Aubergine

Well, if they're eating it...

Once, when I was about seven, my father fed me dog food.  Not out of neglect or malice, but because I asked him to. 

We lived in the country, in a trailer leveled off a hillside on cinderblock and iron piers.  Our dogs, two German Shepherds with the stateliness of their breed watered down by the mongrel who sired them, lived under the porch built off the side of the trailer.  In the log golden sun of the evening that summer, I would walk out with my father after dinner to feed them.  Their food was stored in a metal trashcan, like the one Oscar lived in on Sesame Street.  It had a lid fit tight enough to keep the raccoons out and I couldn’t lift it on my own. In addition, a bungee cord was hooked to the handle on either side of the can and run through the top handle of the lid.

Dad would unhook the cord and pry off the lid and I would use the plastic milk jug cut into the shape of a scoop to fill the dogs’ metal food bowl.  The dogs were always excited to be fed and the small one would bounce around us.  I tried to keep my dad between me and her so she didn’t knock me over.  Elsa, the older dog, was a bit more patient, but her head was always in the bowl before the rattle of kibble on metal finished.  The last few pieces would fall across her muzzle and leave dust in her eyebrows.

That night I stood there with the milk scoop dangling from my fingers and watched the dogs scarfing down their food.  It didn’t look exciting to me.  The pieces were round, about the size of my big toe.  They looked hard and dry.  There was always a crumbly, dusty film on the food scoop after I used it.  But the dogs were chowing down like it was the best thing they’d ever tasted.

“Daddy?”

“Yes-ee?” 

 I kept my eyes on the dog food bowls because I didn’t want to see him laugh at me. “What does dog food taste like?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried it.”  I glanced up.  Dad looked over and lifted his eyebrows at me, but he wasn’t laughing. “Would you like to find out?”

I wrinkled my nose.  “But it is dog food. We can’t eat dog food.”

“Well, dogs eat people food sometimes.”  I couldn’t argue with him there. Elsa was always begging for whatever food I happened to carry outside with me.  “Let’s go look at the bag to see what’s in it,” Dad said.  “If it won’t make us sick, we can give it a try.”

Assured after reading the ingredients listed on the back of the 50 pound bag of kibble in the shed, that our dogs were basically eating people food in dog format I agreed that I’d try it.  But only if he did, too. Of course he would, he said.

We sat down on the wooden steps of our porch, feet in the dust at the bottom.  We each took one little ball of dog food in our fingers.  I rolled mine back and forth between index finger and thumb.  It felt hard and just a little greasy.  Not quite perfectly round.  Like it had been extruded and then sliced before whatever cooking process made it crunchy.  Little crumbles stuck to my fingers.  I smelled it.  It didn’t smell good, but not really bad, either.  It just smelled like dog food.

“You first,” I said.

“Together,” he countered.  “Ready? One, two,” he paused, to make sure I was going to continue. I nodded.

“Three.”

We each put the piece of food in our mouths.  I held mine between my molars.  I couldn’t bring myself to let my tongue touch it.  Dad was chewing his.  His beard vibrated over his cheeks as he worked the crunchy texture.  I gently bit down, just enough to break the hard ball apart. 

I can’t tell you what it tasted like. I have no memory of the flavor. I couldn’t get past my mind shouting “You are eating dog food!  That’s so gross!” And yet, I was watching my dad calmly eating dog food, too. He could have been tasting wine, or considering whether his soup needed more salt.  His face betrayed no hint of the oddity of the situation.  He swallowed.

“So, what do you think?” he asked.  I still couldn’t read his face.

I leaned over and spat the soggy mouthful into the dirt. “I can’t do it,” I said.

Dad chuckled. “Yeah,” he said, “That tasted pretty bad.  I’m glad I’m not a dog.”  He stood and brushed off the seat of his jeans before reaching for my hand.  “Ready to go in?”

writing about food, but not here

While my friend Joan was exploring China last month, I contributed a post for her blog with recipes for three chilled soups.  Late in the season for chilled soups you say? September is sweltering in Japan, and our Indian summer is kicking in here, too. It was 82 degrees today with not a hint of the fog that chills our *actual* summer days!

Hop on over and enjoy if is it hot where you live, too!

I also had an article on preserving food published by Eucalyptus Magazine last month.  You can read it here or scroll down to the bottom of that page to launch the full-page viewer for the full magazine experience. If you live in the San Jose area you can pick up a real (free!) copy at your local Whole Foods.

Adventures with water kefir

I scheduled this post on my calendar the week that I brought home water kefir grains.  I imagined that I would be posting a beautiful tutorial about how to start your own water kefir and you all would be so impressed with my oh-so-healthy hippy mama-ness and my excellent flavor combinations and pretty bottles all lined up in a row.

And then reality intervened. I’m 3 weeks into this project and I don’t actually have one successful batch of brewed water kefir to show you.

Let me back up.  It all started with an article I wrote back in June about canning and preserving that will be published next month.  A couple of the people I interviewed talked about fermenting various things, like pickles, cabbage, milk, and water.  Water?  In my general research, I kept coming across water kefir, which I hadn’t heard of before.  Suddenly I’m running across water kefir everywhere, just like suddenly I started seeing babies everywhere the week after I got two lines on the pee stick.  

Like milk kefir, which I’m familiar with from my childhood, water kefir is fermented with starter bacteria, in the form of grains or crystals.  You start with sugar water and after the little bacterias are finished eating the sugar, the remaining liquid is light and slightly fizzy, filled with healthy probiotics, and not very sweet.  A lot of people drink it as an alternative to soda.  We don’t drink soda anyway, but I tried some lemon-ginger kefir water that I found at my local health-food store and really liked it. I’m aware of how good probiotics are for the body but I don’t really like kombucha and milk kefir is just too rich for me to drink regularly. But at $3.50 a bottle on sale, drinking purchased water kefir was not going to be sustainable habit either.

How hard could this be to make myself, right? It is just fermented water. I live in Santa Cruz and almost everyone I know has something or other fermenting on their kitchen counter.  On purpose, even! 

I found some dehydrated grains and followed the instructions to rehydrate them.  I searched through a few blogs and found a straightforward recipe for a first and second ferment cycle that looked like it would produce something very similar to what I had been buying.  I filled up my special half-gallon Ball jar with sugar water, poured in my little grains (I can’t help but imagine them with smiling little faces after all the time I have recently spent researching on this web page) and sat back to wait.

After one 48-hour cycle nothing much had happened, but I had read it might take a couple of cycles for dehydrated grains to really “wake up,” so I poured out that batch and put the grains in fresh sugar water.  This batch I let go a little too long and it started to smell bad.  So that one got poured out, too.  The third batch seemed ok.  It smelled slightly yeasty, which I had read was expected, and it tasted ok.  But no fizz.  I strained out the grains and moved them to a new jar of sugar water and started a second ferment cycle by adding a bit of juice to the kefired water and putting them into sealed bottles.  Two days later and still no fizz.  And the water seemed thicker than I remembered the stuff from the store being.  The consistency was kind of like maple syrup. It didn’t taste bad, but it didn’t really taste good, either. But I blamed the juice, which I didn’t even really like plain.  I threw out that batch, too.

I persevered.  Every two days last week I started a fresh batch of sugar water and moved the grains to it. I bottled up the finished water for a second ferment cycle, then moved the bottles into the fridge after another 48 hours of brewing.  I did start getting a bit of bubble in the second cycle, but the water was still thick and just not what I was expecting. And my grains were not multiplying. Every resource I’d seen indicated an indicator of a healthy colony is that the grains multiply like crazy

Finally, last night, I decided that I was doing something wrong.  I poured all of my syrupy not-water-kefir down the sink and turned to Google for some deeper research.  

The problem with using the internet for research is that there is just so much information out there.  I found many more recipes that differed in slight, but possibly important ways from the one I had started with.  One said you should never use filtered water but instead use tap water and boil it first if your city uses chlorine.  Another said always use filtered water because tap water contains chemicals that are bad for the grains and they can't be boiled out.  One said always rinse the kefir grains between batches, another said never rinse them.  One said never use refined white sugar to make the sugar water and another said that white sugar is the best “resting” sugar and you should use it every 3-5 cycles to let your grains regenerate. Some said the initial ferment should be in an open container and other said it should be tightly lidded. Some recipes said that you must use a quarter of a lemon and a handful of raisins in the initial ferment and others said that you shouldn’t put anything other than sugar in that ferment and that all flavorings should be added to the second ferment cycle.  One resource seemed to indicate that the thick water was a result of too many minerals in the source water and another said to add a scoured eggshell to the batch (a common source of minerals) if the kefir was coming out thick.

So now I’m overwhelmed with information but still don’t have a solution.  This morning I started a new batch with half sugar and half maple syrup in the same kind of water I had been using before and rinsed the grains really well in clear water before transferring them.  I’m going to cycle the batch every 24 hours for three days and then try another 48-hour ferment with filtered water and a quarter of a lemon to see what happens.  If that doesn’t work I’ll try without the lemon but with eggshell or mineral drops.

And if that doesn’t work, I’m going to chuck these grains and start over again with a fresh batch.

All I can say is that right now I’m feeling like a bit of a failure as a fermenter!

Have you made water kefir?  Do you have any advice for me?

 

Make this at home: Cherry-pomegranate ice pops

When we were at Strawberry Music Festival over Memorial Day, we had the best ice pops I think I've ever tasted.  They were cherry-pomegranate flavored, just the right balance of sweet and tart, and the most amazing garnet shade of red.  

The weather that weekend was cold (as you may remember me writing about), but we kept finding ourselves standing in line for ice pops anyway.

When we got home I started hunting around for a recipe.  I was surprised to only find a couple of versions. One used yogurt and another was pomegranate-raspberry instead of cherry. How is it that so few people have discovered this delicious combination?

Neither was quite was I was looking for, but using the raspberry recipe as my base I started experimenting.  I ended up with someting pretty delicious, but still not quite those pops we craved even in the snow.  I guess I'll just have to head back to Strawberry for the original version next year!

Here is my version if you want to give them a try.  Let me know what you think, and if you try any variations that come out wonderfully!

Cherry-Pomegranate Ice Pops

Note: Every style of pop molds holds a slightly different volume, so I'm writing this recipe in proportions rather than true measurements.  Adjust your batch accordingly.

2 parts pomegranate juice
1 part cherry juice
1/2 part fresh or frozen cherries, pitted and chopped
agave syrup or honey to taste

Divide the chopped cherries evenly between your ice pop molds.  Mix remaining ingredients together and check to make sure the sweetness is to your taste.  Pour the juice mix over the cherries and insert pop sticks into the molds.  

Freeze until hard.  Serve and enjoy!

Find of the week: Easy. Handmade. by Mandi Ehman

A couple of months ago I was excited to host a guest post by Mandi Ehman of Life...Your Way.  I have been a big fan of her blogging network for a while.  I've learned great tips from the tech channel, gotten myself organized with printables from their vast collection, enjoyed stories and support for mothering in the family channel, and found good ideas for simple, heathy food in the food channel. And if it wasn't enough to run a great company, Mandi is just a really nice person.

This week Mandi released a new ebook called Easy. Homemade. and sent me a review copy and invited me to join her affiliate program (the links to the book in this post are all affiliate links).

The book's focus on pantry staples - those things we often buy but don't have to.  The recipes cover drinks, seasoning, condiments, snacks and a few base recipes that can be expanded or modified easily. Many recipes are things I keep in my house all the time  - pesto, simple syrup, freezer jam - and some are things I've thought about making, but have been too lazy too. A few of these things I've never thought about making from scratch, like onion soup mix and baking mixes.  In addition to the recipes, Mandi has included tons of great tips and extras throughout the book, like how to use applesauce as a substitute for oil, how to test baking powder and baking soda, and suggestions on how to organize your spice drawer.

These recipes are so straightforward that I'm inspired to make a few more of these things for my own pantry.

But the best part?  Until Augsut 21st, the book is available for the launch price of only $.99.  And there are bonuses! You'll receive a set of printable recipe cards, the Nook and Kindle files to load to those devices and access to all of the recipes from the book on PlantoEat.com. Can't beat that!  

Click here to visit Mandi's book site and learn more about the book, download a sample, or purchase a copy.  

What pantry staples do you make?  What would you like to try making?

 

Ordinary Life in Pictures

Peach season has begun!

10 links on Tuesday: Things to do with strawberries

Image from Design Seeds.

Where I live we don't just get strawberry season.  We get strawberry spring, summer, and fall.  Strawberries from May to November.  So many strawberries.  

I love strawberries, but I also run out of ideas for what to do with them (other than straight from the basket - ahem).  Here are 10 new ideas that I'm going to try this spring/summer/fall.

1. Strawberry Cheesecake Cups - strawberries stuffed with goodness!
2. Slice fresh berries over this Flourless Chocolate Cake from Real Simple. 
3. Strawberry strawberry cheesecake for a lucky dad!  Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the recipe.
4. Here is a vegan smoothie recipe that sounds delicious and filling - Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie.
5. Last time I was at her house, my sister threw together a quick salad with spinach, gorgonzola and strawberries.  It was delicious!  Here is a similar salad from Whole Foods Market.
6. Here's a different salad with strawberries spin - this one with pecans and a sweet onion dressing.
7. Summer is not complete without fresh strawberry ice cream.
8. I love this post from the Tea and Cookies blog about failed strawberry jam. I also love making strawberry jam more than I love eating it, even when it comes out well.  I'm so glad I'm not alone! Here is Orangette's recipe for the jam she recommends.
9. I might try this as an alternative to strawberry jam this year - a conserve of berries in a barely set syrup. If that phrase makes your mouth water, rest assured you are a foodie.
10. These strawberry-mint  ice pops sound deliciously refreshing!

Guest Post: 10 Easy, On-The-Go Toddler Munchies

 I'm so pleased to share a post with you today by Danielle of Danielle's Kitchen and Velveteen Mama. Danielle and I met in an online writing class taught by Meagan Francis last fall, and I was lucky enough to meet her in person this spring at Blissdom in Nashville. Danielle launched Danielle's Kitchen last month to focus on allergen-free food and eating well with allergies.  We have toddlers about the same age so I asked if Danielle would share some recipes for on-the-go toddler snacks.  Now excuse me while I go make some of of these nut butter balls.  Enjoy!

   

As a food allergic family, we cannot rely on any packaged food to meet our needs for quick, on-the-go snacks.

This means we've had to get a little creative about our snack options and are used to toting our food with us wherever we go.  A side benefit is that packaged foods are expensive and typically filled with all kinds of stuff we really don't want in the growing bodies of our children anyway.  

Here are some ideas for healthy, on-the-go food that are friendly for toddlers, too.  As a bonus, most of these are (or can easily be made) allergen-free. 

Invest in some good quality small containers and it's easy to toss a few snacks in your bag on your way out the door.  

 

Nut Butter Balls

 Mix 3 parts nut or seed butter, 2 parts nutritional yeast, 1 part honey (or maple syrup) and a pinch or two of salt (to taste) until you have workable dough.  Roll into balls and then roll in crushed cereal or nuts.

These are a great source of protein, healthy fats, and B vitamins. Store in the fridge or freezer and they'll stay firm in a snack box for a few hours.  

For a treat for mom and dad, melt a few chocolate chips and roll the balls in chocolate before or instead of the chopped nuts. If you use peanut butter and coat them in chocolate, I'm told they taste strikingly like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

 

Hard Boiled Eggs, Cheese Cubes, Deli Meat

Simple and accessible, these are all easy and relatively tidy protein sources. Paired with fresh fruit or veggies, they make a pretty complete lunch, too.

 

Sardines and Crackers 

These might be a little messy on the go, but if you can get past the yuck factor, sardines are a great source of healthy omega fats and calcium (which is a boon for those of us who are dairy-free).  My 15-month-old loves to be fed bites of sardine (yes, bones and all!) while munching on some rice crackers.

This is also a quick and easy lunch when you're stuck for ideas.

 

Fruit and Nut Bars

If you have a food processor and 30 minutes, you can make these.  

Use a ratio of 1 part nuts/seeds to 1 part dried fruit, pick a nut and/or seed (cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds) and a moist, dried fruit (dates, prunes, raisins).

Lightly roast your nuts/seeds (if desired) and blend in food processor until pieces are small, but not granular. Remove nuts/seeds from processor and set aside in a bowl.  Put your dried fruit(s) in the food processor and pulse until they form a paste.  Go easy on your food processor so you don't send it into cardiac arrest!  You might need to give it breaks to cool the motor.

Scrape your fruit paste into the bowl with your nuts/seeds and mix well (use your hands and get in there!). Either roll them into bars or  press into a parchment lined pan and chill.  When firm, cut into snack-sized bars. Store in the fridge or freezer.

 

Pancakes  

They're not just for breakfast anymore! You can hide all sorts of nutrient dense things in pancakes.  Try adding nut butter, protein powder, cottage or ricotta cheese, and/or mashed fruit (bananas, applesauce, pureed sweet potato, carrot or beets, etc).  

Make ahead and keep them in the fridge or freezer.  We like to warm them up in a toaster.  Because we're gluten-free we omit any sweetener and use pancakes in place of bread on sandwiches, hot dogs/hamburgers and as toast.  My kids also love to grab them for a quick snack. 

 

Cheesy Chickpeas 

These are a big hit around here as a snack or full meal.  My six-year-old takes these to school for lunch in her thermos on a regular basis.  

Put your chickpeas in a bowl, drizzle with oil or water, a sprinkle of nutritional yeast and titch of garlic powder.  Tailor the amount to your tastes.  Toss well and enjoy! The grown-ups like theirs with a bit of salt, too.   

These can be eaten cold or heated up a bit.  An alternative for older children: Drizzle with oil, nutritional yeast, garlic powder and a few pinches of salt.  Toss well, then bake on parchment at 350F for 20 minutes or until crispy.  

 

Speedy Salsa

In a bowl mix some drained and rinsed black beans, chunks of avocado and/or tomato, and a squeeze of lime.  Add a titch of onion, garlic and/or chipotle if your toddler likes those things.  Adjust amounts to your liking.  

This is a great finger food to enjoy alone or with bits of soft tortilla. 

 

Hummus

My toddler eats this right off the spoon, but yours might enjoy dipping carrot sticks or crackers in it. Mine will dip carrots in his, but then he just sucks it off and goes back in for another dip.  If you're worried about choking on bits of carrot or cracker, just keep an eye on your little one to make sure they don't bite off big chunks.  

My favorite hummus recipe is 1 can of chick peas, 1/4 cup of reserved liquid from the can, 1/4 cup sesame tahini, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 large (or 2 small) cloves garlic and 1/2 tsp salt. Blend in a blender or food processor.  Add more of the reserved liquid until you get the consistency you want and adjust garlic, lemon and salt to your tastes. Easy breezy!

 

Granola

Granola is a great way to exercise that toddler pincer grasp and by making your own, you can tailor it to your individual families tastes and needs.  

My basic recipe is 3 cups oats, 3 cups seeds/nuts/dried fruit, 3/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon (optional), 3 tsp ground chia seed (optional), 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey, 1/4 cup oil, and 1/4 cup applesauce.  Mix together and bake at 350F checking every 10 minutes, tossing or flipping occasionally, until cooked to your desired crispiness.  Store in an airtight container. 

 

Other Snack Bars and Bean-Based Goodies

Chocolate Covered Katie is one of my favorite websites for healthy, tasty, vegan snacks.  I'm not vegan, but her recipes contain healthy fats and proteins that are often portable for on-the-go parents.  Here are some favorites that mimic store-bought treats:

• Quaker-Style Chewy Granola Bars.  I can't wait to try these!
• Snickerdoodle Blondies (but they're good for you!) These use white beans or chickpeas as a base and you cannot taste them!
• Oatmeal Raisin Cookie LaraBars (nut-free)  (nut-free)

Eating healthy and wholesome food doesn't have to be hard or tricky.  With some imagination and a little preparation it is relatively easy to have handy snacks your toddler will love and you will feel good about eating.

What are some of your favorite go-to toddler snacks to have while you're out and about? What do your little ones love to eat?

 

Danielle is a mom of three, writer, and veteran allergen-free whiz in the kitchen.  When she's not whipping up safe meals and treats for her family that are free from gluten, dairy, soy, corn, peanuts and (usually) eggs, she can be found reading, writing, or knitting.  She blogs about the joys and struggles of being human atwww.velveteenmama.com and her allergen-free wisdom and goodies can be found at www.danielleskitchen.com.

 

From my kitchen: 10 things to do with tomatoes

When I was putting together my September editorial calendar in July, I was picturing my tomato harvest ripening in the warm days that late summer and fall usually bring to my cool coastal town.  Growing tomatoes here is an act of faith.  You put them in the ground in May or June and they get tall and put out flowers, and maybe in July when you are reading on everybody else's blog about their plentiful and delicious harvest you might start seeing some hard green fruits forming. Maybe the cherry tomato plants will start ripening around then. If you put them in a warm enough spot. And then finally, finally, around the time that everyone else is sick of tomatoes and their vines are starting to die back and get pulled down and the beds put away for the winter, right about then will I get my first ripe tomato.  And then it is a mad whirl of eating and freezing and roasting and canning because the span of warm days is brief and always over too soon and the first cold storm always catches not-yet-ripe fruit still on the vine.

At least that's what usually happens.  This year the fog was even cooler and more persistent than normal and the warm days were very few and very far between.  My cherry tomatoes, even though planted very late, were looking pretty good and covered with baby fruit.  And then a gopher came through and lopped the vines all off right at the soil surface. So I turned my hopes to the 4 plants safely planted in the raised beds lined with gopher wire.  That were strangely without fruit even in early August.  But I am a patient woman. Then one evening I saw my next-door neighbor post on Facebook that she had just lost her garden to early blight thanks to our cool cool summer.  Oh no!  The next morning I went out and checked my plants and sure enough, two of them were blighted.  One was looking pretty good with reasonable fruit set and encouragingly pink fruit and the forth appeared healthy enough but had hardly any fruit.  And when I checked again this morning the other two plants are now showing signs of blight, too.  So out they will come and my total tomato harvest for the year was a handful of sungolds and two San Marzanos.  Two. And I was so looking forward to canning some sauce this fall.

So I'm sorry, but I have no new tomato recipes for you.  But I do have 10 here that I recommend because I've been making them for years.

1. Amsterdam tomato soup, so named because I made up this recipe based on a soup I ate in Amsterdam on a cold fall day several years ago.  Warmed with cumin and paprika, this is a good soup on a cold day or any day you have a cold.

2. Gnocchi and chicken with pomodoro sauce.  

3. Beef and Bulghur pilaf with tomatoes and mint.  This one is a staple around here and what I used that handful of sun golds in.

4. Oven-dried paste tomatoes.  The Juliet plant was one of the first two to get the blight - no fresh dried tomatoes in my pantry this year.

5. Tomato sauce. I'm partial to the Heidi Swanson version.

6. Heirloom tomato salad. I will be getting some heirlooms from the market this weekend to make this one... 

7. Sausage and Kale.  Funny, I still make this dish, but it has continued to evolve and doesn't look much like this any more.  It would be  more accurate to call it "sausage and peppers" now because I don't always include the kale any more.  And Justin moved to Philadelphia and we have a new charcuterie in town.

8. Cherry tomatoes and cottage cheese. This one reminds me of my mom.

9. Pizza Margharita. I haven't made this in way too long!

10. And finally, Fried Green Tomatoes, because not all the tomatoes will ripen before the weather turns.

From my kitchen: 10 things to do with basil

Every summer I plant several varieties of basil in my garden.  This year I had  some Genovese, a sweet basil, several Thai, a couple of lemon, a Holy Basil, and one poor lime basil that didn't make it.  I would do well to space them better so I have some basil all the time and not all of them at once, but I don't generally remember to do that.  So it is that I get to this part of the summer and I have a lot of basil that needs to be eaten.  Now I love pesto, but one can only eat so much of it.  So in the interest of variety, I've collected a few other uses for this surprisingly versatile herb.  I fear that means that next year I will plant even more basil plants so that I have enough to try all of these!

1. Pesto.  Of course.  My go-to pesto recipe is the one in the original Moosewood Cookbook that I've had since I was 17 and cooking in my first kitchen.  I generally make it in double batches and freeze it, either in ice cube trays that I tip into a bag once frozen or just in a jar.  The oil prevents the pesto from freezing really solid, so you can scoop some out and put the rest of the jar back without defrosting it.

By far the best version I've ever made was with 3/4 lemon basil and 1/4 sweet basil.  I don't consider the cheese optional.

Check out Pioneer Woman's great suggestions for using pesto, too.

2. Basil Croutons.  These would be great on fresh tomato soup!

3. Bruchetta. You can make this really simple, just a Caprese salad conveniently on a little toast, or a more unexpected combination like this roasted red pepper and goat cheese.

4. Basil Gimlet.  I've been accused of drinking like an old man.  I'm a fan of single malt scotch, vodka tonics, and gimlets.  I don't know if making my gimlet out of basil instead of mint would change that reputation, though.  Maybe if I used the holy basil? Or chocolate mint?

If you prefer your cocktails a bit more on the fruity end of the spectrum, here are a few options, like strawberry-lemon-basil.  Yum!  

7. Basil ice pop. Here's a versatile ice pop recipe that I missed in my last round-up.  It uses a simple syrup base that you can use to make a ...

6. Basil Cooler. This is just basil-flavored simple syrup mixed with plain bubbly water to make a refreshing non-alcoholic drink. I just made up the name Basil Cooler.  I think it needs some work.

You can use the same method of making simple syrup with other garden flavors.  Think lemon verbena, thyme, or rose geranium.  I have a friend who keeps a batch of lemon simple syrup in her fridge all the time that she makes with Meyer lemon zest.

7. Basil mayonnaise. This recipe is just adding stuff to mayonnaise already mixed, but you can get all fancy and make it from scratch, too.

Basil mayonnaise would be great on a chicken panini, to mix with tuna or potatoes for a salad, or as dip for an artichoke.  Of if you could step it up a bit with a Lobster BLT. 

8. Ice cream. We have a local ice cream shop that is genius with herb flavors and they have had basil ice cream on heavy rotation this summer.  I find it a little bit green for my preference, but I'm curious to try this lemon-basil version.  I'm also intrigued with this vegan version with a coconut milk base. Or if you prefer to leave out the creamy base altogether, here is a blueberry basil granita.

9. Salad dressings.  I found a basil vinaigrette as well as a creamy basil dressing.   I prefer creamy dressings, but the basil vinaigrette would be really good on an heirloom tomato salad.

10. Frozen basil cubes. This would help solve my winter craving for that fresh basil taste in the middle of winter.   

And finally, the salad pictured at the top of this post was served at an Outstanding in the Field dinner I attended in 2008.  It had watermelon, prosciutto, toasted pistachios and fresh goat cheese as well as the sprigs of basil.  I haven't found a recipe for that particular combination of flavors, but it would be pretty easy to re-create.  I wish I remembered more about the dressing!