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

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.



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.



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.



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.

Buttermilk-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits with Honey Butter

I have a soft spot for honey. As far back as I can remember I have loved honey. Not the store bought generic variety, but local delicious pure honey. It is great in so many ways, on biscuits, in baking or in tea. In the last six months I have been using less white granulated sugar and trying to use more natural sweeteners like honey. One of my favorite foods growing up was honey and peanut butter sandwiches. The combination is delicious and my two kids love it almost as much as I do. As I have written about previously, biscuits are a big deal around here and they are made frequently for breakfast. Before giving up gluten I made them at least a couple of times a month. Biscuits are very versatile and can be great with breakfast or dinner. Last month I made a recipe for Buttermilk-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits with Honey Butter from the December issue of Everyday Food magazine, which looked quick and very simple.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 10 servings. All of the ingredients are basic and I had no problems finding any of them at my local grocery store, so I made no modifications. I did use organic butter and buttermilk. I try to buy organic for chicken and dairy. The dough will be very sticky, do not overwork it or the biscuits will end up tough and will not rise properly. Make sure to use parchment paper to bake the biscuits. It really does work better for baking, I highly recommend it. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I made these biscuits before I gave up gluten. One of the things that I miss the most about not eating wheat is easy biscuits. This recipe is very easy to make and the honey butter is delicious. The honey butter could easily be used on other things such as sweet potatoes, bread or other baked goods. I could see the butter being absolutely yummy on cornbread. I made a great gluten free cornbread recipe last week that would work with the honey butter. Overall, this is a very easy biscuit recipe that takes little time to make and was very popular in my household.

For the recipe go to Buttermilk-Cornmeal Drop Biscuits with Honey Butter.

Parents Magazine Pork and Potatoes

If you've read my blog for any given amount of time you know that my family loves pork. My husband and two boys could only eat bacon for a week straight and be perfectly content. Growing up my mother rarely prepared pork, we were more of a beef and chicken type of family. My father never cared much for pork since my mother really only prepared pork chops, so it wasn't until I moved out on my own that I started trying new ways to prepare pork. After getting married to my bacon loving husband I learned quickly that there was much more to pork than the pork chops I had grown accustomed to growing up. One of my favorite cuts of pork is tenderloin, it's delicious. It's a very versatile cut and can be used in numerous ways. Recently the January issue of Parents Magazine had a recipe for Pork and Potatoes, which cost less than ten dollars for four servings and looked very child friendly.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes approximately 50 minutes to prep and cook and makes 4 servings. All the ingredients are very basic and I either had in my pantry or I was able to easily find at my local grocery store. To secure the pork tenderloin I used kitchen twine, since I find it much easier to work with than toothpicks. I did make a few changes to the mashed potatoes. Instead of using chicken stock I used butter and buttermilk. I prefer the taste of the buttermilk and will sacrifice the calories for the better flavor. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two boys loved this pork. I liked how easy the dish was to prepare and that it had few ingredients. My husband felt that it needed more flavor. The applesauce and raisins didn't produce a very strong taste to the pork. I think that the adding HP Fruity Sauce or a chutney would add to the overall flavor of the pork. Overall, a very kid friendly recipe that is very easy on the family budget and perfect for a busy weeknight meal.

For the recipe go to Pork and Potatoes (registration required).