Wildflowers are here and Blackberry Gingerbread is back!

The Manor is in bloom once again!  We have added a few new varieties--bluebonnets, larkspur, and phlox to our usuals of salvia, coreopsis, verbena, and lantana. The salvia is just beginning to get really thick and the others are coming along nicely.  We should have more as April progresses.





Blackberry Gingerbread is back!  This is one of my personal favorites and our guests enjoy it, too.  We'll be serving it as long as blackberries are in season.  Want to make your own?  The recipe is here.

Time for some Banana Muffins...

It can be a little harder to use fresh ingredients in the winter, but bananas are available year round, thankfully.  Try a muffin with your morning coffee to put a smile on your face for the day ahead.  

Banana Muffins:

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 large eggs

3/4 c. milk

2 t. vanilla

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 medium)

1 c. diced banana (1 medium)

1 c. chopped pecans

1 cup granola

1 c. unsweetened coconut flakes

Dried banana chips

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spray 12 jumbo muffin cups (2 pans) with non-stick spray.   Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment.  Add melted butter and blend. Combine eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed banana and add to flour/butter mixture.  Scrape bowl and make sure the ingredients are combined, but be careful not to overmix.  

Fold in diced bananas, granola, nuts, and coconut into the batter.  Spoon batter into the greased muffin cups.  Top with dried banana chips.  Bake for 25-35 minutes--until tops are slightly brown and a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool 5 minutes and remove from pan.

A couple of notes to help your muffins be the best:  

1.  The worst thing you can do is over mix the batter.  Muffin texture depends on the reaction of the wet ingredients with the rising agent (baking powder and soda in this case).  When you mix the batter too much, the reaction plays out before baking and your muffins will be flatter and heavier--not optimal.  Best to mix the dry ingredients well before adding the wet--the rising agent is activated by moisture.

2.  Be sure to remove the muffins from the pan after the 5 minutes they have cooled.  If you wait a lot longer, the sides will not have the crispy texture you want.  Muffins are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  If you leave them in the pan too long, they will have a soggier texture on the bottom--also not optimum.

We are so excited to be on the National Historic Register...

That was a BIG hurdle. Don't worry, I am still cooking, but I haven't posted recipes lately.  I will try to make up for that over the holidays.

Here are some of the recipes we have been testing:

• Plum cake--a definite winner and guest favorite.  This was a great addition to the August menu, when plums are in season.  We managed to keep making it through most of September with a bumper crop of plums to choose from.
• Baked eggs with bacon and hash browns.  Another crowd pleaser, and not really too difficult.  I had to play around with how to get the egg to come out the way I wanted, but I got it figured out.
• Holiday pumpkin cake with apples and cranberries.  This cake is not too sweet and not too pumpkiny, which Lee appreciates.
• Apple cake with cardamom.  This is one of Lee's favorites, along with the baked eggs.

Still to be tested this month:

• Avocado toast.  Yes, it is a food fad, but where would you serve avocado toast if not in Texas?
• Bacon and egg casserole with cream sauce.  It looks promising, but needs a little tweaking.
• Lemon raspberry tea bread.  The first go at this was a little dry.  The flavor was good, so I will adjust the proportions and have another stab at it.
• Upside-down cranberry cake, and that is all I have to say...

As always, when we test, there are some recipes that do not make the cut. Some of the ones that have not made it onto the B&B menu:

• Sausage rolls--the idea was like a savory cinnamon roll with sausage/cheese filling using a biscuit dough.  It was just blah, likewise the sausage apple quiche. Back to the drawing board on both these ideas.
• Beignet muffins--we visited New Orleans this summer and I thought it would be fun to make a muffin that tasted like a beignet and add a coffee glaze.  Not so much.  Here's the thing:  beignets are fried, that's why they are good.  Back to the drawing board on this one, too.

Summer Projects coming to a close...

My list was so long and I did not get them all done. Progress!

1. When your mother tells you not to put tape on the wall, please listen to her.  There was a wall in the kitchen that had tape and other adhesive products on the wall.  To make it even more of a challenge, some of the tape and other sticky stuff had been painted over.  It took a while, but I did manage to get the tape off and prime and paint the affected walls.  I am still working on the hinges and cabinets--I am expecting some soy stripping gel in the mail and I will let you know how that goes.
2. Laundry room, primed and painted--no more water stains!  New lights in the kitchen and laundry room coming soon...
3. Patio furniture repaired and painted.  Mostly done--I have one bench and one arch left to sand and paint.  The patio at The Manor is a very popular sitting area for guests and owners alike, so we are trying to keep it special!  We did have one setback when our porch swing suffered a fatal error.  Lee is working on it.  :)
4. Okay, so I tried waxing the wood floor in one area to test out the idea of waxing.  We have decided against it.  Both of us almost bit it multiple times.  Slick floor=bad idea.  I will continue to look for some way to improve the look of the floor and protect it that does not involve possible broken limbs. 
5. Finished cleaning hallway light globes, transoms, and paneling.  Perhaps finished is not the right word.  I did clean them, but as you know, they will need it again.  The transoms and hallways were part of the BIG summer clean.  As soon as it cools off, I am planning to do the windows--on the outside.
6. Best for last--Lee fixed Winged Victory and she is now in her forever home (we hope) in front of the Manor.  In the Spring, she was injured in an auto accident and one of her wings broke off.  She had now been restored to her former glory.  Big Thank you to Clarke and Lee.  :D

Free Walking Tour for Spring Ho...

Spring Ho is coming very soon!  You can see more about the week of festivities at the official Spring Ho page.  If you are interested in taking a walking tour of some of the landmarks of Lampasas, I will be offering free historical walking tours on Saturday, July 9 at 11:30 AM and Sunday, July 10 at 1 PM.  Meet me at the corner of 3rd and Live Oak.  The tour is about 1.5 km long and lasts about 45 minutes, depending on walking speed.  :)


The Keystone Museum will be open on Saturday, so after the tour, you can go in and get more information about some of the people and places we will talk about--you can even see photos.
I hope I will see you there.

The Manor in bloom...

Recent rains have really helped our landscape and wildflowers look their best.  Here are some of the things you can see blooming around the Manor grounds.

Make your own granola...

When guests come to the Manor, we like to make it special.  Breakfast is handmade with quality ingredients.  As much as possible, everything is made from scratch, even the granola. Lee gets to test all the recipes before the guests will ever try them, so don't worry!  Homemade granola contains a lot less sugar than the varieties you can buy in the store and you can add the ingredients you like best to make it something uniquely yours.  Here is the recipe I use--with a couple of variations.  But don't be limited by my imagination, you can add the nuts and dried fruit that you like best--just keep the proportions the same.





Lee's Favorite Granola

1 1/2 cups of pecans or pistachio nuts
1/3 c. maple syrup
3 2/3 c. rolled oats
3/4 c. pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1/2  c. sliced almonds
1/4 c. sugar--I use natural cane sugar
1 t. kosher salt
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. ginger
1/8 t. nutmeg
3/4 c. unsweetened flaked coconut
1/2 c. canola oil
1 c. dried cherries and snipped dried apricots

Heat the oven to 375.  Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.  If using pecans, toss with 1/2 the maple syrup and set aside.  Mix the dry ingredients in a  large bowl.  Add the syrup and oil and mix well, so that all the ingredients are moist.  Spread on to the baking sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes.  Stir and bake for 7-10 minutes more.  If using pecans, place them on top after stirring again and bake or one last 7-10 minute session.  If not, stir and bake for an additional 7-10 minutes. Watch your granola to make sure the coconut does not get too brown.
Let it cool and mix in the dried fruit.  Store in an air tight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks, but it won't last that long.  :)