No cooking

Due to the recent heat wave, cooking has been kept to a minimum. Salad. Leftovers. Cheese platter.

This morning, I served Morningstar breakfast patties and watermelon as a precursor to breakfast, so child opted out of cream of wheat.

So, I got funky.

LAVENDER CREAM OF WHEAT

- 1 cup vanilla coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon honey
- about 1 teaspoon lavender
- 2 handfuls golden raisins
Heat. Add 4 tablespoons cream of wheat

Cinnamon Raisin Cream of Wheat and Nettle Tea

So, as I hoped, feared and expected, my doctor's appt yesterday revealed an iron deficiency. Luckily, not anemia, but a drop in stored iron from my winter high of 46 to a June 10 low of 13. This means I'm back on OTC iron tablets, vitamin C and a multivitamin.

So, I whipped up this iron-rich breakfast for our summer café: cinnamon raisin cream of wheat, lavender nettle tea and Bolthouse Farms mango-cherry Immunity-C Smoothie.

I had already told myself I would splurge on one of those smoothies when I saw Target had the smoothies on sale for $3.49!!! I dilute mine and use it to take my vitamins.

The nettle tea came loose from the local Nature's Way Market. I didn't know how strong it should be so I just dumped some in the bottom of my French press with some food grade lavender. The child likes it with honey. I prefer it straight.

CINNAMON-RAISIN CREAM OF WHEAT
Heat to almost boiling:
- 1 cup vanilla almond milk
- some sugar (less than 2 tablespoons)
- about one heaping tablespoon cinnamon
- one large handful raisins
Then when just starting to bubble add:
- 4 tablespoons farina

Stir until thickened

Lemonade Smoothie

Are you sick of smoothies yet?

This morning:
- 1 Chobani lemon yogurt
- about 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- about 1/4 cup very vanilla soy milk
- about 1/4 cup seltzer
- one heaping teaspoon orange juice concentrate
- pinch of [food grade] lavender

Lavender tarte tartin

Last week, I attended a party for my local library staff and somehow they got the idea that I made "bitchin' desserts." So, I made a pear tarte tartin and added some lavender to the sugar syrup as I boiled it in order to "perfume" the pears. It works well, though I could have increased the lavender. I used about a half teaspoon and I could have done a full teaspoon I think. I also didn't have eggs, so I substituted applesauce and it worked fine.

Note though: if you don't boil down the syrup enough it can lead to runny bits that don't set under the fruit.

I apologize to any devoted readers looking for ideas. Between working retail at Christmas, final exams, a sick kid and the holidays, I have not cooked. And with no Internet at home, updating the blog is tricky.

French Herbs with Cheryl Karcher

Today, thanks to the prodding and support of a very sweet friend, I attended a French herb workshop at Grouse Studios in Frenchtown. The "teacher" for this informal seminar was Cheryl A. Karcher of Hilltop Herbals.

Fun, fun afternoon.

The blend of experience levels at the workshop made it really interesting. I wanted to learn more about some of the French herbs you commonly see in recipes but I've been hesitant to buy them fresh because they're expensive and I wasn't sure what to do with them.

Really~ I have no clue what to do with sorrel, tarragon, and I would love to make more use of my lavender and lemon thyme. I also need to grow my own rosemary. It's pathetic that I don't.

I'm not going to share any of Cheryl's recipes although I can't guarantee I won't be playing with them in the future. Cheryl has to make a living like everyone else, so these recipes are not mine to share. But we dined on toasted bread with Cheryl's herbed butter and of course white wine. We had a lovely sautéed chicken with mustard and rosemary sauce, an orange/spinach salad with tarragon dressing, and a crisp string bean salad with a lemon/garlic/lemon thyme dressing. And she shared some of her lavender cookies and rose raspberry tea with us.

Also exciting for me was to get up close and personal with fleur de sel. I've wanted some but didn't feel justified in making the investment.

So, what did I learn?

That I need to expand my herbs, and that sorrel is high in iron.

My current herbs: lemon thyme, basil, parsley, spearmint, catmint, oregano (a bush these days), chives, lavender, pink lavender...

My wish list: rosemary

Cheryl's workshop gave me some real food (or herb) for thought... and I'm just too excited to contemplate it now. But look for her inspiration in coming days.

Rose tea

I love the Tazo Rest Tea. It's primarily rose, with lavender, lemon, and valerian. All sorts of restful herbs, but no chamomile which always overpowers everything.

I have been making iced tea with 50% green tea and 50% this rest tea, and it's good. Today I scaled back the amount of green tea.

The Tazo tea hot is yummy by itself so I don't know why I'm hesitant to make a full batch of Tazo rest iced tea.

Pizza-fest

So we did order a pizza without Jesse and we've been living off that for the last several days. And leftovers. And yogurt. My daughter is with my mom and we have International Poetry Night tonight at Moravian College.

I'm thinking of making another tarte tartin in my Le Creuset pan, this one with twice the cake... I know I'll be dickering with the recipe so I'll post the results...

I wish I had a lavender bush so I could make some of my homemade lavender syrup. Lavender syrup as the liquid for a poire tarte tatin would be heavenly... but alas, alack, no lavender.

Herb garden

I started my herb garden as a way to plant perennials that would lower my need for yardwork.

I planted lemon thyme as a ground cover in the front flowerbed. It smells fantastic. I have never cooked with it, but the next time I make chicken francaise I plan on using some.

In the back yard I have chives, oregano and spearmint.

I use the spearmint for iced tea. I use a lot of chives. Occasionally, I remember to use oregano in sauces or chili.

I try to plant parsley and basil every year. Basil is yummy and parsley, according to elook.org, is a good source of vitamin A and vitamin C. For organic gardening, different herbs deter different pests because of their strong scents.

In the past, I've planted catnip. I haven't had good luck with it, which is probably good since it tends to grow like nuts if it really takes off.

I also had a lavender bush die this spring. My mother-in-law planted a new baby lavender, which I use to make lavender sorbet at the end of every summer.

I started freezing my herbs so less "go to waste." I've read that they won't stay firm, but they will retain flavor. One person advocated chopping them roughly and putting some in different sections of an ice cube tray, but I carefully arranged mine in small labeled plastic bags and then laid them on top of a box in the freezer. I made sure they weren't touching so it'd be easier to grab them from the others when I need a pinch. Once they froze, I added the little bag to a big freezer bag labeled fresh herbs.