Preserving fresh basil - one bunch can go in many meals

pizza_ready_oven Last weekend we were riding our bikes to Roberts, a 62 mile ride to a great farmer's market in the middle of nowhere - or around Homestead, Florida. I had found a bunch of basil and stuffed it into one of my empty insulated water bottles.I used the basil in a batch of delicious tomato basil risotto. But it was a big bunch - and I didn't want it to wither in the produce drawer. So, I blended it in the food processor with a little olive oil. And then I froze it in a flat chunk in foil (see the picture below). A traditional pesto has more ingredients - like garlic, pine nuts, other herbs, etc. and you can certainly add all of those, but there is also nothing wrong with simply preserving an herb in olive oil and freezing it and using it like pesto.Last night we made a low-fat, low-sodium tomato basil pizza -  this is thanks to a low-sodium crust called Mama Mia, salt-free Enrico's pasta sauce, my frozen basil stash, fresh tomatoes and a very light 1 tablespoon sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese. The basil was so delicious it more than made up for the lack of cheese that you would usually find on pizza - much less saturated fat and sodium too!I regret that there is not a picture of the finished pizza - we were scurrying to eat it while watching the Tour de France and forgot to photograph it!pizza_pestopizza_pesto_dabs

Judy Doherty, MPS, PCII

Judy Doherty, MPS, PCII discovered her love of cooking at her grandmother's side, stirring raisin oatmeal on a Saturday morning. By 15 she had her first food service job. At 18 she was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America, where she graduated second in her class, then went on to the Fachschule Richemont in Switzerland to study pastry arts and baking. A decade with Hyatt Hotels followed before she founded Food and Health Communications with a single conviction: food that is good for you should taste extraordinary.

Judy holds a Master of Professional Studies in Food Business from the Culinary Institute of America, a Bachelor of Science in Culinary Arts from Johnson and Wales University (Summa Cum Laude), two art certificates from UC Berkeley Extension, and the CIA's Pro Chef II certification. She has earned the American Culinary Federation Bronze Medal, Gold Medal, and ACF Chef of the Year award.

Today she develops every recipe on this site, shoots and styles food through her food photography and motion studio, and publishes nutrition education materials for dietitians, schools, extension offices, and health professionals through nutritioneducationstore.com. She uses the latest nutritional science and Dietary Guidelines to drive her creativity — whether that means a new twist on fajitas or Italian brownies made with toasted nuts and cooked honey. Her mission has never changed: help everyone make food that tastes as good as it is for them.

https://nutritioneducationstore.com
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