Basil Cubes; How to freeze fresh basil

The weather is absolutely gorgeous out right now; warm and sunny falls days with just the lightest hint of crisp air in the evenings. Summer plants are still producing the last of their wares as the golden leaves fall around them. Unlike the color white, summer salads and grilling is not only acceptable but encouraged!  If only we could bottle this feeling and these flavors for those cold, dark, winter days ahead.

Freezing fresh herbs puts us one step closer to the summer and fall feeling during the unavoidable Midwest blizzards. If you are growing your own herbs, or if you are participating in a CSA program or if you just have an overwhelming amount of basil that you don't know what to do with, this is your answer. Rather than force yourself to put basil in every single thing you make just to use it up - chop and freeze it for use weeks and months down the road. Plus it's completely the simplest thing you can make today.

Dried herbs are great in a pinch and even better for longer cooking soups and stews, but why not use fresh every chance you can? Imagine fresh pesto in January! Take your remaining fresh basil and freeze it now, you'll be super fat and happy you did come this winter.

Chopped Salad

The past few weeks have been filled with many many party festivities; which included an abundance of food and drink. My body is now craving some healthy food; even Dave is saying he needs some 'green stuff' as he calls it and that is a rare comment from him.

In general, I think salads get a bad rap for not being interesting or creative or not filling enough. The big media push now is how fattening salads can be. Sure, a salad can be fattening when you add a deep fried Twinkie on top of it! Come people, as with anything else - everything in moderation!

One good healthy salad option is a chopped salad. Have you noticed how many menus have a chopped salad on them these days? I adore a good chopped salad; you get an abundance of flavors in every bite, it takes less dressing and you can lighten up on the cheese and other 'fatty' ingredients that tend to push the salad over the edge. The idea behind this salad is that you can include many ingredients, they just need to be chopped much smaller than how a typical salad is served. And I find that this salad gets back to the classic fresh, crunchy salad ingredients, like carrots and broccoli - a nice change from all the fruit and nut salads that reign on menu as of late. Don't get me wrong, I make my share of fruity salads, but there is nothing like a fresh, crunchy bite of classic flavors.

One key point to keep in mind when making any salad: Toss the salad and salad dressing in a big bowl with a pair of tongs a few minutes before serving. This helps distrubute the dressing (coat all the layers) - so you can use less, and gives all the flavors of the dressing and ingredients a chance to meld together.

Overall, have fun with this salad. I tend to make this when there is a lot of little left over veggies in the fridge, it's a great garbage salad where anything goes. So feel free to add whatever you have laying around (tomatoes, leftover fresh or canned beans, zucchini, etc). I do keep softer items like oranges or cooked veggies and the like out of this salad- but test it for yourself and see what you like. Because this is made with crunchy fresh veggies, it can hold up to the dressing for a day, so you can have leftovers at lunch the next day. Use this as a base for meats or grilled kabobs. It's a simple tasty salad that offers wonderful flavor without all the fatty extras! Chop, eat and be fat and happy!

In a big bowl, add:

2 cups crispy lettuce (choose a hearty crisp romaine over a leaf lettuce. This is also one of the rare times I would say you could include iceberg lettuce.)

add: 1/4 to 1/2 cup of each of the following, chopped small
broccoli
celery
carrots
red pepper
green pepper

add but do not mix yet: 1/4 cup of the following, chopped small
green onion
green and black olives (use a mixture of the good deli olives!)
cheddar cheese


For the dressing, whisk together in a bowl or shake in a sealed jar:
4 Tbls olive oil
2 Tbls fresh lime juice
4 Tbls pineapple juice
3 Tbls balsamic vinegar (use a good one, don't skimp on this)
fresh ground black pepper and salt to taste.

Pour the dressing over the salad, start with about 1/2 of the dressing. Depending on how much salad you have made, you may not need all of it. Toss gently and allow to sit. Toss one more time just before serving.

Easy way to cook bacon!

There are various cooking tips available from hundreds of different sources. So I questioned why I should post more; what makes mine so different? To be honest, I'm not sure mine are different or if you've already seen these tips. But then I thought, you have the option to read the tip or not. If you already know how to cook bacon in the oven or if you have your own method of cooking bacon then please cook away. If you haven't tried bacon in the oven, then continue reading below to see how simple it is.

When I owned the restaurant, we needed a way to cook many slices of bacon at a time - usually 50 slices. I remembered my parents' catering company and how my Mom would cook bacon in oven. Actually, I'm not really sure if she cooked bacon like this for the company for just for the family... there were 7 kids to feed afterall! Yes, 7 kids; my parents are saints, truly! Anyway, it really is quite simple and offers quick, easy clean up; considering how bacon grease stays on everything. First, cover a cookie sheet pan with tinfoil. One strip of tinfoil will cover the bottom with just enough the fold up the edges. You want the bacon grease to stay on the foil. Place as many slices of bacon on the foil as you need. Here is where you can get creative - add black pepper and brown sugar for a sweet peppery finish! Now place in a 400 degree oven until they reach desired doneness. I will cook it to varying levels depending on what I'm using the bacon for. After removing the bacon from the pan, pour off the grease into a heat proof tin can if you plan to use it, then simply fold up the grease remains and throw it away. For an absolutely fabulous simple bacon sandwich, look at my recipe for the fig bacon rolls! And as always, enjoy and be fat and happy!