Fresh Spices

We are going to be able to have fresh herbs all winter because we found another way to keep part of our summer garden growing. Last night, my husband and I were on a mission again. We frequent the local hardware and garden stores and we found the last cold frame available at one of them.

A cold frame, for the garden newbees, is a short version of a hot house. It has a lid that can be lifted up on warm days and closed at night to protect the tender vegetables or herbs. I currently have two herb boxes going into the cold frame because we have twenty degree nights in the forecast for Thanksgiving week.

It will be a nice winter if the herbs can continue to grow for the winter. I developed this wonderful Mediterranean chicken recipe that requires fresh garlic, basil and oregano. I had Italian friends that loved chicken and potatoes but they would never give out the recipe. It took a couple tries, but Sherry's Mediterranean Chicken is now a family favorite.

My own version of garlic blue crabs require fresh basil and Melissa D'Arabian's Lemon Tuscan chicken requires fresh thyme. (I will post my Mediterranean Chicken recipe and Melissa's recipe is on the Food Network site).

Fresh spices and warm food are as simple as it gets. And yet, it is always comfort food we want when the weather gets bad.