A Long Time Ago...in a Home, Not So Far Away...

A Long Time Ago...in a Home, Not So Far Away...my talented husband rescued a walnut tree from its fate as firewood.  He brought it home in the back of his truck and he has been using bits and pieces of it to make all kinds of beautiful things as gifts - jewelery, bread boards and butter spreaders.  He has several gorgeous boards that he is saving to make our dining room table but in the meantime...

he decided to make us an outdoor dining table. 

It's gorgeous.  He cut one of the boards in half lengthwise and then used a piece of granite that we've had sitting around for years (picked up for free from a shop that was getting rid of it).  He put these both on a table frame that had long since lost its glass top.  I love the live edges on it.

We're looking forward to the weather drying up a bit so we can continue to enjoy dinners outside on it.  I sometimes tease my boys that they'd better learn to build/fix/make things the way their Dad does if they want to get a good wife...and I'm only partially kidding. ;-)  I have a huge amount of respect for people with the ability to make and fix all sorts of things and while I may not have been consciously looking for that in a mate I have to say that it is something I really admire about him.  The boys also know how much I love it when S brings home flowers that he has picked for me too.  Dads can be such great role models.  I feel very grateful that my boys have such a Dad and I'm also feeling very grateful and full of admiration for my own Dad.

Nettle and Comfrey and Bears...Oh My!

Well, once I found out how well the fresh nettle blended and froze into cubes I knew I needed more.  My friend and I headed up into the hills with our kids for a day of picking.  Since the both of us have serious over-do-it tendencies we came home with A Lot Of Nettle.  In fact at one point after my second day of blending and freezing (I'd long since given up on ice cube trays only and was freezing the mush in large shallow trays to be broken into chunks later) I may have had the thought "too much nettle" go through my brain...but it only lasted a moment.  I googled nettle, came across this site (filled with nettle recipes) and was re-inspired by the thought of nettle ravioli (and me with my $2 garage sale pasta maker) and nettle gnocchi. 

As soon as I had plenty of frozen raw nettle, frozen cooked nettle and a year's supply of dried nettle for my infusions I had time to make some soup.  This is a simple potato broccoli soup that I added several stems of nettle to.  I cook two potatoes in broth then add some broccoli and garlic to cook just until tender.  Then I add the nettle to cook for a few minutes and then blend it all until smooth with an immersion blender.  We like it with a little cheese (feta, gouda or cheddar).

Then it was time to move onto comfrey.

My son's friend was kind enough to bring me some comfrey so that I could make a quick batch of comfrey salve to take to my mom.  This batch I made using the heat from a candle to infuse the oil.

 

It is a quick method (link to a photo tutorial of my son making some) and once the oil was infused I just added a bit of beeswax and then let the oil harden into salve. 

I also filled a quart jar with comfrey and olive oil and will let it sit for a few weeks until I strain it and then use a fresh batch of comfrey to infuse it into a stronger oil following Susun Weed's method here and here.  There is just something so simple and pleasing about gathering wild goods for making remedies and food.  I love it. 

And this is a picture I just couldn't resist sharing.  Unfortunately my reflection in the window makes it a little hard to see what is outside.  Just minutes before I took this photo E went to take the compost out (we were visiting at my parents' house) and when he came back in he said that he thought there must be a bear out there because the middle bin was knocked over...this didn't surprise me (bears are not unusual there) and my mind was moving onto the next thing when I hear him say...and I heard rustling.  Well!  That stopped me in my tracks.  He didn't mean that the bears had been there last night he meant that they were there...now!  I went to look out the bedroom window and sure enough.

Sieglinde Potatoes

Speaking of Sieglinde potatoes - we've had this dinner a couple times in the last two weeks.  Roasted Sieglindes, roasted asparagus...

and crispy fried tofu (grated extra-firm tofu fried with garlic, oregano, nutritional yeast, pepper and braggs sprinkled on it) on fresh greens topped with our favourite dressing.

  So good.  We hadn't had this tofu salad for at least a year and I realized that I missed it.  This is something that even people who are pretty sure they won't like tofu usually like.

Delicious!

Gardening

I picked our first goodness from the garden in town the other day - no, not anything I'd planted, it was a volunteer head lettuce that had come from seed from last year.  At any rate, it was lovely to have some fresh greens of our own.

My little salad garden here is coming along nicely as well and we can start harvesting some of the greens.

The peas are coming up nicely as well and I look forward to this wall being covered in peas for E to snack on.

My town garden is slowly starting to look like a garden. I always love to take photos of a garden when it is planted and then at times throughout the season.  It never, ever ceases to amaze me how things grow and the abundance we get from the ground.  In a very short time I won't be able to get through these pathways without brushing tomato plants loaded with tomatoes.  It truly is magical what can come from some seed and a patch of dirt.  I love this quote from Thoreau -
Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.

I too always expect wonders from seeds and I am never let down, I think seeds are truly magical.  Although I am perhaps just the teensiest bit let down about how my tomatoes and cukes look so far this year.  We've had very wet, cold weather so far this year compared to what we are used to and my warm crop veg are really showing their displeasure.  I've started giving them some nettle fertilizer in the hopes they will perk up a bit so we'll see, I think they'll start growing with enthusiasm as soon as it gets warmer.  Until then...no photos of the tomatoes! ;-)  Cold weather crops, like these cabbages, are quite happy though.

I'm also very excited that I was able to get some Sieglende seed potatoes at the Farmers Market last weekend.  I had already planted the rest of my potatoes but once we'd been introduced to the Sieglinde variety by a good-food-loving friend (via the Jamie Oliver roasted veg recipe), I knew I had to grow some.  They are E's favourite potato variety now.  My potatoes are planted in cages made from wire and I will just keep throwing more leaves on top as the plants grow (instead of hilling them with dirt).  It is a pretty good space saving way to grow them.

And, I've also been having a bit of fun with "honey holes" and planting squash and potatoes down on the front bank of this property.  I like to try to plant food wherever I can (no sense in limiting myself to a "proper" vegetable garden). ;-)  I always think that the worst that can happen is that things don't grow but...might as well try.  Right!?!  So these squash (as well as some pumpkins, potatoes and tomatoes) have been given a home on a bank in the hopes that their vines will grow down the bank and supply us with lots of squash to fill our coldroom.

They also have a lovely view of the lake so hopefully that will encourage them to grow even more.

I hope your garden is coming along too!

Nettle Walk, Nettle Smoothie and Nettle Ice Cubes

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with some friends up in the hills by our last home.  I wanted to find some young nettle to pick and since everything is at least 6 weeks to 2 months behind up there I figured it might be a good time.  We went to where I had found some last year while I was hiking with my Dad and there it was just waiting to be harvested. 

There were sweet little yellow violets.

There were trillium (in white and purple).

And, most importantly, there was lots of nettle - young, tender delicious nettle whereas down here it has all gone to seed.  We all picked some before  heading off for a bit of a hike.

And then I couldn't resist picking a bit more.  I had in mind to try grinding some in my Vita-mix and then freezing it in ice cubes because I wanted to take some to my folks for their smoothies.

I blended it with a tiny bit of water (just enough to get the blender to blend) and then poured it into ice cubes trays and froze it overnight.

I tested one of the cubes out in our smoothie this morning and it worked so well I plan to go pick lots more and make a supply to last my own family through the winter as well.  It will be such a nice way to get some nettle into our smoothies when there is no longer fresh nettle available.

I set this batch aside to dry for infusions (all kinds of nettle love here as well as how I make infusions) and with that and the nettle a dear friend brought me  I should have enough now to last through the year.

Hopefully on the next trip up to get more fresh nettle to blend we'll be lucky enough to find some Shaggy Manes too.

Chocolate Energy Orbs

I'm always trying to come up with different healthy, portable snacks for our family.  We've all loved the energy orbs(method for making them linked there) I've made for years and so, for something a little different, I thought I'd try making a variation of them with chocolate.  After all, isn't everything better with chocolate?!?

I ground my chosen dried fruits and nuts in the Vitamix, this time I used dates, raw cashews and some dried apricots (I  had already soaked the apricots in water for a bit to soften them up).  Then I melted some dark chocolate with a little orange juice (I love the flavour of orange with dates).  I meant to add a little coconut oil at this point but somehow I forgot...I'll blame it on the smell of melting chocolate distracting me. ;-)  Once the chocolate was melted I mixed it in with my fruit and nut mixture and then put it in the fridge to chill for a bit.  Once chilled I took spoon fulls of the mixture and rolled it into balls then rolled it in coconut.  I keep them in the freezer (all the better to make sure we don't eat them up in the first day) and they are ready to go on a hike whenever we are.  Delicious!



Quinoa Cakes and Mushroom Ragout

Last week I made the quinoa cakes I was wanting to try.  When I saw the recipe I had never heard of quinoa cakes but after googling it I see there are all kinds of variations so we will be trying this out in a few different ways.

 

Once breaded and chilled they crisp up nicely in a cast iron fry pan.

I decided to serve them with the mushroom ragout recipe from Joy of Cooking : All About Vegetarian cookbook (these mushrooms are delicious on soft polenta and I thought they might be nice with the quinoa cakes too).

I carefully finished cooking the cakes and carefully put them on our plates with some mushrooms on the side.  Once at the table I sat down and watch in amazement as my husband calmly m a s h e d his cakes up, mixed them with the mushrooms and contentedly ate it all up.  E did the same.  Next time W and I will get nicely shaped cakes and they will get quinoa scramble!

Still, they were eaten up with no complaints about quinoa so that is a good sign.  I think next time I will try making them with some spinach, scallions, garlic and feta mixed in.  I could see these being good in pitas in place of falafel too.

This is a photo of the mushroom ragout over some polenta that W made, this was serious comfort food to me.  If you love mushrooms then this recipe is a must try.