Basics | Italian Food Forever

How To Make Stay Green Basil Pesto

Deborah — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Basil has to be hands down my favorite Italian herb, and we always plant it in pots or in our veggie garden each spring so I can enjoy fresh basil to use in my kitchen right through to the first hard frost. We returned home in Umbria last Tuesday, and after being away for a...

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Whole Lemon Vinaigrette

Deborah — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 11:00:00 +0000

We are experiencing our typical summer weather here in SW Florida, and the heat and humidity can get tiring. We generally have rain showers daily, though usually in the afternoon, which, instead of cooling things down, actually makes you feel like you are in a sauna! When it’s this warm, and I’m outside doing a...

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Amazingly Easy Instant Pot Chicken Broth

Deborah — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 11:00:39 +0000

I just celebrated another Birthday. I am beginning to believe that Birthdays after sixty years old are best forgotten, but it seems my family feels differently. At my age, it seems that each and every year I develop some new health issue, and in my effort to become as healthy as I can be, I...

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Calabrian Chile Butter

Deborah — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 12:08:26 +0000

If you have followed my blog, you’ll know that I have become obsessed with Calabrian chili products. You can buy them in jars whole, or pureed into a pesto-like mixture. Calabrian chili peppers are spicy, but not overly so. Although I do like spicy food, the older I get, it doesn’t agree with me, but...

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Tomato Butter

Deborah — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 05:56:58 +0000

Our garden this year was best yet. We amended our soil last fall, adding truckloads of soil taken from an area riverbed and that apparently made a big difference. Our tomatoes have been particularly prolific, and during the middle of summer, I was picking a basket full daily. Although I adore fresh, ripe tomatoes, I...

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Homemade Date Paste – An All Natural Sweetener

Deborah — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 17:19:29 +0000

If you follow Italian Food Forever, you might have noticed that I am working hard to eat healthier. One aspect of my healthier eating plan involves eating a more plant based diet. Although I hesitate to place labels on anything because they can be very restricting, I’d say my husband and I are eating a...

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Homemade Vanilla Extract

Deborah — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 09:45:10 +0000

I do a lot of baking here in Umbria for our guests, and the one ingredient I really miss from North America is my vanilla extract. Here in Italy they use either whole vanilla beans which are sold in pairs, tiny bottles of vanilla essence, or they add vanilla flavor with the vanilla flavored baking...

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Rough Puff Pastry

Deborah — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:18:31 +0000

Although you now can buy already prepared really good quality puff pastry in many stores, it is one skill that is easily mastered and the results are worth the effort. Unfortunately, making puff pastry in the traditional manner is very time consuming though is best when making light and airy desserts. When you are making...

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