Do you know the “smell good people”? You know the people. The ones who go to the beach and smell like coconut oil or go to the country and smell like wild flowers? Yeah, well I’m not one of those people. I go the beach and smell like dead fish and if I go to the country I usually end up smelling like dirt and doo doo. With that said, I have obviously found perfume, showers, and deodorant essential necessities. My other little helpers are lavender sachets. You can stick these puppies anywhere: suitcases, drawers, purses, etc., and then you too can join the “smell good people”!

P.S. I love Lavender so much I included a Lavender cookie recipe for extra credit!

Lavender Sachets:

You can use these to add fragrance to your any drawer, or cabinet in your home.

What you’ll need:

10” Squares of Muslin, Linen, or Cotton

¼ cup Dried Lavender Flowers

Ribbon (optional)

Directions:

Sew two 10” squares on three sides. Fill the bag with the lavender flowers and sew the fourth side.

If you are planning on giving these as a gift, or would like to bundle them up, tie four sachets together with the matching ribbon of your choice.

Lavender Cookies with Meyer Lemon Glaze:

Let’s be honest, a cookie can make almost anything better. These delicate cookie slices will surely brighten up your day!

What you’ll need:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 extra large egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoons dried culinary lavender, chopped

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in the egg. Sift together the flour and baking powder into the mixture. Stir in the lavender until combined. Transfer the mixture to a clean surface and gather into a ball. Roll out the dough into a cylinder shape, cover it with parchment paper, and chill in the freezer for about 40 minutes until firm.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Slice the dough into thin rounds and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Meyer Lemon Glaze:

Whisk ¾ cup of confectioner sugar with the juice from one Meyer lemon until the glaze is nice and smooth. Drizzle over the lavender cookies and eat them up!

In a perfect world all things are created equal and work the same, but let’s face it we don’t live in a perfect world and some things are just WAY better than others.

To prove my latest hypothesis, I went into my lab (the kitchen) and tried out the new measuring spoons that Pyrex recently came out with. I thought measuring spoons were simple enough, how could one set really be better than another… Well, I was WRONG. Pyrex has re-invented the spoon…! These magnetized bad boys snap together so its impossible to lose the quarter teaspoon spoon (NOTE: It is not a coincidence that none of my recipes have a quarter teaspoon of anything as I haven’t been able to find that thing since ‘97!).

Do yourself a favor and scoop up (hehehe!) a pair of these for yourself.

One final bonus point for these little puppies… They will entertain your toddler or husband, oh wait I didn’t mean to repeat myself, for hours.  Ok I am totally lying about the husband/toddler thing-

I played with these things for hours. They are like magnetized pick up sticks… I need to get out of the house more.

What you’ll need:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• A little less than 1 ½ cups of sugar
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 3 eggs
• 2 ½ tbsp of Blue Food Coloring
• 1 1/4 tsp white vinegar
• 1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 cup water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl mix the oil, sugar, and buttermilk. Add eggs, food coloring, vinegar, vanilla and water and mix well. Add the dry ingredients a little bit at a time and mix at low speed until combined. Don’t over mix the batter or it will become tough.

Line your cupcake pan with paper liners of your choice and use a spoon to scoop the batter into the liners.

Bake for about 20 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool.

Cream cheese frosting:

• 1 Stick of butter, room temperature
• 8 oz of cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 – 3 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Using an electric mixer, combine the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Mix in the vanilla. Slowly add the sugar while mixing. The frosting will become thicker as you add the sugar. Add as much or as little sugar as you prefer. (It really depends on how sweet you like your frosting to be).

Not sure if ya heard troop number 1673 but there is a recession on ladies. You charging 4 bucks for a box o’ thin mints is highway robbery.

I am putting you in time out with Goldman Sachs.  

But alas I can not make Girl Scout Pie without thin mints….so give me 2 boxes, I’ll give you 8 dollars, and I can get my fix an you can laugh at me and me and call me a sucker….I need my cookie pie!

Ingredients:

-1 box of thin mints

-1/2 cup melted butter

-1 pint mint chocolate chip ice-cream softened (leave it on the counter for 15 minutes or in the fridge for an hour)

-1 container of cool whip

-1/4 cup crème de menthe liquor

Directions:

1.   Finely crush 1 sleeve of cookies and save the other for garnish or eat them whilst making said pie because you have no self-control.

2.   Mix crumbs with ½ cup melted butter and press into a non-stick pie pan. If you don’t have a non-stick pie pan you can use an 8×8 casserole dish but start thinking about buying a pie pan. Nothing says grown-up like a pan pie pan and good credit…and 1 out of 2 ain’t bad.

3.   Throw the crust in the freezer for at least ½ an hour or until firm.

4.   Combine the crème de menthe liquor with the cool whip and set in the fridge.

5.   Spread ice cream over the crust

6.   Spread the cool whip over the top and place into the freezer for at least 2 hours.

7.   Garnish with crushed cookies, shaved chocolate, or if feeling especially tacky some good ol’ chocolate sprinkles.

8.   Call your best friend/husband/mother and tell them you just ate an entire pie. See if they can bring you Pepto….and your dignity.

Click here for the list of ingredients, preparation instructions and nutrition information.