DANDELION PESTO with Hemp Seeds and Miso

While most people's lawns are littered with dandelions, mine unfortunately has hardly any.  Which is a real shame because I prize dandelions so very much.  Dandelions are really great for digestion, and as such they help you get even more nutrients from your food.  Dandelion is high in Vitamin A & C, potassium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, B-complex vitamins, as well as other trace minerals. They make a great spring tonic and liver rejuvenator, so be sure to eat a few leaves of dandelion every day to help your body make the transition to springtime. You can add a few leaves to your salad mix, or steam them with your favourite greens. Or you can try boiling dandelion like the Greeks do. This Spring I decided to make a small batch of pesto using some of my precious stash of dandelion greens so I can freeze it and enjoy dandelions all winter long.

 DANDELION PESTO with Hemp Seeds & Miso

3/4 cup organic extra virgin olive oil 

3 cups wild dandelion leaves, washed well

2 cups organic shelled hemp seeds

6 cloves organic garlic, peeled

6 Tbsp organic white mellow miso

4 tsp organic lemon juice or umeboshi vinegar

water as needed to thin

Method: Add all ingredients to the bowl of a food processor and and blend until smooth, adding water as necessary to achieve desired consistency.  

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TODAY'S TWEETABLE: If you like a perfectly green lawn, the ultimate revenge on the dandelions taking over your lawn is to eat them.

WEEDING

If you look closely you will see that the dandelion greens are sprouting up everywhere, including in my perennial fruit and vegetable garden.  The whole bed needs to be weeded, and what better way to begin than by harvesting the dandelion greens for supper?  Eating dandelions may seem foreign to many people, but not me.  Growing up in a Greek family means you eat wild dandelion greens every spring.  I have vivid memories of my mother and cousin foraging for dandelions when I was a child, and then serving them for dinner.  They are definitely an acquired taste, and luckily I have that.  The bitterness of the dandelion is a powerful spring tonic for your digestive system, stimulating your liver to detoxify.  Which is a really good thing after a long winter of heavy foods.

I remembered to grab my camera on my way out the door yesterday morning so I could show you how I harvest spring dandelion greens.  When you are ready to try this yourself, just be sure you pick them in clean and unpolluted areas.  That means no digging for dandelion on the side of the road!  As tempting as that may be, it is a really bad idea.  Which is too bad because dandelions love to grow on the gravelly soft shoulders of roads.

GREEK BOILED DANDELION

If you are ever driving around on a nice spring day and see a woman bent over in a field with a plastic bag in one hand and a knife in the other, odds are it's a Greek woman picking dandelions for supper.

 3 lbs young wild dandelion greens
1 Tbsp sea salt
about 2 Tbsp extra virgin Greek olive oil
the juice of about 1 organic lemon
sea salt and pepper to taste

Method:  Wash the greens well before cooking and trim any coarse stems.   Discard any brown leaves.  Soak the dandelion in a clean sink with plenty of water.  Any sand or debris will eventually sink to the bottom while the greens float on the surface of the water.  Remove the greens from the water and place in a colander to dry.

Bring a large pot of water to boil and add the salt.  Carefully submerge the greens in the pot and boil gently for about 20 minutes or until the thickest parts of the stems are tender.  Do not overcook.  Drain the greens well in a colander over the sink.  Really squeeze the liquid out with the back of a spoon.  Place greens in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

LIFE ON THE LAND

Spring is such an exciting time of year.  Each day brings new delightful discoveries on the land.  I am especially enjoying witnessing the asparagus  I planted last year find their way out again.  Although they are not ready to eat this year, already they are looking like the real thing!  I was also pleasantly surprised to locate fiddleheads unfurling all around our land, poking their heads out of the moss.  The garden is being planted, a little more each week, and I can't wait until the seeds we sowed start to sprout.  I love going out each day and checking in on all the gardens to see what's happening!  Life is good.

Some dandelion leaves I picked from our yard.  I made a lovely Dandelion Vinegar with some of the leaves.  The rest we ate in fresh salads or boiled and then drizzled with lemon juice, olive oil, sea salt and pepper.

Our new little chicks in the tanning room.

The new turkeys are catching some rays too.

Lovely fiddleheads abound.

Garlic is one of my favorite things to grow.

Scott's very organized garden markers.

Our new homemade cold frame.

The rhubarb appears to have survived the winter.

As did the strawberry plants.

My delicate currant bush.

Bergamot.

One of my favorite herbs for tea in the summer - Lemon Balm.

Tarragon.

Prolific oregano.

Healing comfrey.

Cute little parsley.

And my lavender came back!

Sweet blessings from the earth.  Happy Spring!

DANDELION WINE

     When our lawn begins to sprout lovely yellow dandelion flowers,  I start planning my yearly batch of dandelion wine.  That makes it sound like I've made dandelion wine all my life, when in truth this is only my second year!  But this year I invested in a wine bottle corker because I have plans to make all kinds of homemade wines.  My husband and I enjoyed last years batch so much that I can't wait to see how this one turns out.  We will have to wait 6 months to find out though!  That's right, wine has to rest for that long once it's bottled.  The timing couldn't be better though because we open a bottle on Winter Solstice,  so it's like a Christmas gift to myself.  Be sure to pick the flower around noon on a sunny day when the blossoms are fully open.  Also make sure that you avoid picking any green parts of the dandelion as they may interfere with the fermentation process.

DANDELION WINE

4 litres boiled water

4 cups dandelion blossoms

2 organic oranges, zest peeled and then juiced

1 organic lemon, zest peeled and then juiced

2 pound local honey

1/4 tsp dry white wine or champagne yeast

Method:  Steep the blossoms in the boiling water, cover and let rest overnight (or up to 3 days) in an earthenware pot.  Then stir in the citrus peels and bring to a boil.  Strain into the earthenware crock again, stir in honey and let cool.  Add the raisins, lemon and orange juice and the the yeast.  Cover loosely and let sit in a dark room or cupboard for 2-3 weeks,  stirring every 2-3 days.  When fermentation is complete, strain with a cheesecloth, and pour into a 4 litre sterilized bottle fitted with a little gadget you buy at the wine making store that lets gas out but no air in.  Let this sit for 3 weeks and then pour into 500 ml bottles and cork.  Let age for 6-9 months.  Enjoy!

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

I lasted one week on a spring cleanse and am now in a modified version of the cleanse.  I sort of had plans to keep it up for four weeks (if you can believe it!) but for now I am happy with the decision to increase my intake of vegetables and proteins, limit grains, and omit cane sugar and refined grains.  So a little menu update for you:

The pictures below are a little peek into a couple of the dishes I've been eating over the last week.  Trust me, most of the time it was so boring it's not even worth mentioning.  The lovely spring dandelion greens that I told you about the other day can also be served boiled with olive oil and lemon juice, sea salt and pepper.  I grew up eating dandelions and have fond memories of my dad's cousin Anna scouring our property looking for fresh dandelions.

That amazing tahini sauce made it's way onto our table again, this time lavishly drizzled on steamed quinoa, broccoli, and kale with roasted sweet potatoes and tofu, and some fresh raw radish, carrot and nori squares.

Today I was busy getting ready for the market and baked up some fresh vanilla cake for the Lamington's I sell every Saturday.  Even though I am not eating sweets, that is no reason for Scott to not indulge.  So I made him a little something that goes like this...

MAPLE VANILLA CAKE with Chocolate Hazelnut Spread, Dried Apricot, Vanilla Ice Cream and Chocolate Chips

Vanilla Cake: (from Sweet and Natural by Meredith McCarty)

1 1/2 cups organic whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups organic unbleached white flour

1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 organic vegetable oil

1/2 cup local maple syrup

1/2 cup organic brown rice syrup

1 1/2 cups organic soy, rice or cow's milk

1 Tbsp vanilla

Method:  Preheat oven to 350*.  Line bottom or pan with parchment paper, and brush sides with oil.  Mix together the dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl whisk together the wet ingredients.  Add wet to dry.  Pour batter into pan.  Bake until middle is cooked when you pierce with a toothpick - 20 mins for muffins, 25-30 for standard cake pans, 30-45 for larger pans.  Transfer to wire rack to cool in pans for 10 minutes, then invert.

Nativa Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

Organic Unsulphured Apricots, chopped

Organic Chocolate Chips

Organic Vanilla Ice Cream

Method:  Warm the cake up, then slice.  Spread each piece with the hazelnut spread.  Top with ice cream and sprinkle with apricots and chocolate chips.

STEAMED QUINOA, DANDELION AND HALIBUT with Lemon Tahini Sauce

So I am on a Spring Cleanse that requires I forego most carbs, sugars, fruits, fermented foods, vinegars, yeasts and dairy.  Which led me to the idea for this meal tonight.  You can't really see it because it is hiding underneath this AMAZING tahini sauce.  I used to make this sauce all the time using tamari, but now I have to use Bragg's Liquid Aminos instead, and boy am I glad.  The stuff is amazing.  I love it!  Hope you do too!

LEMON TAHINI SAUCE

1/4 cup freshly squeezed organic lemon juice

1/4 cup e.v olive oil

1/4 cup organic flax seed oil

1/4 cup Bragg's Liquid Aminos

1/3 cup organic tahini

3 cloves organic garlic

1 Tbsp maple syrup (or for this cleanse I used one pouch of stevia powder)

1/8 cup water

Method:  Blend all ingredients together and serve over broiled fish, boiled dandelion and steamed quinoa.

DANDELION SALAD and My New Tablecloth

    You know Spring is definitely here (although with all this snow who would have guessed) when you can buy a bag of wild dandelion leaves at the Farmer's Market.  I was so excited I bought two.  I thought for sure we would have eaten them by now, but when I got home I found some greens from last week that needed to be eaten first.  Anyway, so tonight we had them and they were bitter good.  You can only see half of them in the picture though because I wanted to show you the lovely linen tablecloth I found today.  Oh and that Pain au Levain I made yesterday, it makes great garlic cheese bread.

DANDELION SALAD with Lemon and Olive Oil

1 bag of Pasture Hill Farm wild dandelion greens

juice of half an organic lemon

4-6 Tbsp e.v olive oil

sea salt and pepper to taste

Method:  Gently tear the cleaned leaves in a bowl and toss with lemon juice, olive oil, sea salt and pepper.  Let sit for 10 minutes before eating.

GARLIC BREAD

4 thickish slices of Pain au Levain Sourdough Bread

4 Tbsp organic salted butter

4 cloves organic garlic, smashed and minced

a pinch of Tom's Spice (available from my Etsy shop)

1 Tbsp e.v olive oil

1/2 cup organic cheese

Method:  Combine all ingredients except cheese in a bowl.  Spread on bread, top with cheese and place on a cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 375* oven for 5-10 minutes or until cheese melts.