Thai basil cucumber salad

A refreshing summer salad fill of crispy cucumbers, fresh Thai basil, and a simple rice vinegar dressing, and topped with crunchy roasted peanuts.

Dill pickle quick bread

An easy and tasty quick bread studded with chopped dill pickles and fresh dill is perfect for the pickle lovers in your life. Grab a jar of pickles and get baking!

Chive blossom deviled eggs

Full of bright chive flavors, these deviled eggs are perfect for a summer meal or cookout. They contain both chives and the chive blossoms for an extra kick of onion flavor and a pop of color.

Apple Cheddar Thyme Quick Bread

Cheddar, apple, and thyme come together in an easy loaf of autumn quick bread that goes perfectly with soups, chilis, and more.

Pineapple sage pound cake

A buttery pound cake with a hint of pineapple and light herb flavor makes for a unique and delightful dessert.

Bruschetta chicken pasta

An easy and very flavorful pasta dinner that is perfect for late summer when garden tomatoes and basil are fresh and abundant. This Bruschetta Chicken Pasta is a delicious family dinner.

How to freeze basil in olive oil

Save your garden basil to use all year round by freezing it in olive oil. This method blends up the basil leaves and freezes it in ice cubes to preserve the fresh basil flavor to enjoy even in winter.

Eggplant and chickpea fritters with herb yogurt sauce

Eggplant, chickpeas, fresh herbs, and spices come together to make these tasty little fritters. They are completed with an herb yogurt sauce and are a lovely vegetarian summer meal. 

How to make Greek dressing

Homemade Greek house dressing is a perfect salad dressing for summer vegetables. It's easy to make and adds delicious flavor to your salads, chicken, and more. 

Garlic and thyme smashed sunchokes

Disclosure: This recipe is part of #FallFlavors week. I was provided products from sponsors to assist in recipe development. As always, all opinions are my own.

Smashed sunchokes are sweet, a little crispy, and full of garlic and thyme flavor. If you've never eaten sunchokes before, this is a great introduction to these tasty root vegetables. 

How to dry garden herbs in the oven

Preserve your summer herbs from your garden to use all through the year with a simple oven method. This is a terrific way to use up your summer herb bounty and not let them go to waste.

Parsley and sage walnut pesto

Fresh summer herbs make for a delicious pesto that you can use on pasta dishes, meats, pizzas, vegetables, and more. This pesto is bright and vibrant and perfect for using up some garden herbs.

Thai red curry dragon fruit chicken salad

This post is sponsored by #FreakyFruitsFriday. I received fruit from our generous sponsor, Melissa's Produce, to assist in recipe creation. As always, all opinions are my own.

A twist on chicken salad using Thai red curry paste, coconut cream, fresh dragon fruit, and Thai basil for a delicious and fun light dinner or lunch.

Cheddar and thyme yellow squash biscuits

Fluffy homemade biscuits filled with flecks of yellow squash, sharp cheddar cheese, and fresh thyme! These biscuits make a delicious side dish to soups, chilis, salads, and more and are also delicious for egg and ham breakfast sandwiches.

Sharp cheddar & chive quick bread

A cheesy quick bread full of fresh chives and a bit of garlic powder makes for a delicious and easy side dish. It's a yummy way to enjoy some of your fresh herb garden chives.

Turkey and summer vegetable soup

Ground turkey, diced tomatoes, fresh garden herbs, and summer vegetables make a scrumptious and hearty summertime soup. 

Cinnamon basil shortbread cookies

Sweet buttery shortbread cookies are infused with fresh cinnamon basil for a unique cookie. These cookies are a fun way to enjoy and highlight this fresh garden herb.

Fresh garlic & herb dip

Cool, creamy, and full of fresh garlic and herbs, this dip is sure to get you to eat more vegetables! This fresh garlic and herb dip is full of bright flavors.

Strawberry-basil ice cream

My first ice cream of the season! I wanted to make a strawberry-basil ice cream last year, but strawberry season was over when I finally bought my ice cream maker. 

So I've been waiting anxiously to make it until this year. This was my second batch. The first batch tasted just as great, but I left the strawberries in quarters, and ended up not liking the texture. 

This time, I mashed the strawberries, and it worked much better - they were evenly distributed but it still had a little texture so you knew there were strawberries in it.

We ate this ice cream on a hot day (as you can see from the photo - it was rapidly melting) and the best description of it is refreshing. Very refreshing. 

You may think basil is an odd thing to add to a dessert, but I love herbs in sweets. The basil is a nice and refreshing background flavor that really takes the ice cream to the next level. It makes it more complex and plays nicely off of the sweet strawberries. 

This recipe will make about a quart of ice cream.

Zucchini-corn fritters

Finding ways to use up the abundance of zucchini and other vegetables is one of the fun parts of summer, right? Zucchini ends up being grated and put into everything once August hits... I recently read a summer squash fritter recipe on Aggie's Kitchen and it reminded me of fritters I ate as a kid filled with zucchini and corn. Once I remembered them, I couldn't get them out of my head until I made them. Since my basil plant is doing so well this year, I thought it would be a great herb to add to these fritters. Basil screams summer to me and I think it goes perfectly with both corn and zucchini. 

These little fritters are a great way to use up some of that zucchini and other summer squash. They are perfect for an appetizer, snack, or a side dish. This recipe will make about ten 2-3 inch fritters. They are good eaten topped with a sprinkle of sea salt, but even better topped with a dollop of sour cream. I'm already planning to make these again this week (and probably a couple more times this summer).