"It takes all kinds," was one way my dad would occasionally describe different people.  I thought of his statement recently when a potential customer stopped at my table at a farmers' market where I am a vendor.  "I suppose all of this is made with sugar," she asked?  I responded with a yes.  She went on to say, "Sugar is about the worst thing we can put in our bodies.  If you just have to do this, I wish you would use something else!" She then walked away and I spent the next few minutes picking my jaw up off the ground.  I was not offended by her remarks.  To each his own, right?  But.....if I had been quicker, I would have told her that I have made quick breads with sugar substitutes before and had very little success in selling them.  Actually a few weeks later, the same woman stopped again, whereupon I took the opportunity to say that I did have -- that day -- two banana loaves that had been made with stevia.  She replied, "Okay."  She then said, "I don't see anything I want.  Thank you." Wondering again what just happened, suddenly I believed I knew.  No, I do not think I have to make every sale, but there was definitely more to this story.  Perhaps this woman didn't know about stevia.
     Stevia is a calorie-free sweetener that can be substituted for sugar using a one-to-one ratio. It is a natural substitute because it comes from the leaves of a plant and is related to some garden flowers like the chrysanthemum.  I purchase a brand of stevia from our local retail department store where I have also bought other sweetener types suitable for consumption by diabetics.
     As I have already stated, I have made quick breads before by making the switch to a sugar equivalent.    When I took them to farmers' markets and spoke of the use of a sweetener, I got comments like, "I don't like that stuff," or "I don't want that."  So for the sake of passing along information, I will report here about my baking banana bread this week.  I made four regular loaves, two with stevia, and two with stevia and a substitution of gluten-free flour for regular flour.  They were all made with the same recipe.  I chose to use stevia over another sugar substitute because I like knowing it is a natural replacement.

     In the photo at far left is Gluten-free Banana with stevia.  I included a gluten-free variety so anyone contemplating giving up gluten could see that they can still have baked goods.  Yay!!  With the use of stevia, the bread is slightly sweet.  The gluten-free flour gives it more of a grainy texture and the bread basically keeps the same "look" the batter had when you spooned it into your pan.  It does not puff and mound over the top like regular bread.  If you want your gluten-free finished product to appear similar to the regular loaf in the center, it is best to use a spatula to smooth out the top.  I did not do this so one could see how the dough pretty much stays exactly how it was before baking.  It did achieve a smidge of golden color while in the oven.
     In the center is a loaf of my regular banana bread using white sugar.  The only alteration I make to this recipe now is to use a scant cup (about 7/8) instead of a full cup of sugar.  Bananas are naturally sweet anyway, so an entire cup of sugar makes it too sweet!  This bread always browns nicely and rises in the oven making a rounded top.  It is the sweetest of the three loaves.
     At far right is Banana bread with just the exchange of stevia for sugar.  You can see when compared to the regular loaf in center, it does puff and mound over partially -- just not as much.  There are also more cracks in the stevia loaf and its color is slightly dark, but not as dark as the regular.  It still makes a tasty loaf though.
     So all I'm asking is please be open to different tastes.  Change can be a good thing!  Besides using sugar alternatives, I have substituted honey as a sweetener in my baking.  You could also use Agave syrup, Maple Syrup, and Molasses as well.  You might be pleasantly surprised at a new taste discovery!  Because you know, it does take all kinds.
    

     I was told this is a garden spider, although I have never had one attach itself to one of my potted plants that live on my porch for the summer.  Its web was very intricate, much prettier than I have seen.  A friend told me later that it was a Golden Silk spider that is nonpoisonous and spins beautiful webs.  I felt honored and continually learn something new every day! 

     The yellow round object attached to the branch in the photo at right is a quince.  I honestly had to remember what the shrub was first!  My gosh, I get so busy just trying to keep up with watering and seeing that things look healthy sometimes their names escape me!  But I did not know that a flowering quince would produce fruit.  And.....this is the first one that I have seen and it is the only one.  We have had this shrub 15 years.

     This purple beauty lives behind our daughter's house.  I am not familiar with its name, but it is a great attraction to butterflies that fly from wildflower to wildflower in that meadow.  What you are seeing is only its top half as I am guessing this shrub (?) is about five feet tall.  I wonder if the insect world thinks the end-of-summer flowers are some terrific banquet prepared for them.

     Morning Glories were one of my grandmother's favorite flowers.  She liked their trumpet shape and their varying colors.  Very early in the morning or in the late evening one could always find Grandma sitting in a lounge chair on her back screened-in porch.  There she would drink her coffee and look out on her morning glories climbing her fence.  They made her very happy.

     This yellow blooming stalk of flowers is a variety of goldenrod.  For years I was under the assumption that it was the cause of my late summer and early fall allergy problems.  However, I have learned differently.  Goldenrod blooms either in late summer or early fall, depending on where one lives, and as in this photo, is very noticeable.  But also blooming and releasing pollen at this time is ragweed, a very dull greenish-gray plant in comparison. So this appears to be a case of believing one to be the culprit because it stands out (goldenrod), and overlooking the real trouble maker (ragweed).  Apparently goldenrod has very little and is only pollinated by insects.  Its worst characteristic is that it spreads aggressively.  The car ride my family took many years ago when I was very young remains a vivid memory to me.  The temperatures were cooler and we traveled that day with the windows mostly down.  However pleasant it started out to be quickly changed when my dad started sneezing-----terrifically, to where each ah-choo almost drove us off the road!  My mom told us to roll up the windows to help him out, which was disappointing,  She said the tall yellow flowers were making him sneeze.  How I wish he were here to tell him what I have learned!