Cooking with herbs is like icing a cake: it makes the dish complete. It may seem daunting at first.

There are so many herbs and so many recipes to choose from. And, while using recipes that include herbs is a good way to get started, the excitement comes when the unique flavor of each herb is understood and can be used to create your own special dish.

Whether you plant them or pick them up at the grocery store or farmers' market, adding fresh herbs is a quick way to transform ORDINARY meals into EXTRAORDINARY meals.

Besides helping flavor foods when cutting back on salt, fat and sugar, herbs may offer additional benefits of their own. Researchers are finding many culinary herbs (both fresh and dried) have antioxidants that may help protect against such diseases as cancer and heart disease.