Herb of the Week. . .

Rosemary, is my herb of this week. It is so versatile, anyone can grow it. Just ask my husband. I have a tendency to kill plants but, with most of my herbs I am successful. Rosemary is not only very fragrant but it is also pretty. I like to put a bow on mine during the Christmas Holidays. I use rosemary with turkey, chicken, and sometimes pork. I do a turkey breast in my Pampered Chef ( what else would I use?) deep dish baker with lid and I add a 1/2 cup of white wine and some garlic and fresh rosemary. I also spritz the bird with a little olive oil.

I wash my rosemary and the I will pull the leaves off and rub them on the breast then I will take another couple of stems of rosemary and lay them in the dish around the bird. You can do this with either turkey or chicken. I bake it covered for about 2 hours and the uncovered for about 45 minutes. The uncovered baking gives the bird the golden color.

Now here is another use for rosemary that is a little out of the ordinary. For baking you can use fresh or dried rosemary just remember that using dried herbs you want to rub them between your fingers to bruise them to release the oils and flavor. Now for my unconventional use of rosemary. My sister told me about this one when I was in college. Take your fresh rosemary and boil some water in a sauce pan after your water comes to a rolling boil take it off the heat and add your rosemary. Let it steep for about 15 minutes. This is making kind of a rosemary tea. After the rosemary has steeped in the hot water remove it and cool your water. Now here is the unconventional part. You want to get the water cool because you are going to take this to your shower. Wash your hair as you normally would then rinse and pour your tea over your hair. The rosemary strips all of the gunk that builds up on our hair after fixing, gelling, spraying, ect.

Then rinse with warm water and style as usual. Your hair should feel soft and it should shine too. I tried to do this about once a month when I was in college. You figure I was in college in the late 80's with BIG hair and lots of styling product. HA HA!!!