Preserving Fresh Herbs II

So I've just said how you can preserve fresh herbs so that they aren't wasted once you've opened the packet, but there are other ways that they can be used and saved too, which I think are brilliant!  These involve creating herb oils or butters and freezing.

For herb oil, all you have to do is chop the fresh herbs very finely, put in an ice cube tray and add olive oil.  Mix a little. Pop in the freezer, then, once they're frozen, place in a sealable plastic bag, label and use when needed.

For the herb butter, chop the herbs and add garlic for a bit of a kick!  Mix with room-temperature butter to taste and then wrap, sausage-like, in some greaseproof paper.

Place in the freezer for up to an hour so it firms up and then chop into slices about 1cm thick.  Re-wrap in the paper, ready to use when needed.  I'm planning on making some garlic bread with this - chop a baguette, add some ready-made butter to each slice and bake.  Yum and quick!

I have to say, this and the previous post of drying herbs is something that I do already but thanks to Jamie Oliver's new series 'Save with Jamie' for reminding me!

Coconut Moisturising Oil for Hair

First, slather the coconut oil on your hair and cover your hair with a shower cap - bonus top tip, stock up when you treat yourself to a hotel break!  It's up to you whether you wish to applying heat, but doing so will open the cuticle of each strand so the coconut oil can penetrate the core faster- so you'd only need to keep the oil on for 15 minutes rather than at least 30 without heat.  You can use a hair dryer to apply heat over the shower cap as per the picture below from 'How does She?'and relax with a book or something, if you can.  Or keep the cap on, don't warm it up, and get on with household chores.  Or watch telly or play with the kids!

Good places to buy coconut oil at the moment:

 

There's 40% off at the Body Shop till Monday with code 14395 or take adantage of the 25% off for new customers!

Lots of coconut oil options at Amazon!


Gorgeous, gorgeous from Neal's Yard Remedies and quite good value (in my opinion) to!

Once  time is up wash and condition your hair as you normally would although you may need to wash your hair twice to rinse away all of the oil. I usually try two shampoos before conditioning it which mostly works - it may need another go though if you've put loads on!  I haven't done this, but the author of  'How does She? says to really focus on the roots and try to shampoo the ends as little as needed.

This treatment should produce soft, silky, smooth, sleek hair that looks fantastic!  It can be done as often as you feel is necessary but the more you do it, the less you will need to.

Courtesy of 'How Does She?'