Ladies Love Lavender Luncheon

A lovely lunch that involved trying new foods, moving furniture, taking about 15 unsuccessful group shots, and watching a toddler's unwaning fascination with opening and closing the front door. The menu was simple: quiche, muffins, salad and a dessert of lemon bars and lavender ice cream. I made the quiche today but Ron has a killer quiche recipe.

Ron's Quiche
9 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 premade pie shell (or use favorite pie shell recipe)
Combine eggs, sour cream and cheese in processor until well mixed. Put crust in greased pie pan. Coat unbaked crust with slices of cheese. Add meats, vegetables, and cheese in combinations your like (shoot for about 3 cups total volume). Pour eggs mixture over top. Bake at 350 degrees for about and hour and 15 minutes. The quiche will be set and slightly browned on top. Let stand approximately 15 minutes before cutting and serving.



We also tried two new lavender foods. The first was a non-alcoholic beverage.

Lavender Spritzers
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 Tbs. dried lavender
2 bottles sparking grape juice (or champagne for an adult version)
Bring sugar, water and lavender to a boil. Let cool, strain out lavender seeds. Add 1 1/2 tsp of lavender syrup to 6 oz. of sparking grape juice.

We liked this recipe a lot.



We also tried lavender ice milk. I found several lavender recipes but this one is a variation on Ron's basic ice milk recipe.

Lavender Icemilk
5 cups skim milk
2 cups sugar
1/4/cup dried lavender blossoms
Heat up milk and sugar until all sugar is dissolved and mixture is quiet hot but not boiling. Turn off heat and add lavender. Let lavender steep for 20 minutes. Strain out lavender and chill ice milk mixture. When mixture is completely cold pour into the canister of an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions.

I served mine with tart lemon bars. The icemilk had an unusual flavor. We kept saying, "It tastes like..." but other than hand lotion or sleep pillows we could not come up with anything. It was also kind of purplish. My sister Amanda liked it the most. I am glad I tried it but am not sure that I will make it again.