our little pot of herbaliciousness

I am totally in love with my herb pot. Especially the sweet basil. Nothing like fresh sweet basil. So I planted it twice! Good thing, because some little critter apparently likes it too. We also planted chives, cilantro, peppermint, and rosemary. I can't believe in only a few short weeks how far it's come. Here it is a day or two after planting (5.23.09)

and here it is today, growing like crazy.

I've already used the basil in my spaghetti sauce recipe and Phil has picked some chives a few times. Last night we had roasted red potatoes with fresh rosemary for dinner. Later I noticed some leaves in his glass and I wondered what in the world for. Well, turns out he was trying out the mint.

And now for my spaghetti sauce recipe. I have one that uses fresh tomatoes, but I have my friend Sonya to thank for this one. It tastes just as good as when I make it with fresh tomatoes and is a whole lot easier.

Spaghetti Sauce

1 - 28 oz. can diced tomatoes (or 2 smaller ones, 14 oz. I think)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 T. tomato paste (I've been known to use a little more)
1 tsp. olive oil
1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 T. minced fresh basil

Pulse the tomatoes with their juice in a blender until mostly smooth, about ten 1-second pulses; set aside. Cook the garlic, tomato paste, oil, and pepper flakes in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the tomato paste begins to brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in the pureed tomatoes and cook until the sauce is thickened, about 20 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper to taste (and a little sugar sometimes too).