In the garden.........

At this time of year I always seem to have an abundance of sweet basil growing in my herb garden... Last year I made oodles of pesto to use it up and this year I thought I'd give 'freezing' a go...

After a few different experiments over the past week I realised that the most easiest way to freeze basil (well for me anyway) that gave the best results once thawed was this.....

Blitz up a big bucket full of basil leaves (about 3 cups)....

Add a few tablespoons of olive oil to make it all come together like so (water works just as well here too).....

Then simply spoon the mixture into ice cube trays and pop in the freezer.Once they set I pop them out and put them in freezer bags... When a dish calls for me to use fresh basil I just pop a couple of these cubes in instead and it tastes and looks just as good as it did the day I picked it.

I'd love to hear of any other basil preserving ideas if you have them.....

As most of you were aware it was Valentine's Day on saturday so for DH I made one of these washcloths.....

And a big batch of the most DELICIOUS biscuits ever (or so he tells me anyway)....

The biscuit recipe is an old one that my Mum use to make when I was younger, here it is.....

Monte Creams...

biscuits - 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup S/R flour, 1/4 cup custard powder, 1/3 cup desiccated coconut.

cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add milk and beat until combined. Stir in remaining ingredients to form a soft dough. Roll teaspoons of mixture into balls, press down flat with a fork dipped in custard powder, this will stop it from sticking to the dough. Bake at 180'C for 10-15 mins or until just golden. Cool completely on wire rack before adding filling.

filling - 1/4 cup butter, 2/3 cup icing sugar, 2 teaspoons milk, 1/3 cup jam.

Cream butter and icing sugar, add milk and beat well. Spread one biscuit with about 1/2 teaspoon of butter mixture and one with about 1/2 teaspoon of jam of your choice (I used homemade strawberry jam), sandwich together.

ENJOY!!!!!!