Passion Flower - Herb of the Week

I have been planning my garden for the year and this plant spoke to me.  It is not really hardy in Illinois unless well mulched and protected from winter freeze, but I thought I would try it anyway because it is viney and makes beautiful flowers.

Here is what I have learned so far in my research:

This week's herb of the week -- Passion Flower (Passifloria incarnata)

History

Passion Flower (Passifloria incarnata) also known as Maypop is the only species of the Passion Flower that can grow in colder climates.  It has been hardy to -4 degrees F.

During Victorian times the flower (which in all but a few species lasts only one day) was very popular and many hybrids were created.  The study and propagation of the flower was written about extensively.  The French name for this plant has lent itself to La Famille Passiflore, a highly successful children's book series by Genevieve Huriet, and an animated series based upon it. These have been translated into English as Beechwood Bunny Tales and The Bellflower Bunnies, respectively. Popularly, passion flowers and especially passion fruit are frequently used with sexual or romantic innuendo, giving rise to such uses as a one-time soft drink named Purple Passion. The "Passion" in "passion flower" does not refer to sex and love, however, but to the passion of Jesus in Christian theology. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish Christian missionaries adopted the unique physical structures of this plant, particularly the numbers of its various flower parts, as symbols of the last days of Jesus and especially his crucifixion.

To Grow

Propagation from seed is very difficult as the seed must be stratified, which requires cold weather or time in the refrigerator or freezer.  Even stratified germination is low, only about 20%, so most people grow them from tip cuttings.  Using a rooting hormone and keeping the cuttings warm and moist until they are rooted (about 2 weeks) will give you plants to start with.   Or you can be like me and buy a plant at the nursery.  Plant plants 24 inches apart in a rich humusy soil in shade or part shade and give the plant a trellis as it is spreading and vining and will grow up to 8 feet high in a season.

In mid to late summer the exotic and beautiful flowers will bloom in both white and light purple.  The plant is pollinated by bats, so plant it where it is accessible to these creatures, such as near a bat house or a building with eaves.  The fruit is sweet, yellowish, and roughly the size of a chicken's egg; it enjoys some popularity as a native plant with edible fruit and few pests.

To use

Passion flower is considered a medicinal plant and infusions, tinctures, syrups and elixirs can all be made with the flowers and leaves.  It is also a great herb for foot soaks and bath blends.  You can even make herbal honey with it. Approved by the German Commission E in the treatment of insomnia and nervousness, it is used as a sedative in nervous disorders (including gastrointestinal complaints of nervous origin), difficulties in sleeping, and anxiety or restlessness. Passion Flower reduces spasms and depresses the central nervous system. It has a tranquilizing effect, including mild sedative and anti-anxiety effects. In studies conducted since the 1930's, its mode of action has been found to be different than that of most sedative drugs (sleeping pills), thus making it a non-addictive herb to promote relaxation.

Egg-shaped fruits two inches long follow the fragrant lavender flowers that appear in the summer. Passion-flower extract may be used in foods and beverages as a flavoring agent. The ripe fruits can be eaten raw or used for making jams, jellies, and drinks and is commonly added to fruit salads to provide a rich tropical flavor. The flowers may also be made into syrup.

Passion flower fruit contains delicious juicy yellow pulp mixed with many small black seeds. The fruit has recently been found to be a great source of lycopene—the health-promoting red carotenoid pigment also found in tomatoes, watermelon, pink grapefruit, and papaya. Passion fruit juice contains phytochemicals that inhibit changes in cells, thus reducing the growth of a tumor. The herb is known to contain a variety of flavonoids and other health-promoting phenolic compounds.

Recipes

Passion Fruit Sangria

Ingredients:

3 cups pineapple juice
1 cup white grape juice
1 cup passion fruit juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 bottle sweet white wine
12 ounces ginger ale

Directions:

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large pitcher; chill. Add ginger ale just before serving; stir gently.

Herbal Bath -- For trouble falling asleep

2 oz. passionflower leaves and flowers
1 oz. valerian root
1 oz. violet blossoms

1.      Place the dried leaves, blossoms and roots into an enamelware pot. Pour 1 qt. of boiling water over the mixture and simmer, covered, for about 20 min.

2.      Start your bath; when the water is ready, pour the herb blend through a sieve and add the liquid to the bath.

3.      Squeeze any extra moisture from the reserved herbs and place them in cotton sachet or a small muslin bag with a draw string. Tie the bag shut and add to the bathwater. Squeeze the herb sachet from time to time as you soak.

How Tuesday! Making Lemon Thyme Cupcakes

I decided to add some “HOW TO” to my blog, so I am calling this HOW TO-SDAY!

For the first How To-sday I am going to demonstrate Lemon Thyme Cupcakes!

The first plants I generally can harvest from in the spring are my thyme plants.  Growing close to the ground and shallow in depth, they start to enjoy the warmth of the sun and warmer soil the soonest of all my perennial herbs.  As a result I am snipping them and touching them as I get into the spirit of Spring which in Illinois means it is still too cold to grow anything new or work with the soil for fear of compacting it when the soil is wet.  All I can really do these days is rack off the mulch and look for new growth (see my post from Saturday for the fruits of my labors.)

Of the thyme plants I grow, my favorite is lemon thyme.  I love to cook with it, make tea with it, and even use the sprigs to decorate with.  The scent they emit is earthy and sweet and thoroughly rejuvenating.

Recently I found this nice recipe for Lemon Thyme Cupcakes and decided to give it a try.  Here are the instructions and pictures of the results.

HOW TO MAKE LEMON THYME CUPCAKES

This moist cupcake recipe was adapted from a recipe by Susan Belsinger.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup unbleached flour

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

2 Tbls. finely minced lemon thyme (reserve 1 tsp.)

¾ cup milk

1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

½ tsp. vanilla extract

Lemon glaze:

3 Tbls. lemon juice

3 Tbls. sugar

1 tsp. thyme

Directions:

Step 1:

First preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prep the pans with papers, so I don’t forget.  There is nothing worse then being ready to pour and oops!

Then I prep the fresh ingredients, mincing the thyme and grating the lemon zest.  Remember the zest is only the yellow part of the skin, not the white pith underneath, that is bitter so you want to avoid it.





For this recipe you need a couple of bowls, so get those out

Now I will measure my dry ingredients flour, baking powder, salt into a small bowl.  Remember to fluff the flour before you scoop to get an accurate measure and scrap off the excess to make a level measure. 
.

Add the thyme (minus 1 tsp.) and lemon zest to milk and stir well.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter with a mixer on medium speed for about 3 minutes. 

Scrape down the sides and add 1 cup sugar and beat for two minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides.  Add the eggs one at a time, blending well after each one and scraping the sides as needed.  Continue beating until the batter is light and fluffy. 

Add the vanilla and beat one minute longer.

One low speed now blend in half of the dry ingredients, then add the milk mixture and mix well. 

Then add the rest of the dry ingredients.  Scrape down the sides and make sure the batter is well blended.

Now spoon it into the prepared cups. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees in a preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until the tops are just starting to turn golden brown and a tooth pick comes out clean. 

While they are baking, combine the glaze ingredients, lemon juice, sugar and 1 tsp. of thyme and stir well to dissolve the sugar. 

When the cakes are done, remove the pan from the oven brush with the glaze while still warm.  Then let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 5 minutes before removing them to cool on a rack.






Here are the finished cupcakes ready to enjoy!  They do not need frosting, but I have put a lemon frosting on in the past.

Stop back for more How-tosdays in the future!

~ Marcy Lautanen-Raleigh

I love Scones!

Recently I have been infatuated with making scones.  I think they are a great breakfast food and it is simple to make savory as well as sweet scones.  I have to admit I prefer the sweet scones.

As a result of my infatuation I have made mixes for scones that I market at the Backyard Patch.  I have also created Tea and Scone partnerships which I market on my Etsy site.  With these you get a pairing of the perfect tea (herbal or otherwise) to accompany a scone mix.  It makes a great gift for the tea person in your life as well as introducing you to the linking of flavors that can happen in a meal as simple as scones with breakfast tea.

Today I will share a few recipes that I could not turn into mixes but thought were darn tasty anyway.

SWEET SCONES

Nut & Raisin Sticky Scones

4 cups unbleached flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 T baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

1 egg

4 T butter, cut into pieces

1 1 /2 cups buttermilk

½ cup raisins

1 cup pecans

4 T butter melted

¾ cup brown sugar

1 T honey

1 T molasses

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  In a large mixing bowl add flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar, baking powder and soda.  Stir.  Add the egg and butter pats and beat at low speed with an electric mixer for one minute.

Slowly add the buttermilk to the bowl and continue to beat just until the dough is formed.  Do not over beat

Turn out the dough onto floured bread board and lightly press out the dough to form a rectangle, approx 1 inch thick.  Sprinkle with raisins and nuts.  Roll up the dough from the long side, to form a log.  Cut into 8 to 10 slices.

In a small bowl mix together melted butter, ¾ cup brown sugar, honey and molasses.  Pour this mixture into buttered 9 x 13 baking pan.  Place the sliced rolls into the baking dish.  Bake for 28 minutes.

SAVORY SCONES

Cheddar Cornmeal Scones

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup yellow cornmeal

2 tsp. sugar

1 ¼ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

Dash of cayenne

3 T unsalted butter, cut into pieces

¾ cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 large egg, separated

1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Into the bowl of a food processor add the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, cayenne and salt.  Pulse on and off to combine.  Add the butter bits and process for approx. 10 seconds or until the mixture is like course meal.  Add the grated cheese, milk and egg yolk.  Process for a few more seconds, just until the dough forms.

Turn out the dough onto the floured bread board.  Knead the dough about 10 times.  Pat the dough out with your hands to form an 8 inch circle.  Using a knife, dipped in flour, cut the dough into 6 wedges.

Place the wedges onto a greased baking sheet.  Brush tops with a beaten egg.  Sprinkle with a little additional grated cheddar cheese.  Bake for 17 minutes or until golden.

COFFEE SCONES

For those who like coffee, I found this recipe at the Herb Companion and adapted it just a bit.

These scones are both sweet and savory and need no adornment. They are best served warm with a pot of your favorite tea or a good, strong cup of joe.

Pumpkin Scones

2 cups unbleached flour

1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup 2 percent or whole milk
1/2 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh minced thyme leaves, or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 3 tablespoons of the sugar, and stir to blend. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it is in pea-sized pieces.

Combine the milk with the pumpkin puree and thyme and blend well. Stir the milk and pumpkin mixture into the dry ingredients until the dough starts to come together. Add a little more milk if the dough seems too dry. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, gather it together, and knead ­lightly. Don’t overwork it.

Flatten the dough into a round about 1 inch thick. Cut it into eight to twelve pie-shaped wedges. Sprinkle them with the remaining teaspoon of sugar. Place the scones on a baking sheet and place it in the center of the oven. Bake for 18 minutes, or until the scones are golden on top. Cool them on a baking rack for a few minutes and serve warm.

You may wrap any leftover scones in foil and reheat them at 300 degrees F for about 10 minutes.

Enjoy your scones and if you want tea to go with them, look here

Thank you!

Herb Garden Photos

Lamb's Ear still hiding from the cold

I was out cleaning out beds in the garden and took these pictures of the herbs.  As you can see the soil here is not warming up very quickly as we usually have more growth by this time in March.  The overcast days and spits of rain that have plagued our March have left me with not much to look at as I scrape away the mulch and cut back the dead stems.

These fuzzy green leaves are catnip

Lady's Mantle with is new growth poking out of the old



Lavender, looks like rosemary with the leaves all curled from winter wind.



Coral bells rescued from my house when we moved

crocus the squirrels must have donated

This is parsley.  I tossed some seed into the raised bed after clearing out the annuals in the fall.  It worked!

The good news is I still have lots of dried herbs preserved from last season which I am using to make my blends, so if you are itching for herbs to sample, stop by my Ebay or Esty stores!

Herb of the Week - Weeds!

Okay I am a day late, but the good news is I have three for the price of one today. A friend pointed out that Monday was “Weed Appreciation Day.”  Now as herb growers we all acknowledge that herbs are weeds.  As I say in my lectures, "they don’t call it herbicide for nothing!”  My friend Leanne also reminded me of a quote by gardener Doug Larson who says “A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows.”

So in celebration of this auspicious day  I thought it would make

                                   this week’s Herb of the Week – WEEDS

Here are a few good tips so you can appreciate “weeds.” The weeds I will focus on are:

• Dandelion – which I wrote up as the herb of the week just recently (see this post)
• Burdock
• Plantain
• Mullein 

Burdock

Burdock is any of a group of biennial thistles in the genus Arctium, family Asteraceae. Native to the Old World, several species have been widely introduced worldwide. Plants of this genus have dark green leaves that can grow up to 28" (71 cm) long. They are generally large, coarse and ovate, with the lower ones being heart-shaped. They are woolly underneath Arctium species generally flower from July through to October.  The prickly heads of these plants (burrs) are noted for easily catching on to fur and clothing (being the inspiration for Velcro).

For many years I volunteered at the West Chicago Prairie pulling out, cutting down and removing burdock from a natural prairie where it is not a native plant.  It is so prolific a plant that it could easily swamp the more slow growing native species.  My thought once I learned that it has medicinal and food properties was if it becomes popular as a food, wild harvesters would take care of removing it from prairie lands and wonderful things can happen.  As part of my personal eradication campaign, I believe we should find better uses for burdock, including eating it.

The long taproot (up to 3 feet) of young burdock plants can be harvested and eaten as a root vegetable. While generally out of favor in modern European cuisine, it remains popular in Asia. Burdock root is very crisp and has a sweet, mild, and pungent flavor with a little muddy harshness that can be reduced by soaking julienned or shredded roots in water for five to ten minutes. I have cooked them with and without rice in my rice cooker.  Immature flower stalks may also be harvested in late spring, before flowers appear; their taste resembles that of artichoke, to which the burdock is related.  Julienned or shredded burdock root and carrot, braised with soy sauce, sugar, sake and sesame oil.

In the second half of the 20th century, burdock achieved international recognition for its culinary use due to the increasing popularity of the macrobiotic diet, which advocates its consumption. It contains a fair amount of dietary fiber (GDF, 6g per 100g), calcium, potassium, amino acids, and is low in calories. It contains a polyphenol oxidase, which cause its darkened surface and muddy harshness by forming tannin complexes. Burdock root's harshness harmonizes well with pork in miso soup. In parts of the US (notably western New York), burdock stalks are eaten as a substitute for cardoon. The stalks are peeled, scrubbed, boiled in salt water, and fried in an egg and breadcrumb batter.

Folk herbalists consider dried burdock to be a diuretic, sweat inducer for fever control and treatment of shock, and a blood purifying agent. Burdock is a traditional medicinal herb that is used for many ailments. Burdock root oil extract, also called Bur oil, is popular in Europe as a scalp treatment applied to improve hair strength, shine and body, help reverse scalp conditions such as dandruff, and combat hair loss. Burdock leaves are used by some burn care workers for pain management and to speed healing time in natural burn treatment. Burn care workers hold that it eases dressing changes and appears to impede bacterial growth on the wound site and that it also provides a great moisture barrier.

Plantain

When we talk about plantain, normally the image of a banana plantation conjures up in our mind. But the common plantain is a small wild plant with leaves that grow mostly from the plant's bottom. The Plantain belongs to the natural order Plantaginaceae, which contains more than 200 species, twenty-five or thirty of which have been reported as in domestic use. The Common Broad-leaved Plantain is a very familiar perennial 'weed,' and may be found anywhere by roadsides and in meadow-land. It grows from a very short rhizome, which bears a great number of long, straight, yellowish roots, and a large, radial rosette of leaves and a few long, slender, densely-flowered spikes. The leaves are ovate, blunt, abruptly contracted at the base into a long, broad, channeled footstalk . The blade is 4 to 10 inches long and about two-thirds as broad, usually smooth, thickish, five to eleven ribbed, the ribs having a strongly fibrous structure, the margin entire, or coarsely and unevenly toothed. The flower-spikes, erect, on long stalks, are as long as the leaves, 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick and usually blunt. The flowers are somewhat purplish-green, the calyx four parted, the small corolla bell-shaped and four-lobed, the stamens four, with purple anthers. The fruit is a two-celled capsule containing four to sixteen seeds.

Plantago major
(you know you've see this at the playground)

Plantain has been used internally for inflammation of the skin, malignant ulcers, intermittent fever, etc., and externally as a stimulant application to sores. Applied to a bleeding surface, the leaves are of some value in arresting hemorrhage. The fresh leaves are applied whole or bruised in the form of a poultice. Rubbed on parts of the body stung by insects, nettles, etc., or as an application to burns and scalds, the leaves will afford relief and will stay the bleeding of minor wounds.

The common plantain has multiple medicinal uses and is highly valued by most herbal practitioners. In case on any injury, the herb is able to instantly check the flow of blood and also restore the smashed tissues. According to many herbal practitioners, the common plantain may be used as a substitute of comfrey to effectively treat bruises and broken bones. Ointments or lotions prepared with the common plantain leaves may be used to cure hemorrhoids, fistulae or anomalous channels in the skin as well as ulcers. When used internally, the herb acts as a diuretic increasing the outflow of urine, expectorant (a medication to treat coughs) as well as decongestant (a medicine that clears blocked nose). Herbal practitioners recommend the common plantain to treat conditions such as gastritis, peptic ulcers, diarrhea, dysentery, irritable bowel syndrome, congestion of the respiratory tract, loss of voice as well as bleeding in the urinary tract.

REVITALIZING GREEN JUICE

3 cups (180 g) fresh plantain leaves

1 cups (250 ml) pure liquid honey

1 opaque glass bottle

Crush the leaves in a food processor, drain and squeeze in cheesecloth. Combine 1 cup (250 ml) of the green juice with the honey and simmer for 10 minutes at low heat, stirring regularly. Let cool and pour into the opaque bottle.

Take this nectar 1 spoonful at a time like syrup to treat a cough; also use it to treat a sore throat, anemia, fatigue and eczema: 1 T (15 ml), 3 times daily.

Mullein

The Mulleins also known as velvet plants are a genus of about 250 species of flowering plants in the figwort family (Scrophulariaceae.) They are native to Europe and Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region.  They are biennial or perennial plants, rarely annuals or sub shrubs, growing to 0.5–3 m tall. The plants first form a dense rosette of leaves at ground level, subsequently sending up a tall flowering stem. Biennial plants will form the rosette the first year, and during the following season is when the stem emerges. The leaves are spirally arranged, often densely hairy, though glabrous (hairless) in some species. The flowers have five symmetrical petals; petal colors in different species include yellow (most common), orange, red-brown, purple, blue or white. The fruit is a capsule containing numerous minute seeds. It gows in edge regions , on hedge-banks, by roadsides and on waste ground, more especially on gravel, sand or chalk. It flowers during July and August.

The plant has a long history of use as a medicine, and is an effective treatment for asthma and respiratory disorders. Extracts made from the plant's flowers are a very effective treatment for ear infections. Although this plant is a recent arrival to North America, Native Americans used the ground seeds of this plant as a paralytic fish poison due to their high levels of rotenone. One species, Verbascum thapsus (Great mullein), is used as an herbal remedy for sore throat, cough, and lung diseases. The leaves and flowers are the parts used medicinally. Fresh Mullein leaves are also used for the purpose of making a homoeopathic tincture.

Mullein is also the active ingredient in many alternative smoking blends.  It’s most unique use is as rod for use in the hand drill method of friction fire lighting.

Disclaimers – although these weeds have many medicinal properties, I do not recommend self medicating with them without experience or proper advice.  If you are interested in these plants, may I recommend some additional reading in:

• Homegrown Herbs by Tammi Hartung  (2011)
• The Natural Remedy Bible by Michael Tierra (2003)
• The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants by Andrew Chavallier

Waffles of the World, unite! Today is International Waffle Day!

My husband is the breakfast champ.  I spent too many years working early morning waitress shift at a truck stop during high school to find any enjoyment making breakfast, but my husband lives to make it and the day does not really start without it (especially for him).  Chas has been ill this week and oatmeal and cereal for breakfast has been the height of my creativity.   However when he is well my husband makes great waffles.

This is his Belgian Waffle recipe:

Chas’ Belgian Waffles

Yield 5to 7

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ cups cake flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 Tbls. sugar
• 3 eggs (yolks separated from whites)
• 2 Tbls. melted butter or oil
• 1 ½ cups milk
• ½ to ¾ cup beer  (or add ¼ to ½ cup dry malt to milk adding more milk for volume)

Directions

1. Blend dry ingredients in a bowl
2. Beat egg yolks and add in oil, milk then beer.
3. Make a hole in the dry ingredients and pour liquid in.  Combine in a few swift strokes.  Batter will be pebbled, like a muffin batter.
4. Beat egg whites until stiff, fold into batter until just blended.
5. Pour onto heated and oiled (or buttered) waffle iron, cook for 2 to 4 minutes depending on iron.

While looking through recipes trying to convince myself that I could make a more detailed breakfast, I did find these two savory waffle recipes that you can use for dinner rather than breakfast.  They have herbs and cheese and make a great base for serving a casserole or stew over.  I have not decided which one I like more, but well--- bacon!  Either way I like the idea of a waffle instead of potatoes or noodles as a base for a change of pace.  They smell good when they bake too!

Savory Waffles

Yields 6

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1 1/2 cups shredded smoked Gouda cheese
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 3 eggs, separated
• 2/3 cup light sour cream
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, garlic salt, parsley, rosemary and tarragon. Stir in the shredded Gouda. Set aside.
2. In another bowl, mix together the egg yolks, buttermilk, sour cream and vegetable oil until well blended. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture, and stir until just blended. In a separate clean bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into the waffle batter.
3. Heat the waffle iron, and grease with vegetable oil spray. Use the recommended amount of batter for each waffle according to your iron. Close the lid, and cook until golden brown. Waffles can be held in a warm oven while the others are cooking. Serve with creamed beef or chicken.

Savory Bacon Waffles

Original Recipe Yield 8 waffles

Ingredients

• 8 slices bacon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 tablespoons dried parsley
• 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
• 2 tablespoons dried sweet basil
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon minced onion

Directions

1. Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet and cook over medium-high heat until evenly browned, about 5 minutes per side. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate. Crumble once cooled.
2. Preheat an oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C) to keep the finished waffles warm. Preheat a waffle iron and coat lightly with cooking spray.
3. Combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, Parmesan cheese, parsley, rosemary, basil, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Whisk the milk, eggs, butter, and Dijon mustard together in a small bowl. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until just combined.
4. Pour about 1/3 cup batter into each square of the preheated waffle iron; cook until golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Keep prepared waffles in the preheated oven until all are cooked.
5. Stir the sour cream, sugar, and onion together in a small bowl. Drizzle the onion sauce evenly over the warm waffles. Sprinkle crumbled bacon over the waffles to serve.

 Enjoy these recipes on your Waffle Day!