Herbs
- Breakfast, Brunch, ENTERTAINING, GARDENS, GATHERINGS, Herbs, Lunch, MOTHERS DAY, RECIPES, Spring Entertaining, Spring Gardens, TABLE IDEAS
Chive, Leek + Cheese Quiche {#SundaySupper}
Brunch is my favorite meal to serve when hosting a Spring Gathering and it must feature a menu highlighting the best herbs of my Spring garden. Flowering chives and spring leeks are the perfect combination for a Chive, Leek and Cheese Quiche. Sure I liked chives, who doesn’t. They added color and flavor to baked potatoes right? But then it happened…. I fell in love with chives. At the time, I was working with a caterer in Bucks County, PA and had to stop at one of our local suppliers for micro greens – Blue Moon Acres in Buckingham, PA – on the way to the office. I had…
- COCKTAILS, EVERYDAY LIVING, GIFTS, Herbs, RECIPES, SEASONAL LIVING, SUMMER, Summer Entertaining, Summer Gardens
Homemade Organic Lavender Honey {#SundaySupper}
Perfect to make and keep on hand to add to hot tea or to add a wonderful natural sweetness to your favorite cocktail, this Lavender Honey is also the perfect gift from the kitchen to bring as a hostess or “welcome to the neighborhood” gift. Organic Lavender Honey INGREDIENTS 1/4 cup lavender flowers, organic or culinary 2 cups local organic honey METHOD In a small pan, heat honey on low heat until it is thin and slides off a metal spoon easily. Add lavender flowers to honey and stir to combine. Heat on low for an additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Using…
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Vanilla Mint Soda Sipper Recipe
VANILLA MINT SODA SIPPER RECIPE INGREDIENTS 3 tablespoons Vanilla Bean Simple Syrup {recipe below} 6-8 fresh picked mint leaves, plus one sprig for garnish tonic water crushed Ice berries for garnish tall glass Shady Tree in Your Favorite Garden METHOD In a tall glass muddle the mint leaves together with Vanilla Simple Syrup. Add Ice to 3/4 of the glass. Fill glass with tonic/mineral water. Use shaker to mix all together. Pour back into tall glass. Drop a few berries in for color and insert Mint sprig for garnish. Find shady tree and sip. 1 oz Vodka can be added prior to the water over ice to chill. {NOTE: I have been…
- #GardenPartyChat, COCKTAILS, ENTERTAINING, For Your Bar, GATHERINGS, Herbs, RECIPES, Summer Entertaining
Raspberry Rosemary Summer Sipper
A big part of entertaining is being the best host you can be so, I always like to offer my guests a beverage to sip on during an event. So here is the Suggested Sip of the Week recipe, with alcohol and non-alcoholic versions. RASPBERRY ROSEMARY SUMMER SIPPER Previous Recipes include: Basil Grapefruit Sipper, Thyme Tangerine Fizz or Provence Lavender Cocktail. With muddled fresh rosemary, Raspberries, fresh squeezed lime and Bombay Sapphire Gin gives this cocktail an added burst of flavor. Slice a fresh raspberry and a sprig of rosemary for the festive garnish. RASPBERRY ROSEMARY SUMMER SIPPER INGREDIENTS {makes 1 beverage} 6-1o rosemary needles 6 Fresh Raspberries 3/4 ounce fresh…
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Cocktail Recipe: The Garden Party Sipper {#GardenPartyChat}
Tonight’s An Appealing Plan #GardenPartyChat on Twitter {Wednesday 8P EST} topic will be Celebrating Fourth Of July. Seems pretty straight forward right? Problem is turns out we all have our own version of what this means. {Join us on twitter here} As a proper host, I of course would like to offer my guests a beverage to sip on during the chat. So here is the Suggested Sip of the Week recipe, with alcohol and non-alcoholic versions. Not a fan of Grapefruit or Basil…other suggestions might be: Thyme Tangerine Fizz or Provence Lavender Cocktail. The Garden Party Sipper Juice of 1/4 Fresh Juicy Grapefruit 2 1/2 Ounces of Bombay Sapphire Gin 1 Tablespoon…
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Provence Lavender Cocktails At the Museum
The Theme: An Evening in Paris The Venue: The new space of the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts in downtown Tampa. “The Cube” as it is called is magnificent. I huge change from their previous location and will make an impact on you each time you are able to enter the space. The reason to be there? An Appealing Plan was the VIP Cocktail sponsor, giving me the chance to test out the latest flavor of my recent endeavor into Herb Infused Simple Syrups: Lavender. {Previous versions have included Thyme Simple Syrup used in a Tangerine Cocktail} I was slightly concerned about going “Totally Herbal” on this one as I was…
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Asparagus Soup… Cold Spring Trend
We all know there is more than one way to do pretty much everything but when I came across “Asparagus Soup with Poached Egg” twice in two days and thought it was worth testing and sharing. The first one is from Williams-Sonoma and I found it when I was at my local shop drooling over pretty much everything in the shop. They had recipe cards on the counter and this one caught my attention as someone in my house is a poached egg freak. So I am always looking for new recipes to make. The second came to me today via email from the About.com Food e-newsletter along with other tasty cold…
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A Little Thyme In the Sun
Recently I planted lettuce seeds in a patio container already full with Thyme, now the lettuce is growing {can’t wait to taste that first salad} so decided it was time to cut back the overgrown Thyme and dry half of it for cooking and use the other half for my candle collection. My mint has been struggling in its pot so I also cut that back and might have to whip up some Mojitos! Even if you aren’t able to grow outside in your area yet, window sills make the perfect mini gardens. Both Thyme and Mint are pretty forgiving and a good place to start. Enjoy this post? What…
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The Foodie In You: Day After Tarts
The past weekend was filled with rushing here, need to be there, make this, bring that and not to mention all the various menu items our bodies are exposed to over the holidays. Although I honestly love every minute of it, the day after Christmas was the first day we had nowhere to be, no decorating to do, nothing to buy, and nothing on the schedule except for sitting on the couch and staring at our tree and watching movies. But there is still the question as to what should we have to eat?? Something super easy, not too heavy and quick to make. I first made these “tarts” a…
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Gifts for the Foodie: DIY Kitchen Herb Gardens
Still searching for a gift for the foodie on your list? Create an organic kitchen herb garden for the counter or sunny window. Collect all your supplies: * Organic Herbs from local farmers market (or most grocery stores are now carrying fresh options by Shenandoah Growers in the produce area as well) * Organic Potting Soil – I recently found Organic Mechanic Soil which is available main locations as well as mail order. * Your favorite container (for this project I like a wider more rectangle shapped container) * Small Shovel, Gloves (optional of course), Moss, Water Place a few inches of soil in the base of your container filling it about 3/4 of…
