Herbs, Honey, Bread & Butter

I look forward to our Wednesday evening home group. This week it is our turn to bring snacks. I don't know why I ponder over what to bring. I'm sure whatever I bring, the people are so sweet that they will eat it anyway.

Last week during our Home Economics class, Sarah and I baked some homemade bread. This bread was by far the best we have ever baked. The recipe is a keeper for sure. We got the recipe while watching the video "Homestead Blessings: The Art of Bread Making".

So I decided to bake bread for our home group. Here's an excerpt of the video.

Here's how our bread turned out. Of course we melted butter on our :)

Also, I managed to find fresh herbs really cheap in my area. I decided to make herb butter to go with it. Since my husband has a little sweet tooth (which I always cater too), I decided to make some honey butter as well.

Herb Butter

Herb Butter is fairly simple to make. You use 1 stick of butter. 3 teaspoons of your favorite fresh herbs. I like to use 3 different herbs. I also add a tablespoon of shredded Parmesan cheese; it's optional. Mix it on high with a hand blender until well blended.

Honey Butter

Honey Butter is just 2 ingredients: 1 stick of butter and 1/4 cup of honey. We like the taste of clover honey, so that's what I use.

I love to put my butters in small canning jars.

As the weather starts to warm up, I'm reminded that nothing compares to bread baking in the oven. Soon, I won't be able to crank that oven on. I'm enjoying it now while there's still a cool breeze today. Someday, I look forward to my grandchildren enjoying my fresh baked breads that I made for their mother and father when they were younger.

Home-Baked Bread

by Sally Croft

"Nothing gives a household a greater sense of stability and common comfort than the aroma of cooking bread. Begin, if you like, with a loaf of whole wheat, which requires neither sifting nor kneading, and go on from there to more cunning triumphs."
-The Joy of Cooking

What is it she is not saying?
"Cunning triumphs". It rings
Of insinuation. Step into my kitchen,
I have prepared a cunning triumph
for you. 

Spices and herbs
sealed in this porcelain jar,

a treasure of my great-aunt
who sat up past midnight
in her Massachusetts bedroom
when the moon was dark. Come,
rest your feet. 

I'll make
you tea with honey and slices

of warm bread spread with peach butter,

still fresh with dew. The fragrance
is seductive? I hoped you would say that.
See how the heat rises
when the bread opens. 

Come, we'll eat together, the small flakes

have scarcely any flavor. What cunning
triumphs we can discover in my upstairs room
where peach trees breathe their sweetness
beside the open window and
sun lies like honey on the floor.