Sunday, December 2, 2018

Lavender Design + Cuisine


Welcome to Lavender Design + Cuisine, your source of inspiration for Living Joyously and Deliciously! 

Every company has a story and mine is rather inspirational and worth telling. My wonderful journey to the creation of Lavender Design + Cuisine began in 2011 when I decided to leave a highly successful career in high tech sales spanning 20 years. It was time to pursue my lifelong dream. Since then, it has been an amazing and rewarding experience. I'm immeasurably grateful to do what I love thanks to my wonderful clients and students. They are the center of my work and a great inspiration. Click here to view their beautiful testimonials!

I offer the following services throughout Santa Cruz County and the South Bay: 

 



I love empowering you to enhance the quality of your life by creating inspiring and harmonious living and working environments, and by offering Vegan Mediterranean gourmet cuisine. 

Please feel free to contact me to learn more about my services and to take the first step

Ellie Lavender
Certified Feng Shui Practitioner & Interior Designer
Vegan Mediterranean Personal Chef
Culinary & Wine Pairing Instructor 
Event Caterer
Lavender Design + Cuisine

 

Join my network on Facebook & Instagram to receive Feng Shui & Interior 
Design tips and information on upcoming workshops & special events!  

 

Copyright © 2018 Lavender Design + Cuisine, All rights reserved.

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Tackle Visual and Digital Clutter!


Overwhelmed with visual and digital clutter? Do these pictures look all too familiar to you? Well, you are not alone; we all have some form of a clutter. Visual and digital clutter have a direct impact on your efficiency, productivity, the power of decision making and ultimately your success. 

Get rid of them in two practical steps:

Step 1: Assess what’s on your desk - Ask yourself when looking at an item:
·                           Do I need it or use it regularly?
·                           Does it energize or inspire me?
·                           Does it enhance my efficiency and productivity?
·                           Does it contribute to my success and prosperity?
·                           Let go of those items that don’t pass.

Step 2: Declutter your computer and communication devices:
Get rid of useless apps, programs, old emails, VMs, etc. Organize desktop icons too.

Finally, the best thing you can do to deal with digital clutter is to designate as few as five minutes each day to deal with downloads, email, apps, and whatever else crosses your digital workspace. Get rid of what you don’t need immediately, so you don’t have to spend hours sifting through it down the road.

Ellie Lavender
Certified Feng Shui Practitioner
Interior Designer
Lavender Design + Cuisine


Join my network on Facebook & Instagram to receive recipes and information
on upcoming workshops, chocolates, culinary & wine pairing classes, and special events!

Copyright © 2018 Lavender Design + Cuisine, All rights reserved.

Sunday, August 19, 2018

Simple & Practical Feng Shui Tips For A Child’s Bedroom!


Enhance Education, Success and Happy Relationships!

Applying Feng Shui to a child’s bedroom creates an inspiring environment that fosters enhanced education, success, and happy relationships with parents, siblings, and others. 

However, before you apply the below Feng Shui enhancements to the bedrooms of your children, it’s important that you bring them into the process. Start by discussing the benefits of a clutter-free, organized and inspiring bedroom environment; and then get their permission and full participation. After that, work together to design short and long term plans for creating and maintaining an inspiring bedroom environment that will empower them to thrive in all aspects of life.

Here’s your action plan for this project:

1.       Remove clutter. Partner with your children to support their efforts to clear jammed closets and drawers. Encourage them to remove toys, games, books and clothes no longer suitable for their age. To make this process simple and most effective, provide them with three boxes, 1) items for donation, 2) recycling and 3) trash. Creating space and visual openness helps your child sleep better and feel much more rested, which will lead them to be happier and more productive.

2.      Teach organization skills and maintenance methods. Provide storage systems, a laundry basket and trash can so that children can easily organize and store items, without having to leave them on their beds, desk’s and floors. These simple and practical measures will inspire and motivate your children to keep their bedrooms clean, clutter-free and organized resulting in fewer chores for you!

3.      Create an inspiring bedroom environment. Make sure there is adequate lighting in the bedroom. Also, bedrooms that are painted dark colors create too much oppressive energy. Bright colors, such as yellows, light greens, soft lavender and pinks are good energy and inspiring color choices.  Add inspiring and motivational posters and art to the child’s bedroom!

4.     Bed choice and placement in the bedroom. Make sure your child can see the door from his or her bed easily, but is not in direct line of the door. Bunk beds are not optimal. Children must have room to grow and the bed overhead exerts pressure on the child below. Because there is empty space below them, children on the top bunk may feel less secure. If possible, try to have a separate bedroom for each child. If this isn’t possible, there are many decorative ways to create division and privacy within a room for each child.

5.      Establish a space for study and accomplishments. Having a dedicated space, including a desk and lamp where your child can study demonstrates to your child the importance you place on education, your child’s success and achievement. Display awards, trophies, and tests with good scores in the child’s bedroom.

6.     Praise your children often. Throughout the transformation process and afterward, praise your children often. The practice of this amplifying self-esteem gesture will make them feel good, loved and appreciated, and will also encourage and motivate them to maintain a clean, clutter-free, organized and inspiring bedroom environment for years to come.

7.     Lead by example for your children. Children are like mirrors, reflecting everything that happens in their environment. The examples you set have a significant impact on their present and future development and aspirations. Keep your home environment, clean, clutter-free, organized and inspirational. 

Have fun with your children and enjoy the process!


Ellie Lavender 
Certified Feng Shui Practitioner
Interior Designer

Join my network on Facebook
 & Instagram to receive Feng Shui & interior design tips and information on upcoming workshops!


Copyright © 2018 Lavender Design + Cuisine, All rights reserved.




Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Butternut Squash, Red D’Anjou Pear & Ginger Soup Vegan Recipe!

Tangy Creamy Butternut Squash, 
Red D ‘Anjou Pear & Ginger Soup
Pic. 6

Pic. 5

Pic. 4

Pic. 3 

Pic. 2

Pic. 1

Greetings Soup Lovers! 

The beauty of homemade soups is that you can play around with the Ingredients to your liking. I use varieties of seasonal vegetables and fruits when making soups!  

You can enjoy this delicious Tangy Creamy Butternut Squash, Red D ‘Anjou Pear and Ginger Soup  hot or cold. In this recipe, pears are roasted to sweet perfection with butternut squash and pureed to create a creamy soup with a beautiful garnish of crushed toasted pistachios and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. The flavor is simply amazing!

So let's get started with the recipe!

Ingredients (serving size 4):
2 cups butternut squash 
1 cup d'anjou red pears 
1 tbsp. Meyer lemon juice & a few Meyer lemon rinds
1 tbsp. grated fresh ginger 
1 cup oat milk

 Instructions: 
1. Cut the butternut squash in half, remove seeds, peel skins and chop into small cubes (alternatively you can use store bought frozen cubed butternut squash and thaw them first before roasting).
2. Cut pears in half, remove core and chop into small cubes 
3. Toss cubed butternut squash and pear with olive oil, sea salt and roast them at 400 preheated oven for 25 minutes, pic.1 
4. Place butternut squash, pears, Meyer lemon juice & rinds and ginger in a food processor, pic. 2 and process until they are pureed, pic. 3
5. Add oath milk, pic. 4 and process again until the mixture is creamy, pic. 5
6. Place soup in a bowl and garnish with crushed toasted pistachios and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, pic 6.

Enjoy!

Chef Ellie Lavender 
Vegan Mediterranean Personal Chef
Culinary & Wine Pairing Instructor
 
 
Join my network on Facebook & Instagram to receive recipes and information
on upcoming workshops, chocolates, culinary & wine pairing classes, and special events!


Copyright © 2018 Lavender Design + Cuisine, All rights reserved.
 



Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Vegan Mediterranean Culinary Services


Greetings and Welcome to my culinary world! 

I’m a self-taught vegan Mediterranean chef, French Pastry Chef, culinary & wine pairing instructor and event caterer. 

Everyone has a story and mine is rather inspirational and worth telling. My journey to the creation of Lavender Design + Cuisine began in 2011 when I decided to leave a highly successful career in high tech sales spanning 20 years. It was time to pursue my lifelong dream. Since then, it has been an amazing and rewarding experience. I'm immeasurably grateful to do what I love thanks to my wonderful personal chef & catering clients and awesome cooking & wine pairing classes students. They are the center of my culinary world and a great inspiration.  

I offer the following services throughout Santa Cruz County and the South Bay:

1) Personal Chef Services featuring Vegan Mediterranean Cuisine (French, Italian, Spanish & Moroccan)

2) Private In-Home Vegan Mediterranean Cooking & Wine Pairing Classes for individuals, couples and groups (minimum 5 people, maximum 10)

3) Culinary Team Building-Corporate Vegan Mediterranean Cooking Classes

4) Chocolate & Wine Pairing Events at Local Wineries 

5) Vegan Mediterranean Catering (French, Italian, Spanish & Moroccan) for all occasions up to 15 people

Please contact me to learn more about any of these featured services and to take the first step. 

Ellie Lavender
Vegan Mediterranean Personal Chef
Culinary & Wine Pairing Instructor
Event Caterer
Lavender Cuisine 


Join my network on Facebook & Instagram to receive recipes and information
on upcoming chocolate, culinary & wine pairing classes, and special events! 

Copyright © 2020 Lavender Design + Cuisine, All rights reserved. 

 


Feng Shui and Interior Design Services!


Your home is your sanctuary. It represents you and your inner-self. When you mindfully design inspiring living and working environments based on the principles of Feng Shui, you'll cultivate and enhance love, health, happiness and prosperity in your life!

Doesn’t that sound wonderful? You’ll take this idea from a dream to reality with me by your side.

Your Personalized 3-Steps Plan will include:

Step 1 Home, office and goals assessment
Step 2 Decluttering and organization plans
Step 3 Feng Shui and interior design enhancements

What is Feng Shui and why is it important?

Feng Shui is the art of arranging your home and work environments to enhance the flow of positive energy (chi), love, health, happiness and prosperity in your life.  When energy flow is stagnant or obstructed (i.e. clutter), it can have a direct negative impact on your life! If you have found that your environment doesn’t make you feel good or bring forth happiness, productivity and prosperity, there’s likely an obstruction of energy flow that needs to be addressed.   

Decluttering is the all important first step in the Feng Shui process! If energy (chi) can't flow freely, nothing else can begin to improve! The next step is the organization, which will bring clarity and empowerment. Lastly, the application of Feng Shui principles will cultivate and enhance balance, harmony, love, happiness and prosperity. 

Inspired Kitchen Transformation Story! 

“Ellie helped us to transform our cluttered and disorganized kitchen into a wonderful gathering and entertaining space! We started by decluttering our fridge, pantry, cabinets and counters. We discarded all the stained and chipped dishes and glasses and got rid of broken appliances and expired food items. We brought in a container of herbs, fresh flowers and a basket of lemons from our garden, which added life and color to the kitchen. These simple steps have completely transformed our kitchen. Not only do we love the good feeling and energy in there, but we now cook more often. We truly enjoy spending time together in our beautiful kitchen over meals and especially for coffee in the morning! Thank you so much, Ellie, for your practical and creative solutions." Sofia and Marco, Capitola

Please feel free to contact me to learn more about any of these featured services and to take the first step.  

Ellie Lavender 
Certified Feng Shui Practitioner
Interior Designer
Lavender Design + Cuisine


Join my network on Facebook & Instagram to receive Feng Shui & interior design tips and information on upcoming workshops!

Copyright © 2018 Lavender Design + Cuisine, All rights reserved.

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Vegan Recipe: Lavender Meyer Lemon Madeleines

Lavender Meyer Lemon Madeleines

Valentine’s Day Gift

Organic Culinary Lavender

It’s almost Valentine’s Day. Whether you’re spending it with your sweetie, celebrating with your friends, or planning the perfect 'Me Day' – nothing says Love like making a lavender-infused gift with your own creative hands.

Madeleines, the Classic French Tea Cakes are baked in special molds that give them a delicate shell shape. The name 'Madeleine' was given to these delightful tea cakes by Louis XV to  honor his father in law's cook, Madeleine Paulmier. 

Madeleines infused with organic culinary lavender and Meyer lemon are delicious, easy to make and they’ll make a beautiful Valentine’s Day gift too. Delightful by themselves, but even better when dunked into coffee, espresso or dessert wine.  

Culinary Lavender Tip: always use high grade organic culinary lavender.

Ingredients: Makes 12 Madeleines

1/2 cup pastry flour
2 Tbsp. almond flour 
1/3 cup unsalted vegan butter 
1 Tsp. fresh Meyer lemon juice
1 Tsp. Meyer lemon zest
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tsp. organic culinary lavender (finely chopped)
1/3 cup almond milk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Butter and flour the madeleines mold.
3. Melt butter and set aside to cool at room temperature.
4. In a bowl with an electric mixer at high speed beat pastry flour, almond flour, sugar, almond milk, lemon juice and melted butter until the mixture is creamy. 
5. Add lemon zest and lavender flowers and beat for additional one minute.
6. Place 1 Tbsp. of the batter into each mold.
7. Bake for 15-17 minutes until madeleines are golden and the tops spring back when gently pressed with your fingertip.
8. Use tip of a perry knife to loosen the madeleines from pan if necessary, transfer them on a cooling rack and set aside to cool for at least 15 minutes before enjoying them. 
9. For packaging as gifts, let the madeleines cool for at least one hour.

Happy Valentine’s Day!


Chef Ellie Lavender 
Vegan Mediterranean Personal Chef
Culinary & Wine Pairing Instructor
Lavender Design + Cuisine

 

Join my network on Facebook & Instagram to receive recipes and information
on upcoming chocolate, culinary & wine pairing classes, and special events!

Copyright © 2018 Lavender Design + Cuisine, All rights reserved.