Weekend Herb Blogging #255

Weekend Herb Blogging is becoming quite a venerable event--almost at the 5-year mark!

This is my fourth time hosting Weekend Herb Blogging! It's a blog event founded by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen and managed by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once. The idea is to blog about using an herb, fruit, vegetable, nut, seed or flower as a main/key ingredient. Each week a host puts together submissions and posts a recap. I always enjoy hosting and learning new-to-me uses of things I know well, plus some that are more unfamiliar too. Here's the roundup for this week (October 11-17). I placed descriptions below each photo.


From Germany, Reshmi Ahmed from A Feast to the Eyes and Stomach made Cheese Bread with Chives. I agree that warm and cheesy bread is such a comfort food. The ingredients seem simple, but the result is so satisfying. The added savor of chives sounds just right!




From Switzerland, Chriesi from Almond Corner made Date Ice Cream and served it with hibiscus syrup. Oh my, this ice cream looks so sweet and creamy. I hadn't realized that dates come in 4 different "ripenesses"--Chriesi describes these, with a bit of date geography too!

From Melbourne, Australia, Sue of You Can Do It... At Home! made Silverbeet Ricotta Quiche. It's springtime there and the silverbeet in Sue's garden inspired this tasty-looking light lunch. (And I want a forkful of that avocado!) I looked up silverbeet and found it's what I know as Swiss chard--yum!

Winnie from Healthy Green Kitchen in New Paltz, NY made green tomato chutney, which she recommends having with Indian food or in sandwiches or wraps. The spicy sauce keeps in the fridge for about a month. It is great to know what to do with those cheerful green tomatoes just sitting on the vine not getting any redder now that October is here.




Simona of briciole made involtini di bietole/rainbow chard roll-ups. She reminds us that you don't have to discard chard stems--chop them up and add them to whatever you are making! Her filling includes barley, cheese, raisins, and carrots. Also, she includes an audio file so you can listen to her saying "involtini di bietole" (what a lovely language to listen to!).

WHB's current organizer, Haalo, made Wartime Chocolate Pudding using carrots. Wow, this is surprising but makes perfect sense. With sugar rationing during wartime, carrots were used as sweetener in a pinch (along with a bit of sugar and golden syrup in this case). The pudding gets steamed and comes out spongy, English-style. Haalo suggests serving with custard or thick cream--yes please!



Brii from Briiblog in English, living in Valsorda on Garda lake, Italy, made persimmon jam with lime and pepper. Properly ripe persimmons are key. She is quite right that it has the colors of autumn--beautiful! I would be tempted to try it on a nice thick piece of fish. Or spread on piping-hot buttered biscuits--what do you think, Brii? :)



From Toronto, Canada, Janet from the taste space made Happiness Soup. A celebration of yellow, this barley-laden soup looks like it sticks to the ribs, but with a light lemony taste. All that sunny color must brighten both the tummy and spirit at once!

Thank you bloggers for these excellent entries! Next week (October 18-24, 2010), Weekend Herb Blogging is hosted by Chris from Mele Cotte. Visit the Who's Hosting page for more info!