November Meeting

We met a Kathy's house this month (Thanks Kathy!). Jeanne made a delicious Pumpkin soup with mexican cinnamon. I made cinamon sugared bacon sticks (which were great crumbled on the soup!) I was fascinated by the different smells of the cinnamons (Saigon vs. Mexican). Marie taught us how to make cinnamon (or any spice) ornaments and warned against grinding cinnamon in a spice grinder. We drank Chai tea and Kathy taught us about the health benefits of Comfrey and Calendula. I even got to take a Comfrey leaf home to play with. (I did boil it and now have those healing juices in a jar.) I have to admit I have not put it on my face as of yet. It's supposed to heal rosacia.
Next month (Jan.) we meet at an Indian restaurant in Clifton to taste Indian spices. That should heat us up during these cold winter months! See you there!

Bits and Pieces

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We also discussed the "herb wall" at Cincinnati Nature Center and upcoming programs. More info at http://www.cincynature.org/

Marie told us about Lloyd's Library and what it had to offer. Check out the link- it looks fascinating! http://www.lloydlirary.org/

This is the link to Lewis Mtn. Herbs: http://www.bright.net/~mtherbs/ Their herb festival is 10/13-14

http://www.herbsspice.com/ is De Stewarts website. He has a vinegar class 10/15 at Cookware's.

http://www.penzeys.com/ is a link for Penzeys' spice catalog

Lemon Tea Bread

Butter a 9x5x3 loaf pan & Preheat oven to 325

3/4 cup milk
Add 2 tsp. EACH finely chopped lemon balm, lemon thyme and lemon verbena. Heat milk (not boiling) with chopped herbs and let it steep until cool.
Mix in a small bowl:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking POWDER
1/2 tsp. salt

In another bowl:
Add 6 Tbsp. butter,room temp. Cream butter
Mix in 1 cup sugar until lt. and fluffy
Add 2 eggs, beaten 1 at a time and
1 Tbsp. of lemon zest
Add flour mixture, alternatively with cooled herbed milk
Mix until just blended and pour into prepared pan
Bake at 325 for about 50 min. until a tooth pick in the center comes out clean.
Remove from pan and place on wire rack to cool.
Lemon Glaze-
Juice of 2 lemons and confection sugar. Add enough sugar until thick,smooth but still pourable. Pour over lemon cake while it is still hot on a wire rack over wax paper. Then let it cool.
Top with a few sprigs of lemon time.
(From Herbal Friends of Clermont Cookbook)

Our First Meeting

We met 9/30 at Jeanne's house. It felt more like a retreat than a home! Marie opened the meeting by sharing Blackberry wine by Orchard Mountain Premium. Wonderful! I made an appetizer - onion thyme tart. Marie brought fig, olive and walnuts on goat cheese drizzled with balsamic vinegar and placed on her homemade bread - yum-.........and that was how we started the meeting! We discussed how we wanted the meetings to run and what should or shouldn't go on the blog. We also discussed whether to rename the group. IF there is another group by this name PLEASE let me know. I couldn't locate it via goggle or yahoo. We discussed maybe one actually having more people from various areas get involved or subdividing into "chapters" - so the name is as big as our dream! (I voted Ohio herb club and naturally I was told "no".)
Jeanne made a great vegatable beef soup with bay leaves and served BAY LEAF chocolate pudding. Kathy made a delicious lemon tea bread- featuring lemon balm, lemon verbena and lemon thyme (Recipe to follow). We discussed 3 herbs: thyme, bay leaves and lemon balm. We also discussed upcoming events like 10/13-14 at Lewis Mtn. Herbs and the Black Walnut festival in Oct. up near Oxford.
I gave everyone a sample of Arbonne's herbal soak and enjoyed the spider crawling down my shoulder as I read off the ingredients. Really gave that "natural" feel to it all.......
Marie brought Benedictine (which is the "other B" in a B&B mixed drink). She explained that thyme is the principle ingredient and the history of the beverage. She also explained the medicinal benefits of drinking it.
Our next meeting is 11/11/07 at 2pm at Kathy's. Kathy will be presenting Comfry and Calendula- medicinal herbs and Marie is teaching us how to make cinnamon ornaments. Jeanne and I will supply cinnamon based appetizer and dessert.

Easy herb bread

This is so easy and quick! It came from a cooking class with Dan Berger.

Easy Herb Bread:
Take a refrigerated roll of loaf bread, like Pillsbury. Bake according to directions BUT subtract 5 min. from bake time. (So IF it says bake 20 min., pull it out at 15 min.) Drizzle EVOO on the top sprinkle your favorite herb (I like rosemary) with Kosher salt. Return and finish baking (the other 5 min.) Easy and great with soups. Tastes like you went to a lot more trouble than you did!

Welcome To Our Cincinnati Herb Club!

We are a group of people who want to learn about the wonderful world of herbs - one herb at a time. Our goal is to use more herbs for cooking enhancements and health. We hope to learn how to grow a variety of herbs in our gardens as well.
Our first meeting will be at Jeanne's house on Sunday September 30th - 5pm! Jeanne is making soup-yum! Please email me, Karen, for directions oslerfamily@fuse.net

Jeanne and I are also planning to attend a wreath making class using herbs on 10/10 at 7pm through the Forest Hills School District. Susan Christin-Foy is the instructor (excellent!) and the cost is $45. To download a brochure go to http://www.foresthills.edu/ click on the left hand side that says "Community" to download the brochure.

Also check out Rita Heikenfeld's website http://www.abouteating.com/ as she is our herbal guru.