Plasto!

I seem to be obssessed with food at the moment. I found a new blogger from Alaska that uses wild foods. I tried her Plasto recipe last night and couldn't stop eating it! Of course I changed it to a gluten-free recipe, substituting the cup of flour with 1/2 cup sorghum flour and 1/2 cup brown rice flour, and instead of the cheese I used a cup of kefir, cause that's what I had on hand.... yum! I used nettles and kale for the greens, you could just use any store bought greens, the closest to the nettles would be spinach.
Laurie Constantino is the chef, she lives in Alaska and Greece and her foods are a combo of the two cultures .......

Mayan Cuisine

Been working my way thru this book, got it from the library, but I'll have to break down and buy it. Every recipe I've made so far has been fabulous.... and I've made 6 or 7 at this point. The library is a great resource to try out a book to see if it's a keeper. I love authentic Mexican/Mayan food, there's not much cheese involved, it's actually very healthy and well-balanced, making the food from scratch.

Spring Cake by the Dyhanaverse

Here's the Spring Cake recipe I developed for Cauldrons and Crockpots plant of the month challenge, Dandelions. It uses dandelion roots. Dandelions are one of the first greens in the spring and quite nutritious, like many of the early spring greens it is a tonic, cleans the blood and liver and all parts of the plant are edible. The only contraindications I've seen is to not eat too many of them or concentrate them if you have kidney problems, are using diurectics, or are diabetic, but the amount I'm using here shouldn't be a problem. Dandelions tend to be a bit of a diurectic and are considered anti-diabetic. It seems like it would be a good replacement for these medications without the side effects, but doctors love their pills, so don't do any self- medicating or take pills for these conditions and also consume alot of dandelions. If you have severe kidney problems (or are going to serve it to someone who does) check with a doctor first. If you are lucky maybe you can find a doctor that starts with natural remedies first. I however, am not a doctor and am only promoting use of the plant for cooking.  Did you know that dandelions are not native to the Americas? They were brought over, along with stinging nettles by the early settlers because of their nutritive and medicinal qualities. Be sure to use roots that are from an area that is not sprayed and not too close to a road. Now instead of putting chemicals in your yard to get rid of them, just eat them!

 recipe is for a 9" square cake pan

ingredients:

1 cup tapioca starch

1 cup hazelnuts, roasted and then ground in food processor

1 cup almond meal

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. seasalt

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1 cup maple syrup

1 cup almond milk

2 free range organic eggs

1/2 cup oil of choice

2 tsp. vanilla

 @ 3 tbsp. chopped roasted dandelion root

In medium mixing bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients except dandelion root. In a small saucepan, bring the almond milk and dandelion root to a boil; turn off and let steep for about 10 minutes, then strain the roots out. Hand beat the eggs in a medium mixing bowl, add the almond milk and the rest of the wet ingredients, mixing well with a fork. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, mixing well with a fork. Batter should be very wet, like a pancake batter, but chunkier; not thick like cake. The tapioca will expand during cooking, so you don't want it too dry, it should pour off a spoon easily, add more almond milk if needed. Grease pan, I used coconut oil, but any oil will do. Bake in oven at 350* for about 40 minutes. It's done when an inserted butter knife comes out clean.

Eat while still warm, yum!

Rhubarb-Strawberry Pie

ok, I'm back, minor family emergency slowed me down a couple of days. I realized that things had normalized last night when making dinner... even with the bf doing some dishes as we went, it looked like two bombs had gone off in the kitchen. This morning it's down to 1/2 a bomb. Since I'm late with the promised recipe, I'll give you a twofer, the second recipe will be posted separately. Plus I need to write down last night's dessert before I forget what I put in there. My short term memory, not so great, well, that and the couple glasses of wine I was having at the time, ...... when I get happy I tend to stop using measuring implements, so I'll have to guess a bit..... I started putting organic next to the ingredients list, but I would add that to ALL the ingredients, personally, so I'm just making a note of it here. If you don't usually use all organic ingredients, I would strongly suggest to at least use organic strawberries (one of the most heavily dosed crops we eat) and the orange peel, since a majority of the pesticides in oranges are absorbed by the peel. Oh, and I hope you will use organic sugar, because the commercial sugar farms' runoff tends to end up in the Everglades, which is struggling to survive. Thanks... Be healthy!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

recipe is for a 10" round pie

ingredients:

3 1/2 cups of rhubarb, chopped into small pieces
2 cups of strawberries, chopped
3 tbsp. tapioca starch
1/2 tsp. grated orange peel (organic, the pesticides are in the peel) I used meyer lemon peel, because I buy organic and figure for the price I may as well zest the peel and use it, too. I'm big on finding every possible use for the food I buy
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 ground cardamom pods or a dash of ground cardamom
dash of sea salt
1 tbsp. orange juice
your fave pie crust, you can either make this an open face pie or put a second crust on the top and make some cut aways to vent, I used a crumble type crust for the bottom and the top

In a mixing bowl, use a spoon to thoroughly mix together all the ingredients (except the crust, of course). Heat oven to 350* and bake bottom crust till just browned. Pull out of the oven and add filling. Add top crust if using. Place in oven for about an hour, cooking time will depend on your oven and elevation, so check on it occassionally. When the filling is bubbly and the crust is browning, it's done.
 I didn't need to put foil over it with my crumble topping, but you may want to cover it for half the baking time if using a conventional crust, so that it doesn't burn. Let the pie cool for a bit, like half an hour so that the filling can settle, and then eat while still warm.

We ate pretty much the whole pie the first night!

Nick Cave show

No, not THAT Nick Cave, the other one; my new fave artist. Catch his show at SAM Seattle or wherever he takes his show near you. I love how fiber arts are taking a fine art direction. I totally want to make a costume like this for BM this year, so whimsical, so colorful. Great use of found objects (I admit to being a dumpster diver for art materials, it's genetic, but I'm kinda proud of it now) Amazing integration of cultures and imagery. He's the black dude in alot of the photos and videos, uh, he's pretty hot! He's also a very prolific artist; most of those pieces looked like they took some intensive time to make, and there were alot of them; although it looks like his students help out. He's also a pretty slick marketer; had his own little gift shop within his individual space at the museum. One of the better exhibits I've been to in a long time, highly recommended.

It occured to me.....

last night as I was sitting and eating brown rice penne with vegetables and dandelion bud capers, drinking home brewed ginger ale and waiting for a homemade gluten-free strawberry rhubarb pie with cardamom to come out of the oven, that I may have crossed the line to becoming a "foodie" . Is that a good thing? My bf seems to enjoy it!

I got the recipe for the dandelion bud capers from one of my new fave blogs: Hunger and Thirst , she blogs together with a friend who an be found at: Cauldrons and Crockpots

I'll post my recipe for the strawberry rhubarb pie tomorrow and I'm working out an original recipe featuring dandelions for these gals' April challenge, which is, of course food with dandelions!

Creating Spring

If you're like me, you're ready for Spring to be sprung already! I decided to get the party started and create some cute spring giveaways in the process. This is a tried and true spring project; I gave it a little twist by adding some spring -themed sticky jewels that I picked up at the craft store. It's a great re-use for eggshells. Fill the shell with some potting soil and put in a seed or two of a fast-sprouting, cool weather plant; I used Calendula which for me has sprouted in less than a week and can be planted out as soon as it gets a couple of true leaves. I then put it in a window that gets light most of the day (I would love to say sun, but I haven't seen that for some time now) actually, there must have been a bit when I took this photo.... I'm sure it was an aberrant moment. So far, those I have given as gifts were met with smiles :)