A new found love called Basil

I have a new found love called Basil.  No, not this Basil although he does look quite handsome and debonair doesn't he?.

My basil, is fresh, fragrant and tastes delicious!  I know, you are probably saying what's so new and exciting about basil?  I used to think the same thing and my dates with basil consisted mainly of marinera sauce and pasta or pesto.  So the last week as I was chopping up some fresh strawberries I looked over at basil and and though "why not?".  I picked off a few leaves and tore them into bits and added them right in to the strawberries.

Wow!  This is truly a pairing made in heaven.  The flavors complement and enhance each other in a most delicious way.  The I began to think about how else I could use the fresh basil leaves.  Here are a couple ideas I found were also quite delicious.  Add some fresh basil leaves to toasted sprouted wheat bread with some coconut or olive oil drizzled on top.  So yummy!  And for breakfast put bits of basil leaves on your fried egg over toast. Mmmm!

I was curious if there were any unusual basil recipes out there and I found a few that I must try sometime soon.

The Pioneer Woman's newest cookbook Food From My Frontier has a Peach-Basil Ice Cream Topping recipe that sounds simply amazing.  You can also use fresh basil to make herbal sugar.  This sounds delicious for baking.

On the Farmer's Nest blog there is this recipe for Sweet Basil Fruit Dip.

How do you use basil?  Have any recipes or ideas to share?  Love to hear about them!