What's for dinner? Mussels! Mussels typically aren't a meal you think of when you think of a home cooked meal. I'm not sure why, they are healthy, delicious, and actually super easy and quick to put together. The deep color of the black shells, the novelty of pulling the meat out of them, it makes for a fun interactive meal that the whole family can enjoy. And nothing beats the taste of white wine, garlic, and butter. 

Ingredients: 
16 ounces linguine noodles
3 pounds mussels
1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup shallots, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 cup white wine
2 teaspoons lavender salt
1 teaspoon pepper

In a large pot of salty water, boil your linguine noodles for 8 minutes or until al dente. While that cooks, in another pot heat your butter and oil over medium heat. Cook the shallots for 5 minutes, then add your garlic and cook for another 1 minute. Add your parlsey, thyme, wine, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then add your muscles. Cook over medium heat for 6-8 minutes until the mussels are opened. Drain your noodles and place in a large bowl, pour your muscles and their sauce over the noodles and serve hot. 

Enjoy!

Today for our lavender recipe highlight, I wanted to focus on Ambitious Kitchen. The thing I love about Ambitious Kitchen is the majority of their recipes are very healthy! I love eating well and eating delicious food. If it happens to be healthy in addition to all of that? Then yes! Yes! and Yes. If you aren't already reading Ambitious Kitchen, well you should be. My favorite recipe of theirs is this gorgeous Wild Blueberry Lavender Coconut Ice Cream. Seriously. So so good. Ambitious Kitchen used almond milk to make this as well, which makes me love it even more. All of the good protein but none of the yucky stuff you can find in regular dairy. 

Hope this recipe from them inspires you to get cookin' this weekend. Have a good one!

If a snickerdoodle made a baby with shortbread, this recipe would be that baby. These have the buttery crunch of shortbread, but all of the flavor of your favorite snickerdoodle. What's not to love? Also, a major plus for this recipe? You still get the goodness of "cookies" but without the annoying need to watch the oven and cook several batches of dough. I love how easy and low fuss these bars are and I hope you will too. 

Ingredients: 
2 cups butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
3 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup lavender sugar (found HERE)
2 tsp cinnamon 

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325. Mix together your butter and sugar until fluffy. Add your flour and cornstarch. Spread over a greased 10x15 cookie sheet. Mix together your lavender sugar and cinnamon, then sprinkle over dough. Bake for about 35 minutes until the bars are set. Cut into bars before cooled. 

Enjoy!

If you're not a super foodie, hearing the words "white wine sauce" in a recipe title can be intimidating. But it actually can't be further from the truth! A white wine and butter sauce is one of the simplest biggest bang for your buck tricks out there. This sauce is flavorful, warm, and goes perfect with almost any pairing. Try this delicious and easy seafood meal today and you will enjoy a healthy and simple weeknight meal. 

Ingredients: 

15-20 large raw shrimp, tails on
1 cup uncooked penne pasta
1/2 bunch fresh asparagus, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon fresh parsley 
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt and pepper

Directions: 
In a large pot of salty water, boil your pasta for 8 minutes. While that boils, in a skillet melt your butter and add your garlic ,white wine, and shrimp. Toss your shrimp until pink on both sides, about 6 minutes. At this point, throw your asparagus into your pasta water so it can boil for the last 2 minutes with the pasta. Once your pasta is done add it to the shrimp, mix in your cheese, add your lemon and parsley and adjust seasoning. 

It's as simple as that. Enjoy!