I am not a fan of raw bananas, however, I found when I went to the store I would more often than not come home with a bunch of them. Finding some way to enjoy them and not wasting the fruit became a goal of mine. Since living so “far” from grocery stores has been my life style, we would always improvise with recipes and use what we had trying not to waste anything. Because the molding of that into every fiber of my being made it impossible for me not to use these bananas, I created this recipe as a wonderful way to use this fruit. If you are not ready to make the bread but the bananas have ripened to the dark color you want, freezing is ideal for preventing spoilage.


3 ripe organic bananas
2 organic eggs
2 cups organic whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup organic fair trade whole sugar (Sucanat)*
1 teaspoon real salt
1 teaspoon organic baking soda
½ cup organic walnuts (optional)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease loaf pan with organic butter. Mix the bananas, eggs and sugar together in a large bowl. Add flour, salt, baking soda; stir until combined. (If you are using walnuts add with the flour). Pour into pan and bake for about an hour. Check bread with toothpick until it comes out clean starting about 45 minutes after placing in oven.

Summer isn’t complete without a trip to the blueberry farm just outside of Eureka Springs with my parents and husband where we spend the day picking the beautiful fruit from the bushes. Hearing the birds calling each other (usually the bob-whites) brings back memories of when my Mom picked blueberries one year to earn money for our household. I was still in cloth diapers out in the blueberry fields with her all day long under a big straw hat. Even though life is better now and we don’t have to pick blueberries to live, we still enjoy a day in the field reconnecting the that part of our lives. I hope you enjoy this bread and give thanks to the men and women who spent the day in the field picking the beautiful fruit that is blessing your bread.

2 cups organic unbleached white flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon real salt
½ cup organic fair trade cane sugar (made from evaporated cane juice)
1 organic egg
1 cup organic milk
1/4 cup melted organic butter (do not use microwave to melt)
1 ½ cups fresh organic blueberries (frozen blueberries work also)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease loaf pan with organic butter. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, sugar together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix milk , egg, and butter together. Add most of the flour mixture to milk mixture and stir. Add blueberries to remaining flour mixture to coat blueberries. Add the blueberries and flour mixture to remaining bowl and stir. Pour into greased loaf pan, bake for about 35-45 minutes, using a toothpick to check.

Remember to always prepare food with joy in your heart and it will reflect in its taste.

I know there are several area B&B’s that serve pumpkin bread to their guests, but, I think ours taste better because of the high quality ingredients we use. Try some for yourself with a nice cup of organic tea.


3 cups organic whole wheat pastry flour
½ teaspoon real salt
2 cups organic fair trade whole sugar (Sucanat)*
2 teaspoons organic baking soda
2 cups organic pumpkin puree (I use organic canned pumpkin)
1 cup organic butter or organic cold pressed safflower oil or organic cold pressed sunflower oil
3 organic eggs
About ½ cup water
Freshly grated organic nutmeg about ½ teaspoon (or more)
Freshly ground organic clove about ½ teaspoon
1 teaspoon organic cinnamon


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 loaf pans. Mix pumpkin, sugar, eggs, butter together. Add flour, salt, baking soda. Add enough water to keep batter smooth. Add spices. Pour in to buttered loaf pans about ½ to 2/3 of the way up the side. You could also use muffin pans.

I got this recipe from my Mom. She was brave enough to let me experiment in the kitchen when I was little. My grandparents and parents gave me a metal play stove, sink and refrigerator for Christmas when I was about five and it was the best present ever. I played and played with this toy. Now, my husband is so happy about these presents of so long ago because I play and play in our kitchen!

3 cups organic whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups organic fair trade whole sugar (Sucanat)*
3 organic eggs
1 cup organic butter softened
1 tablespoon organic cinnamon
1 teaspoon real salt
1 teaspoon organic nutmeg freshly ground
1/4 teaspoon organic baking powder
1 teaspoon organic baking soda
1 tablespoon organic fair trade vanilla extract
2 cups grated organic zucchini
½ cup chopped organic walnut (either Ozark black or regular)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 loaf pans. Combine all ingredients except zucchini and walnuts. Mix together, then add zucchini and walnuts. Pour into buttered loaf pans about ½ to 2/3 of the way up the side. Check with a toothpick.

This recipe came from my Aunt Sandra. She’s a great cook. This works great for a quick, fabulous appetizer. I keep organic soy sauce in the frig and the organic sesame seeds in the freezer as pantry staples. Aunt Sandra always had great pantry staples for entertaining guests who might just pop by. My restaurant friends are even impressed with this snack. I hope you enjoy this as much as my family and friends have.

1 8oz package organic cream cheese (Organic Valley makes a great cream cheese)
1/4 cup organic sesame seeds (golden)
2 tablespoons organic soy sauce


Open cream cheese package and place on plate. In a small saute pan, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, toast sesame seeds until they turn a deeper golden brown. Add soy sauce (you may need more depending on how hot your pan is). Stir quickly to form a paste like constancy, place on top of cream cheese and spread around to cover entire shape of cheese. Serve with toasted organic bread or organic crackers. Yummy!

My husband had some studio clients who came to make a recording with him. Since most musicians have day jobs, it didn’t surprise me to find out that they where also Shiitake mushroom farmers. The surprise was that every time they came over to record they would bring about a pound of Shiitakes. I began running out of things to make with them and found this recipe to be a great use of their wonderful gift.
This can either be served over meats(chicken or beef steak) or by itself with bread.

8 oz organic Shiitake mushrooms (can be made with button mushrooms)
2 tablespoons organic butter
½- 3/4 cup organic cream
2 cloves of organic garlic (minced)
Real salt to taste


Wash and slice mushrooms. (Do this early so they can dry off.) In a medium to large saute pan (I use my cast iron skillet), melt butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms (you may need to add more butter depending on how dry your mushrooms are.) Spread out over the pan and stir until lightly browned. When the mushrooms have caramelize, add minced garlic and cook until you smell the sweetness of the cooked garlic. Add cream, cook until it becomes thick (a few minutes may pass). Pour into bowl or over your meat and serve.
I know there is a big debate about washing or wiping your mushrooms. If you are skilled enough and patient enough to wipe with a damp cloth and get all the grit off, knock yourself out.

In our house, we call this the “stinky” salad, which has brought a word that usually isn’t associated with yummy wonderful things to be a special night when it is served. When we are invited to potluck dinners, the host usually asks us to bring this famous salad. A word of caution: don’t eat this if you have a big important meeting the next day... you will still smell of the wonderful aroma of garlic, which is fine if the people you’re with ate Caesar salad with you the night before. I never used garlic in my cooking until eating this salad and I fell in love with it after that. I use it in many of my dishes because if this experience. My mom, who is not too adventurous when is comes to food, decided one night to trust me and ate my marvelous creation. She was so delighted with the flavor, seconds were in order. Now she smells like the rest of us!


2 tablespoons organic minced garlic
1 teaspoon organic mustard
½ teaspoon organic hot sauce
1 tablespoon organic vegan (wheat free) Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons organic red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon organic fresh squeezed lemon juice
6 tablespoons organic extra virgin olive oil
21 cups or two medium heads of red leaf, green leaf or romaine lettuce (washed, chopped or torn in to bit size pieces and dried)
2 cups croutons
Parmesan cheese
Rreal salt
Fresh ground organic black pepper


Mix first seven ingredients together in large wooden bowl, add lettuce and stir to coat leaves. You can top with homemade croutons or store bought organic croutons. Then take your potato peeler or grater to the Parmesan cheese and add to top. Mix and serve. Add salt and pepper to taste. After eating, head for the hills!
serves 2-12

This delight came about due to not having any store bought croutons for our stinky Caesar Salad, and I thought ...how hard can it be to make croutons?. Well, it isn’t hard and everyone is quite impressed when they realize that you made these yourself.

5 pieces of organic sprouted wheat bread
Organic garlic powder
Real salt
Olive oil
Fresh ground organic black pepper


Cut bread into ½ to 1" cubes. In a bowl, coat with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper and toss together. Spread out over baking sheet. Put in 375 F degree oven for about 10-15 minutes until golden brown and your home smells delicious. Great for a snack, soup or salad.

I use to make chocolate chip cookies the traditional way with ½ brown sugar and ½ white refined sugar. After learning about whole sugar (Sucanat)*, and not having the right amount of regular sugars in the house, I thought I could use this instead. To my delight, the cookies came out even better than the one’s I made using the traditional recipe. I think these cookies take people back to their childhood and give them “warm and fuzzy’s” even if they didn’t have a mom or grandma who made cookies for them. Maybe they help fill the void they may have due to the lack of an experience like that. Food can be a healing experience for many, so please always make food with positive feelings toward the ingredients and the people you are preparing the dish for. It always makes things taste 100% better.

1 stick organic butter softened
1 cup organic fair trade whole sugar (Sucanat)*
1 organic egg
3/4 teaspoon organic fair trade vanilla
1 1/8 cup and 2 tablespoons organic unbleached white flour
½ teaspoon real salt
½ teaspoon organic baking soda
1 cup semisweet of dark chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Mix butter and sugar thoroughly in a bowl. Add the egg and vanilla, then slowly add the flour about 1/4 cup at a time, also adding baking soda and salt, before adding last of flour add chocolate chips then add last of the flour. Using a cookie sheet that has either parchment paper or a “Silpat” lining the bottom, drop tablespoon size dough on sheet. Bake for about 8-12 minutes, cookies after about 8 minutes. Once lightly browned, take out and cool. They will disappear rather quickly from your kitchen. :)

The cookies turn out great from the type of whole sugar used. It is marvelous because these sweets are not made with refined sugar.

My grandmother was a great woman.....not a great cook. She was so funny about making these rum balls. I asked her one day for the formula. As she had a sip of rum and enjoyed her rum balls, she gave me a list and I went home to try to make my own. WOW, what a disaster! Since she had been partaking of the fruits of her labor, the amount of corn syrup, rum and powdered sugar were way off of from what they should have been. They can spice up any party but you need to refrain from making any life decisions while eating them. These powerful treats are so strong, I wasn’t allowed to eat any until I was older, so keep your children away !


2 cups crushed organic vanilla wafer cookies
1 cup organic powdered sugar
1 cup pecans or walnuts (chopped)
6 tablespoons dark rum (try not to taste, your taste buds will get use to the favor and you will think you need to add more and more rum...that’s a slippery slope to start on)
2 tablespoons organic corn syrup
1 tablespoon organic fair trade cocoa


Mix all together and let sit for about a hour, then form 1" balls and roll in additional powdered sugar.

2 packages organic frozen red raspberries

Open packages and place berries in sauce pan. Cook for about 5 minutes. Pour into blender. Blend until smooth. (Be careful while blending hot liquid) Take a fine strainer and pour raspberries through, you will need to take a spoon to stir raspberries. The result is a beautifully colored sauce that is sweet yet tart. Wonderful over homemade organic ice cream with or without hot fudge sauce. Also great on french toast. My honey doesn’t like this sauce very much because he loves sweet, sweet things...like me...so if you or your honey like sweet, sweet things, please stir in a little organic powdered sugar to taste.



I hope you enjoy my stories and treats and that I will have the pleasure of meeting you sometime soon. Please come visit us at Winterwood. Sincerely yours, Sativa



*Sucanat is made by Wholesome Sweeteners