Mystery Spice Monday! #6 and a GIVEAWAY!

Yup! This is my sixth week of making meals and treats based on spices I've found in my spice cabinet that I haven't used in forever. It's totally revolutionized the way I form my meal plans each week, and gotten me excited about cooking again. Something that was once a tedious chore for me is now something I actually enjoy! Who woulda thunk it?! If you'd like to join in, feel free! Just pick a spice from your cabinet, find something to make with it either online or in a cookbook, and then share your experience on your blog and link up with me on Mr. Linky every Monday! Super easy, more fun than you'd think, and yummy for your tummy!

And to celebrate week 6 of Mystery Spice Monday, I've decided to hold my very first giveaway! That's right... GIVEAWAY! It's not that fancy, I'm not that rich, but it's something fun so keep on readin'!

This week I went with something a little bit different. Something that was almost completely alien to me.

Lavender!



Yup, my parents went to a Lavender farm and brought this back for me. That's right, my parents go to fun and exciting places; I don't.

No, I'm not bitter at all.

The packaging suggests using it to make lemonade. I've had lavender lemonade before, and it's GOOD! So you should certainly try that if you haven't yet. But I wanted to actually put the little dried flowers into some sort of food. So I snooped around online and found a recipe for a Lavender Tea Bread. Sounds good huh? Then I went all out and decided to add some white chocolate chips. Yum!

So the first thing you have to do warm some milk on the stove with your lavender flowers. The recipe called for fresh, but I only had dried. So I used 2 tablespoons of flowers instead of 3. Looking back, I should have just used 1. The lavender flavor was pretty strong in my bread.





Once it starts to bubble take it off the heat and allow it to cool a bit while you combine the bread ingredients.

Cream 6 T of softened butter and 1 cup of white sugar.



Add 2 eggs.



In a separate bowl combine your dry ingredients: 2 cups of flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.



Combine dry ingredients into wet.

Then get out your white chocolate chips.

Mmm.... I could just eat em right outta the bowl.



You can use however much you like, I used 1/2 a bag.

Anytime you use chocolate chips or nuts in a bread or brownie you should coat them in a bit of flour. It keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the batter while baking.



Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees.

And Voila!







White Chocolate Lavender Bread

3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh lavender blossoms, or 1 tablespoon dried
6 tablespoons of butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 package of white chocolate chips and enough flour to coat

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine milk and lavender and warm in saucepan over medium heat until it simmers. Remove from heat and allow to cool while preparing the rest. Cream together butter and sugar, add eggs. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to the butter, adding small amounts at a time until just blended. Pour into a prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.


GIVEAWAY!

I know. I'm excited too!

I will be giving away a very special care package filled with Lavender Honey Bunches. Directly from my house to yours! Made with love in my kitchen.

You have several options to enter!

For one entry, leave a comment.
For two, link up to Mr. Linky with your very own Mystery Spice recipe using these simple guidelines.
For three, subscribe to my blog. I promise I only bite sometimes. Current followers will automatically get 3 entries. If you're subscribing in such a way that isn't obvious to me please let me know.

For those of us that suck at math, that's a total of 6 entries possible per person! Please spell it out in your comment which entries you are eligible for, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed.

THE WINNERS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED!!! Congratulations to Olivia, Annie's Granny and Auntrene!