Frugal Babe

It’s getting cold around here, so we harvested most of our garden today, leaving only a few tomato plants that we’ll cover at night for another week or so in hopes of getting more ripe tomatoes.  I had basil, oregano, and parsley growing this year, and I pulled up what was left of the plants today.  I’ve been using them all summer long, but I still had quite a bit left.  I pulled off all the leaves and washed them, and then put them in the food processor with some olive oil.  I ended up with a pesto-like Italian herb mixture.  I spread it into an ice cube tray and covered it with plastic wrap.  It’s in the freezer now, and when the blocks are frozen, I’ll put them in a bag and leave them in the freezer.  During the winter, when I make a meal that needs Italian seasoning, I can just drop a pesto cube into the sauce while I’m cooking it. 

I’m always impressed with people who can or freeze huge quantities of produce in the fall, and while I’ve never even come close to doing that, I feel really good about how I’ve preserved our herbs for the winter.  I can already smell the spaghetti sauce…