Vanilla Lavender Simple Syrup + Drinks to Use it in

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What is Simple Syrup?

Simple syrup is liquid sugar. It’s made by dissolving sugar in an equal amount of water. Because of its sugar content, simple syrup is most often used to sweeten iced drinks such as iced tea, coffee, or cocktails. If you’ve ever tried adding sugar to a glass of iced coffee, you know that it can be a hassle to fully dissolve the sugar. That’s where simple syrups come in! The sugar is already dissolved, making it easy to add sweetness to your drink.

These syrups are so quick and easy to make at home, they only take about 10 minutes! They last for 1-4 weeks in the refrigerator depending on the ingredients you use and how clean and airtight your containers are. As you will see in this recipe, you can flavor a simple syrup with almost anything. Vanilla is probably the common flavoring, but you use anything you want. I’ve even seen a jalapeño simple syrup, which is apparently great in cocktails!

What does Vanilla Lavender Simple Syrup Taste Like?

Lavender itself is a very strong flavor and when too much is added or the wrong cultivar is used, it can taste so floral that it’s almost soapy. I have a love-hate relationship with lavender for this reason. But I’ve learned that if you just add a little bit, lavender actually has a very interesting and unique taste. It’s almost like a combination between mint and rosemary, which means it’s great in both sweet and savory dishes/drinks. The sugar and vanilla in this syrup help tone down some of the inherent bitterness of the lavender and rounds out the flavor.

What You’ll Need to Make this Recipe

Dried Lavender – When buying lavender, be sure you are selecting a culinary, or food-grade, lavender. If you’ve ever had a lavender food or drink that tasted like soap or was too floral, it’s likely that it was made with a non-culinary lavender or too much was added. If you want to learn more about cooking with lavender, I found this post and this post to be very informative!

Sugar – This recipe calls for granulated white sugar. It will allow some of the purple hues of the lavender to come through and has a subtle enough flavor that the vanilla and lavender can shine. If you choose to use brown sugar or honey, just keep in mind that it will change the flavor profile.

Vanilla – I recommend using pure vanilla extract for this recipe because the vanilla will be noticeable in the final product.

Vanilla Lavender Simple Syrup Author: Trinni Stevens Prep: 3 mins   Cook: 10 mins   Total: 13 mins Servings: 1 cup (16 tablespoons) Add a floral twist to your drinks and treats with this vanilla lavender simple syrup.

Ingredients   • ¾ cup sugar   • ¾ cup water   • 1½ to 3 tablespoons lavender, dried   • 1 teaspoon vanilla Directions   1. Add water, sugar, and lavender to a saucepan and bring to a simmer.   2. Stir until sugar is dissolved.   3. Remove from heat and let steep for 10 minutes.   4. Stir in vanilla extract and, using a fine mesh sieve, strain lavender buds out of the syrup.   5. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Notes Lavender   – Be sure to use culinary, or food grade, lavender for this simple syrup as not all lavender tastes great.   – The amount of lavender you add to the syrup will depend on your tolerance level for floral tastes. 1.5 tablespoons is on the lighter side while 3T is floral without being soapy.

Nutrition Serving: 1 tablespoon | Calories: 37kcal, Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Choloesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 4mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 9g

How to Enjoy This Simple Syrup

Simple syrups are great for adding sweetness to all drinks, but they are especially helpful when the drink is iced or cold because it doesn’t leave granules of sugar sitting on the bottom of the drink. Here are some of the drinks I’m dying to try!

Vanilla Lavender Drinks

  • Iced Coffee
  • Iced Latte
  • Steamer
  • London Fog
  • Bubble Tea
  • Iced Tea
  • Lemonade

What are you adding this syrup to?

Spring 2023 Color Palette

Ahhh, Spring is in the air! Well, it was two days ago. Today, we’re back to cloudy skies and near-freezing temps. But that’s okay because my calendar is decked out in a color palette that brings me plenty of Spring color and internal warmth.

I wanted each of the colors in this pallet to remind me of the first days of Spring and I would say these colors fit the bill.

Planning for Presence in 2021

We’re coming up on a new year, which means most people are thinking about how they would like to improve their lives, myself included. In 2020, I chose to focus on different areas of my life, from mediation and journaling to taking vitamins and ensuring I kept a clean house all while keeping my mental health at the focus. Next year, I’m going to continue working on my mental health, but I’m also going to start working more on my relationships with my family and friends.

Reflecting on the Hardships and Accomplishments of 2020

2020 was an…interesting year. It was a year full of hardhsips and victories. Losing control and gaining a new sense of freedom. As the year comes to an end, I’d like to take time to reflect on what this year has meant to me and why I’m glad that it happened (and that it’s ending).

The Beginning of My Decluttering Journey

There are many reasons to declutter your house, especially if you have children. In this post, I discuss some of the blog posts and life experiences that finally pushed me into decluttering my home, ultimately making it a nicer place to live in.

Lessons Learned from my Meditation Habit

My Meditation Journey

I started meditating on March 11, 2020 as a way to help me quiet my mind enough to fall asleep. My goal was to do 10 minutes of mediation every night before bed. In the beginning, the meditation helped so much that I was asleep before the guided meditation ended, but the more I practiced (and the more sleep I got), the better I became at staying awake through the entire meditation.

I started with the Navigating Change course on the Headspace App. I’ve moved on to many other courses since then, and with each new course that I take, I learn more and more about who I truly am. (Meditation is not the only thing that has helped me in this way, journaling and going to therapy have also been huge for me.)

Lessons Learned

1. The goal of meditation is not to maintain a quiet mind, but to notice when the mind has wandered and bring it back.

Before I started meditating, a friend explained that oftentimes beginners of meditation become frustrated by the fact that they can’t maintain a quiet mind throughout the entire meditation (or they won’t start meditating because they don’t think they can maintain this stillness). She said for her, it was easier to look at meditation as an exercise – when you notice your mind wandering and you can bring it back, that’s like doing a rep during a workout. The more times you can notice your brain wandering, the stronger you become.

What this translates to outside of your meditation practice, is being able to take a step back and notice your thoughts and feelings as you’re experiencing them, ultimately creating the space you need to become less reactive.

2. Nothing is permanent. Everything is changing all the time. (Even our thoughts and feelings.)

This lesson came from the Navigating Change course on the Headspace App and it was very difficult for me to learn. Change has always been challenging for me, both positive and negative change, so surrendering to the idea that nothing is permanent gave me the uncomfortable feeling that I had no control over anything. After going through the course (twice), that fear slowly faded and what was left in its place was a feeling of freedom.

In some ways, the freedom that I felt was a freedom from the “rules” that I had placed on myself long ago. I used to be the type of person who would get stuck in a bad mood simply because I wouldn’t allow myself to feel better – I would relive whatever upset me the rest of the day, if not for weeks. I would also “stay the course” on something that didn’t make me happy simply because I didn’t want to look wishy-washy. But by accepting that things change (and that it’s completely normal and acceptable) I was able to break away from those rigid ways of thinking and lean into happiness.

3. It’s not our thoughts and feelings that are the problem. It’s our thoughts about our thoughts and feelings that cause us pain.

We cannot control our thoughts and feelings. They just come and go, whether we want them to or not. Often, they’re conditioned responses from our past experiences. We can’t control them, and yet, when the thoughts or feelings we experience are negative, we berate ourselves for it or we feel guilt or shame. Through meditation, I’m beginning to learn how to let these initial thoughts and feelings go (or exist) without adding extra thoughts and feeling onto them. In her book Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life, Susan David mentions how we can spiral into these feelings, so please, if you’re trying to let go and you notice that you’re feeling guilt or shame about a thought or feeling, do not add more guilt or shame onto it. Simply notice it and let it go.

4. Difficult moments are easier to move through when we center ourselves in the present.

This lesson comes from an experience I had shortly after I started meditating. I was having a particularly hard time at work and woke up in the middle of the night to an anxiety attack. I recalled things I did during mediation as well as ideas I had learned from Emotional Agility: I labeled my experience as “thinking” and “feeling”, focused on what was happening in my body (heart racing, breathing short and quick), and noted that the thought which caused the anxiety attack was a thought about the future, it wasn’t real. Almost instantly my anxiety was gone and I was able to go back to sleep.

There are many different ways to recenter yourself when you’re having a difficult time. I think the most popular is the 5-4-3-2-1 method. Other things that I’ve found helpful is journaling and/or going for a walk. Of course, there’s also meditation. The Headspace app has SOS meditations on feeling overwhelmed, panicking, feeling flustered, and more.

I have learned so much from meditation over the last year. I honestly believe that I wouldn’t be as far as I am today if I hadn’t introduced this habit into my life. It isn’t always easy of course, there have been times when I have to take a step back and reevaluate my goals with meditation and times when I was just too tired to meditate, but all in all, this has been one of the most helpful habits that I’ve created over the last year. If you’re feeling lost, this is definitely one place I recommend starting.

Popular Meditation Apps to Get you Started

• Headspace
• 10 Percent Happier
• Calm

If none of these apps work for you, you can also search YouTube to find what works best for you!

More Posts you May be Interested in:

• Challenges and Benefits of the 10 Minute Clean Up Habit (Update #1)
• Knowing WHY You’re Doing a Habit Can Help you Overcome Obstacles
• Getting Back on Track

Can a Small Habit be Too Small Pt. II: My Self-destructive Tendencies (10 Minute Clean-up Habit, Update #2)

Milestone Reached

We are 2 weeks into this new habit! This week was fairly uneventful – mostly because I spent the latter half of the week away from home as we were visiting family for Thanksgiving. While I was home, I found it very easy to complete this habit…almost too easy.

Challenges and Benefits of the 10 Minute Clean Up Habit (Update #1)

Hello and happy Monday, everyone! We are one week into this new habit of cleaning the house for 10 minutes every day. This week went pretty well; we complete 5/7 days (so not perfect, but not bad).

Introduction to the 10 Minute Clean Up Habit

Hello, everyone! Today is an exciting day, because we are introducing a new habit! I always love starting a new habit. It’s a new chance to learn, grow, and get closer to the me that I want to be. It’s also a new challenge, which is great…most of the time. For this 90 days, we are creating a habit of cleaning the house for 10 minutes a day. I say “we” because this one is going to be a family effort, which is also exciting!

Why I Chose this Habit

Getting Back on Track

Where I’ve been these Past 18 Months

It’s been 18 months since I last made a post to this blog. And what an 18 months it has been. My last post, Take Time to Reflect When Building Habits, was written in May of 2019. That was also the month that I found out I was pregnant with my second child, Willow. That pregnancy was hard on me and my family right from the beginning, derailing my self-improvement journey. During that time, I suffered physical and mental pain, leaving me disheartened and depressed.