What to do with Rosemary?

The rosemary that I planted two years ago is by far one of the most successful plants in my garden. It keeps on giving and I don't have enough recipes or reasons to take from it very often. When a plant looks so vital, I hate to disturb its peace and energy!

So when I cut my shrub-size rosemary back to free up our path yesterday, I searched around for recipes. Of course, I know it's a great herb to put on potatoes or pork or in Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing . . . but I didn't have any potatoes on hand and I'm an "almost vegetarian" and it's not Thanksgiving! Recipes that include rosemary abound, however. A query on Allrecipes.com brought back 160! Umm, doesn't goat cheese and rosemary pizza sound yummy?

And, of course, rosemary is an herb that is frequently used to flavor salmon. So that's what we had for dinner. I also found a recipe for rosemary bread, which was easy to make . . . and my husband liked it a lot! Check out the Allrecipes recipe for Delicious Rosemary Bread. I used half and half whole wheat and white flour instead of the bread flour, and it worked just fine. I also used a good handful of rosemary, I guess about a quarter cup, which was also a-okay.

Delicious Rosemary Bread

Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon white sugar
* 1 cup warm water
* 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoons butter, softened
* 2 tablespoons rosemary
* 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
* 3 cups bread flour
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 egg, beaten (optional)

Directions

1. Dissolve the sugar in warm water in a medium bowl, and mix in the yeast. When yeast is bubbly, mix in salt, butter, 1 tablespoon rosemary, and Italian seasoning. Mix in 2 cups flour. Gradually add remaining flour to form a workable dough, and knead 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Coat the inside of a large bowl with olive oil. Place dough in bowl, cover, and allow to rise 1 hour in a warm location.
3. Punch down dough, and divide in half. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly grease paper. Shape dough into 2 round loaves, and place on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining rosemary. Cover, and allow to rise 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
5. Brush loaves with egg. Bake 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

I've brought in a bouquet of rosemary, too, as I probably should do more often. It smells wonderful and last year I learned that rosemary is good for the brain! After Dad had a stroke I ran across information on the Internet about research that showed rosemary to be as a stroke and Alzheimer's preventative. A neurology site says, "the herb rosemary contains an ingredient that fights off free radical damage in the brain. The active ingredient in rosemary, known as carnosic acid (CA), can protect the brain from stroke and neurodegeneration that is due to injurious chemical free radicals. These radicals are thought to contribute not only to stroke and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's, but also to the ill effects of normal aging on the brain." I found it on the Internet, so it must be true!

Many herbs like rosemary are also great host plants for a butterfly garden.