Lavender-Lemon Shortbread cookies

Happy Fri-Yay! This week has been a blissful autumn week. It's finally cooled down here, and really starting to feel like Fall. On Wednesday it rained and was cloudy all day, I think the high was 77F, and I was freezing, but it was much needed and felt so refreshing.

There is nothing I enjoy more than sitting on the porch, watching the rain, sipping a hot cup of tea, with something sweet to savor!

One herb I have never cooked with let alone bake with, is lavender. I've been tempted a time or two, to buy Lavender Sugar, but keep thinking to myself, I could make my own. Then while one weekend, we were up in Prescott, I bought some lavender buds to try my hand at cooking with them. Should I make Lavender salt, or sugar, oh no, I must make cookies, and what better guinea pig do I have for Lavender cookies than my husband.

He loves a good shortbread! He came home from work, just in time to have the first batch of shortbread that had cooled off. If I didn't stop him, he would have gobbled them all up!

Aren't these cookies lovely? The flavor of these delicate buttery, shortbread cookies is delightful fragrant, that is not only calming from the lavender, but the fresh burst of citrus, really enhances them.

At first, I was planning on glazing them, but after one bite, they were perfectly sweet enough.

Lavender-Lemon Shortbread Cookies (adapted from Food and Wine)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 cup of  all-purpose flour

a pinch of salt

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tsp. dried lavender buds (culinary)

the zest from one lemon

Granulated sugar, or you could use coarse sugar or even Raw Sugar

Directions:

1.) In stand up mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the lemon zest, the lavender, the pinch of salt and the vanilla extract. On low speed, add the flour slowly. When the dough forms a soft ball, transfer it to plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

2.) Preheat oven to 350F. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Using a round cookie cutter, cut out cookies, and then placing them on parchment paper. Bake cookies for 10 minutes, checking to see the slightest golden brown. 

3.) Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Wishing you a beautiful weekend!

Until next time!

xo Christine

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DIY Metallic Herb Pots

Happy Fri-Yay! Hope you all had enjoyable weeks! It's going to be a relaxing weekend around here, Josh has a football game to go to, and at Lindsay's school there is Film playing tonight, with pjs and popcorn, so the girls and I are going to that! I'm just finishing up with Fall decorating, and enjoying the much cooler fall temperatures. The girls and I have been walking the dogs to school in the mornings. It's a pleasure to get outside and enjoy the fresh air. It's absolutely blissfull! I have had two roses on my bush, the first of the season. I'm fertilizing them this week, and hopefully sometime next month, I'll be able to share them with you. The first two were small, especially coming off a hot summer, but it was really nice to know my little rose bush survived the Summer!

Today I am sharing with you, an easy and lovely DIY Mettalic Herb Pot. This is going down as almost Pin Worthy for me. It came a little close to the look I was after, but I have some ideas of how to freshen it up to get closer to this pin. Which I am definitely going to try making another one? These are really fun to make, and so pretty too!

 

This was the original inspiration

 

 Copper or Rose Gold via Etsy

 

I'm more of a Rose Gold or Copper kind of Girl!

The garden shops are now getting new shipments in of Fresh Herbs, and one of my favorites is Lavender, so I picked one up. It may be small now, but in the Fall they love the warm weather, and should be established by the time Summer comes back again to withstand the heat.

One thing I absolutely loved about this project was using Metallic Gold Spray paint!
Ha, you can tell by my fingers, that I now have the 'Midas Touch'. Rust-oleum did live up to it's claim, "Rich, Shiny Finish and Fast Drying", it was all of those. No sooner did I spray it on the base of the pot, it was dried.

My craft store, didn't have any Antique White acrylic paint, so I improvised, and mixed White, with Toasted Marshmallow. I covered all of the pot except for the very bottom, with which I spray painted gold, and tried my best to blend it in so there wasn't an exact line, more of an ombre look to it. Finally, I coated it with a clear Polyurethane to protect it from the outside elements.

It turned out ok. I just want to go back in and give it another go.

Here are 33 Ways Spray Paint Can Make Your Stuff Look More Expensive !

Here's to a Fabulous week!

Until next time!

xo,

Sharing at these fabulous parties!

Random 5

Happy Weekend! What a gorgeous week, we've had! It may be in the high 90Fs, but when winter comes we'll be enjoying 70-80F weather. It's been absolute bliss in the early morning or night time, sitting on the front or back porch, drinking my coffee or tea, enjoying finally some fresh air. I can take the heat of the Summers, rather than the bitter cold in the Winter!

Here are Five Things that caught my attention this week

With Summer coming to an end, while I love Pumpkin anything, but

 I still want to taste one last Peach recipe, and

 this bundt cake had me dreaming of the past long Summer days.

Peach and Lavender bundt cake

Flower arrangements for me are more attractive when combined with all things grown in the garden, especially gorgeous Kale, and lovely artichokes.

Autumn Florals by Maria Maxit

With my first paint project, DIY Faux Patina Flower pot, I've been looking for something new to paint. I am in love with metallic, especially Copper and Rose Gold. I have some milk paint leftover and these would look lovely filled with fresh herbs.

 Copper or Rose Gold via Etsy

When I was younger growing up my mother had this gigantic, gorgeous Blue Hydrangea bush in our back yard, and when our German Shepard was a puppy, when ever he was naughty, he'd run under the bush to hide from my mother. The Sunflowers, remind me of my oldest daughter. With my grandparents moving, it has made me a little nostalgic for the sunflowers that grew wild at the front of her driveway. When my daughter was not even two, we took some fun pictures together, that remind me of an Indian Summer. Now, where we live after the monsoons, the wild Sunflowers are growing rampant on the side of the roads, remind me of my daughter, or any time I see Sunflowers in the floral department. I absolutely love the combination of the two.

Hydrangeas and SunFlowers via Pinterest

It's curious to me that I can count on my fingers the times I have eaten Eggplant. One of my aunts makes an amazing Eggplant Parmesan, but I honestly have never cooked eggplant myself. In the September issue of Victoria, one of the articles highlighted chef Carolyn Robb who cooked for Princess Diana, and one of the recipes she shared was a stuffed Aubergine with Tomato and Goat-Cheese. It looked so comforting and something I would not only enjoy cooking but eating as well.

Here is a recipe from House Beautiful for Stuffed Eggplant.

The Royal Touch: Simply Stunning Home Cooking from a Royal Chef by Carolyn Robb (affiliate link)

Thank you for visiting me! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Until next time!

xo, 

And Please Be Sure to Check Out my 1 Year Blogiversary Giveaway going on now until 9/24!

 

A Week in CASL photos July 13th- July 19th

Happy Beautiful Monday! Hope you all had a relaxing weekend!

What I like about doing a Photo365, is that I get to share with you a peek into what my week has been like, and possibly a sneak peek to what next week will bring. I've tried 365 Photo or Daily photo memes several times before, and surprisingly, I am getting farther posting my photos once a week, instead of once a day. It makes a big difference, and it's really nice to look back and see a slice of my day!

July 14th- Chaos- I waited for this storm all week, and while Chandler to the North and 15 miles South of us, enjoyed all the rain, I only saw about less than 10 minutes worth...But I did enjoy the 20 degree drop in temperature, even 90F with a cool breeze felt comfortable!

via 

July 14th- Calm- I was hoping to take a pic of my lavender plant, but it died while I was out of town for the long holiday weekend, so I am sharing this picture of 'Lavender at Dawn'!
 It's a perfectly calm dawn for a Monday morning!

July 15th- On my mind...Ice Cream...Yesterday, was #NationalIceCreamDay!
 Here's my favorite flavor this Summer...Peach Cobbler IceCream

July 16th- Special to Me...This gorgeous bottle, is a gift from my SIL...she knows how much I love

Seahorses. 

July 17th- Starts with T... A cup of 'Tea' of course!

July 18th- Book...Coming soon, a new book review for 'Infuse'...It's not just for water, this book gives some easy to follow recipes for infusing oils and spirits!

July 19th- Sign...This is a handpaited window sign I saw while on one of our trips to Prescott, AZ! It's from the ApplePan restaurant. They serve up an amazing breakfast, and the staff is always
friendly!

Are you on Instagram? You really should be!! 

You can follow me here on Instagram! 

   I recently started following a photo a day prompt on #fmsphotoaday.

 Let me know if you decide to join in the fun!

Have a great rest of your week! Until next time!

xo, Christine

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Sweet Summer

Here's to a beautiful weekend!

via dontcallmebetty 

For most of you, Summer is just beginning.
Here in Arizona, we got an early start.
My children have been out of school for almost a month now,
 and I have enjoyed this month and took things much more leisurely.

Last week, it was really over cast for several days.
That reminded me of the June gloom days in California.
Everyone taking it easy,
and then right when the sun burned the clouds away, which was right around noon,
everyone took off to the beach.

Hotel del Coronado

Talking to my older daughter, who lives in Washington state,
she's planning to come back for a visit at the end of July
 ( crossing my fingers to stay *a mom can hope*).
One item on my bucket list is to go on a hike with all my children,
and she won't be able to get time off from work until then.
Which will be nice to get away from all this heat, to the cooler climate of Sedona.

That means, and I am super excited that next week, we'll be off on a roadtrip to California.
It won't be too long of a trip. One part of the trip is to see the sights in
Coronado, California, on the San Diego bay. 

 

One item I am taking with me is this beautiful (affiliate link) embroidered tunic dress
,

to help me stay easy and breezy during our trip!

 

coastal vignettes

I couldn't stop swooning over this coastal vignette. The galvanized buckets, the bottles filled with white, fragrant, freesia, the white washed candlesticks, and a new botanical love for me are artichokes. I couldn't believe my mother's artichoke plant survived the winter where she lives. I am hoping she gifts me with a few of her home grown ones.

Lobster Rolls via Suburban Soapbox

Also, in California, I am hoping to taste a Right Coast Lobster roll at Terra American bistro.  Can't wait to bite into one of these.

Lavender topiaries 

One plant I do not have a problem keeping alive has always been lavender.

In fact the more I abuse it, the better it grows. I'm actually thinking of

putting two lavender topiary bushes out on my front porch to keep the mosquitos away!

 

Hope you all have a relaxing weekend!

Until next time!

xo, Christine