lavender

Honey Lavender Walnuts

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My girls and I have really been trying to adjust our eating habits throughout the school day.  Instead of snacking on crackers, pretzels and tortilla chips, we are trying to move our snacking to the non-processed variety.  This has been a bit of challenge for us lately, until we crafted this recipe early this week.  Our honey lavender walnuts give you that crunch that great snacks have, while also blessing your tongue with a bit of salt, spice and sweet goodness.  I hope you enjoy!

Honey Lavender Walnuts

2 1/2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup local honey

1/2 teaspoon salt

dash of cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried lavender blossoms

1-2 cups walnuts (depending upon how much coating you would like)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the butter, honey, salt, pepper and cinnamon in a small sauce pan.  Stir continuously over medium heat until melted.  Remove from heat.

Add vanilla to the butter mixture and stir well.  Next, add the walnuts and stir to coat.

Turn out onto a jelly roll pan and spread out evenly.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes.  Stir and spread out evenly again.  Repeat this process until your walnuts have reached a roasted degree that you enjoy.  Remove from oven.

Mix in lavender blossoms.  Allow to cool.  Enjoy!

Lavender Rosemary Biscuits

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Lavender Rosemary Biscuits

We Fagans LOVE us some biscuits! And the only thing better than a biscuit is when we can load it up with fresh garden goodness and therefore call it “healthy” 🙂  My girls and I loved how these lil’ dumplings turned out, and we hope you do as well.

Lavender Rosemary Biscuits

In a large bowl, mix together 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, 4 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon cream of tartar.  Next add 3 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary and 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lavender blossoms.

Then add 3/4 cup cold salted butter (cut into small cubes) to the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or fork.

Using your fingertips, mix 1 1/4 cups buttermilk into the mixture until just combined.  Turn out onto a floured board, roll until about 3/4 inch thick, and cut into rounds using a biscuit cutter or the top of a glass.

Place the rounds on an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes (or until golden on top).

Enjoy!

*A note about all my recipes: I use all organic ingredients, local when available. I use non-homogenized milk, and all of the dairy we use is from animals raised on pasture. I also use oils that are non-GMO verified. All our meat is raised locally on organic feed, and our beef is grass-fed, grass-finished. All our spices and cane sugar are fair-trade certified and purchased through a cooperative.

Good Clean Fun

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This week opened with warm weather, but a whole lot of rain.  In order to keep ourselves entertained during these deluge-filled days, my youngest and I decided it was time to restore our soap supply.  It was time for some good clean fun.  It was time for soap making.

In the past, I have relied upon soap recipes from books, but this time I ventured into unknown territory and made up a few concoctions of my own.  Now with that said, let me be clear in stating that I have not yet made the move to making my own soap base from lye.  I hope to one day get to that point, but for now I still use a wonderful goat’s-milk base from this soap-making supply company.

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we have.  Enjoy!

Lavender Rosemary Soap

2 lbs 10 oz goat’s milk soap base

3/4 cup palm oil

1/4 cup beeswax pellets

Melt these ingredients down in a double boiler.  (I use an old glass bowl nested in a pan of hot water.)  Once the mixture is melted, remove from heat.  Add 3 eye droppers of vitamin E oil, 25 drops of rosemary essential oil, and 40 drops of lavender essential oil. Mix.  Continue to mix and allow the mixture to cool down slightly.  (I have found this helps to keep the palm oil from separating during the molding and cooling process.)  Then pour the mixture into soap molds and allow to cool.  Once cool, remove from molds (and cut if needed).  Let the soap cure on a drying rack for two weeks before use.

Orange Chai Spice Soap

2 lbs 10 oz goat’s milk soap base

3/4 cup palm oil

1/4 cup beeswax pellets

Melt these ingredients down in a double boiler.  (I use an old glass bowl nested in a pan of hot water.)  Once the mixture is melted, remove from heat.  Add 3 eye droppers of vitamin E oil, 40 drops of sweet orange essential oil, and the contents of 8 chai tea bags. Mix.  Continue to mix and allow the mixture to cool down slightly.  (I have found this helps to keep the palm oil from separating during the molding and cooling process.)  Then pour the mixture into soap molds and allow to cool.  Once cool, remove from molds (and cut if needed).  Let the soap cure on a drying rack for two weeks before use.

A Little Something Homemade

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Now that summer is upon us, it seems that the sun is just soaking up all of that lovely moisture in our skin.  I recently found a great recipe for homemade lotion that contains only five ingredients, and they are all readily available.  The best part about this lotion is that you can incorporate various flowers and herbs that you have growing right in your backyard.

The recipe can be found in this book and it is so easy to make that the girls and I were able to whip it up in no time yesterday.  The scent we tried this time is lavender vanilla patchouli, and we are really happy with the result.  We have also made lavender and lavender rosemary and all have turned out great!  (Can you tell we have a lot of lavender in our garden? 🙂 )