The birds are chirping, mornings come a little bit earlier each day, and that tickle in my throat is telling me that pollen is floating around in the air, bringing with it the promise of new life. Spring is finally here!

Many winter-weary folks have started flocking to garden centers, eager to begin work on their yards and planters. I love the garden center early in the season because the racks of herb plants are still packed, and the number of varieties that you can now bring home keeps growing. Varieties like chocolate mint, Thai basil, or my personal favorite, culantro, which I like to refer to as cilantro on steroids.

So let’s talk about herbs today! Tell us:

Do you have any tips for growing herbs at home?

I am, sadly, quite the pitiful gardener. But I keep trying, hoping that one day, I’ll be among those who have lush little pots of herbs on their kitchen windowsill, who never have to run to the store every time they need some basil for pasta, or cilantro for salsa. So I’ll be eagerly reading all your comments!

Betsy says to take the leaves off the top of the basil plant rather than the lower leaves to keep the plant growing fuller and not taller. (She also said she wasn’t quite sure and not to quote her, but sometimes I don’t hear well.)

Nanci adamantly warns never to plant mint in the ground or it will take over the world. She’d also love for someone to tell her how to grow cilantro, because it always seems to get tall and leggy and go to seed on her. (I’ll pretend I know what that means. Like I said, pitiful gardener.)

How about you? What advice do you have for growing herbs? Share your tips with us below!

Happy Wednesday! We’re days away from the weekend, and you know what that means? That means many of you probably have a shelf in your refrigerator dedicated to a lovely piece of cured, smoked, or salted meat. It may or may not be scored on the outside, glazed, whole or pre-sliced. These days, it may even be made of turkey or duck. (We won’t get into the technicalities of what qualifies as “ham” right now, because, well, we’d much rather talk about sandwiches and omelets.) Whichever kind you’re serving, you probably have a lot of it and hopefully, some of it will still be around by Monday.

I say “hopefully” because there are so many creative uses for ham. So let’s talk about all the wonderful ways to use every little bit of that lovely hunk of meaty goodness from this weekend! Tell us:

What’s your favorite way to use leftover ham?

Nanci likes to fry chunks of leftover ham until crisp, then add them to fried rice with some pineapple chunks and a few other veggies. Her husband loves biscuits and ham gravy, which is a thinner cousin to Southern cream gravy with sausage. (Her tip: Ree has a great recipe for ham gravy.)

Lamentably, I will not have any leftover ham because my husband doesn’t do pork. (Sing a sad song for me, friends. A woeful dirge with bursts of pained wailing.) Growing up, Serrano ham was our family’s ham of choice and we rarely had any left over. But when we did, I loved it on pizza, in wraps, and the bone gave deep flavor to soups. Sometimes, we’d caramelize slices of ham with just a hint of butter and sugar, and enjoy that over garlic fried rice. (Sniff. I need a dirge encore, please.)

Betsy says, “We love ham and eggs in this house, and my favorite scramble with leftover ham is Ham, Spinach, and Gruyere.” Sounds perfect to me.

Now it’s your turn! Do you have any favorite ways to use ham? Maybe a killer sandwich concoction or loaded mac and cheese extravaganza? Share your ideas with us below!

If you’re like me, making lunches in the morning does not represent the height of your culinary creativity. I have been known to let out a pitiful sigh while staring uninspired into the fridge, only to end up grabbing the same few items: fruit, deli meat, cheese. And then, of course, there’s the inevitable mining […]

Ah, the irresistible avocado. If the avocado’s sole purpose in life was to bring guacamole into this world, that would be enough for me. But no. At some point in time, someone discovered that avocados taste great in sushi rolls, too. And ice cream. On toast. In smoothies. Baked goods. Sandwiches. Salads. I think it […]