the last days of summer are upon us and my late summer garden is packed to the brim with the last of my fresh herbs. 

i know it will be months before i have this kind of abundance in my little patch of dirt, so i am going out of my way to save every last scrap. 

now, just because you don't have an herb garden, doesn't mean this tip doesn't apply to you. much of the time when we buy fresh herbs, we NEVER use them all. so use this tip any time you have some fresh herbs you want to reserve for a later date. 

oil + herb cubes

ingredients: extra fresh herbs, chopped to desired size. olive oil. ice cube tray. 

fill each cube of your ice tray about half way up with our chopped herbs. 

when your tray is filled, top the herbs with oil just till you completely cover the herbs. 

place the tray in the freezer until the oil has frozen. 

remove the cubes from the ice tray and store in an airtight container or plastic bag until use. store for up to six months in your freezer. 

xo, a

oil + herb cubes

ingredients: extra fresh herbs, chopped to desired size. olive oil. ice cube tray. fill each cube of your ice tray about half way up with our chopped herbs. place the tray in the freezer until the oil has frozen. remove the cubes from the ice tray and store in an airtight container or plastic bag until use. store for up to six months in your freezer. 

while in la over the weekend, i decided to cook up a meal for us girls before we headed out for a night on the town. i kept the concept simple knowing that i would be in a foreign kitchen with little to non of my regular tools. 

now, i tried to keep it simple, but in my mind homemade croutons are run of the mill. so i was SHOCKED when i went to slice up our bread and i could not find a serrated knife.

how can you survive with out a serrated knife?!? 

then i realized, until wesley filled me in, i had no idea the important things i could do with a serrated knife. sure, it is not a utility knife and by no means should it be your first purchase, but if you like salsa, fresh bread of any kind or you ever need to slice cake, it should definitely be your second or third. 

thanks to its ridged edges, this knife will grip into all those hard to slice surfaces as you work. this saves you from slipping and slicing your finger and having to push so hard that you crush your bread or tomatoes. 

quickly slice tomatoes with out squirting their insides everywhere. 

tomato dicing has never been easier. 

slicing or chopping bread goes from messy to a breeze. 

delicate dessert cakes like pound cake can be crushed under the weight of a normal knife. the serrated knife makes quick, delicate work of slicing it. 

if you are looking to up your kitchen game, or simply want to stop making a crushed, crumbly bread mess every time you need to make your seasoned croutons, the serrated knife is your guy! 

xo, a