HOW TO SAVE YOUR SAD HERBS

Hello friends. I apologize for the delay since my last post, its been a crazy past couple weeks- in a good way! School has started back up for me and we are learning about all sorts of cool topics like analyzing blood work and making herbal formulas based on energetics!

Anyways, I am excited to share with you guys some tips on how to save your sad looking herbs. It happens to all of us- we bring home a large bunch of herbs and only use a portion of it. The rest gets put back in the fridge and becomes limp. Most herbs at this point would have the fate of being thrown out. Maybe it was the way I was raised but I have a really hard time throwing food away…There are so many ways to repurpose and possibly even bring your herbs back to life!

HOW TO REJUVENATE HERBS

Think like you just received a bouquet of flowers. Similar process here, your herbs are thirsty! Water is what gives vegetables their crisp structure by the way.

1. Cut off a bit of the stems
2. Place in a glass with a little water in the bottom for the stems to drink from
3. Cover with a bag and secure with a rubber band for longer term storage or a ziploc type bag

Note, this method does not work as well for woody herbs like rosemary, repurpose instead! (Read on to know how).

RECIPES FOR REPURPOSING SAD HERBS

• chimichurri (see recipe below)
• zhoug (spicy cilantro sauce)
• shatta (middle eastern hot sauce)
• pesto
• green goddess sauce (I like this recipe)
• quinoa pilaf (I like mine with mint, apricot, olive oil, and toasted almonds)
• potato salad (throw in any herbs)
• soup
• stock, recipe here (you can easily freeze parsley stems, etc and add other vegetable scraps to your freezer stash until you have enough to make stock!)
• meal prep ramen
• summer rolls (I love mint, cilantro, and basil most)
• dry them!
• make a marinade
• make salad dressing (ex: lemon juice, olive oil, mint or basil, salt and pepper- blend in a blender, boom salad dressing in 2 seconds)

CHIMI WHAA? CHIMICHURRI!

INGREDIENTS

• 1c parsley leaves
• 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• small handful of fresh mint
• 1tsp dried oregano or 1T of fresh
• 1- 1 1/2 tsp dried lavender buds, optional (purple mountain lavender is my favorite)
• 1/2 tsp himalayan sea salt

METHOD

Mince the lavender buds if using and the garlic pretty finely.

Add everything to a food processor or small blender. Pulse to get a nice chop on the herbs. You don’t want to completely liquify this but the lavender should be pretty chopped up with the herbs still a bit chunky.

Enjoy however you wish. I love to drape this over my breakfast bowls (as pictured above), add to brown rice or quinoa, as well as salads, with a nice balsamic glaze (stay tuned for next blog post on this). Chimichurri also is magnificent with anything grilled including but not limited to mushrooms, steak, chicken, shrimp. You could also thin this recipe out with more oil and use it as a marinade.

HERBS AND WELLNESS

Not only can herbs add flavor to our food, they are also super nutritious! Bet you didn’t know that in the past, herbs were actually added to meals strategically to help with digestion and other wellness benefits. Parsley, for example, is known as a carminative herb. These aid in digestion and help prevent bloating. Parsley also may help to combat cancer with its antioxidant properties. Some cooking methods may cause oxidation (free radicals) in our foods that can damage our cells so cooking with antioxidant rich herbs helps to neutralize this. Other herbs high in antioxidants are dill, cilantro, basil, and rosemary. Actually it’s pretty safe to assume all herbs have some antioxidant potential all just in different ways. Basil has antimicrobial properties to prevent bacterial growth (against such things like e.coli). Lastly, real quick you should know that rosemary is also said to help with memory; a great addition to your study-time snack students! 🙂

I hope you found this post helpful. If you have any kitchen or health questions you’d like to see a post about I’d love to know! Use the form below! Healthy wishes friends!

Love,

Abby