I’ve had a less than perfect week having tossed;
a whole head of lettuce (boo! and it was super gross too), a sausage that somehow the baby didn’t ferret out and devour and one rather decrepit looking apple.
I did have a little triumph though.  My father-in-law gave me a bag of gold the other day.  It’s not actual gold but culinary gold nontheless-baby garlic.  This is the most delicious thing you can ever try.  You don’t peel them, you top and tail them and just chop really finely.  Delicate but VERY garlicy.  I had many dreams for this little bag but the majority have really helped me out of a bind. 

You see, I just couldn’t say no to a basket of tomatoes the other day and then…well.  Life got in the way using the efficiently.  I threw them in the fridge to slow down the deterioration a bit but this also meant that they weren’t going to be amazing a tomato sandwiches either.  A couple of more days and things were getting critical.  Spaghetti sauce in the slow cooker it is.

The basket of tomatoes, 1 pepper saved from the dregs of the vegetable drawer, 6 of my gorgeous baby garlic, 1 heaping T. of basil, a healthy dose of black pepper, 1 carrot (love that sweetness), a drizzle of balsamic glaze, a bottle (not a typo) of red wine, a zuchinni that was edging towards the composter and 8 hours in the slowcooker.  I like my sauce a bit on the smooth side so I’ll blitz it with my handblender for a couple of seconds.

Ahhh…lasagne may be looming in our futures.

But what about dessert?
It seems like forever since I made cookies but today is the day. I’m going to have a really strong pot of Earl Grey tea and read a good/trashy book while the babes has her sleep this afternoon.
By sleep I mean; read in her bed and sing songs for 30 minutes.
I really want to have some cookies on hand for the next little bit so I’m making a freezer version of shortbread. I really like this as I just need to wrap the dough in plastic and slice whatever I want at the time. They are very quick to put together and the dough will last in the freezer (in theory but knowing my family not in actuality) for two months.
I love this combination of lemon and lavender. Measure the lavender out really carefully or your cookies will taste like your Great-Aunt’s, unmentionable drawer. That wouldn’t be good.
Lemon Lavender Cookies
(here are the ingredients for a single batch, I’m actually going to mulitiply it by four but I’ll just triple the lavender-see above warning)
Beat together; 1/2 cup butter, 1/3 cup sugar until fluffy. 
Add 1 tsp dried lavender, 1 tsp lemon zest and 1 cup flour.  Wrap in plastic or parchment and chill for an hour. 
I’ll actually divide my dough into four, chill one portion and freeze the other three.   
When chilled OR when you really need cookies (you know the type of crisis I’m talking about), slice them into 1/4 inches pieces and bake about 15 minutes at 350 or until slightly browned and crunchy. 

I like to sprinkle mine with chunks of sugar too. 

Yumm….

The new Janet Evanovich book awaits šŸ™‚  So sorry for the long post-now you know how my students feel.

 

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