My husband has been making this black bean salad recipe for us for years. Its a perfect addition to any outdoor barbecue, picnic, or even just a fresh dinner at home. It has a great fresh crisp somewhat text mex flavor to it. There is no cooking involved, just a little washing and chopping. Go ahead and try this easy healthful salad out tonight. 

Ingredients: 

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed 

2 ears of fresh corn, removed from cob

1/4 cup bell pepper, diced to about 1/2 the size of one black bean

1/4 cup red onion, diced to 1/4 the size of one black bean

2 roma tomatoes, diced to about 1/2 the size of one black bean

1/4 cup pineapple tidbits, chopped in half

1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

3 tablespoons lavender honey

4 tablespoons red wine vinegar

juice from 1/2 of a lime

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tablespoon lavender salt

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

Directions: 

Chop ingredients as directed above, mix together. Eat. 

So simple!

One thing I love about this recipe is that if you have some left over, if its left to sit overnight the flavors are even better the next day! So if you ever need a great make ahead dish, this is a real winner. 

Enjoy!

These pretty lavender macarons were just begging to be photographed in front of some pretty lavender flowers. These cookies are sweet with a slight floral note, with a creamy vanilla butter cream filling. They are a little tricky to make, but if you follow the instructions step by step, you will have beautiful cookies not only will you love to eat, but that you will be proud of as well! 

Cookie Ingredients:4 ounces almond flour8 ounces powdered sugar1 tablespoon dried lavender buds, ground (found HERE)5 egg whites (save yolks for frosting) 2 ½ ounces sugar½ teaspoon salt1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract1 drop purple food coloring

Frosting Ingredients: 
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
5 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon lavender salt

Directions: 

In mixer beat egg whites, sugar, vanilla, food coloring, and salt and whip for about 10 minutes until stiff and dry. Fold in flour, powdered sugar, and lavender until eggs deflate, about 50 strokes. Load your batter into a pastry bag and pipe onto baking sheets. Let sit for 20 minutes until skin forms. Tap sheet onto counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 300 for 17-18 minutes. Cool completely and fill with frosting. 

Enjoy!

One of our Lavender Apple products that has been coming in super handy recently is our comfort hearts. They are heart shaped pillows filled with lavender. You can heat they up and use them to sooth sore muscles. The heat that radiates from the lavender buds can help ease pain, and it releases the most soothing scent as well. 

We know all about muscle pain due to over exertion here on the farm. So when we say we love our lavender comfort hearts, we mean it! We sell these beautiful hearts in all sorts of gorgeous fabrics. Or if you prefer to make your own, you can simply buy the lavender buds for us and tackle your own DIY version. Find everything you need online HERE. 

Hope these comfort hearts can bring you some happiness! 

We recently went to Disney's Epcot in Orlando Florida. Right now they are doing their Flower and Garden Festival and their beautiful themed topiaries are not to be missed! While visiting Epcot's Morocco, we at at Restaurant Marrakesh. They have this TO DIE FOR lentil salad. In a park as huge as Epcot, with so many wonderful culinary choices, to say something was my favorite thing I ate all day really means something. This salad is super fresh, flavorful, and healthy! And it's also easy to make. So as you know from past experience with this blog, those things make it a real winner. 

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cup green lentils

1/4 red onion, finely diced

1 bell pepper, finely diced

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons mayonaise

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Directions: 

Place lentils in a pot of 4 cups of cold water. Turn on heat to high and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, and rinse with cold water to stop the lentils from cooking. Mix the lentils with all of the other ingredients. Make sure you have diced everything very finely, because you will want your onion and pepper pieces to be the same size or smaller than 1 lentil. Refrigerate until cold. Adjust seasoning as needed. 

This salad is one for the books. You will love how low in fat, full of flavor, and delicious this recipe is. You might just be able to pretend you are somewhere exotic like Morocco, or at least Orlando. :)