The other day I was in the mood for some cookies and I made the mistake of asking my toddler what type of cookies we should bake. His answer? Pumpkin cookies. Ok, pumpkin cookies are a random request for the first day of spring, but I'm fostering his new found skill of decision making. So we rolled with it and made some delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. My favorite pumpkin chocolate chip recipe however only uses 6 tablespoons of pumpkin puree. So I am inevitably left with  2/3rds of a can of pumpkin every time I bake them. What to do, what to do. So I invented a new recipe that uses up all the leftover pumpkin! I know I'm not the only one who has left over portions of pumpkin laying around, so without further ado, I introduce to you: Pumpkin Pasta with Brown Butter and Sage. 

Ingredients;
1/2 stick of butter
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp dried french tarragon
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/2 box penne pasta (about 8 ounces) 
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup goat cheese
Salt & Pepper

Melt your butter in a frying pan on low heat. Just leave it there and don't mess with it. Let it bubble and get golden. As soon as you see the butter changing from yellow to golden, add your garlic, sage, and tarragon. 

While your butter browns, go ahead and boil your pasta in salted water for 8-10 minutes as the package directs. Strain the water from your pasta, reserving about 1/4 of a cup of the starchy water for later. While that pasta sits in your colander, use your warm pot to heat up your pumpkin puree and mix it with your goat cheese. Once those two are incorporated, add your pasta back to pot and mix. Then add your butter to the pot and mix. If the sauce is too thick, you can add a little of your reserved pasta water to loosen it up. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Due to the brown butter, pumpkin, herbs, and goat cheese, this is a very flavorful dish. It tastes as indulgent as a macaroni, but due to a lot of the sauce being made up from pumpkin, its much less sinful, and a little bit more sophisticated as well. This will serve 2-3 people. 

Enjoy!

If you have been a long term reader of our blog, you may remember an easter recipe I shared years ago called Heavenly Berries. We have so many new readers here that I thought I would share it again because it is one of my favorites! 

Heavenly Berries is a scrumptious combination of meringue, creams and berries.  It taste HEAVENLY.   If you  want to try this for easter, you'll want to make the meringue soon, so that the meringue and the cream mixture can marry and create some heavenly flavors.  I love recipes that can be made in advance, especially on holidays when there is so much to do!  Just pull them out of the fridge and say "TA-DAH!"  

Don't let the lengthy instructions discourage you, It's simple,really.

Day 1
Make your meringue base.  Put it in the oven before you go to bed;  cook for 1 hour at 275.  Turn off oven and leave meringue in oven with door closed over night for 12 hours.

Recipe
6 egg whites. warmed to room temp
1/2 tsp. cream of tarter
1/4 tsp. salt
1 3/4 sugar

Method
Heat oven to 275.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  If you don't have parchment paper, spray with Pam.  In a large bowl (Stand mixers work best), beat your warmed egg whites, cream of tarter and salt until almost stiff.  Beat in the sugar 1 Tbs. at a time, until they are very thick and glossy.  Remember, don't under beat.  Now you can choose if you want to make one big cloud of heaven or individual ones.  I used a pastry bag, but if you don't have one no worries.  Whatever method you use, you need to create  a "swimming Pool" effect in the middle so the cream can set inside.  Since a good meringue is the key to this recipe, here are some hints for a good meringue.  1. separate your eggs when they are cold.  2. don't allow any yolks to get into the meringue  3. make sure your egg whites are at room temp  4. oil or anything greasy is an enemy to meringue, so make sure all your utensils are free of any thing greasy.

Day 2 (filling)
The next morning make you filling,  fill your meringue base or bases then Refrigerate for 12-24 hours.

Recipe
2 cups whipped cream (no cool whip allowed)
1 8oz cream cheese, softened to room temp (leave out overnight)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar (use 2 Tbs. of this sugar to sweeten the cream)
2 cups mini marshmallows

Method
In a chilled bowl (stand mixer works best) whip your cream, add vanilla and 2 Tbs, sugar.  In a separate bowl mix the rest of the sugar with the cream cheese at room temperature until smooth.  Fold the cream cheese mixture and marshmallows into the whipped cream.  Fill, cover and refrigerate for 12-24 hours.

YOUR DONE!!
Almost.  just before serving pile on your berries.  My berry favorite berry sweetener is "the Lavender Apple's" Lavender Simple syrup.  It adds such a unique and wonderful flavor.  

Along with the simple syrup  I sweeten my berries with brown sugar.  Let them sit awhile on the counter so the sugar can dissolve. This is a fun and unique treat, perfect for the Easter holiday. 

We have hosted our share of animals here on the farm over the years, but by far some of the most interesting were our sheep. Peggy has a dark sense of humor, and when she decided to raise sheep for easter one year, she came up with the most wicked names. 

Please meet "Bob" (shish kabob) 

and meet "Stew" (lamb stew) 

These fun little guys had their pen moved around The Lavender Apple property and happily grazed on our grass and saved us a little time in mowing each week. Wrangling them so we could move the pen was not an easy task. 

Lamb is often a dish we think of at easter time for its obvious significance. Peggy has crafted some amazing lamb dishes over the years, all of which have been shared here on the blog. Here are our two favorites: 

Lamb Stew with Dried Plums

Moroccan Lavender Kebabs

Bob and Stew were wonderful friends and became a wonderful dinner. Such is life on the farm. We appreciate all the earth gives us and hopefully we give back to it. What are your dinner plans this Easter? 

These cookies are a Nelson family favorite! They are chewy, crunchy, and full of goodness. The reason these cookies are called "Kitchen Sink Cookies is because they pretty much have everything but the kitchen sink in them. They use a ton of ingredients, which is great if you are wanting to clean out your pantry, and also great because they are packed full of healthy items as well. I love knowing that my toddler is getting omega 3's through the walnuts, while he feels like he's getting a treat because its in cookie form! 

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter room temp

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups rolled oats

2 cups Cornflakes or Branflakes 

1 cup coconut 

1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts are great)

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. You want them just barely golden on the outside edge. If you use a cookie scoop, you should get about 45 cookies from this recipe. 

Like I mentioned earlier, these cookies have a lovely chewiness from the coconut, crunchiness from the nuts, sweetness from the chocolate chips. They are a great way to switch up your routine from a regular old chocolate chip option. Enjoy!