Instructions: 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and season with salt and pepper. Saute the onions until soft, about 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and continue cooking until the onions turn a golden brown. Remove them from the heat and set them aside.

2. Place the pita breads on a baking sheet and brush each with olive oil.

Sprinkle each with the garlic powder and, if desired, Italian seasoning, then about 2 tablespoons of the mozzarella cheese. Top with a portion of the onions, then arrange the tomato slices on the pita. If desired, garnish with spinach in the center. Arrange four bacon slices on top of each pizza.

3. Bake the pizzas about 8 to 10 minutes or until the tomatoes begin to soften. Remove them from the oven and sprinkle each with about 3 tablespoons of the fontina cheese, or more if desired. Return them to the oven and bake them until the cheese melts. Remove the pizzas from the oven and serve.

BASIL

[[Spike reminds you that this herb is pronounced "BAZZ-il" not

"BASE-il."]]

This weeks look at whats new, mysterious or bountiful in the produce aisles.

If you were living on the planet Mars in the 1970s perhaps you did not know that pesto - a sauce made of basil, pine nuts, olive oil and Parmesan or pecorino cheese - held the United States in its thrall. In time, the overkill gave basil a bad name. This herb, a member of the mint family, has hundreds of uses that dont require you to beat it to a paste with pine nuts.

For purposes of limiting discussion, we will dwell here on Italian sweet basil, though there are dozens of varieties, topics for another day, which include Thai basil, purple basil and bush basil.

How to select: If you have basil plants in your yard or in a kitchen pot, do not pull the leaves from the plant when you harvest them. Instead, cut the stem with scissors, leaving behind 2 to 4 leaves. The pruned stem will grow again and give you more basil.

If you are buying basil, look for evenly colored leaves with no sign of wilting. Basil leaves are sold in packages or, increasingly, as a whole plant with roots attached.

How to store: Put the basil branches, stems down, in a glass of water. Cover the leaves with a plastic bag. Refrigerate for up to a week, changing the water daily.

How to prepare: Basil darkens quickly. So snip its leaves at the last minute and put them on pizzas or bruschetta, in cold summer soups or in pasta, Bloody Marys, sorbets and vinegars. Add leaves with other members of the mint family to salad greens. In fact, the hard part is not how to use basil in summer. The hard part is figuring out how to save some for winter. So . . .

How to preserve: If you harvest basil plants before the frost, you can enjoy this herb in the dead of winter. Finely chop the leaves and combine them with a small amount of olive oil. Freeze in tiny portions - even in a tightly covered ice cube tray - and use the mixture to enliven soups, sauces and dressings when the snow is on the ground.

[[Spike reminds you that planting basil among your roses will discourage aphids.]]

If you would like to email yourself the recipe for later use, or share the recipe with your friends or family, enter the email addresses below and this recipe will be emailed to you and others as well.