A couple of weeks ago, I shared with you an idea for a potted herb plant as a special “name card” for your dinner guests, as well as serving as a gift to take home. Today, I share with you a purpose for using stems of your rosemary plant to create miniature wreaths and a shrimp skewers. I have a few large rosemary plants in my backyard that a household of two cannot keep up with and decided to use them for two creative ways. Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs, the aroma has a bold pine scent that pairs well with a lot of hearty dishes or as an accent to your floral arrangement.

These pint-sized rosemary wreaths are charming and a nice accent for dinning alfresco. I made four in just a few minutes and the best part is the scent that the rosemary oil leaves your fingers. Simple joys.

Rosemary Wreaths:

To create the wreaths you will need to first forage your rosemary, wash and pat dry. Use a 24 gauge floral wire in green, the green will blend with the color of the rosemary. Use your fist and wrap around the wire to create a circle, twist the two ends together to create a circle. Then start forming rosemary to your circle shape, if the rosemary is still slightly wet, it will bend a lot better, use small pieces of wire to secure rosemary to wreath. A small wreath will take about 3-4 stems of rosemary. Finish your wreath with a name tag, if you have handwriting like me, just use letter stamps to create an elegant look.

You can also use lavender, mint, thyme sage and other herbs. When the party is over I  would hang the wreath on a bottle neck and allow the herbs dry out and use them on roasted red potatoes.

Rosemary sprigs are pulling double duty on this recipe, acting as a flavor agent and as a skewer, the results are pretty tasty and the presentation is beautiful.

Rosemary Shrimp Skewers:

Gather rosemary sprigs, a 5 inch stem can hold about 3 shrimp. Wash, pat dry rosemary, and by running your fingers down the opposite direction of the natural direction of the rosemary you can easily remove the rosemary from the stem. Leave about an inch at the top. Set aside rosemary skewers.

Marinate your shrimp. I prefer a little olive oil, sea salt, red pepper, lemon zest, lots of fresh minced garlic, and fresh chopped parsley.

Skewer your shrimp, place on a medium-hot grill and cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Serve with grilled veggies, quinoa salad and a Rosé or Shiraz. Delish!