Sorry to hear your going through a rough time lpinkmountain, but what a thoughtful and nice thing for your friend to do! From all the wonderful things I have heard about Penzeys, I wish we had one hear in Canada.
Keep thinking positive thoughts, and I am sure things will get better for you soon....I am crossing my fingers!!
Shelley

Hey, L, I got a free coupon for that Mural of Flavor and I like it a lot on just plain chicken and it was nice in the quinoa salad I had a few weeks ago too. The others I haven't had a chance to try yet.

I can tell you I don't need rosemary, though. Remember that rosemary wreath you sent me when Dad passed away? It had a tag on it with a quote from Shakespeare about "rosemary, for remembrance". It was a lovely thought, and I thank you very much for propping me up during a very dark time for me.

Anyway.....I sprayed it a couple of times a week to keep it fresh and my living room smelled marvelous for quite a while. Then I stripped it all off the stems and put it in a big bag. I kept the stems too, for skewers:

That's one of those big gallon sized bags and a 2 quart bowl, so you can see I have LOTS of rosemary. Want me to send you some?

Annie

LPink, got to love good friends who have great timing. What a nice gift that I'm sure you will put to good use.

Ann

OK, I need seasoning mix recipes and Annie needs rosemary recipes! And we all need the economy to turn around, although my field is always skimpy.
:)

Oddly enough I'm sitting here at my desk with this recipe book open - "The Herbal Pantry" by Emelie Tolley.

Orange Rosemary Syrup

3 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup fresh rosemary
15 juice oranges
5 cups sugar

Bring water to a boil in non-aluminum saucepan. Pour over the rosemary and let steep 1 hour. Strain.
Remove the zest from 5 of the oranges and set aside, then squeeze the juice into a large bowl. Set a strainer over the bowl and put the zest in it. Combine the rosemary infusion and the sugar and boil until you have a heavy syrup. Pour the boiling syrup over the zes and let drain into the orange juice. Return the uice mixture to the saucepan and bring to a boil, remove from the heat and cool. Skim, then bottle and store in the fridge.

Just what you do with this stuff I don't know! Looks good though. Emelie says serve over fruit, marinade for chicken or pork, or as the basis for a cooling drink.

Can also steep rosemary in a brandy vodka mix along with orange zest and then combine with a syrup of 2-1 sugar to water to make a liqueur. STeep for 1-2 months. 4 cups vodka 1/2 cup brandy (white brandy if you can find it). Can also use grain alcohol instead of vodka.

I'm making apricot thyme liqueur this year.

Mural of Flavor is nice sprinkled on vegetables you are going to steam. Tuscan Sunset should be good that way if you want an Italian flavor.

Lpink,
How nice to have such a thoughtful friend!
I've found that using a special seasoning salt on or in a salad is a great way to reallly appreciate the flavors.
Hope you've got sunnier days ahead soon!

Grace

I'm not familiar with those seasoning blends, but I would taste them and imagine what they might compliment. What's in the Spain one and the Bavarian one? I wonder if that Mural of Flavor would be good on Asparagus? Could any of them be good in a Risotto? Pasta? What about a variation of herbed baked eggs, or some kind of egg dish? Even bread - maybe an herbed biscuit of some kind? I'm just brainstorming. I'll post the recipe for the Herbed Baked Eggs that I have, which uses fresh herbs, but I bet you could substitute one of your dried herb blends. I've made this recipe using ramekins, and only using 2 eggs per dish, since the ramekins I have are smaller, I think, than the gratin dishes she recommends.

Herbed-Baked Eggs

From Ina Garten on the Food Network
Copyright 2004 Barefoot In Paris
Copyright 2003 Television Food Network, G.P.

1/4 teaspoon minced fresh gralic
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1/4 minced fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan
6 extra-large eggs
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Toasted French bread or brioche for serving

Preheat the broiler for 5 minutes and place the oven rack 6 inches below the heat.

Combine the garlic, thyme, rosemary, parsley, and Parmesan and set aside. Carefully crack 3 eggs into each of 2 small bowls or teacups (you won't be baking them in these) without breaking the yolks. (It's very important to have all the eggs ready to go before you start cooking.)

Place 2 individul gratin dishes on a baking sheet. Place 1 tablespoon of cream and 1/2 tablespoon of butter in each dish and place under the broiler for about 3 minutes, until hot and bubbly. Quickly, but carefully, pour 3 eggs into each gratin dish and sprinkle evenly with the herb mixture, then sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Place back under the broiler for 5 to 6 minutes, until the whites of the eggs are almost cooked. (Rotate the baking sheet once if they aren't cooking evenly.) The eggs will continue to cook after you take them out of the oven. Allow to set for 50 seconds and serve hot with toasted bread.

Enjoy your herbs!

Sally

I just remembered this recipe I've made before, and it was quite tasty. It lists separate herbs, but I bet you can use an equivalent amount of one of your new blends. I think you could use this method for just about any bread recipe, but this is what was in the cookbook, so that's how I'll post it.

Herbed Monkey Bread
From The Kind Arthur Flour Baker's Companion

10 small servings

1 recipe white bread 101 (recipe to follow)

Herb Coating

3 to 5 tablespoons (1 1/4 to 2 3/8 ounces) Olive Oil*
1 tablespoon fresh stemmed thyme, or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, or 1 tablespoon dried
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 garlic clove, minced

Combine the oil, herbs, and garlic. Set the mixture aside.

Prepare White Bread 101 up through it's first rise. Grease the bottom and sides of a small (8-inch) tube or bundt-style pan, or a deep (2 inches or deeper) 8-inch cake pan or souffle dish. Turn out the risen dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it into 32 small pieces, each about the size of a chestnut and weighing approximately 3/4 ounce. Place about a third of them in the bottom of the pan if you're using a small bundt-style pan. If you're using a cake pan, put about two-thirds of the pieces into it. Brush the dough in the pan with the herb coating. Continue to layer with the remaining balls, brushing the top layer with the remaining herb oil. (If you've used the greater amount of olive oil, dip each piece of dough into the oil to coat it completely before layering it into the pan.) Let the bread rise, covered, for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the bread for 30 to 35 minutes, until it's golden. Remove it from the oven and invert it onto a serving platter; the crispy bottom crust should be on top. Serve warm.

*Use 3 tablespoons of oil if you simply want to drizzle the herb coating over the bough balls once they're in the pan. To thoroughly coat each dough ball before putting them in the pan, use 5 tablespoons of olive oil. This extra oil will give the bread a delicious crisp crust.

Here's the bread recipe. I'll go ahead and enter the complete recipe, even though for the Monkey Bread you'll not use the whole process.

White Bread 101
1 loaf, 16 slices

3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar
4 tablespoons (2 ounces) butter
1/4 cup (1 1/4 ounces) nonfat dry milk
1/4 cup (1 1/2 ounces) potato flour, or 1/3 cup (3/4 ounce) potato flakes
1 1/8 cups (9 ounces) lukewrm water

Combine all the ingredients and mix and knead them together - by hand, mixer, or bread machine - until you've made a soft, smooth dough. Adjust the dough's consistency with additional flour or water as needed; but remember, the more flour you add while you're kneading, the heavier and drier your final loaf will be. Cover and let the dough rise for 1 hour, until it's puffy (though not necessarily doubled in bulk).

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface and shape it into an 8-inch log. Transfer the log to a lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan, cover the pan (a proof cover works well here), and let the bread rise until the outer edge has risen about 1 inch over the rim of the pan, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Uncover the pan and bake the bread for 35 to 40 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil for the final 10 to 15 minutes if it appears to be browning too quickly. Remove the bread from the oven, take it out of the pan, and place it on a wire rack to cool completely. After 15 minutes, brush it with butter, if desired; this will give it a soft crust.

Sally

From Penzey's site:
Mural of Flavors:Add it to soups, rice and potatoes. Shake it over tomatoes, corn, popcorn and scrambled eggs. Hand mixed from shallots, onion, garlic, thyme, rosemary, basil, coriander, lemon peel, citric acid, black pepper, chives, green peppercorns, dill weed, and orange peel.

Barvarian: Hand-mixed from: crushed brown mustard, rosemary, garlic, thyme, bay leaf and sage. It says to use it on Roasted meats and veggies.

Sunny Spain:Lemon-Pepper is one of the most popular all-purpose seasonings, and Sunny Spain is the same blend minus the salt. Not surprisingly, Sunny Spain is the bestselling of all our salt-free blends because the tartness of the lemon enhances the perception of the natural salts in food, and simply makes them taste more pleasing. Sunny Spain is perfect for fish and chicken, just rub on, ½ to 1 tsp. per pound, and bake, steam or broil. The flavor combination of Sunny Spain is also extremely versatile, combining well with most meats and vegetables. Use for lean pork chops, steamed or sauteed vegetables, mashed potatoes, hamburgers or meatloaf, steak, salads and scrambled or poached eggs. Hand-mixed from: Tellicherry black pepper, citric acid, lemon peel powder, garlic and onion.

Tuscan Sunset: Salt free Italian-style seasoning. Perfect for veggies and pasta, salads, tomato sauce, chicken and fish. The rich sweet flavor of basil and oregano with the added zest of garlic, aleppo and black pepper. Round it off with a touch of fennel, and who needs salt? Perfect for every vegetable, from asparagus to zuchinni. We especially love it sprinkled on fresh tomatoes, corn on the cob, snap peas and green beans. Also makes a great salad dressing for green salads and hearty veggies on the grill, and use it to marinate fish fillets, lean pork, and boneless/skinless chicken as well!

Bavarian is going to be the hardest for me to use up. I don't do pork and red meat. I'm thinking maybe good with beans though.

Herb bread sounds like something fun to make in the bread machine. And I love the sound of those eggs. I always forget to buy cream to have on hand, it seems so decadent!

Maybe you could use the Bavarian with some of these ideas?

Here is a link that might be useful: German Sides

Hmm. Maybe the Bavarian would be good with sauerkraut or cabbage?

The mural of flavor WOULD be good on popcorn, I didn't think of that.

Annie

A little off topic, but I just love to put pepper on popcorn.

Sally