Tuesday's Tip

Today's tip is one of my all time favorites: eat more garlic.

Really, is there ever enough garlic? My husband says he learned to love garlic in self defense. I'm sure he's glad he did. That whole loaf of bread, jug of wine, and thou thing is missing a small bowl of olive oil and some crushed garlic.

But garlic does more than excite my taste buds and ward off vampires. It helps fight infection and stimulates the immune system. It was even used during both World Wars to help fight off gangrene. It's good for your cholesterol levels and can help you avoid blood clots. All this and awesome flavor as well.

If you want to read more about garlic's health benefits, check here and here and here.

If you need more ways to eat garlic, check here and here.

But one of the best and easiest ways to enjoy garlic is to roast it. It makes the flavor a little milder and the texture good for spreading. I ran across this cool idea:

Roasted Garlic Recipe

1 Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2 Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.

3 Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.

4 Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.

Eat as is (I love straight roasted garlic) or mash with a fork and use for cooking. Can be spread over warm French bread, mixed with sour cream for a topping for baked potatoes, or mixed in with Parmesan and pasta.

Does that sound yummy or what? I may have to make some garlic mashed potatoes tomorrow with some roasted garlic.

How do you eat your garlic?