Plasto the recipe

I decided to go ahead and post the recipe, as I thought it would be less confusing than inserting my gluten-free substitutions over the recipe on another web page. This recipe was inspired by Laura Constantino, who was in turn inspired by a recipe from a Greek Church. This is probably my all time fave nettle recipe, altho it's tasty to have a mixture of greens, say nettle and dock, or nettle and kale, last night I added in some parsley, whatever greens you have foraged or have on hand...... chard.........

makes about 6 servings

filling:
4 well-packed cups of greens (remember greens shrink alot with cooking)
1 chopped onion
1/4 cup olive oil, butter or lard rendered from a pastured animal
dash of salt
1 tsp. hot pepper (optional)
1/2 cup fresh dill, minced or @ 2 tbsp. dried depending how much you like dill
couple sprigs of mint, minced
1 cup kefir or yogurt

cornbread:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup plain yogurt or kefir
1/2 cup other liquid, I use whey left from my kefir, or almond milk or even water
2 eggs, whisked
3 tbs. melted butter, I use goat butter, could also be olive oil

Preheat oven to 400*. Grease 10x10 pan .

Make filling: wash greens. Discard and tough stems, or save for another use. Bring a large pot of water to boil, and blanch greens for a couple minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Squeeze out as much water as you can and chop. We don't want soggy bread! Put greens in a bowl.
Sautee the onion in the oil/butter over medium heat until onions are softened; stir in pepper.
Mix together chopped greens, sauteed onions, dill, mint and yogurt/ kefir; season to taste with salt.

Cornbread: Mix all dry ingredients together. Whisk together eggs, yogurt/kefir and liquid until all ingredients are blended. Melt butter or add oil. Stir egg mixture into dry ingredients until they're almost completely mixed. Stir in butter/ oil.

Spread a little less than half the cornbread mixture over the bottom of the buttered pan. Spread filling over cornbread mixture. Pour the remaining cornbread mixture ove the filling and spread to cover. Bake for @ 40 minutes, until crust is golden and filling can be seen bubbling from the sides.

Let it rest @ 10 minutes before serving. It's actually really good cold and makes an excellent picnic, foraging snack!

seaweed foraging

Last Saturday, we finally had a beautiful sunny day here in Seattle. It was a perfect day for a talk on wild seaweed foraging, led by Melany of Essential Bread. It was a fun and informative talk at a local park, probably not a good place to forage on a regular basis due to urban pollution; the park was packed that day! But there was alot of life in the water. To harvest seaweed in WA, you will need a Shellfish/ Seaweed license, but they're not expensive and you can get one at Fred Meyer's or other outdoor recreational stores. As always, it's good to learn from someone local that knows what they're doing before putting anything in your mouth! The best time to forage is at low tide when the shallow water offers up her bounty. Check on the government site for regulations and resources: http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations/  Western WA has alot of wild edibles, so it's a good thing to learn to recognize what's edible. Here are some photos:

Irridescent Seaweed

Turkish Towel

ok, the starfish is not edible as far as I know, but it was pretty.

I did harvest a bit of seaweed to try out, although I'll look for a place a little further away from the megatropolis for future harvests. I wanted to try out some of the examples we looked at. yum.

first harvest from my little garden!

I've picked a few odds and ends, but this is the first full salad I've harvested from this year's garden. I used a couple of things like garlic chive flowers, some of the pak choi which wanted to go to seed instead of making heads, and the shallot seed pods to make a veggie tempura, along with the salad. Yum!

Gaia dressed up

Today is beautiful, finally! Sunny and warm, so I decided to go out and capture some of Gaia's finery on camera....

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!