Prep for the Winter: Oven-Drying Your Own Fresh Herbs!

Sadly, the bountiful spring and summer fruit & veggie season has come to an end, but luckily the fall brings another crop of amazingness! The crisp apples, versatile yams, onions at their peak, and who could forget pumpkins?

To prepare for the changing seasons, my hubby so helpfully snipped & brought in an abundance of fresh herbs from our herb garden. They were really growing out of control (in a good way), and seemed to be hanging on to life- a perfect time to snip and reap the benefits of these puppies for the winter!

Drying your fresh herbs to use all winter long is not only a great way to prevent wasting the herbs, but also facilitates creativity and continued fun in the kitchen! This winter I need to make sure I got my grip on fun in the kitchen:)

Here is what I've tried so far for Oven-Drying my fresh herbs...I used this method thus far for fresh Rosemary, Oregano & Sage...

Directions:
Printable Recipe

1. Pre-heat your oven to 150-200 degrees.


2. Wash your herbs with cold, running water to remove any dirt, bugs, dust or other yuckies. Spread the clean herbs out on clean kitchen towels, blot with paper towel and let the herbs air-dry for 20 minutes or so. (Herbs need to be totally dry before you place in the oven)


3. Use your fingers to strip the leaves from the stems and spread the leaves out on a baking sheet prepared with a piece of parchment paper.


4. Bake the herbs for about 15 minutes, with the oven door cracked open.


5. Test the herbs for dryness; take a few leaves and crush them with your fingers-a.) if they crumble very easily then the herbs are done! or b.) if the leaves do NOT crumble very easily, hence there is still some moisture within the leaves, bake for 2-3 more minutes, test again...until the herbs crumble easily...(see video)...

6. Continue to crush the dried herbs and store in a tightly sealed container! Enjoy!

You Could Also Try...

• I washed and dried some old dried herb containers, labeled them correctly with their new contents and filled them with MY dried herbs!
• You could also use small ziplock-type containers for storage!

Everyones Best Friend- Homemade Ranch

I had the distinct honor & privilege of witnessing the creation of, and gobbling the most fantastic homemade pizza and cheese bread YOU COULD EVER IMAGINE on America's birthday. I mean, words do not express this one, people! I have spent a decent part of today looking for homemade pizza contests for my friend Greg to enter because, honestly, his creation, which he has had spent many hours perfecting, is simply outstanding!

Greg and his fantabulous fiance, Dee, brought all the ingredients to a mini-BBQ we had at our place on the Fourth and while I was just simply honored to have him and his impressive ingredients inside my home, I couldn't bring myself to do a Special Feature for the blog because I just couldn't imagine letting the world know about something so incredibly special. I want this pizza and cheesy bread all to myself - well, and obviously Dee and Greg can have some too, and maybe my hubster, and I guess whoever Greg says is okay to know about it- but THAT'S IT- no one else! Unless of course, I find a contest for Greg to enter- then he can be the winner and make tons of money and we'll go into food-business together and all will be right with the world.

Anyways, Mike and I were in charge of one of the pizza toppings, salad and dessert (recipe to be posted soon), and since Greg isn't the biggest fan of lettuce, I thought I'd try to see if there was something yummy I could do to entice him. (Greg is pretty famous as his first green leafy salad was actually on our wedding day at the reception, lol). Since we have a plentiful herb garden kickin' I thought I'd try my hand at making some homemade ranch dressing, and I mean, what could go better with pizza but everyones best friend!?

This is definitely the type of recipe you need to constantly be tasting throughout so you get to the desired consistency and flavor you love, and word to the wise- skip the healthy stuff just this once for this one- I used the olive oil mayo and I wish I would've used the regular.

Ingredients & Recipe:
Printable Recipe

• 1 large garlic clove, or 2 smaller cloves, minced as finely as you can
• 4 Tbls. fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped finely
• 2 Tbls. fresh chives, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. fresh oregano, chopped finely (optional)
• 1 cup mayo (regular)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk (or more to get to desired consistency)
• salt and fresh ground pepper

Begin by sprinkling the minced garlic with a little bit of salt and mash it with a fork, or smash it with the back of a sharp knife until it looks more like the consistency of a paste (don't worry, there will still be chunks of minced garlic- it won't totally be a paste, but you are just trying to get it a little more smooth looking).

Use a small spatula or a fork to mix together the mayo and sour cream in a bowl. Combine in the garlic. Now combine in the parsley, chives and oregano (optional). Add in a little salt and pepper, give it a stir and taste. Add in more S & P as needed. Refrigerate to chill until serving.

Just before serving add in the milk and stir with a fork rigorously to combine. Taste to be sure your flavor is where you want it to be, and if necessary add in a few tablespoons of milk to thin the dressing out even more. (Some people like it really runny, some like it thicker). Serve and enjoy!

You Could Also Try...

• Stick with the basics of flat-leaf parsley and chives, but aside from that you could add in whatever kind of herbs you like; oregano, fresh dill, curly parsley...


• Make it HOT ranch by adding cayenne pepper or hot sauce, to taste...

Ginger-Almond Fruit Plate

What can be better than fresh fruit during the month of July when pretty much everything is fresh and ripe? Then add the fabulousness of coming in from the hot summer heat and sitting down to a plateful of crispy, cold, tangy, sweet fruit! MMMmm, delic!

Now, I'm kind of a weirdo and I don't really have a taste for certain fruits so when I made this I used the stuff that I like! You need to do the same! This is really just about the method of incorporating the gingery dressing and the crunchy almonds to a beautiful fruit salad, and at the end of the day YOU need to love it and whatever you put in it, i.e., don't use fruits you don't like! Duh! :-D

Ingredients & Recipe:
Printable Recipe

• about 1 pint of strawberries
• 3 clementines, peeled & sliced into rounds
• 1 pint of blueberries
• -OR- whatever fruit you prefer, perhaps 1 yellow grapefruit instead of the clementines, 1 pint of raspberries instead of the blueberries, etc.

• 1/2 cup honey (local honey from a cider mill or farmers market is always best!)
• 2 Tbls. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. fresh grated ginger root; (peel about 1-2 inches of fresh ginger root and grate it on a fine grater or a microplane/zester seen here)
• 1/3 cup of slivered or sliced almonds, toasted (toasting the almonds is quite easy- place the almonds on a dry skillet over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, tossing around frequently, until just fragrant & lightly browned)

Arrange your fruit decoratively on a plate, or just toss together in a bowl. Combine the honey, lemon juice & ginger in a small bowl, using a fork or a small whisk. Drizzle the dressing over the fruit & top with the almonds. Eat, smile, then make comment on NICHe in the KITCHe about how much you loved this! ;-)

Parsley Pesto in a Presto!

My fabulous hubster has been wanting to mimic his mama's awesome veggie garden for a long, long time now, and if you've ever been over to our home, you know we have an excess of space in the back yard for one. Well, this was the year, and though it's the very beginning, things are progressing quite nicely! We have lettuce, zucchini, peppers & broccoli growing (although there are some weird bugs on the broccoli leaves that Mike is trying to safely kill), and then there is a cute little area for my herb garden, which is my forte'. Last year I went crazy stuffing herb seeds and herb-starters into pots, only so that they could overgrow each other and become entangled and messy- not ideal for a 'type A' home cook! So, my 3 X 4 rows and columns of herbs that the hubster organized and planted for me (I am not a green-thumb person, my place is IN the kitchen, NOT in the garden), are perfection!!

Last year I got a little of every herb out there- well, not EVERY herb in the world, but the most common. And though that was fun, I really didn't end up using the lemon verbana too much or the marjoram- just not enough varieties of recipes to use them up. This year, I figured I would replace the the ones I didn't use much with a few extras of the herbs I wished I had had more of, so I ended up with; 2 big flat leaf parsley, 1 curly parsley, 1 dill, 2 gigantic rosemary (I seriously have rosemary for days so if you need some, let me know!), 1 oregano, 1 chive, 1 mint, 1 sage, and 1 thyme. I normally get a lot of basil as well to make basil pesto, but I haven't been able to find any good looking basil plants around town (do you know where I can find some?).
Well, pretty much everything is growing out of control in my cute little 3 X 4 garden except for my dill (which is disappointing because usually dill doesn't need much love or attention), so I have a ton of flat leaf parsley- perfect for a fresh pesto to; toss with a whole-wheat pasta, spread on top of a crusty bread, stuff inside a deli sammy, drizzle on some fresh veggies, stir into a vegetable soup for added flavor, or mix with some olive oil to create a sparkling salad dressing.
Here are the basics...

Ingredients & Recipe:
Printable Recipe

• 1 large bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, enough to creative about 1 cup (packed) when it is all chopped up (p.s. It is okay to use some of the stems of the parsley!)
• 1 large garlic clove
• 2 tsp. lime juice, or to taste
• 2 Tbls. olive oil
• kosher salt, pepper- to taste

There are 2 ways to go about this;

A) Coarsely chop all the parsley and combine all the ingredients in a bowl- simply mash everything together with a fork.

B) Kind of rip apart the parsley a little as you throw it in your mini-chopper. Chop the garlic in 3 pieces and toss it in the chopper, followed by the other ingredients. Pulse until you get to a desired consistency/texture-kind of chunky yet smooth.

You Could Also Try...

• Set aside a specific ice cube tray JUST for pesto- fill the little compartments with your homemade heaven and then cover with plastic wrap, followed by a freezer bag. Freeze your ice cube tray full of fresh pesto and save it away for for your next special use! When you're ready to cook with it, just pull the tray out and thaw in the fridge for a few hours, or defrost for 30 seconds-1 minute in the microwave, and use however much pesto you need. Again, freeze the leftovers for another day!
• Ideas for ways to use pesto; toss with a whole-wheat pasta, spread on top of a crusty bread, stuff inside a deli sammy, drizzle on some fresh veggies, stir into a vegetable soup for added flavor, or mix with some olive oil to create a sparkling salad dressing.

How To...Make Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs

The chickens that laid the eggs that inevitably sit in our fridge would probably flip out if they realized that most of us have NO CLUE how to properly hard-boil an egg! Well, lets get serious...chickens these days have a lot of things to flip out about, but I won't even start on that. Anyways, I feel like there is so much wrong info out there on how to make a good boiled egg and most of us end up with a nasty green line around the yolk (which is from overcooking) or with an egg we can't peel cleanly (which usually means your eggs were too fresh to boil). My mama has always had the best tip for this and it's never proved me wrong- go Gina!

Ingredients & Recipe:

Printable Recipe

• As many eggs as you want(not fresh eggs, i.e. not straight from the grocery store), in a single layer in a pot (the eggs should be comfortable in the pot, not squished together). Allow them to get to room temperature and then pour enough luke-warm water to cover the eggs by 1-2 inches. A new tip I've learned along the way is to add a dash of white vinegar into the pot at this point, which helps the eggs stay together JUST in case there are any cracks.
• Bring the water up to a boil over medium heat. Once you have a decent boil going, turn the heat down to medium-low, put the lid on the pot, remove from heat and set your timer for exactly 10 minutes.
• After 10 minutes, give your eggs an ice bath or run the pot under cold, cold water for a few minutes.
• I've heard some cooks that crack each egg a little to allow some cold water to get inside. I do not prefer this method, but you might love it!
• I usually will then place the eggs in a bowl filled with cool water and a few ice cubes, set the bowl in the fridge for a few hours and then eventually transfer the eggs back to the egg carton for use later!

NICHe Spills It About Olive Oils

Canola, Sunflower, Corn, Olive, Peanut...Trans fats, smoke points, YIKES!!! There are so many oils out there, and not enough clear-cut info on them for the average Joe like you and I. You can count on NICHe in the KITCHe to spell it out for you!

Nuts 'n' Bolts About Oils

First off all, all oils are 100% fat, which means there is about 120 calories per tablespoon. Oils contain different proportions of the 3 "fatty acids," like monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated.

Saturated fats are the "bad" fats that impact cholesterol negatively, while poly- and mono- unsaturated fats are the "good" fats that we all need in our diet. We are supposed to have about 5-7 teaspoons of "good" fats daily. (Keep in mind some of the foods we eat naturally have healthy fats within them, i.e. fish, nuts...so no-we do not need to eat or drink 5-7 tsp. of oil daily, but we must consider what we've eaten.

Olive Oils

Olive oils comes from...you guessed it- OLIVES-which are actually considered "a fruit". And the "juice" you get from olives is the only type of oil that you can consume without any other processing. Olive oil is high in monounsaturated fatty acids (good fats), and is known as offering protection against heart disease and is very easy to digest.

Types of Olive Oil:

Olive oil is made by smashing/pressing olives, so the types of olives depend on the amount of processing...

• Extra virgin: the best, least processed. Oil from the first pressing of the olives
• Virgin: oil from the second pressing
• Pure: some processing
• Extra Light: considerable processing, retains a very mild olive flavor

Uses:

I tend to use Extra Virgin olive oil most often. This is because it is very versatile, i.e. it can be used in cooking (roasting, frying, browning...) and can be used raw in dressings, toppings, etc.

You want to store your Olive oils away from light and heat to keep them fresh. That is easy to understand considering olive oil is considered the "juice of a fruit"- you wouldn't want any other fruit juice to be hanging out in direct sunlight and next to a hot, hot stove.

So basically, next time you enjoy a dirty martini with a few olives, you don't have to feel to bad:) You can talk yourself into the idea that you are eating healthy oils and helping your heart....right??

Spread Your Nickel with Homemade Marinara!

There's nothing better than fresh, homemade and HEALTHY marinara sauce to warm up a variety of meals! Throw it in with your favorite whole wheat pasta, veggie or chicken parmesan, pizza or lasagna recipes- OR- freeze it away in portioned size zip top bags for easy access! There are some good bottled sauces on the shelves these days, but you don't really know what is IN them. I've made my own sauce before, but not as frequently as I'd like because the cans of sauce and fresh tomatoes get to be a little pricey.
I've been prepping some easy "freezer to oven" meals for my expecting Sister-in-law and her hubby, and figured marinara would be a perfect option. But how to make A LOT of it and keep it inexpensive???

I hit up my local Costco warehouse and found some large & in-charge cans of Crushed Tomatoes, perfect for a marinara base. 105 ounces (over 13 cups) for around $2.50!! The brand had some recipe suggestions on the can, but to keep costs down I decided to just use what I had already at home.

Ingredients & Recipe:
Printable Recipe

• 1 onion (finely chopped)(preferably white or Spanish, but whatever you have at home will work)
• 2-3 shredded carrots
• 3 garlic cloves (minced)
• olive oil
• 1 (105 oz.) can of crushed tomatoes
• dried herbs, such as basil and/or oregano

Heat 2-3 Tbls. olive oil in a large pot or pan over medium heat. Toss in chopped onion, carrots, garlic, season with some S&P and cook for 7-9 minutes or until tender. Now be creative by adding in whatever herbs you like. I added in 1 tsp dried oregano and 1-2 tsp dried basil. Next, pour in crushed tomatoes to your veggie/herb mix, stir around, and bring sauce to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes (stirring once in a while) so that all the flavors marry together!
Give it a taste and use your own judgement. I added a few tablespoons of sugar to taste. Use right away or cool & freeze away in individual zip top bags for a rainy day!

You could also try:

• Tossing in whatever extra veggies you have in the fridge, like adding a few ribs of chopped celery or chopped fresh tomatoes while the veggies are cooking.
• 1 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes for a kick
• Make it a meat sauce by adding in a pound of browned ground turkey or beef (say that 3 times fast!)
• Make the sauce a bit creamier by mixing in 1/2 cup of milk or heavy cream at the end before you serve!