January 9, 2013

Freezing Fresh Herbs in Ice Cube Trays with Butter or Olive Oil

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My mother was great at using every last bit of the food she bought. She would use leftover veggies to make stock and the herbs from her garden were used fresh, frozen and dried. I was always amazed at how many thing she could get out of one store bought vegetable or fruit. In the last couple of weeks I have decided to buckle down on our food waste. Now granted I use as many leftovers as possible and am very frugal with making my own stock and cooking from scratch. However, even the best of us can get better and I am making a concerted effort to use every last bit of the food that I buy as much as possible. With that in mind when I had leftover fresh rosemary after making pot roast last night I remembered a great idea that my mother used. Instead of wasting the leftover fresh herbs she would freeze them with butter or olive oil and freeze them in ice cube trays. It was easy and perfect for later meals. So here is my recipe to on how to freeze fresh herbs with butter or olive oil for later use.

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Start with fresh herbs. My favorite herb to use is Rosemary. It holds up very well to being frozen and is perfect with roasted vegetables, potatoes or chicken. I normally chop up my rosemary finely, since that is the texture that I prefer. However, this recipe would also work with torn or snipped fresh rosemary depending on your preference.

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Next place the rosemary in the bottom of a plastic ice cube tray. Add as much rosemary as you wish. The more rosemary the stronger the flavor will be and the less the weaker the flavor. The amount really depends on personal preference. I normally add approximately 1-1 1/2 tsp per ice cube.

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Fill each ice cube with either butter or olive oil. I really like using salted butter. It tastes delicious sliced and placed under the skin of a whole chicken and then roasting. It is also great with mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes or roasted vegetables.

Place the ice cube tray in the freezer until set. Pop out the ice cubes as needed. That's it, easy and a great way to use leftover fresh herbs.

This recipe would also work with other fresh herbs besides rosemary. I have tried it with both oregano and sage and they both work very well.

26 comments:

  1. GASP - that is BRILLIANT. Sadly, I've thrown away a lot of herbs in the past because I figured they'd go bad and I knew that I wouldn't use them in time. I absolutely love this idea!!!

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    1. I have thrown away a lot of herbs before too. I'm trying to waste as little as possible and this is a great way to save rosemary, sage and oregano. You can also freeze mint in ice cubes and it is yummy in drinks :)

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  2. What a great idea! I rarely bother buying fresh herbs because I usually end up throwing so much away!

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    1. Thanks :) Yeah, I hate throwing away fresh herbs, especially since they are so much money!

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  3. Ok, I'm TOTALLY doing this. You're so smart. Thank you! I shared it on G+ and I'm pinning it too!

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  4. What a fantastic idea! Something I would have NEVER come up with. Ok, I have pinned this. Looks delicious.

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  5. Great tip! Good idea on using a strong herb like rosemary. I like to dry out my herbs, but this is another useful option for preserving them. Thanks!

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    1. I dry out a lot of my herbs also. It's a great way to preserve for later use :)

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  6. That's so genius! Thanks for the tip!

    Aryn
    Driftwood and Daydreams

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  7. This is smart cooking and you are totally doing it. Let me just say that you are a fabulous cook!!! I am going to try it too. Thanks.

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  8. What a great idea! If i hang around here long enough i'll learn a thing or two, i like it. My boyfriend is the cook and i am the baker. I hope you have a great thursday! I found ya on the thursday blog hop.

    Nikki
    www.TheCraftySideOfSarcasm.com

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    1. I can't get my husband to cook or bake so you are lucky :) Going over to check out your blog now!

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  9. Ugh, I love this idea!! It would also add some great flavor when sauteing veggies for stuff like omelettes. Yum, thanks for sharing!

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    1. It would be great with veggies for omelets I agree, great idea!

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  10. I Just found your blog, GREAT TIP! I will have to remember this :)

    Blessings,Renee

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  11. This is such a great tip! I am in the midst of garden planning right now and have pinned this so I can look back and remember! Thank you!

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    1. I just tried it again with oregano and it worked great. Thanks for the pin :)

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  12. Great idea! Thanks for linking up!
    Kim

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  13. Such a great tip - it makes such a difference having herbs to hand.

    I would love for you to link up at the Mommy Archive - we're focusing on favourite freezer recipes and tips this week, Alice x

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    1. Thanks for the heads up, going over to link up :)

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