Fresh Basil

I think that I may have mentioned somewhere in this blog that I like to cook. I also like to grow things, usually year round, with the Summer season being my favorite. I just picked my first Roma tomato a couple of days ago and just earlier this evening I harvested some fresh Basil. I really should have done this a couple of weeks ago, but this timing seemed to be ok. I will not use it for a few days, or possibly weeks, but I chop it relatively finely and freeze the chopped Basil in water in an ice cube tray (believe it or not they still sell ice trays). After they're frozen I'll pop them out of the trays and transfer them to a ziploc bag and just use one or two cubes depending on what I'm fixing. Pesto is always a good choice, but I'm thinking of making my own Basil/Tomato based salad dressing this year.

I also grow Habañero peppers from which I make a really nice hot pepper jelly. It sounds much more daunting than it really is, but it does have a bite and I always recommend that it be used in small dabs at first, especially with children! My Habañeros are just now starting to produce little peppers so it will probably be the first of August before I get to make any jelly. I'll post some pictures and the recipe a bit later.