FLOUR

     I have already told you how I bake quick breads to sell at farmers' markets in the summer.  The picture below gives you a little idea of what my kitchen table looks like at any given time on a baking day.  I have also given you the insight of how one of my acquired recipes and two cups of grated zucchini will get me a very popular breakfast/snack item.  What I haven't shared is just how many variations of zucchini bread there are.
    When I started this baking venture four summers ago, I chose to make the traditional zucchini favorite along with three or four different kinds of breads.  Some market days I would sell all the zucchini and some not as many.  I soon learned that not only was I making zucchini bread, but so were many others.  But a little reading and research led me to discover zucchini teams well with some fruits to make tasty combinations.  For instance, this summer I made Zucchini Banana Bread for the first time before attending one of my markets.  I only made three loaves of that recipe and all of them sold.  The very next week a lady who bought one came to my table to see what I was offering that day and said, "Girl, you're Zucchini Banana Bread was the bomb!"  So of course that response encouraged me to try other variations like Zucchini Blueberry, Zucchini Pineapple, Chocolate Zucchini, and Apple Zucchini.  And yes, like I have already written, zucchini and honey pair well to make a delicious bread.  Zucchini also is fabulous with the additions of chopped pecans or walnuts, cinnamon and/or nutmeg, raisins or cranberries.  For the sweetener in the traditional recipe, I have also swapped white sugar for brown sugar, or used a half and half mixture of both.
     Other bread combinations can be made with banana, like Blueberry Banana or Chocolate Chip Banana. Also I have read several recipes where lemon juice and lemon zest are added or stand out as the main ingredient.  So try something new like I did.  Doing so has increased the interest in my breads, so I really appreciate that.  I guess variety really is the spice of life.
     

Baking Day

 

     These two muffins at left are from a batter made with, wait for it....... ice cream and self-rising flour!  That's it, that's all there is to it.  One cup of melted vanilla ice cream and one cup of self-rising flour will make this recipe.  The down side, as you can probably guess, is that you won't get many muffins.  This batch made five.  Had I been more careful I probably would have gotten a half dozen.  
     These muffins are naturally white from their ingredients with just a tinge of browning.  Their flavor is very much like vanilla ice cream.  I found the recipe in Frederica Fare, Favorite Recipes and Historical Sketches from St. Simons and the Golden Isles of Georgia.  The recipe suggests vanilla ice cream, but does add that you could use your favorite flavor.  I believe these vanilla muffins or some made with strawberry or chocolate ice cream would be scrumptious for a bridal shower, luncheon, or brunch served with a fruit butter.



& FLOWER 

    The picture at left has in it a patch of blue salvia on the right and a bit of chrysanthemum on the left.  But look closely in the center.  There for all the world to see is a green plant with sword-like leaves protruding out from its central stem.  This my friends is a Mexican Petunia.  I purchased this type of petunia some 12 years ago when I was trying to establish my perennial bed at the front of our house.  I remember the plant marker referring to the bluish trumpet-like blooms that would accompany it and they would attract hummingbirds, which at the time was a plus to me.  I also remember reading that the plant would fill in well and, as a perennial, would naturally return year after year, again a plus.  What I either neglected to believe or consider at the time was that it could be aggressive, meaning it would spread and then some.  But boy did I learn, and quickly!
     This Mexican Petunia is aggressive and invasive.  As a matter of fact, I returned to the garden center where I purchased it to learn more.  I was told this business sold it years ago until they learned how aggressive and invasive it is.  I have been pulling the plant by the roots for years.  New plants quickly form in a cluster around a pervading plant until you have an entire colony.  Just when I think I have rid my bed of this creature, it comes back to wave at me the following summer.  For a while I did enjoy it with its blue/purple blooms that even though lasted for just a day, quickly came back in other areas.  And yes, the hummingbirds and also butterflies love this plant.  The Mexican Petunia is obviously hardy in my area of Southeast Missouri.  It took to my newly developed perennial bed years ago and apparently loves this well-tended area with its now nourished and heavily mulched soil.  This plant can grow in wet as well as dry areas.  Varying weather conditions have not deterred its survival either as it has returned the following summers after many winter snows and a horrid ice storm in 2009.
     So as I continue to try and rid my perennial habitat of this disagreeable vegetation by yanking out it out by its roots, and try to beat its exploding seed pods,  I do want to be honest and let you know that there are a few non-invasive varieties.  Steve Bender of The Daily South named three of these in a 2012 article entitled, "One More Summer Sizzler - Mexican Petunia."  Known as The Grumpy Gardener, Bender suggested these varieties: "Katie," "Purple Showers," and/or "Carolina wild petunia."
     So I hope you are anxious about your gardening as I am, but in a good way.  Don't let your anxiety take over and keep you from reading and discerning necessary information about what you want to plant.  Instead be anxious about watching something grow, produce, and mature into a beautiful flowering shrub, vegetable, fruit, or flower.  Revel in the bright colors and the joy it brings.  Isn't that what gardening is all about?

    

FLOUR

     I must admit, I am still learning about herbs.  I remember as a child in our house, we did not use much more than salt and pepper as seasonings for our food.  Onion was also a go-to source of flavor.  Dill was in pickles.  Horseradish was in sauce.  I have always heard of chamomile tea, but have never had it. Lavender was a flower. Chives were fancy little bits of green on one's restaurant-baked potato. Mint we put in our iced tea and parsley adorned one's plate.  When I was about 10, I became friends with a next-door neighbor whose family was Italian.  Eating at her house expanded my knowledge of herbs to basil, oregano, garlic, rosemary, bay leaf, and FLAT leaf parsley.  What wonderful aromas came from her kitchen!  When I began cooking I followed recipes that included herbs until I got comfortable enough to experiment on my own......and that process is ongoing.  Yes, I have had to throw out a mistake or two when adding way more sage, or tarragon, or dill than necessary, but that's how you learn...by doing. 

English Thyme

     Another thing I have learned about herbs is that there are recipes for the quick breads that I like to bake that include herbs.  The photo at right is a Lemon-Thyme Tea Bread, made from a recipe taken from a 2013 Special Collector's Edition of Taste of Home magazine.  Those tiny green pieces you see are what's harvested from plants like the above English Thyme plant.  This recipe uses either 1 tablespoon of minced fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme.  The bread is described as "pound cake-like bread," and I can attest to that being true.  It basically comes together fairly easily mixing the butter/sugar/egg combination with the dry, alternating with some milk that has been warmed with the thyme. Lemon juice and peel are added at the end, resulting in a fresh  tasting sweet bread with a slight earthy fragrance. For the recipe go to www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/lemon-thyme-tea-bread.




& FLOWER 

     Continuing with herbs, when I saw this plant at left at a local garden center, the tag said "Orange Mint."  I was intrigued.  I am still experimenting and researching ways to use herbs, but honestly I acquired this plant just because of its scent and foliage.  If one enjoys growing plants, I believe we choose them for first how they look and then our other senses take over; predominantly smell, touch, and taste.  I know I am a strong visual learner, so it makes sense that I would choose a plant over how it looks, which is actually how I was introduced to mint at a young age.  Then my sense of smell took over and the orange scent captivated me. Orange mint is good to put in beverages as garnish and for flavor.
     I also have varigated pineapple mint that is growing in my perennial bed and works as an edging.  The second photo is my chocolate mint.  It actually does smell and taste like chocolate and the plant stems are dark.
   

Chocolate mint

Peppermint plant

     The photo at the right is a peppermint plant.  I also have a spearmint one.  As I said in my bread story above, my first knowledge of mint was that it was only put in iced tea.  I remember my mom was so taken with how pretty it was and the smell it exuded when you brushed by it or just simply touched it, that she planted some in a flower bed.  She soon learned of its desire to move in and become part of our family.....haha...and it was spearmint.  Mint is worthy of its aromatic abilities, but will quickly takeover a flower bed or wherever you plant it if not kept in check.  Luckily that is easy to do as it can be either be dug or just pulled out to share with friends or snipped and started in pots.  It will even root in water.  Notice mine are in pots.
     If you enjoy foliage and floral scent in your plants like me, here are two sites from which I have reacquainted myself with mint: www.almanac.com/plant/mint and www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/herbs/mint/growing-spearmint-plants.htm.