Weekend Roundup: Lavender and Menu Planning

When Peter and I were in Saint Louis last week, we stopped by Restaurant Depot to pick up a few things. As I’ve mentioned before, Restaurant Depot is like a Costco or Sam’s Club, only bigger, if you can imagine that. Who doesn’t shop at a restaurant supply store when they’re in a gorgeous city and they’re only buying for two people? Yup: my husband defies logic.

While perusing the aisles, my eye fell upon a huge container of lavender in the clearance section, marked way down because presumably the one customer who would cook with 2 lbs of lavender at once had decided to pass this week. I snapped it up because, well, why not?

I suppose I defy logic at times, too.

The lavender smelled wonderful, so I decided to use most of it to decorate one of the kitchen doorways.

Every time I walk through, the gentle scent of lavender relaxes me like none other. It also makes me feel sleepy, but that’s a whole different issue. I’m now looking for a recipe(s) that will use the rest of my lavender. Any suggestions?

Let’s see how we did with last week‘s menu plan:

Day 1: Smoked turkey tacos with avocado and homemade cranberry sauce
Day 2: Pizza on the BIG GREEN EGG
Day 3: Corn chowder with fresh-baked bread
Day 4: S ‘n’ S Shrimp Lomein (Peter: “The ‘S ‘n’ S’ means ‘Sweet ‘n’ Sour’.”)
Day 5: Leftovers or FFA (free for all)
Day 6: Ravioli or Golden Harbor
Day 7: Leftovers

How’d we do?

Day 1: Smoked turkey tacos with avocado and homemade cranberry sauce (i.e. Thanksgiving in a wrap)

I’ll eat these any day. They were THAT good.

Day 2: Corn chowder with fresh-baked bread (bumped up from day 3)

We bought this Jarrahdale pumpkin on this day and have been using it to decorate our front porch ever since. Last week, it was time to cook it into chowder.

Served with chorizo sausage. Recipe forthcoming!

Day 3: Leftovers or FFA (free for all) (bumped from Day 5)

We had so much turkey leftovers, we ate BLTs (bacon/lettuce/turkey), emphasis on the turkey and lettuce.

Day 4: Leftovers (bumped up from Day 7)

More corn chowder. When I cook, I cook in BULK.

Day 5: Pizza on the BIG GREEN EGG (bumped from Day 2)

The reason we decided to move BGE pizza night to Friday was because we decided last-minute to invite friends over who had specifically requested a Big Green Egg-cooked meal.

They brought over this gorgeous poinsettia, which now adorns our kitchen table:

Day 6: Ravioli or Golden Harbor

Nope! We got an last-minute invite to have dinner with friends, where we chowed down on salad and lasagna. We brought one of Peter’s famous apple pies and homemade vanilla ice cream.

Day 7: S ‘n’ S Shrimp Lomein

This is getting bumped to the upcoming week. Peter is making gumbo tonight instead because he likes to slow-cook it over three hours.

The final score: 5/7. Not bad! We had a few unexpected surprises, but by keeping flexible, we enjoyed well-balanced meals with minimal waste.

Next week’s menu:

Day 1: Leftover gumbo
Day 2: Pasta with roasted broccoli and chicken meatballs
Day 3: Skillet cornbread with greens and leftover pulled pork (frozen)
Day 4: S ‘n’ S Shrimp Lomein (bumped from last week))
Day 5: Leftovers or FFA (free for all)
Day 6: Duck (because we have FOUR in our freezer)
Day 7: Leftovers

Q: How was your weekend?

14 Comments

  1. I’ve seen lavender shortbread before

    1. I don’t see the candles (although it sounds like a good idea). I am, however, intrigued by the dog deodorizer … not that Maddie smells or anything.

  2. Maybe you could make some lavender ice cream?? Or infuse it into some vodka?? weird but possibly awesome. 😛

    1. Lavender ice cream = genius. And I am intrigued by this vodka …

  3. I put a pinch in roasted veggie fritattas with some other herbs.

    You could also make your own herbes de provence mix with it and use it on roasted meats or potatoes.

    I’ve had lavender shortbread that my sister made before and it’s really good. But you have to keep an eye on the amount of lavender you use or it ends up tasting like soap.

    1. I do like your lavender shortbread idea … I’ll definitely heed your soap-taste warning. Yikes!

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