Herb of the day: Cilantro

When you're eating healthy, you need to infuse your foods with flavor that doesn't come primarily from butter, sugar, and salt (although those are my 3 favorite food groups!). Chad and I are huge fans of lots of flavor, and my 2 staple seasonings of choice are onion and garlic. I use them in practically all of my cooking. But my 3rd favorite herb is definitely cilantro. I was introduced to this plant as an adult, and suddenly felt that I had been cheated up until that point. Mexican food, for one, is a whole new experience now!

If you've never bought fresh cilantro before, it has wide delicate lacy green leaves and a pungent flavor (it looks a lot like parsley, and they'll be next to each other in the grocery section). It cost about 50 cents per bundle. (The seed of the cilantro plant is known as coriander, and you'll sometimes hear the names used interchangeably). How do you use it? Well, a lot of Mexican and Caribbean dishes taste amazing with a little chopped cilantro on top (sprinkle it in your taco or on your spicy soup). And how do you get that classic Asian salad flavor? All you need is fresh cilantro and a great Asian dressing (I really like Kraft's Asian Toasted Sesame dressing). Seriously, even if all you have is lettuce to put it on--you'll get the great flavor you're after (of course, it's best if you have shredded cabbage, julienned carrots, mandarin oranges, snow peas, and chicken breast...but whatever you have on hand will work!).

So, if you haven't experienced it yet, get some! To keep it fresh the longest, store it in the refrigerator with cut ends in a jar of water and leaves loosely covered with a plastic bag for several days. Change water every 2 days.