Spice Rack Challenge Round Up: Basil

It's not the heat, it's the humidity.

The thing about Michigan is that it is always humid here, since we are surrounded by the Great Lakes.   That makes for splendid verdant green in the summer (and overcast skies in the winter - we won't talk about that) but it also makes it very humid here.  So that means when it it hot here, it's way worse than say Phoenix or Santa Fe.  It's going to be 100 F today, with about 85% humidity.  We have an excessive heat warning issued by the National Weather Service.  So that means that along with our warming centers that we have in the winter for the homeless, we have cooling centers going.  We have ozone action days.  I want for a walk about 8 pm last night and it was still over 90 degrees.  Your sweat just doesn't evaporate.   Both of my kids are at summer camp...my son is at Boy Scout camp in Findlay Ohio (today's temperature 99 F) and my daughter is at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp near Lake Michigan where it's going to be a more tolerable 88F. I hope they are both drinking enough water.  I'm glad I am in my air conditioned abode instead of a cabin or tent. Looks like the weather might break this weekend with some storms.  We certainly need the rain. 

It's hard to think about cooking in this mess, but we've got lots of basil to talk about.  That's a good thing, because the basil is taking over my garden right now.  Love all this inspiration!

tracy's living cookbook
Cornmeal-crusted roasted ratatouille tart- it's a riveting tale of trial and error, blogged "Pioneer Woman" style - with a picture of every step. The verdict? I don't want to ruin the plot but let's just say that the ratatouille was the protagonist in this story of basil angst.

thinking out loudBasil in it's simplest form. Sometimes simple is just what we need!

tales from a house on the corner
Our friend "down under" gives us a lovely peach and basil pandowdy even though it's midwinter for her. A bit of summer in the cold!

snowflake kitchenBlueberry basil ginger chiller and a bonus mint drink because Kate missed us last month. Sweet refreshment.

chez hates
Thankfully there is a post about a basil spiked pasta sauce. We needed one! No use crying about the aerogarden failure. Dried basil is great, too!

prospect:the pantry

Zucchini noodles in green curry sauce with Thai basil offers us just what we need right now - another potential use for the ubiquitous zucchini, seasoned with exotic Thai basil. And while we’re add it, how about some roly poly zucchini baked with vegetable and basil filling

a million grandmas

Mary's basil tonic  is the perfect cocktail to cure what ails you....especially served with her delicious pesto

just another day at the farm

Lamb stew with basil sounds delicious for any season....basil is her "go to" herb.

jonski blogski

Tricia's back with her catch up post - Asian slaw.  It has basil, mint and coriander in it! Talk about killing several birds with one stone....glad to see you back.

good food michigan

My Michigan blogging sisters Val and Bee post their tomato basil pizza sauce. Soon we will have some Michigan tomatoes to make it with, I hope!

food floozie

My friend Yenta Mary gets us big time news coverage by posting her basil parmesan triangle recipe on both her regular blog but in our local "dot com" - we no longer have a daily newspaper in Ann Arbor, we have an online version

eating flloyd

Rebecca's back with her coconut scallops with crispy shallot, basil and sesame sprinkle.  Don't worry about swiping the magazine from the waiting room, my dentist says that it's okay to do that.  Certainly better than stealing the page!

motherskitchen
Here's mine - electic basil lemonade.   It's a very refreshing cocktail for this weather.

That's all for this month.   Look back early next week for the August challenge.