Holiday Timesavers

Herbs, Appetizers, and Cookies

A stemware glass shows
off your food.

Help with Herbs

You can't beat the flavor of fresh herbs. But when fresh herbs aren't available or you're too busy to clean and snip them, dried herbs make convenient stand-ins. Substitute dried herbs for fresh (and vice versa) by using 1 teaspoon dried mild-flavor herb (basil, mint, oregano, and savory) for 1 tablespoon snipped fresh herb. For stronger-flavored herbs, such as dillweed, marjoram, rosemary, sage, tarragon, and thyme, use 1/2 teaspoon dried herb for each tablespoon of fresh. If you're adding a ground form of a dried herb, use even less.

Impromptu Appetizers

Layer three ingredients -- olives, marinated feta cheese cubes, and marinated artichoke hearts - in a stemware glass dish.

Dress up a brie round.

Cut a Brie round into five wedges. Top each wedge with kumquat slices, champagne grapes, edible flowers, and sprigs of herbs.