Weekend Herb Blogging #194

Well it's my turn again to round up this wonderful week of herbs. Weekend Herb Blogging was started by Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen and is now organized and continued by Haalo at Cook (Almost) Anything (at Least Once). This week there is no lack of intriguing and beautiful things posted about herbs.

Ginger


Hailing from Malaysia, Alice of Bits of Taste, tells us about the natural healing properties of ginger, and entices us to be healthy with some wonderful looking Sweet Ginger Soup.

Tomatoes


Graziana is in Italy, where we all know beautiful tomatoes grow. What to do with this bounty? Well one thing that Graziana of Erbe in Cucina tells us about is how to preserve them in her recipe for Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil.

Tomatillos



Kaylyn, the founder of Weekend Herb Blogging, at Kalyn's Kitchen in Utah offers up an interesting post on tomatillos and a tried and true Cafe Rio style dressing featuring these lovely green globes. In fact, it seems to be a mistake proof recipe! Three cheers for this!

Truffles


Meanwhile, Anh out of Melbourne, Australia who writes A Food Lover's Journey has given us an elegant recipe for a An Extravagant Breakfast -Truffle Omelet. And I never knew there was a truffle season, but of course!

Lemon Balm



Out of New Paltz, NY, Winnie of Healthy Green Kitchen excites the chef in all of us with a number of fabulous and unusual ingredients in her Cantaloupe Salad post. Although the interesting lemon balm is the herbal ingredient, mention of lemon cucumber and ricotta salata cannot do anything but evoke a symphony of taste in our imaginations.

Herbes de Provence


Mike of Mike Ahmadi's Gastronomic Musings is still growing the most beautiful herbs in his garden in Livermore, CA. Our event coincided perfectly with documenting his work of preserving the summer's bounty in his post, Drying Herbs and Herbes de Provence. This post is a treasure trove of information about growing and preserving herbs. The finale is the instructions for making Herbes de Provence, and a lovely use for them as a chicken rub.


Okra


Katie of Haslett, MI who writes Eat This has a very unique omelet to share. She, like me, subscribes to a weekly CSA box and was delighted to find some beautiful okra in her box. She promptly makes Stewed Okra and Tomato Omelets. My southern mother would be right over to share one of these.

Batata (Latin Sweet Potatoes)


Susan of the Well-Seasoned Cook in New York features Batata (Latin Sweet Potatoes) in her awesome combo "Batata Chips with Aji Amarillo Crema Dip". This sounds like a match made in heaven, and she also talks about the pleasures of cutting with a perfectly sharp kitchen tool - Achtung! indeed.

Allium

Yes, I wrote about the mighty three ingredients in a 'sauceless sauce' at Anna's Cool Finds this week for this Weekend Herb Blogging adventure. Two of the three mighty three are of the allium family, garlic and onion. The lovely thing is that you can use any two members of the allium family to make this in case you too have picky eaters in your circle.

Blood Oranges


Our Weekend Herb Blogging Organizer, Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything (At Least Once) has a beautiful dessert to share. She is located in Melbourne, Australia and is happy that orange season is now on in her neck of the woods. Her Candied Blood Orange Tart requires unwaxed blood oranges and the finished product not only has eye appeal, she takes you so carefully through all the steps, anyone must be able to make this lovely tart. You may have to wait though if citrus is out of season...

Lita (a Summer Squash variety)


Joanne of Eats Well With Others in New York City made a Summer Squash Casserole for our viewing pleasure. And it was her family's eating pleasure with her father being sure if she cooks this for a future boyfriend it would win his heart. Joanne picked up her squash at the local farmer's market, including an unusual variety, the lita. Be sure to read about its characteristics in her post.

Marasca Leaves


Brii who lives on the beautiful Garda Lake in Italy has made something amazing using Mascara Leaves. You'll have to check out her post on Home Made Sherry and the beautiful photos of mountain climbing near the lake. Brii hosts the blog, Briiblog in English (I see she has several blogs, this one in Italian).

Bell Peppers


Cinzia of Cindystar also living near Garda Lake in Italy has sent in a showstopping summer vegetable dish, Gurguglione. The dish comes from where she has been spending her summers for years, Elba Island in Tuscany. Since there are three types of bell peppers in the recipe, we'll say that is the herb to be highlighted here today. When visiting her site, if you do not speak Italian, just keep scrolling as the translation is in the second half of the post.

Well that's it for Weekend Herb Bloggin #194. Thanks to all who participated. If you think this would be fun, feel free to join in for next week's Weekend Herb Blogging. The host is Dhanggit from Dhanggit's Kitchen. More information here.