Lemon Balm Simple Syrup & A Wonderful Summer Spritzer

I've got the most delightful lemon balm spritzer for ya. It's the balm bomb! And since it's HOT out there, this seemed like the right time to share it.

Although I wage an ongoing battle against the lemon balm that was allowed to run riot in all the garden beds before we bought our house, I adore the stuff. It's got a lovely flavor and smell - grassy, citrusy and floral.

Lemon balm is also a bit of a renaissance herb - it's a mild sedative, analgesic (pain killer) and antiviral and can be used to calm stomach upset, aid digestion, speed sleep, soothe bug bites and treat cold sores. So as I yank it up by the roots, I save some of the fragrant leaves to use.

The thing I am loving right now is lemon balm simple syrup - packed with flavor and oozing sweetness, it's a great base for drinks. And it could not be simpler (no pun intended, for once!) to make. The ingredients are just water, sugar and lemon balm leaves - in equal proportions.

Combine them in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, simmer for a minute or two then remove from the heat and let it cool.

Once it's cooled, just strain out the leaves and store it in an airtight container in the fridge.

I usually store mine in one of my beloved Luminarc glass working jars with a plastic lid but a canning jar with a band and lid works well, too.

Then it's spritzer time! I like to mix a tablespoon of the simple syrup with a generous squeeze of lemon with seltzer and ice for a zesty and refreshing drink. Sometimes I will also add some fresh thyme, rosemary or basil to the pot with the lemon balm since they're great companion flavors. See the simple instructions below.

I also like to make a super easy tea with the leaves. Just toss them in boiling water and let them steep. You can drink it hot or let it chill for a super refreshing, flavorful cooler. Instructions here. Since lemon balm is a lot harder to come by in the winter months, I also dry some of the leaves and store them in an airtight container so that I can make it all year long. Luckily, our screened porch serves very well for drying though I can also toss the leaves into our awesome Excalibur food dehydrator if I'm feeling impatient or the weather is wet.

Lemon Balm Simple Syrup

Ingredients

* 1 cup loosely packed lemon balm leaves, rinsed (you can also add some fresh thyme, rosemary or basil if those flavors sound appealing to you)
* 1 cup organic cane sugar
* 1 cup water

Directions

Stir the three ingredients together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and then simmer for one minute, until the sugar has dissolved completely. Remove from the heat and let stand for 30 minutes. Strain out the leaves and toss them into the compost. Store in an airtight glass container in the fridge - it will keep for at least a month.

Try mixing 2 tablespoons (or more - you can decide how strong/sweet you like it) into a glass of iced seltzer with a generous squeeze of lemon for a wonderful spritzer.

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Scrumptious Banana Nut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins - Gluten and Dairy-Free

As a card-carrying member of both the wheat and dairy fan clubs, these little bites of goodness challenge all my assumptions about gluten- and dairy-free baked goods by being remarkably tasty and moist.

I learned about these muffins from my good friend, Liza, who makes them all the time. The ingredients are so healthy that I never would have believed that the end result could be so good if I hadn't tasted it myself. But there's some sort of magical baking chemistry that happens to turn bananas, eggs, nut butter, vinegar, baking soda and honey into something that's really hard to stop eating.

You just throw all the ingredients except the chocolate chips into the bowl of your food processor and blend until you've got a smooth batter. I recommend making a double batch, both because they go fast, but also because doing so saves you the messy task of measuring out the nut butter because you can just dump an entire jar in (unless you've got something other than a 16 oz jar, that is.) 

There's room for creativity - you can fill or top them with your choice of coconut, coconut flakes, jam, peanut butter and more. But the only thing I ever add is chocolate chips because I see no need to mess with perfection.

Let them cool a tad before you remove them from the tins. This is sometimes harder than it sounds so I use this little, skinny silicone spatula to gently pry them out since it both won't melt (which was, unfortunately, not the case with the plastic one I tried the first time...) and it also won't damage the coating on my non-stick muffin tins.

Tip for you - if you have bananas that are on the verge of going bad but you're not ready to bake, peel them and freeze them until you are ready. Just remember to take them out a few hours ahead of time so they have time to defrost. It takes the pressure off having to use things up (or am I the only one who stresses out about that?) if you're busy or about to go out of town.

A note on the provenance of this recipe. It came to me via my friend Liza who found it on Halle's blog, Whole Lifestyle Nutrition and it appears that Halle got it from Paige at Simple Bites. Thanks, ladies.

-- print recipe --
Quick, Melt-In-Your-Mouth Mini-Muffins (Gluten & Dairy-Free)
Makes 24 mini or 12 regular muffins

Ingredients

* 1 cup nut butter (I like almond butter best but I used peanut for this batch as I was out of almond)
* 2 ripe, medium-sized bananas
* 2 large eggs (try to find pasture-raised, organic from a local farm)
* 1 tsp organic vanilla extract
* 2 Tbsps organic sugar, maple syrup or honey
* ½ tsp baking soda
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
* Optional but highly recommended: chocolate chips! You can also use dried cranberries, coconut flakes, pepitas, or a dollop of jam but the chocolate is my favorite by far.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400° F and grease your muffin tin.

2. Place all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor or blender and blend until well-mixed.

3. Pour the batter into the greased muffin tin. Add additional toppings of your choice to each muffin and lightly stir into each cup. Or, if you'd prefer to fill the centers, pour the batter in halfway up, add a dollop of the filling of your choice and top off with the rest of the batter.

4. Bake for 12 minutes for mini-muffins or 15 minutes for full-sized muffins or until golden brown on top. Let cool briefly then turn them out (I used a mini silicone spatula to get mine out without damaging the non-stick coating on my muffin tray) onto a wire rack to cool.

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• Gluten- & Grain-Free Coconut Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies
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The ONLY Way To Grease Your Waffle Iron

Our old waffle iron succumbed late last year after a brief but fatal encounter with our younger son during one of his routine incursions into the lower kitchen cabinets. I'm still not sure exactly what transpired down in that dark and shamefully dusty cabinet but the result was a sadly mangled and completely inoperable waffle iron. Here he is, my little waffle-powered explorer/destructor.

Life being the crazy show that it is with two young kids, it took me a couple five months to replace it. You see, it turned out to be much more complicated than I'd expected...

Should we go with one of the Belgian waffle makers that have become so ubiquitous of late or stick with the shallower 'Merican kind we'd had for so many years? What kinds of bells and whistles (seriously, waffle makers make loads of crazy sounds nowadays!) did we want? What brands were best? A few friends loved their Warings but could we (hopefully) be happy with something less expensive?

And, most importantly, was there any way to find a waffle iron without non-stick coating? 

I recycled all our non-stick pans years ago since I am skeptical about the safety of plastics in any food prep that involves either heat or long-term storage. And the non-stick coating on our dearly departed waffle iron had given up the ghost years before it fell prey to the enthusiastic grappling of our 16-month-old son. The teflon coating was badly scratched and chipped as the result of our habit of buttering the plates with a metal knife before pouring the batter in.

But I discovered that no one makes non-non-stick waffle irons anymore unless you want to get a cast iron one that you heat on the stove like a griddle and I knew I'd never use that. You can buy a used electric one on ebay from the 1940s -- back before Sunbeam and GE and the like had embraced the evil concept of planned obsolescence -- they still work!!!

Sunbeam W2A waffle iron

There's definitely something appealing about an appliance that was made in the 40's and is still going strong so I bid on one but did not win it. In the end, I was not too sorry since they looked enormous and we've got limited counter space.

In the end, I chose this extremely simple, Cuisinart waffle iron for $30. It's a lot like the one we had before, including the non-stick coating I'd hoped to avoid :(

BUT THEN I CAME UP WITH A GREAT NON-STICK-SAFE WAY TO GREASE IT!!!

In a moment of inspiration during our maiden voyage with the new iron, I grabbed the silicone basting brush out of the drawer, dipped it in the butter (we leave ours out so it was pretty soft) and gave the plates a quick once-over. Thanks to its many bristles, it covered every nook and cranny with fat in a moment and I didn't even have to dip back into the butter dish before greasing the other plate.

Not only will it not harm the non-stick coating, it's also the perfect tool for this task -- so much more effective than a knife, fork or paper towel could possibly be. And I just threw it in the dishwasher when I was through. Just the kind of clean up I like :)

I used a fraction of the butter I'd have used with any other implement and although I'm not exactly happy about the teflon coating, at least I've figured out how to keep it where it belongs.

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