Basil Oil

Once Upon a basil plant, I mean, once upon a cakestand has exactly what I'm looking for!

I went to a REAL farmstand not too far from work today and got a BUSH of fresh cut basil! I'm so psyched! I looooove basil! But I don't want it to go to waste, so I was thinking I'd make it into basil oil. But how?

Enter the food search button on my sidebar...it is a google tool that links to all kinds of blogs dedicated to food! I found once upon a cakestand and fell in love. It's not just a basil oil, it's a "super potent," "deluxe" basil oil! And it's actually green!

How to Freeze Basil

Found a Fantastic Food Blog using the food blog search that I've put on my sidebar. I love useful tools! Andrea outlines a good way to freeze basil so you can use it later!

$5 dinners' Garden Fresh Pasta Dinner

More great stuff from $5 dinners. I have to say, even my hubby will love this one! Of course, prices vary according to your location, and fresh tomatoes aren't free to everyone, but it's still quite frugal and tasty at the same time!

Aunt D's Garden Fresh Pasta Dinner
Ingredients
1 box Bowtie Pasta ($1.25)
3-4 Fresh tomatoes from the garden, diced (Free!)
3-4 FreshBasil Leaves, finely chopped (Free!)
1-2 cup mozzerella cheese ($1.67)
4 T EVOO ($.25)
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped ($.10)
1 zucchini ($.79)
1 T EVOO or Butter ($.10)
Directions
1. Marinate diced tomatoes and basil in EVOO and garlic.
Add a splash of vinegar to the marinade if you like!
2. Cook pasta as directed.
Drain.
Pour marinating tomatoes over pasta.
Srinkle cheese throughout.
Let cheese melt.
Serve warm.
3. Saute zucchini in EVOO or butter.
Serve with pasta!
Cost $4.16

My Variations:
I guess you could call me the queen of using what's on hand.
I'd made up a balsamic vinegar/EVOO dressing for my MIL the other day and couldn't for the life of me imagine what I'd use the rest for. Enter Marinade!
The only cheese we had on hand was parmesan, so I shredded up a bit of that and it was fantastic!
My hubby's a meat & potatoes kind of guy and although I've been able to convert him to a meat & most anything else kind of guy, I haven't had any luck with leaving out the meat, so I grabbed some leftover steak tips, cut them up in teeny tiny pieces, and added them to the pasta mix. He loved it, and went back for more!
I'm sure it ended up being a quite different taste than the original recipe, but it was still quite good.