Lavender!

I bought some lavender to make baked goods and jam with!

The recipe for Lemon-Lavender muffins said to blend the lavender with the sugar...I thought this was awesome. 

Lemon-Lavender muffins!  I made them vegan by using soy milk instead of whole milk, earth balance instead of butter, and egg replacer (a powder that is sold at health food stores) instead of an egg since I am all out of happy chicken eggs.  I was excited they turned out fluffy and delicious.  I find it very easy to make recipes vegan as long as they are not asking for too much butter, milk, or eggs.  

Sunday I bought 4 pints of blueberries from Hardin Family Farms to make Blueberry-Lavender Jam!

Here is the recipe for Blueberry-Lavendar Jam, although I would say the jam was not lavendary enough.  I saw in another recipe that you take the 2 Tbs of lavender, put it in cheesecloth, tie it up with twine, and let it boil with the blueberries for 20 minutes.  I think that would have made it have a more lavender flavor...next time.

Harvesting at Midnight Sun Farm and Basil Peach Preserves!

Today at Midnight Sun Farm we harvested onions, shallots, okra, zucchini and cucumbers.  Onions are my favorite to harvest.  They make the most lovely sound when I pull their roots from the soil and they smell so strong.  I had never seen okra grow before.  It is very beautiful!  I had no where to put them so I was stuffing them in my pockets. 

A few days ago my friend Jess and I got together to make Peach Preserves with Basil (we used 2 cups of sugar instead of 4).  The peaches were from Hardin Family Farms in Michigan and they we super sweet!  This week I hope to get some blueberries...possibly for jam or maybe a pie.

Cherry Jam, Pickled Garlic Scapes and Pickled Beets!

Michigan cherries from Hardin Family Farms, Illinois honey from Dennanne Farms, star anise, lemon and low-sugar pectin all to make Cherry Jam!

For this cherry jam I followed this recipe...sorta.  I used a cup of honey instead of granulated sugar and added a star anise to simmer with the cherries.  I would have added one more star anise and 2/3 cup of honey instead of a cup.  The jam is as sweet as the stuff you buy at the grocery store...and that was not what I was going for but it is still yummy.  I am hoping I didn't leave too much headspace for this jar...

I pickled two more jars of garlic scapes with basil.  The recipe is here.  Tonight for dinner I made garlic scape pesto pizza.  Garlic Scape Pesto recipe.  I made some great vegan cheese with cashews, nutritional yeast and canned red peppers for the pizza.  Here is the recipe for 7 Secrets Simple Cheese Sauce.  I have 4 more scapes left...what should I do with them?!

I received some beets in my CSA so I pickled them with apple cider vinegar, ginger and cinnamon!  They are going to be awesome.  Here is the recipe.

I have been pickling, canning and cooking like a crazy person...time to get back to the artwork...and stop heating our apartment up!