Sunday, May 13, 2012

The Pleasure of Herbs

Hope you all are having a wonderful Mother's Day!
Yes, I know..another book. I have entirely too many and some are useful and some aren't. This one I have already put to use though.
The Pleasure of Herbs has a rather odd way of presenting its information. It does it monthly. While I understand the concept of trying to make the book interesting, I think most people have an herb and just want to know how to use it and to do that with this book to find information on a specific herb you have to use its glossary. However, if you actually have time to browse through the book, you will find that there is a lot more to the book than that.
This isn't a "coffee table" book, there are no color pictures just black and white ink drawings which might have normally made me put the book back (I like pretty pictures!). But as I skimmed through the book I immediately saw a recipe I wanted to try, I then saw, some good tips on propagating herbs, a lathe house used for shade on hot summer days (we have plenty of those), herbal footbath, beautiful herb garden designs (even in black and white), starting from seed, herbal soaps, potpourri, rosemary cake etc.!
I got the book for $ .99.
Here is my first recipe from the book. You just can't go wrong with a bread made with cheese and bacon.

Quick Caraway Cheese Bread

4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups grated cheddar cheese (I had a mix of cheeses)
2/3 cup crumbled bacon
2 teaspoons caraway seeds

Grease bottom only of 2- 9x5x3  loaf pans (my loaf pans are larger than that so I used my long loaf pan). Mix together everything but the bacon, cheese and seeds, then mix them in. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans.
I wanted to add that after eating this, I was very surprised to find that you really couldn't taste the bacon at all. The caraway had a nice light taste to it though. I think next time instead of oil I will melt some bacon grease and grease the pan with bacon grease and see if I can add a bit more bacon-y flavor to it.

8 comments:

  1. Now this is a bread I could really enjoy. Thanks for the recipe, I'll be making this one soon.
    -K @ planningandforesight.blogspot.com

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  2. I love carraway in bread - really lovely flavour, I haven't made it with cheese and bacon as well so thanks for posting the recipe.

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  3. That looks so good!
    Going to have to try that :)
    Carolyn

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  4. I like the sound of the book - especially the herbal path. I often find that bread with things added doesn't taste like I would expect maybe my taste-buds are shot. Will have to give this one a go. Thanks for commenting over at my blog.

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  5. OK. Now try this: lightly toast a slice of your Caraway bread; add some thinly sliced Cheddar cheese; brown under the grill until the cheese is bubbly; serve sprinkled with chopped Chives or green onions. Does that sound any good?

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  6. Looks great! That book sounds like a great addition to the library!

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