I love lemon.  I love lavender.  What better way to indulge my affections than to combine the flavors and bake a cake.  So I did.  And it’s absolutely scrumptious if I do say so myself.   This family of five devoured it in less than 24 hours – we couldn’t help ourselves.   

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Since I harvested some of my French lavender last weekend, one of my first inclinations was to use it in the kitchen.   Lavender has been used in cooking for centuries – you’ll often find it in the ‘Herbes de Provence’ seasoning blend or lately in lavender sugar blends available at specialty stores.  You have to be careful with lavender.  Just like truffles, all you need is a tiny bit, you definitely don’t want to overdo it.  But what a fantastic culinary flavor it brings to the table !

The addition of lemon pudding in this recipe was my mom’s idea.  She’s been adding it to her lemon cake for years, so I stole that idea from her. 

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Yo.  It’s grilling season.  And I like to fire up the grill.  A lot.  

Yep, I cook up most suppers out on the grill all summer long.  To me, it’s so easy to roast up the meats and veges on the BBQ outside.   Barbequed food is always so tasty, and it is one of my favorite things about summer.

Now that June is here, and the Q is officially fired up about four to five times a week, I thought I’d share the creative concoction that I turn to time and again.  It has my basic requirements:  simple, fast, and tasty. 

I don’t do a lot of recipes around here, but I do consider myself a foodie, meaning I just love food in all forms, but especially the savory stuff.  So today, I’m here to share my most favorite marinade for poultry.  But you don’t need a BBQ to enjoy – you can use this same marinade recipe to enhance your poultry in a pan.

It’s simple.  It’s tasty.  Try it, you’ll really like it. 

The marinade is made from five simple ingredients – easy to store in your fridge and/or pantry.

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I’m just going to come right out and say it.  We.Women.Need.Chocolate. 

The mood lifting qualities of chocolate cannot be denied.  There is simply no such thing as too much chocolate.  At least, that’s how I see the world – through chocolate tinted glasses.

Last week, in anticipation of Valentine’s Day, I began my adventure in chocolate candy making.  What began as an experiment ended happily ever after with a blissful box of three varieties of dark chocolate candy. 

First, I started with Sea Salt Caramels dipped in Dark Chocolate.  You can read that harrowing journey right here.

My next adventure in chocolate candy making led to these two decadent delights: 

Raspberry Chocolate Squares and Toffee Bites.

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