For those of you out there without access to an outdoor barbecue, summer in the kitchen can be brutal. There are all these wonderful recipes for grilled meats and vegetables, and you fall further and further into a deep pit of depression as you scroll through your Pinterest fee. Well have no fear, The Lavender Apple is here! This is a wonderful receipe for barbecued chicken breasts, no grill required! The flavors are certainly on point for summer, but you could also make this in winter when your grill is buried under 3 feet of snow. Gulp. This chicken is moist and so full of smokey garlicy barbecue flavor. You will love it. We paired this with some delicious almond smoked (also baked) green beans that you will go crazy over. 

Ingredients for BBQ Chicken: 

2 tablespoons butter

3 chicken breasts

lavender salt and pepper 

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons peach preserves

16 ounces BBQ sauce

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 small onion, diced

Directions: 

Melt your butter in an oven safe skillet. Add your onion, salt and pepper it, and saute on medium until softened. Add your Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 of your barbecue sauce, and your peach preserves. Stir on medium heat until everything is combined. Add your garlic to the sauce at the end. 

Salt and pepper your chicken, then place it in your skillet. Make sure it gets a nice coating of the sauce all over it. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 60-90 minutes depending on the size of your breasts, until heated to 165 degrees. Serve with the additional 1/2 of your barbecue sauce drizzled over the top of your chicken. 

Ingredients for the beans: 
1 pound green beans, trimmed
1/2 cup smokey almonds, chopped

Directions: 
Wash and trim your beans. Chop your almonds into small pieces. Coat your beans in lavender salt, peppers, olive oil, and the smokey almonds. Scatter them across a baking sheet and place in your 400 degree oven for the last 15 minutes of so while your chicken cooks. 

These classic barbecue flavors marry so beautifully and come together without the help of a barbecue! Its such a delicious meal. Enjoy!

If anything signals the end of winter to me, its a good broccoli salad. My toddler is currently obsessed  with broccoli. Like asks for it for breakfast obsessed. I was getting pretty bored with just plained steamed broccoli, so I decided a nice savory broccoli salad was in order. This is a wonderfully flavorful salad. It has a lovely crunch from the bacon pieces and the toasted almonds (toasted in bacon grease!) yum. It has bits of lovely sweetness from the cranberries, and is loaded with vitamins. 

Ingredients: 
8 ounces bacon
2 heads broccoli florets 
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1 cup mayo
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
3 tablespoons sugar
handful of dried cranberries 
1/3 cup slivered almonds 
Salt & Pepper 

Cook your bacon on medium heat in a large frying pan until nice and crispy, let it dry out on a paper towel then chop into small peices. Pour your bacon grease from the pan, but don't wipe out your pan. You will then toast your almonds in the nice bits of bacon grease left in the pan. This will add a lovely depth of flavor to your almonds. Watch your almonds closely because on medium heat they will only take 3 minutes or so to become a nice golden color. Remove from the pan and set aside. 

Steam your broccoli (do not boil it) for only 3 minutes. Then submerge it in cold water for 30 seconds to stop the cooking process. Drain your broccoli and set aside. 

Mix your onion, mayo, vinegar, dijon, and sugar together in a large bowl. Salt and Pepper to taste. Add your broccoli to this bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour. When ready to serve, add your bacon pieces and almonds and stir. You can keep the remaining leftovers in the refrigerator for several days. 

This salad has a wonderful full flavor. Its a great way to eat vegetables and fruit in the same serving, and still get protein from the bacon and nuts. You won't be sorry you tried this. 

Enjoy!

Ok ladies and gents, I'm warning you in advance that this salad is NOT low maintenance. You have to roast things, use aluminum foil, dirty several bowls, etc. But it's worth it. It is a lovely diversion from a typical salad. You get a nice earthiness from the beets, creaminess from the goat cheese, and crunch from the almonds. Definitely a good "I'm bored from the norm" salad. 

Ingredients: 

Beets (2-3 small beets, or 1 large beet per person) 

Almonds (1/2 cup) 

Goat Cheese (1/2 cup) 

Spinach (1 pound/1 pkg) 

Mustard (2 tsp)

Balsamic Vinegar (1/2 cup)

Pepper (to taste)

Salt (to taste) 

Olive Oil (1/2 cup)

Get about 2-3 beets per person you are going to serve. You want the beets to all be relatively the same size. I had a few large ones but mostly small ones, so I cut the large ones to match the size of the small ones so they all roasted evenly. 

Trim the tops and feet off of your beets and peel them The outsides of beets are particularly dirty tasting, so peeling them helps cure that. Then wrap each individually in tin foil. 

Line a baking sheet with tin foil and heat your oven to 400 degrees. Put your beets  on the baking sheet and bake for 1 hour. 

Then make your dressing. 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup balsamic, 2 tsp yellow mustard, salt and pepper to taste. Whisk together. 

When beets are done (fork tender in center) unwrap them and cut into bite sized wedges. Cover beets with 1/3 of the dressing so they are well coated and can soak it up. 

Plate each plate with a bunch of spinach. Then crumble goat cheese on top, sprinkle with toasted almonds, add the beets, then add extra dressing on top. 

Here is another delicious salad that comes directly from Peggy's recipe book. I love citrus salads. There is something about the sweet dressing that meets the savory crunch in this salad that will just make your taste buds sing. 

Salad Ingredients: 
1 large head red leaf lettuce
1 red onion thinly sliced
2 oranges peeled and thinly sliced
1 small jicama peeled and cut into julienne slices
4 oz sliced almonds
3 tbs. sugar

Dressing Ingredients: 
1/2 tsp grated orange peel
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 tbs red wine vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs dry italian seasoning mix

Place your first 4 ingredients in a salad bowl, chill. In a skillet, sprinkle sugar over almonds. Cook over medium heat until almonds are coated and sugar is dissolved. Let cool. Mix dressing ingredients in a jar, chill. Pour over salad dressing. Sprinkle with almonds. Toss and serve. Serves 6-8. 

Please don't look too closely at my photos of this. I took the picutres before I added the red onion and almonds to the salad. They not only add delicious flavor and crunch, but that add lots of color too, making this salad very beautiful. The flavor profile on this is wonderful. Even non salad lovers will enjoy this salad. You can even make it a main dish by adding cooked chicken or topping it with crunchy chinese noodles. 

Bon Apetite!