Zach Bulick

My basil plant has been growing crazy-like lately with all the sun and I had all these basil leaves and nothing to do with them. I remembered hearing about freezing basil leaves before from somewhere (quite possibly the internetz) before and decided to try it out.

I put the chopped basil leaves into the ice cube trays (about a tablespoons worth) and the poured the water over them. In the latest issue of ReadyMade they had a tutorial on how to make ice-cubes. Who knew?! But actually what they suggested was boiling the water prior to putting it in the freezer to get rid of any impurities the water might have. That way you’re ice-cube will come out closer to crystal clear. I also covered the ice-cube tray with cling wrap on account that we have several things living in our freezer and I didn’t want the basil cubes absorbing any of the smells from the scary thing with the glowing eyes in the back corner. It used to be an instant eggroll.

Finished product. Now when cooking soups / pasta / whatever I just throw in this and its like a basil explosion. A basil bomb, really.

I’ve had a peppermint plant for a few months now and have only used it sparingly in different soups and dishes. In the last month of sunshine it has blown up and has become a crazy / viney aromatic wonder that wakes me up in the morning. With so many leaves and not knowing what to do with them I googled a bit and decided to make some peppermint tea and document.

I trimmed several of the bigger vines off the plant and while air drying is the best to retain the mints flavor and oils, I opted for the convenient un-ideal option of using the microwave to dry my tea leaves.

I put the leaves between two sheets of paper towel and microwaved them for  1 min and 15 sec.

The end result. It turned out delicious / refreshing and I have some leaves left over for the next few days of tea – goodness. Today is a gorgeoous day and hopefully it will stay that way so my peppermint plant will continue blowin’ up like crazy!