My mother always had an herb garden. The aroma of fresh basil, chives, oregano and parsley is incredible. And when you're growing these herbs yourself, you can have all different kinds of varieties, like purple basil, that you won't find in the grocery store.

But herbs grow fast, and sometimes, you find yourself with more fresh herbs than you know what to do with them. These recipes can help. I'll show you how to put those fresh herbs to good use in new ways:

Make an herb-infused oil. - Take 2-3 sprigs each of rosemary, oregano and thyme and place them in a 12 oz. glass bottle. Add 1-2 cloves of garlic if you like. Pour extra virgin olive oil over the herbs to cover, and seal the bottle. Let it marinate in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Use within 3 days as a drizzling sauce for Italian bread (or any crusty bread), on pasta, as a finishing oil for fresh fish or chicken or as a salad dressing.

Put them in an omelette. - One of my favorite omelette ideas is to add 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh herbs to the egg mixture. This can serve as the omelette all by itself, or you can fill it with cheese. Combinations like fresh parsley, chives and thyme work really well.

Stir into spaghetti sauce. - Fresh herbs are a wonderful addition to tomato sauce. Herbs like oregano, basil, parsley, garlic scapes (also sometimes called green garlic) and thyme work well. Be sure to chop the herbs finely. Add them to the sauce at the end of cooking.

Make pesto. - Basil pesto is, of course, the classic use for fresh basil. But you can also make parsley pesto, cilantro pesto, even fresh mint pesto. Simply swap out the basil for the other fresh herbs. Try adding fresh lemon zest and different nuts. Toasted walnuts work great with parsley and cilantro. Almonds work well with mint. Experiment with your favorite flavors.

Add them to a salad. - Simply roughly chop your fresh herbs and add them to the salad as you would any other greens.

Make a flavored butter. - You've probably mixed butter with either dried or fresh herbs to rub under a turkey's skin on Thanksgiving. That is a flavored butter or compound butter, and basically, you can make it with any kind of fresh herbs. Just chop 2 to 4 Tbsp. of fresh herbs and mix with 1/4 cup of softened butter. Roll into a log, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until you're ready to use. You can then cut the herb butter into slices and use on steamed vegetables, bread, fish, chicken, steak, really anything.

Make an herb mayonnaise - Stir 1 Tbsp. of finely-chopped basil, cilantro, thyme or rosemary into 1/4 cup mayonnaise. Use it as a spread for paninis and sandwiches.

Stir into muffins, scones or quick breads. - Take a basic muffin, scone or cornbread recipe, and add 1-2 Tbsp. of finely-chopped fresh herbs to the batter. Chopped fresh cilantro tastes great with cornbread. Chopped fresh rosemary and lemon basil are great with scones and muffins.

Use as a garnish for soups, pasta, chicken or fish.