Wild Mild Minty Pansy

Pansies among many other botanicals are edible. They are beautiful and bright and add an interesting pizazz to your salad or refreshing beverage. Pansies have a very mild minty flavor. Adding chopped pansies to ice tea or lemonade would be delightful, even floating a few on top is lovely. Homegrown pansies are the best to use to assure they are pesticide free.

Pansy Strawberry Walnut Salad

3 cups your favorite salad greens

16 fresh strawberries, sliced

6 oz walnut halves

8 oz blue cheese (crumbles)

8 oz raspberry vinaigrette dressing

8 organic pansy blooms (6 chopped and 2 for on top, whole)

Toss and Serve

Bette Bette quite pretty how does your garden grow?

There's no better feeling than getting your hands in the Earth or at least I think so. I look forward to planting and gardening, it takes me away. I have not a care in the world. It's a time I can throw on my big floppy sun hat and gardening boots and use my shiny new tools. It's my out of body experience for sure.

The Wonders of Liquid Extracts

Last week I treated my co-workers to a little taste of what I do on a daily basis at home. I made several different flavored ice teas and bottled them up. They were intrigued by the beautiful glass bottles I used and the unique flavors. The teas were a huge hit. They are actually quite simple to make. I just used Lipton ice tea bags in fresh water then placed it in the sun for about an hour. I added simple sugar to the mix. Before pouring the tea in the bottles I used Nature's Wonderland Liquid Extract from a local business called Penn Herb Company in Northeast Philly. The flavors I used were Lavender, Green Tea, Lemon Balm, Vanilla, and Sweet Tea. Cheers, here's to summertime!

Blue Hue & The Tattoos

Kool-aid clearly does wonders for eggs. The hues here are bright, unique and textural. I added temporary tattoos to my eggs and I'm really happy with how they turned out. My eggs are far from perfect but I like their flaws and faults. To me it adds character and interest. Enhancing your eggs beauty by adding coordinating color bowls, dishes and flowers like the anemones I did here.

Nature Comes Alive...

I've always enjoyed Easter. The candy for one but mostly dying and decorating the eggs. It's always been another creative outlet. This year I thought I'd try something different. My daughters and I used kool-aid. The color was instant and bright. When they dried I used three dimensional botanical stickers. I think the results are really pretty, what do you think?

Millinery Style

Hats have always added pizazz to a woman's style but it has done much much more than that. A woman that wears a hat has an attitude, a swag about her. She has mystery and grace.

"Only women who are confident can pull off wearing a hat."
~Bette Bashwinger

"As soon as that hat touches your head, stand up straight, shoulders back, take a deep breathe and smile often and give an occasional wink, you will bring men to their knees."
~Bette Bashwinger

Sexy Red Velvet Sweets

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons buttermilk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon red food coloring

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 pound cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs 1 at a time. Then beat in the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and red food coloring. Once combined, add the dry ingredients to wet. Mix until thoroughly combined.
Onto a parchment lined sheet tray, drop batter using an ice cream scoop, forming 2-inch round circles.
Bake for 10 minutes, until baked through. Cookies should be cake-like and light. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.
Spread the cream cheese frosting between 2 cooled cookies.