Lemon Lavender Tea Cookies

My mom and her husband, Allen (aka Pepo), recently attended the Lavender Festival in Blanco, Texas and they sent me this wonderful lavender cookbook and culinary grade lavender.  I had no idea there were so many ways to cook with lavender.  I thought these Lemon Lavender Tea Cookies would be just perfect for Matilda's "Tea for 2" party and they definitely were just right!

These cookies are light and contain absolutely no eggs, so they are definitely more of a shortbread.  Be careful though, because the dough tasted so yummy that I'm surprised I even got some cookies out for the party!

Makes 24 cookies
From the "Local Flavor of Lavender" cookbook
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon dried culinary lavender
2 cups all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
2/3 cup sugar
Zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

You will need to use dried culinary grade lavender for this recipe since that is what is suitable for human consumption.  Above is the lavender that was sent to me by my mom from the festival.

Finely chop 1 tablespoon of lavender.  If you have a coffee grinder used for grinding herbs, that would be a great thing to use or you could also use a food processor.  I opted for a basic knife.

Zest one lemon.  I like to use my microplane for zesting, but a box grater would work just as well.  Make sure you only zest the yellow part of the lemon.  The white can be pretty bitter.

Cream wet ingredients, lemon zest and sugar with a hand-mixer.  Then add in dry ingredients.  Stir until dough comes together.  It should not be dry, but not too sticky either.  If you think it is too dry, keep stirring, it will come together.

Place dough in refrigerator for 1-2 hours, until firm, or overnight.  Remove from refrigerator one hour before rolling out dough.  The next part is up to you.  You can make these like regular cookie cutter cookies and roll your dough 1/4" thickness and cut with a round or heart shaped cookie cutter.  Or you can do what we did, which was to roll the dough into two logs and slice the cookies, then coat them in sugar.  Either way, they will turn out great.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cookies are slightly brown on the edges.  Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

The dough can be made up to two days in advance and cookies can be baked one day in advance.  Freeze any leftover cookies for a sweet treat on another day!  These cookies will have your guests talking because they are delicious and a unique flavor.

The next time you have the ladies for tea or coffee, give these a try, they will love them, that is, if you don't eat all the dough first!

Goat Cheese and Ham Wrapped Asparagus

These Goat Cheese and Ham Wrapped Asparagus were a huge hit at Matilda's "Tea for 2" party.  And surprisingly it was the men who really gobbled these up!  They are a great finger food because they don't require a fork and are easy to pick up and eat while you socialize.

Serves 15-20
Ingredients:
2 lbs. fresh asparagus
1/2 lb. honey ham
8 oz. herb goat cheese
1/3 brick cream cheese, softened
30+ fresh chives 

Cut off the tough ends of the asparagus (approximately 1"- 2"). Cook asparagus.  Only cook for a few minutes in boiling water and then shock them in a large bowl of ice water.  You do not want to over-cook the asparagus because they will lose their beautiful green color.  You also still want them to have a good bite and not be flimsy.  I'd say, in this case, better to under-cook than over-cook.

Clean your fresh chives.  We picked these from our herb garden so they are super long.  You will need one chive per asparagus spear.

Combine your herb goat cheese and the 1/3 block cream cheese.  The cream cheese will help the goat cheese be easier to work with when spreading it on the pieces of ham.

Cut ham in half or thirds (we did thirds because our ham slices were very large).  Spread a very thin layer of goat cheese on each piece of ham.  Roll up asparagus in ham/goat cheese.  Tie with a chive to secure.  Place in a container to keep cool in the refrigerator.  Can be made a day in advance.

Remove from refrigerator just prior to serving.  Place on a serving tray.  I love using white because I think it makes the colors pop, but you can use whatever you'd like.

I would suggest discarding any un-eaten asparagus after the party if it has been sitting out for several hours.  These asparagus were eaten up SO quickly. I would recommend making more than you need and maybe bringing them out in two rounds so they don't spoil. 

Give this recipe a try - you're going to love it!

Summer Pasta Salad

I love a good pasta salad, don't you?  I've tried tons of different recipes and I don't know if I've ever met a pasta salad that I didn't really like.  For Matilda's "Tea for 2" party I wanted to do an updated version of a traditional classic.  This is my version of Summer Pasta Salad with fresh herbs, sun dried tomatoes, peas, black olives and asparagus.

Serves 15-20
Ingredients:
2 lbs. tri-color rotini pasta
1 cup zesty Italian dressing
1 cup Caesar dressing
1/2 jar of sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
10 fresh chives
Handful of fresh parsley
1/2 cup fresh basil
2 small cans sliced black olives
Half bag of frozen peas, thawed (run under hot water)
10 cooked asparagus spears, cut into 1" pieces

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Once cooking is complete, rinse thoroughly under cold water to remove starch and set aside.

While pasta is cooking, make your dressing for the pasta salad.  Combine both dressings, sun dried tomatoes (with some of the olive oil), and all the fresh herbs.  Place in a blender and puree until dressing comes together.  Feel free to add any additional fresh herbs that your family loves.

Pour dressing into a large mixing bowl.  Combine pasta, olives, peas, asparagus, and dressing until pasta is fully coated.  Place in refrigerator to cool.  Remove from refrigerator 1 hour prior to serving and stir.  Can be made up to two days ahead of time.

 Garnish with fresh parsley or any other herbs.  We just happen to have a lot of parsley in our garden this year so that's what I chose to use.  My Grandma Marge always taught us to never serve a dish without a garnish.  I think she would be proud.

This is a wonderful dish for entertaining because it can be made up to two days in advance and only continues to get better the longer it sits.  You can add any vegetables that are in season or that your family enjoys.  I think this would be amazing with some grilled zucchini or roasted bell peppers.  Just make the dressing and see what you happen to have on hand - you can't really go wrong!

Strawberry Picking and Cinnamon Strawberry Muffins { Recipe }

Last week it was finally strawberry season here in Illinois!  My husband was out of town for the week on a fishing trip with his dad, so the girls and I decided to head to our local strawberry farm to pick some fresh berries.

At the farm they give each child their own small basket and then they give each adult a larger basket.  It's not a fancy place, but it was just the perfect place for this mama and two little ladies.

The girls were very busy picking their berries.  Savannah stayed very focused and picked a ton.  Matilda, however, eventually decided it was best just to eat all the berries she was picking that way her basket would be empty and she could wear it as a hat.

We ended up with a huge basket of berries.  Both the girls started just filling up mama's basket and we filled it to the brim!

Once we had all our berries picked, it was time to head home and figure out what to do with all these gorgeous little red berries.

Cinnamon Strawberry Muffins

Makes 18-24 muffins

So we had picked all of these berries and I knew we needed to make something with them because, especially with my husband being away, there was no way we were going to eat this whole basket.  I thought about strawberry scones and strawberry cake, but settled on strawberry muffins.  I added some cinnamon to make these a little different than your average muffin and oh.my.goodness - they are delicious.

If you have any berries lying around, give this recipe a try.  It's heavy on the cinnamon and heavy on the sugar - two of my favorite things.  And the tops get super-crunchy and delicious.  You're going to love it!

Ingredients:

1 lb. fresh strawberries, hulled and cut in half
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 sticks butter, melted
1 1/4 cup milk
2 eggs

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Prep your strawberries by taking the tops off and cutting them in half.  Some of our berries were pretty tiny so I just left those whole.

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, except for the sugar.  In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine.  Toss your strawberries with the sugar.

Add strawberry/sugar mixture to the muffin mixture and fold in gently to combine.

Spray two muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray (you could also use muffin liners, if you prefer).  Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup and fill each muffin tin just about to the top.

Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean.

Allow muffins to cool and then remove from pan.  If you do not plan to eat your muffins that day, I suggest freezing them.  Strawberries tend to make baked goods kind of soggy if they sit too long.

Place them in a freezer bag and lay them flat in your freezer for the initial freeze.  You can pull the muffins out one at a time when you are ready to eat them, microwave for about 45 seconds and they literally taste like you just pulled them out of the oven.  This is also a great technique if you have guests coming for a visit and you want to bake prior to their arrival or for a quick breakfast before work or school.

We only have one of these muffins left and looking at this picture is making me think, I need to walk immediately into the kitchen and pull it out of the freezer.  YUM!

Lemon Roasted Asparagus

Don't you just love summer?  It's that yummy time of year when all of the glorious produce comes in season.  I absolutely love visiting the farmers market and picking up produce from our local farmers.  I recently picked up some wonderful asparagus that I wanted to serve as a side dish with a meal I was preparing.  When produce is actually in season, I don't like to do too much to it in regards to flavoring and seasoning because it already tastes so good in it's pure form.

Lemon Roasted Asparagus in the perfect side-dish for any meal.  Serve it with some rice pilaf or couscous and you have a light, summer meal that won't weigh you down.

Lemon Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients:

1 lb. asparagus

2.5 lemons (slice 2 and leave the other one half for juicing)

Olive oil

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Prep. your asparagus.  Wash and remove the tough ends (cut off approximately 1-2" on the non-tree-looking end).  If you like, you can reserve these for later to use in a cream of asparagus soup or another one of your favorite dishes.  Or if not, just discard.

Lay out asparagus out on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Squeeze the juice of half a lemon on top of asparagus, then add lemon slices.  Use your hands to toss and make sure all of the asparagus and lemons are coated nicely with the olive oil, salt and pepper.

Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the ends of the asparagus start to become caramelized and slightly browned.

Once asparagus are finished cooking, remove from oven and serve.  I like to serve asparagus spears piled up with several lemon slices.  My husband is not a huge veggie eater, but he loves this dish.  The acidity in the lemons really brings out the deliciously nutty flavor in the roasted asparagus.  Try this with fish, chicken or pork or you could even roast some up and add it to your favorite pasta dish!

  Happy Summer Produce Season!

Leftover Remix: Grilled Shrimp and Roasted Corn Pasta

Yesterday I posted my recipe for Spicy Grilled Shrimp with Corn Relish.  Well, we had some leftovers and I decided it would be fun to turn them into something new for the following dinner.  There are very few additional ingredients for this pasta dish, but your family will never know they are eating something very similar to the night before.

If you would like to make this dish, but fear you might not have any leftovers from the night before, just plan ahead and make a double recipe of the spicy shrimp.

Leftover Remix:  Grilled Shrimp and Roasted Corn Pasta

Ingredients:

Leftover Spicy Grilled Shrimp with Corn Relish (pineapple removed)

1 pound cavatappi pasta (or any shape you like)

1 package grape tomatoes

Olive oil

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Cook pasta according to package directions.

Place leftover corn relish, grilled onions, and grape tomatoes on a large baking sheet.  Drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven for approximately 20 minutes or until grape tomatoes start to get wrinkly and corn starts to get a little color.

Meanwhile, cut up your shrimp into small pieces.  Once you remove your corn and tomato mixture from the oven, add your shrimp to the baking sheet - this will warm them up without cooking them any further.

Drain pasta.  Add all the contents from the cookie sheet into the pasta.  Make sure to scrape up all the little brown bits (this gives the great roasted flavor).  Add your Parmesan cheese and an extra drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper (to taste).

Garnish with additional sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and serve with freshly baked garlic bread.

Now that's practically two meals in one - how great is that?  I love things that do double duty!

Spicy Grilled Shrimp with Corn Relish

A week ago it actually felt like spring here in Chicago (though today, not so much), so I had grilling on the brain.  One of my favorite foods is grilled shrimp and I came up with this spicy grilled shrimp recipe with corn relish that is perfect for those warm weather days.  This recipe may appear to have a lot of ingredients, but most of the spices can be found in your pantry.

Spicy Grilled Shrimp with Corn Relish

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

Shrimp:

1 lb. raw shrimp, shells on

1/4 cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Juice of 2 limes

Corn Relish:

1 bag frozen corn (or several ears fresh with kernels removed if in season)

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 green onions, sliced

1/4 cup cilantro

Juice of 2 limes

1/2 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Extras:

1 red onion, sliced

Pineapple, cubed - fresh or canned chunks

Rice, of your choice

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients under "shrimp" to make a marinade/paste for the shrimp.  Reserve 1/4 cup of the marinade.  Add shrimp to marinade and let sit for 20 minutes before grilling.  You do not want to over marinate shrimp.  The acid from the lime juice will start to cook the shrimp ever so slightly and if you marinate them all day then you can end up with some tough, over cooked shrimp.

Drizzle the remaining marinade over your sliced red onions.

Cube pineapple or used canned pineapple chunks.  If you would prefer to do these as kabobs, just cut your onions into chunks rather than slices.  We happened to have one of those pans that go on the grill (so nothing will fall through) and just decided to go with a deconstructed kabob to make our lives easier.

Defrost your frozen corn and combine all ingredients under "corn relish".  Allow flavors to come together.  This can be made up to a day ahead of time.

Heat up your grill.  Add the onions, then the shrimp and finally the pineapple once the grill is hot.  The shrimp should take approximately 6 minutes (3 minutes on each side), but the onions will take a bit longer.  If you are doing a kabob, just put everything on the grill all together.

Serve with corn relish and rice of your choice (I made some red beans and rice)........my mother always told me to make sure you garnish your plate (something she learned from her mother).  Doesn't that fresh bit of cilantro just make the plate look so much more appetizing?  I think garnishing is worth the effort - it shows your family that you truly care and that the food you serve them is filled with love.

Tomorrow I will show you how I turned the leftovers from this meal into a fabulous pasta dish!