The Accidental Recipe Book

 

Lida Lafferty, Author of Spike it with Lavender: Recipes for Living

The charming book,  Spike It with Lavender: Recipes for Living by Lida Lafferty, offers many creative ways to use lavender. The book presents a collection of ideas and recipes for drinks, savories, sweets and even household items such as lavender dryer bags and lavender mist.

I find many reasons to praise this book and rejoice in its genesis. Lafferty, a speech pathologist living in western Colorado, never intended to grow lavender. She certainly couldn’t have guessed that she would ever create a lavender recipe book.

Honeybees sparked Lafferty’s interest in lavender. In 2008 she worried about her honeybees and wanted to give them a healthy and abundant food source. From Colorado State University’s Extension office, she learned that honeybees thrive on sage, yarrow and lavender. Lafferty was already growing sage and yarrow on her 2 ½ acres in Grand Junction. For the sake of her bees, she put in 75 lavender plants and added more the next season.

Honeybees Thrive on Sage

All summer Lafferty’s lavender filled her fields with fragrant purple blossoms. Her honeybees hovered over the flowers, foraging for pollen. One day Lafferty was harvesting lavender. Everywhere she looked, she saw honeybees enjoying the magnificent flowers. Lafferty felt guilty about taking away the bees’ food. She found herself talking to them, saying, “Okay ladies, half of this lavender belongs to you, I get the rest.” Lavender had become a character in her story.

Yarrow Attracts Bees

Lafferty joined the Lavender Association of Western Colorado. Colorado’s arid climate, high altitude and alkaline soil gives the herb everything it desires. Farmers planted lavender as a cash crop. It adds to income from cherries, peaches and wine grapes.

Lavender: A Treat for Honeybees

When Lafferty met with other lavender growers, the conversation buzzed about their dream of a lavender celebration. Some had attended the Sequim Lavender Festival. They were excited and eager for a gathering in Colorado. Lafferty tossed out her idea. “I think it’d be great if we had our own association cookbook which would be an ideal ‘take-home’ item for festival attendees.”

The association published Lafferty’s book in 2011. Spike It with Lavender: Recipes for Living contains a collection of recipes. Well-known chefs, lavender growers and talented home cooks contributed recipes. This approach yielded diversity; each recipe reflects the creator’s experience and personality.

Professional chefs relied on their culinary training and skill in pairing flavors and textures, however some had not yet discovered lavender as a culinary ingredient. Lafferty sent them lavender honey and lavender buds. She asked them to experiment with it and contribute their recipes. Lafferty converted these chefs from skeptics to believers. Their recipes showcase tasty ways to use lavender.

Growers with years of experience using lavender generously gave many recipes to this book. From this group, special mention goes to Roxi Lane from Dayspring Farm for sharing her “top secret creations” such as Dayspring Farm Lavender Espresso Brownies. Also Paolo Legarre’s Sage Creations Lip Balm stands out for its simplicity.

From talented home cooks, the book gives us family favorites that have been perfected over generations. These range from Gram Jane Molasses Cake with Lavender contributed by Julie Zahniser (in honor of her mother) to Sheila’s Herb Chicken Stew contributed by Nancy Lofholm.

Amy Nuernberg created the book’s artistic cover and tabs. Artist Susan Metzger contributed her batik design along with original art and local photographs. These work well with Lafferty’s clever idea to use a ring-binder for easy reference while cooking and to enable expansion.  The 2012 recipe collection has recently become available. She’s now collecting recipes for the 2013 edition.  If you want to contribute one of your recipes, you can find her submittal guidelines on the Lavender Association’s website. March 31, 2013 is the last day for submittal.

Bound in a Three-ring Binder, the Book Expands with New Recipes Each Year.

Another helpful feature of this book informs readers of the wide range of lavender varieties, each with their own flavor and fragrance profile. Some are sweet, others spicy; some are subtle, others bold.

For culinary use, Lafferty recommends English Lavender which comes in hundreds of varieties. Because many recipes in the book specify certain varieties such as Miss Katherine, Folgate or Croxton’s Wild, readers discover many flavor choices.

Lavender Varieties Each with their Own Flavor

Kathy Kimbrough, founder and past president of the Lavender Association of Western Colorado, said, “What I like best about this book is that it’s accessible and affordable.”

Kimbrough added, “The book has been great for our association. It educates people who are just discovering lavender as a culinary herb, increases the sales of culinary lavender, and provides us with an ongoing revenue stream.”

When the association held their first lavender festival in 2011, Lafferty’s suggestion came to fruition. Many festival attendees went home with a copy of Spike It with Lavender. The 2012 festival attracted about 2000 people. The 3^rd festival is scheduled for July 12-14, 2013.

Spike It with Lavender: Recipes for Living

With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, why not give your favorite foodie a unique gift? Spike it with Lavender: Recipes for Living!  And if your Valentine likes sweet treats, but not cooking, give him or her CakeLove Chewy Cookies, one of Lafferty’s favorite recipes. Put them in a fancy package tied with a red bow and include your own love note. And when you pop the question, “Please be my Valentine?” the answer will be “yes.”

For Love & Romance, Bake CakeLove Cookies for your Sweetie!

 

CakeLove Chewy Cookies

Re-printed here with permission from Lida Lafferty, author of “Spike It with Lavender: Recipes for Living”

Bake these on parchment lined cookie sheet to the point where the dough won’t give when you poke them. Choose from a few choices of mix-ins to get your favorite flavor, or customize by mixing and matching. I love the warmth you get from the honey and the pretty bouquet that comes from the lavender. Enjoy!   ~Warren Brown, founder of CakeLove and Love Cafe

 

¼ cup Lavender infused Honey*

½ cup superfine or plain granulated sugar

½ cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 tsp. lemon zest

3 oz. unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg

1 (optional) egg yolk

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

¾ tsp. sea salt

½ tsp. cinnamon

Flavor Mix-ins:

½ cup whole rolled oats

½ cup candied ginger pieces

Or

½ cup dried cranberries

½ cup pecan pieces or almond slices

Or

½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

½ cup almond slices

¼ cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 300 to 315 °F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat.

*Note: To make Lavender-Infused Honey, combine ¼ cup to 1/3 cup dried lavender buds and 1 cup honey in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Let stand, turning the jar upside down periodically. After a week, discard lavender buds by filtering through a sieve. It’s now ready to use.

Mix honey, sugars and zest in stand mixer fitted with flat paddle. Slowly add in melted butter and vanilla extract. Add in egg and yolk. Stir to combine flour, soda, salt and cinnamon, and then add to mixer. Add mix-in of your choosing and stir until combined. The dough should come off the side of the bowl and barely feel tacky. Add a touch more flour if it’s very sticky.

Scoop out the dough with a trigger ice-cream scooper. Lightly press to flatten to ¼” to ½”. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, remove from oven to cool and serve warm.

Store any leftover dough in an airtight container in fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Warren says there’s a fair amount of tolerance in the recipe to withstand variance in the art of mixing and atmospheric conditions (temperature and pressure).

So here’s what you need to know. It’s soft, not crispy, because of the honey. It’s chewy! No worries about altitude adjustments. It’s scrumptious, one of the best cookies I’ve ever tasted. 

Make them after school with your children, after work, or at midnight. Linger with good talk, a glass of milk, and this good cookie.

Thanks to Warren Brown of CakeLove, Washington, DC area.     ~Lida Lafferty

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Life Lessons from Julia and Avis: A Recipe for Success

Dwarfed by a Giant

Since I wrote my book, “Discover Cooking with Lavender,” I’ve learned behind every book, there’s a story with twists and turns, challenges and breakthroughs and plenty of hard work. That’s exactly what fascinated me about “As Always, Julia – The Letters of Julia Child & Avis DeVoto.”

Everyone has heard of Julia Child, her masterpiece, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” and her popular television program; but what I learned and loved about this book is how Julia stepped onto the culinary stage and became a legend in the culinary world.

“As Always, Julia – The Letters of Julia Child & Avis DeVoto” gives us a glimpse of their friendship through their own words. These letters reveal how over a ten-year period, Julia persistently worked at “cookery and bookery,” dealt with setbacks, received encouragement from her mentor Avis DeVoto

, and finally in May 1960 got word that her book proposal had been approved by Knopf.

 As I read the letters of Julia and Avis, I felt inspired by their friendship. Their correspondence tells of recipe-testing, technique trials and the search for clear and understandable descriptions. I could relate to the tough choices about which recipes to include, or how to explain rare ingredients, or how to specify details such as best pan size. How often do you read a book that changes your life? I’m adding these five life lessons into my recipe for success.

"As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto

   1. Be generous. When you can help someone, don’t hold back.

In 1952, more than half a century before Facebook, Julia Child responded to a journalist, Bernard DeVoto, who ranted against the American kitchen knife. Julia, living in Paris then, sent him a carbon steel paring knife. That act of kindness was the beginning of a lifelong friendship between Julia Child and his wife, Avis DeVoto.

An excerpt from Julia’s March 8, 1952 letter to Bernard Devoto:

“Your able diatribe against the beautiful-beautiful-rust-proof-edge-proof American kitchen knife so went to my heart that I cannot refrain from sending you this nice little French model as a token of my appreciation.”

The journalist’s wife, Avis DeVoto, responded with a letter of thanks. Like many of today’s Facebook “friends,” Julia and Avis corresponded for nearly three years before they finally met one another in July 1954.

   2. Collaborate with people who share your passion.

Excerpt from Avis DeVoto’s letter of March 20, 1953:

“I made a beautiful omelet for my lunch with chives and parsley, but I still have to use a spatula to make it roll. We are going to have poached salmon with beurre blanc for dinner. Honest to God, Julia, you have brought a revolution into this household. I wholly expect the completed book to cause a real revolution.”

   3. Focus on quality, and keep your standards high.

Julia Child - She Never Gave Up!

Julia focused on doing her very best while she worked on her book. This excerpt is taken from her February 12, 1953 letter to Avis.  

“I am determined that this book is to be as perfect as we can possibly make it; and that every point in the basic explanations is to be absolutely mastered and masterfully explained. I think the Sauce chapter is on the whole, a damn good job, and sets us a pretty high standard for the rest . . . which must be even better.”

This excerpt is taken from her February 6, 1955 letter to Avis.

“There will be so many things to come out ahead of us, I refuse to worry, but I want very much to study everything that does appear, so we can try to better it … Which I think we can in many instances. But . . . we weren’t born into the trade, more’s the pity. Had we started in at 12, apprenticed to a good master, we would be far ahead of where we are now. But we also have the advantage of being housewives, which gives a different approach.”

4.   Never give up.

Julia Child worked on her book for ten years. In Paris, she began her formal culinary education at Le Cordon Bleu in 1949. She found friends who shared her interest and perspective on food. In 1952, Julia, along with two friends, taught cooking classes. The three women teamed up to create a cookbook. The book was published in October 1961 by Knopf. By August of 1962, 100,000 copies were sold and by 1974, sales rocketed to 1.4 million books.  Julia’s television series, “The French Chef,” was broadcast between 1963 and 1966. In 2009, the film “Julie and Julia” attracted more attention to Julia Child and her book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” Book sales soared. Today this book is considered one of the most influential works in American cookbook history.

5.  Lighten up and be playful.

These women had fun and adopted a playful approach. When I read their letters, and noticed how they lightened up the moment with a chuckle here and there, I realized their light-hearted style added fun by spicing up everyday lives. I will give you several of my favorite examples.

From Julia’s letter to Avis on January 5, 1953:

“I can’t tell you my emotions of love and gratitude for all your interest and hard work on behalf of our book; you display the true marks of a Great Gourmande . . . which always includes the warmest and most generous of natures . . . and is why people who love to eat are always the best people.”

From Julia’s letter of November 2, 1955:

“Certainly don’t want any photos of us on our book, we’ll be too old by that time anyway, and besides I don’t think it helps the appetite and might hurt the sales.”

Avis DeVoto "Foster Mother, Wet Nurse, Guide and Mentor"

From Avis’s letter of February 8, 1953:

“Now that I know Paul {Julia’s husband} is a photographer, I have a definite request to make. (Don’t for the love of God send me any more French cookbooks. …) I want Paul to take a photograph of you at the kitchen stove. With or without decorated fish.”

From Avis’s letter of February 27, 1954:

“You know, it’s funny. By the time we develop real taste in food, and begin to learn how to prepare it, digestive disorders set in and weight piles up. When I think what I could have done in my youth, when I ate like a horse with no bad results at all, with the knowledge I am getting now, I could cry.”

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Flowers, Fairies and Friends

 

Book Recommendation

 

I’ve never lived in a flower garden with fairy friends; however Cicely Mary Barker’s book, “Lavender Finds a Friend” helps me to imagine the experience. The fragrance, the sounds of bees and birds and the natural beauty fills the story with vivid imagery.

Sleepy Lavender gets up with the sun singing to the other fairies to awaken them. Lavender washes the fairies’ clothes. One day she is sad because she is too busy with laundry to have friends. Lavender expresses her sadness in her diary. Then she concocts a friendly fairy spell, casts it and waits for the result. Cornflower, Snapdragon and Foxglove step out of the flower bed to declare their friendship for Lavender.

I love this story primarily for its sweet whimsy. Beyond that however, this story demonstrates the power of self-expression, reflection, the written word and positive action. We all have more power than we exercise. Next time I’m feeling a bit blue, I’ll do what Lavender did and cast a friendly spell.

What did Lavender put in her spell? This is the best part. Here are her ingredients:

•      A sprinkle of lavender petals
•      A drop of dew
•      A dash of fairy dust
•      A whisper of moon sparkle
•      A tiny fairy giggle

With ingredients like these, is it any wonder the spell gave Lavender exactly what she desired?

Find out more about this book at http://www.flowerfairies.com/

 p.s. I bought this book for my granddaughter when she was five years old. If you want your children and grandchildren to appreciate the flowers in your garden, learn their names and treasure their whimsical beauty, this book is a first step.

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