Going to school, garlic has practically molded to me like another piece of my body. Being of Italian descent also, garlic is an essential ingredient in all our cooking.

Garlic in it's natural state is the way garlic should be used, not by trying to replace it with garlic powder. The dish and the taste is just not the same. For example, a very simple recipe for garlic bread would be to rub a clove of garlic on the bread or pass the garlic through a garlic press and sprinkle on top, drizzle extra virgin olive oil, a touch of salt and pepper and broil in the oven for a couple of minutes. It you substitute the clove for powder, the taste is much saltier and the full flavor of the garlic is not achieved.

A suggestion, take a whole head of garlic, skin on and cloves attached, cut the top so that you can see the tips of the garlic cloves, drizzle olive oil and salt and pepper on the top, wrap in aluminum foil and let cook in the oven for about 20 minutes. Voila, roasted flavored garlic ready to use anytime. Push out roasted cloves from the skin and store in a jar of Olive Oil.

Remember, garlic is great for helping with high cholesterol. Eat it straight or using garlic supplements helps a lot. They come in garlic capsules or even garlic tablets.