Flour and Flower(s)

I figured it was time for me to blog about the 2 things my blog says it is about, flour and flowers.

This week we had the pleasure of hosting 2 college girls who are on tour with their women's choir.  They are an 80 voice choir from Riverside, CA, California Baptist University. I have never had anyone stay at my house that I didn't know - I was hesitant at first for that reason. I finally decided that I needed to be open to change, step outside my comfort zone and figure out how to be a good host.  Of course food immediately came to mind - what would I feed them?  I have been searching for a yeast bread recipe for cinnamon bread so this was the time to try a new one. I have one from The Pioneer Woman blog which is quite tasty but it never comes out right. It is usually gummy in the middle and if I bake it longer the outside is tough. I tried the new recipe and it wasn't too bad. I don't like raisins very much so I put in dried cherries instead. I have a habit of changing recipes to suit my taste. I made one loaf plain and one with cherries. It is pretty good toasted with cream cheese spread on it.

 

So here it is before I made it into loaves. Smothered with butter, cinnamon and sugar - mmmm!
 And below - the finished product. Looks lovely right?

 I also made a batch of brownies. I used my tried and true recipe from my 35 year old BHG cookbook, but I added chopped pecans and peanut butter chips. Like I said, I like to modify my recipes and they usually turn out great.

As it turns out the girls loved the brownies but rather than worry about toasting the bread and all that, I got out some scones that I had in the freezer and they were a hit as well. With those I had put in the dried cherries instead of raisins and  added almond flavor and lemon zest. I served sliced honey crisp apples and fresh apricots with honey and cream cheese/marshmallow cream for dipping. It was a hit with the girls. I guess I can be a good host after all. I'm glad we agreed to do it. I would have liked more time to learn more about them, but they were on the road again at 8 the next day.

And now for the Flower part of my blog.  The spring flowers are dying out but now my summer stuff is starting to show itself.  I had one last light blue iris that bloomed this week. It is just lovely.

 

A new lily bloomed for the first time on May 14th, my Daddy's birthday. He would have been 88.

 We miss him like crazy :-( Whenever this flowers, I'll think of him.

 

 

 Now the Gerber daisies are getting into the act. These are 2 of my favorite colors. I had a really pretty orange one in a bright blue pot in my front yard and someone stole the whole thing. How mean!  That was for the whole neighborhood to enjoy, not just one selfish person.  Oh well, I hope they really, really like it cuz I sure did.

 

So now I have shared Flour and Flowers like I said I would!