Springtime Gourmet Lavender Flan

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I've got a super fun recipe for you. But first... KITTENS.

 A friend of mine rescued a batch of abandoned kittens. This meant getting kitten replacement milk from the vet. (It actually came in a little pop top can. Hilarious.)

 (My friend Lili took this picture of one of her own cats investigating the newcomers. This kitten's viciousness had me howling with laughter. "Easy there, tiger!")

She fed them through the night, every few hours. Come morning, she was realizing... who is going to watch these sweet babies while she's at work?

 So, she calls the stay at home mom and her six home schooled kids.... but we were on the way to Pendleton (about 45 minutes away) for our yearly state testing! I told her we would LOVE to foster the babies, right after we took 3 hours of state academic tests.

 And it worked out! She brought them over as soon as we got back. We fed them with little eye droppers and then took them out for exercise.

 Here's our puppy trying to figure out what they are. The hissing and back arching was pretty hilarious.

 We put the dog back in the house so the kitties could play without having to show off their Ninja skillz. When the day was over, we gave them back. My friend found someone to take them on full time until they were old enough to find forever homes. But we loved being foster parents for the day!
                                        
 Sammy learns to feed the babies...
                                                       
 My friend Barbara brought over a pick nick lunch. Deviled eggs, shredded chicken salad, fried deli chicken, mint chocolate chip ice cream, fresh fruit. YUMMY. And we welcomed her with... kittens. Here she is, helping the little guys feed one of the calicos.

 OK, now on to the recipe. You'll need fresh, organic lavender. Organic because we're going to put it in our food. No pesticides, please! I've had lavender flan before, but wasn't sure exactly how to make it. I decided to take an easy flan recipe and just infuse the lavender into the milk during the cooking. Here goes!

 Now, you'll need 1/2 cup sugar, plus 3 TBS sugar
    4 cups whole milk
ten stems lavender
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
fresh fruit for topping (I was going to use blackberries but my youngest ATE THEM ALL when I wasn't looking)

 Preheat oven to 325F. Combine 1/2 cup and 2 TBS water in saucepan and heat until darkened. This will be the caramel on the bottom. It takes about ten minutes and then remove it from the heat, let it cool, and ladle into the bottom of 6 ramekins.

 Boil the milk with 3 TBS sugar and lavender. Boil for 15 minutes. Let cool. Strain out the lavender. It should smell GOOOD.

 "Watcha cookin' ??"

 Here's the caramel in the ramekins. It wasn't as dark as I wanted, but I didn't want to cook it too long.

 Hm. Smells good, anyway.
Apparently I missed a step with the pictures!
Beat the eggs and the vanilla together in a small bowl. Don't over beat. Add in the cooled milk and then pour over the caramel.

 Fill the dish with about an inch of water. Bake about 35 minutes until set. Remove from the water bath and let cool. 

Since someone ate all the blackberries, I thought a pear might be a good match for the lavender. Mmmm. Not sure the variety, but it's delicious!

 Now's the hard part... let them cool in the fridge for eight hours or overnight. The next day, carefully turn the flan out onto a dish, letting the caramel fill the dish.

The pear was a very pretty color and looked right at home with the caramelized flan.

 All in all, I really thought this recipe was a hit. The little guys loved it because it was tasty, the middle kids loved it because it had "weeds" from the garden in it, and the older kids loved it because of the unique lavender flavor. Very delicate and sweet! For such an easy recipe, I would give this a two thumbs-up for presentation and as a conversation-starter!

 Last week was also my FORTIETH BIRTHDAY. Ugh.... Is it really possible? I feel so young! (Ok, that was a lie.) I was so incredible spoiled. Like these teal, vintage milk glass Pyrex from my friend Christalee. I almost swooned! So cute!

 And my friends Gail and Laurie sent Austen goodies! (Yes, we have been playing with the Jane Austen figure!)

 Google celebrated my big day, too! I felt so loved... When i waved the mouse over the doodle, it said, "Happy Birthday, Virginia!" LOL

My friend Stacey stole me for a movie. I almost never go out, and I realized this called for something special. THE RED CONVERSE.

And my sister came to visit and brought my favorite pie! Strawberry rhubarb. With perfect crust. YUMMY.

Leaving you with a close up shot of the pie! I'm wishing you all a wonderful weekend filled with delicious desserts and unexpected joy!