“Having means nothing if you don’t know what to do with it!” It is a notable expression in the yoga world coined by Bikram Choudhury who I studied with in Los Angeles.
My fascination with lavender began in the South of France with a visit to Cannes and Nice. I took the train to the parfumerie in Provence; I saw how lavender was grown and distilled into parfumes and soaps. After returning home, I found a local lavender farm in Loudoun County…Blooming Hills.
There lavender is grown by a local landscape architect and painter and his spouse. Peter and Cyndie Rinek have developed a lavender farm in Purcellville, Virginia. Cyndie, a retailer, has created a shop filled with all things lavender. Initially, I tried lavender tea and then used the flowers to create an extract for baking in my test kitchen at Netherstoke Farm.
When my DC apartment needed renovation, I volunteered at Omega Institute in the Hudson Valley near Rhinebeck, New York. I worked in the Little Bitchin’ Kitchen at Omega preparing vegetables for the visitors, guests and staff. During that summer in 2016, I tented there and practiced yoga. I met amazing people from all walks of life and prepped veggies for 3,000 meals a day. When my shift was finished, I retreated to my tent in the woods on the Omega campus. With me I would take a solo cup of granola from the Little Bitchin’ Kitchen. It was the best granola I ever had tasted. I didn’t even like granola but it became a tasty treat I looked forward to in the afternoons. It should be no surprise the granola there was a delicacy since the students from the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park often worked there before heading to restaurants in Manhattan and beyond.
Omega Institute features recipes on their Instagram page on occasion. I asked for the granola recipe in a post and began exploring alternative recipes. Using local ingredients, I paired the lavender of Blooming Hill and lemon with raisins infused with wine and lavender extract from the local vineyards. After roasting oats, nuts and seeds, I mixed them with the lemon and lavender infused raisins and honey mixture.
Voila! That is the story of Great Morning Granola and how my travels in the yoga world and work at Omega Institute, led to the creation of Great Morning Granola.
My practice took me to France, Thailand and India in the space of a year. The traveling meant I needed a light and nutritious snack that could sustain my energy. Great Morning Granola was the solution. With the lemon and lavender honey to sweeten the mix, I can take a bit of France with me in each bite as well as a a taste of home when I travel.
Great Morning Granola 