Wild Violet Pops! Fun with Wild Eddibles

These pops are not only beautiful, delicious and fun to make, but they are supper nutritious. Spring time is the perfect time of year to get outside and put those weeds to good use. Violets are full of vitamins and have so many health benefits. My kids love collecting the violets, making these pops and we all love eating them. What a treat!

Wild Violet Pops

What you will need:

• 2 1/2 cup freshly picked violets without stems (separated)
• 5 cups boiling water
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 10 - 20 drops stevia or honey to taste
• 1 t vanilla
• ZOKU Quick Pop Mold

Directions:

Pour boiling water over 2 cups of violets in a glass bowl. Let sit covered for 6 - 8 hours to create an infusion. Stain the flowers out of the water. The water should be a pretty blue color now. Add the lemon and watch the magic happen. Then add your vanilla and sweetener to taste. Place the other 1/2 cup of violets in a glass of water. Using tweezers, take the wet violets out of the glass and place them on the insides of your ZOKU pop mold. They should stick to the side. Then place your stick in mold and you are ready to pour in your liquid. Watch it freeze in about 7 minutes and then enjoy this spring time treat. 

                                 

        

a halloween trick to treat the soul

 Trick: Treats don't have to be sinful if you use nourishing ingredients in place of the questionable ones.

With all the treats on Halloween that are bound to make you feel more dead then alive, here is one that will excite any age child or adult and make Halloween all treat with none of the guilt. This recipe is as fun and easy to make as it is to eat. And you can feel good about eating them ALL!

 I made a double batch so we could share with friends and family. They were a hit!

CHOCOLATE  CANDY

(Recipe adapted from Oat Meal With A Fork)

2 T. organic cocoa butter

2 T. organic coconut oil*

2 T. raw organic honey

1/2 c. organic cocoa powder

5-10 drops of liquid stevia

pinch of salt

1 t. vanilla extract

1/4 t cinnamon

chopped crispy almonds

Directions:
Melt all ingredients in a double boiler until combined. Pour into candy molds. Freeze for about 30 minutes. 

Thanks Aunt Pam for taking this family picture! 

Thanks Aunt Pam for capturing him getting his first treat.

Happy Halloween Everyone! 

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Favorite things Thursday

homegrown fermented salsa

We have lots of tomatoes growing in the garden and I have been meaning to try and make some fermented salsa for a while now. So the other day I just decided to go for it. Since I had radish and peppers growing too, I added that to the mix. I also added a little onion, salt and some juice from my sauerkraut to help the fermenting to get started. Well, after a few days of sitting on the counter, I could see the bubbles forming, so I decided to try one. As I opened the jar I was so happy to hear the sizzle coming from within. It's alive! Taste......and...... home run!  So excited how easy this was and what a fun way to celebrate the food from the garden while adding another probiotic rich food to the plate.



 And it is great on eggs.

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waffles, apple pie, and Ice-cream for dinner?

I made Grain-free,  Gluten-free Waffles, with Hot Apple Pie Filling, Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream, and Salt Cured Bacon on the side for dinner last night. I could hear the happiness at the table. Or should I say the silence spoke loud and clear. Hmmmmmm. And the plates? Well of course they were licked clean. It is so much fun making playful, delicious meals that are still healthy. No guilt, only pleasure.


Waffles
4 eggs
1 C crispy cashews
1/3 C milk (I use raw milk)
1 T honey
10 drops Stevia
1t GF vanilla
1t GF almond extract

3 Tcoconut oil, melted
¼ t salt
¾ t baking soda
3 T coconut flour

Directions: Blend all ingredients in a food processor until fairly smooth. Cook in a well greased waffle maker. I just used a little coconut oil for greasing.

Apple Pie Filling
Sliced Apples

cinimmin

nutmeg

GF Vanilla

1 T lemon juice

Directions: Cook on top of the stove on low to medium heat until soft.

Vanilla Ice Cream

Milk ( I use Raw Milk)

Cream ( I use Raw Cream)

GF Vanilla

1 T Honey

Stevia to taste

Directions: Blend together and put into ice-ream maker.




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http://leighvslaundry.blogspot.com/

gluten-free black chokeberry teff muffins

• One of my new favorite wild edible plants is black chokeberrys. We have been walking by these dark berries for years. After tasting them a couple times, we decided they were a bit to astringent for our liking. But this year we decide to learn more about them and have found that not only they are a antioxidant rich super food, but when you cook them they are absolutely delicious. They are perfectly in season and really ripe right now, so we are going out each day and picking all we can.  They are also wonderful as a tea or added to smoothies.  I am freezing them, drying them and making muffins to freeze for later. These muffins were a hit with everyone in my house. 

Black Chokeberry Teff Muffins 

• 2 cups Teff Flour ( I soaked the whole teff, dehydrated it and then ground it myself)
• 2 t  Baking Soda
• 1 t Sea Salt
• 1 t Xanthan Gum
• 1 t Cinnamon
• 2/3  C Yogurt
• 2 T Ground Chia
• 2 Eggs
• 1 T Alcohol-free Vanilla extract
• 1 t Alcohol-free Almond Extract
• 20 drops Stevia
• 1/2 C coconut sugar 
• 1 C Fresh Black Chokeberrys 

Combine all ingredients in mixer then fold in chokeberries. Bake in mini muffin tins until golden brown. 

Cashew Blueberry Muffins Recipe (Gluten-free, Grain-free)

We discovered a blueberry patch less then a minute walk from our back yard.  John and I had just been talking about how it seemed that the more grateful we feel about our house, our property and our neighborhood, the more it's beauty and magic seems to come out of hiding and make itself known to us. Just as we were talking a woman came by with her dog and asked the kids, who were out running around trying to catch butterflies with their new nets, if they liked blueberries. Well, of course they answered with an exuberant "yes!", so she told us to follow her. She knew of a blueberry patch that had ripe and ready to be picked berries and not enough people to pick them all. This was like winning the lottery in our family. So of course we have been out there almost every day and eating and picking to our hearts content. I guess miracles happen every day, small and large, when you are feeling grateful a open to receive.

Cashew Blueberry Muffins (Gluten-free, Grain-free)

Makes 12 muffins

6 eggs
1 1/2 C Crispy Cashews
2 C Diced Butternut Squash
1/2 C Coconut flour
3 T Honey
15 drops Stevia (my favorite stevia)
1 T alcohol-free Vanilla
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 pinch salt
1/4 C melted butter

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix all ingredients except blueberries in a food processor until smooth. Poor batter into buttered muffin pan. Add a handful of blueberries to each muffin, pressing the berries down a little into the batter while still leaving some on the top. Bake in oven till golden brown and blueberries are bubbling. Best if eaten warm, but delicious cold as well.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays

grain-free wild mora lasagna

After being diagnosed with ciliac over 10 years ago, I have lived without gluten, but still never felt that my gut was is good shape. I don't been my waist line, but my digestive system. After years of eating a SAD diet my gut was in sad shape. Although my acute symptoms were gone, my digestion was still never great  and I was always left with a bloated feeling by the end of the day. I  always soak  and ferment all my grains, which does make a big difference, but still I had this dreaded bloat and gas.  I have gone on and off of no grain diets over the years, but it isn't until now that I truly believe that my whole family does better without grains and starchy veggies. My sons eczema, that he has had since birth, has finally cleared up and I feel better then ever. We have recently incorporated 1/2 a serving of grains in the form of a quinoa granola that I make (recipe in process) with no ill effects. All in all, I haven't missed the grains too much. I have become quite good at making all our favorite meals with a no-grain twist and I am not hearing much complaining from the peanut gallery. A dear friend of  mine from El Salvador told me about this wonderful wild edible called mora that they eat all the time in El Salvador and it grows here in Maryland too. The other night I made a wild mora  lasagna with layers of egg instead of noodles. I got all the cheesy gooey goodness without the bloat.  The added bonus to all this is that I have an excuse to be creative in the kitchen! 

making ma"j"ic healing salve

My friend Cara has been learning all about wild edible and medicinal herbs lately and has turned me on to this beautiful healing world. Last week we had fun making our very own healing salve from the weeds growing in our yard. 
side not: You might be thinking to yourself how cute it is that Jetta spelled magic with a "j", but I have to be honest and tell you that it was me. Yes, it's true, I am the world worst speller. I guess all those straight A's in spelling I got after countless hours of drilling with my Mom should have been used for something else. I have to admit that after learning that our idea of "correct" spelling was merely created by the whims and mistakes of people in the 13 and 1400's, I felt some satisfaction.  Who says that Majic isn't spelled with a "j"?  Don't you hear the "j" sound? Am I really the idiot, or are the people who decided to stick that "g" in there the ones who we should be questioning? 
Sorry, I guess I have a lot of pent up issues when it comes to spelling.............. deep breath.....aahh

What we put into our Magic Healing Salve:

2 part Chickweed

2 part Plantain

1 part Comfrey Leaf

Olive oil

Beeswax Essential oil Here are some good sites for salve making: http://www.wildroots.com/salves.htm http://www.healing-from-home-remedies.com/homemade-salve.html

radish harvest = radish kimchi

We harvested all of our radishes one early morning this week and turned them into radish kimchi. Jetta processed the radishes and we saved the greens to saute and eat at a later time. I picked some wild garlic to add to the veggie mixture then the kids helped me chop it all up. Pilot had fun with the peeler making the carrots into small rectangle shapes. I figure long strips of carrots will just make the kimchi even more unique and keeps him interested and participating in the project. We didn't have all the "kimchi" ingredients except fish sauce, so we made due using chili flakes and some hot peppers I froze from last years garden. We used sea salt dissolved in water to ferment the kimchi and after a few days of sitting on the counter we are seeing bubbles. Yes, that means it is working. They are alive! We can't wait to taste them in a few more days. No if the rain would stop we can get back out to the garden to sow more radish seeds to hopefully be ready for the next kimchi batch when this on gets eaten up.

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