Basil in lots and lots of things. I love that flavor. I use oregano in mostly italian but I put it in meat loaf and on chicken ..alfredos and chicken with rice.

When drying..do check about once an hour..flip leaves when the smaller leaves start to get crumbly remove them and set them on paper towels for a day or so. (Might cover them to keep any nasties off)..when they willingly crumble with minimal work between your fingers..they are ready. The bigger leaves you can tear into strips for faster drying but keep a close eye or they shrivel up into nothingness. Check them every half hour after you let them be for at least two hours. If any start getting black..set them with the littler ones and you can do a "redry" on the ones that aren't quite there yet.
Have fun..love my herbs!

I love basil and tend to use it a lot.
Our favorite: alternate slices of tomatoes, slices of mozzarella and basil leaves. Dazzle with olive oil. Enjoy with toasted garlic bread! A staple summer appetizer at our home!
You can also try tomato basil soup (yes, basil goes very often with tomatoes and/or cheese!)
If you google it, or look allrecipes, you may also find recipes with chicken or shrimps, but mostly will be salads, pasta and tomatoes!

Basil and mozzarella and tomatoes - a nice cool summer salad! Either use regular tomatoes and sliced mozzarella, or use grape tomatoes and the little mozzarella "pearls". Top with thin strips of basil, a little olive oil & vinegar, and enjoy!

Then, have a get together with neighbors or friends, find out what they're growing, and see if you can get them to offer you their parsley and dill and chives in exchange for clipping rights to your herbs!

Hi Mama-
You can use your herbs in crock pot recipes, on chicken- chicken parmesian for example, on beef, etc. You can also dry it and give it as gifts in fun jars to friends as an accent on a birthday gift.
Chicken parmesian recipe:
Ingredients:
Chicken breast (boneless skinless)
crumbs (contadina or crackers crushed or even grape nuts, mashed up)
herbs of choice
salt and pepper
egg
tomato sauce
mozzarella cheese
Directions
Whip up egg. Crush crackers or crumbs and add herbs and spices.
Dip chicken in egg until fully covered. Then dip in herbs and spices until fully covered. Lay on pam sprayed pan in oven. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Flip chicken, pour on tomate sauce and add one slice of mozzarella cheese. Cook for about 15-20 more minutes.

Sauce: olive oil, stewed tomatoes (can), tomato sauce (can), herbs, salt and pepper. Drizzle oil into pan. Heat. Add tomatoes, sauce, herbs. Let simmer while chicken is cooking. Spoon onto chicken when cooking the second side.

Enjoy!!! You can also chop this up and serve in tortillas as leftovers.
-E. M

some ideas:
pesto
viniagrette
Thai dishes - basil is in a lot of them!
go to a site like http://www.allrecipes.com and type "basil" in the search window for more ideas :-)

If you were in my neighborhood, I'd swap rosemary for some basil :-)

Take any herb. Add a little bit of water to the blender or food processor. Whirl until soupy. Pour into icecube trays. Freeze. Put in ziplock bag and use throughout the year.

I personally would not dry the basil. The oregano you can, doesn't change the taste that much. I use basil for lots of marinades. I use it for a balalmic marinade and also one which has olive oil, lemon juice, salt, garlic, romemary, and basil. It's really good on pork.

Caprese salad is my all time favorite _ that's the tomato< mozzerella and basil previously mentioned>
Also - pizza margherita - pizza crust brushed w/ olive oil salt & pepper, topped with fresh tomato, basil and a little bit of mozzerella cheese.
The other night I made "clean out the fridge pasta" I cooked our favorite angel hair pasta (penne or rotini work too)- when it was done I tossed in a cup of frozen petite peas and then drained immediately so the peas wouldn't over cook - I added some sliced left over grilled sausage ( chicken works too) diced tomatoes, parmesean cheese a handful of sliced olives and artichoke hearts ( had a 1/2 used jar of both in fridge) tossed with olive oil and a bit of butter then added chopped basil and oregano - 4:1 ratio basil to oregano. Even my picky 5 year old loved it once we picked out the artichoke hearts! I plan on adding a little basalmic vinagrette to the left-overs for a cold pasta salad for my lunch today. ;)

Me, too, and I love having the fresh herbs at home. Why not try eating them without cooking them? You can actually get more nutrition from food when it is "raw" (uncooked). The cooking process destroys enzymes that naturally occur in the herbs. I add them to salads. Also, you can add them to a sandwich. Plus, I add them to my stir-fry veggies with a little minced garlic. However, I add this at the very end so the herbs and garlic are not cooked as much as the veggies.

Lastly, I like to marinade/rub steak and chicken before cooking. My basic marinade/rub recipe is fresh squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic and salt. I've also added either basil or oregano to the marinade/rub (especially the chicken) and it tasted great. When I do this, I like to for the meat/chicken to sit in the marinade for at least 4 to 6 hours. I prepare it in the morning or after lunch for that evening's dinner. If you don't have time day of, then you can do the marinade the evening before.

You can freeze some and dry some. =)
I have enjoyed growing parsley because it is more versatile.

Definitely dry and save them. You've already gotten good advice on how to do that. :) Also, think about gifting some of them. You could dry them, crush them and then put them in a pretty bottle with a ribbon for a gift to someone. You could also combine them with maybe one or two others and come up with your own special spice blend that you also use for gifts.

There's always the option of giving it away to friends and neighbors. And you could dry some of it for later use for yourself and for gifts.

You can grind up basil to make pesto and freeze it in ice trays and then either cover those really well or empty them into a freezer bag for long term storage. Don't use the ice cube trays you use for ice though unless you want basil and garlic flavored ice forever.

My idea with herbs is to get the flavor out of the herb, not eat the actual herb to get the flavor. Along those lines, I like to cook on a bed of herbs. A little pam, a layer of herbs, and then eggs, or bread, or potatoes and bake. Here's one recipe I Love; uae a ramikin if you have some, or any small ceramic dish, a little pam in the bottom, a bed of fresh herbs, a few artichoke hearts, a dab of butter, two eggs, and top with grated parmesan cheese. Bake untill the cheese crusts and browns a little, cool, and eat.