White Clover and Wild Strawberry Jelly

I made clover Jelly yesterday, and tossed in a couple of wild strawberries for the heck of it.

Clover Jelly
2 1/2 cups white wine
1 cup fresh clover blossoms
4 cups sugar
1/4 tbs lemon juice
3 ounces of liquid pectin

a few small wild strawberries, or 1 large one, sliced

Bring wine to a boil and pour over petals, toss in strawberries. Cover and steep until
liquid has cooled, then strain out flowers leaving only liquid. Combine 2
cups of this clover flower infusion with sugar and lemon juice.

Bring to a boil over high heat and as soon as the sugar has dissolved, stir
in the pectin. Return to a rolling boil, stirring, and boiling for exactly 1
minute. Remove the jelly from the heat and skim off any foam.

EOS: Alfalfa and chickweed coleslaw

2 cups young alfalfa leaves, small stems, and immature buds
1 cup young chickweed leaves
1 carrots, shredded
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pickling salt
Pinch celerey seeds
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups rice wine vinegar (apple cider vinegar will work as well)

Toss the alfalfa, chickweed, carrots, sugar, salt and celery seeds together. Place in a cylinder over a bowl and allow to wilt, about two hours.




Discard liquid in the bowl, rinse and dry. Mix the greens with the reminder of the Ingredients, in the bowl. Eat or chill over night.

If you find it too bitter, replace one cup of the alfalfa with shredded cabbage. Adding 1 medium sized diced apple at the end wouldn't hurt either.

Should have built an ark instead

It's been raining here for four days straight. Did I miss a hurricane hitting Texas? Usually it doesn't rain this much is so short of a period, unless Texas gets it. And looking at the radar, it looks like a tropical depression is spiraling over us.

But the zombie moat is holding. We have some puddles, and a small, thin stream, but no flooding!

The girls are not enjoying it however. Luckily inside of the barn is not flooding. Just the barnyard that they have to walk through to get to the fields. They have spending a lot of time in the barn. The chickens are holding up in the doll house for now. No one really wants to come out. Not because of the rain itself, but their yard is flooded. With all their scratching, their yard is lower then the surrounding land. Something else we need to fix. The free rangers are under the house. My outside dogs are done with it all as well.

Because of all the soil disruption Husband has been doing, all my weeds are slow in coming. However I do have a good amount of young yarrow coming up. I have been playing with it, and have come up with a couple of decent recipes, but want to try one more thing to see if I get that really yummiest one. I have never really worked with yarrow before, except in teas. It is decently bitter and a bit difficult to pare correctly. Curry was a no go. Yuck. But I will try to start the eating outside challenge up again for myself. I was really enjoying it, missed it over the winter. Well and most of the summer as everything was dying. It's kind of nice to get away from the weed jellies.

Been dealing with a rather massive migraine the past few days. So I guess I will keep this short.

EO(S) Wild Mulberry puffs

 Mulberries tend to be overlooked. I know here we mow them down, or rip them out often, as they spring up like a weed. We only allow one, maybe two to grow to full maturity, as no one wants all that purple poo over everything. So colored me surprised when I saw mulberry trees for sale in a tree catalog! People are willing to pay for these? Of course they are not native everywhere.

Some research has shown that the mulberry may have potential health effects against cancer, aging and neurological diseases, inflammation, diabetes, and bacterial infections. They contain Resveratrol which has been found to be protective against stroke risk by alteration of molecular mechanisms in blood vessels. (I am eating them!) A good source of vitamin C, A and E as well as iron.


People that have mulberries rarely know what to do with them. Cobblers are the most popular item. Some will even turn them into a jelly, mixed berry salad or a topping for ice cream and yogurt. We shall make them a breakfast item, the doughnut.

Wild Mulberry Puffs

You will need:

Puff pastry
mulberries (washed and stem trimmed)
sugar

Puff Pastry

1/4 c. warm water (105F. to 115F.)
2 1/4 tsp. (1 package) active dry yeast
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. room temperature milk
1 large, room temperature egg
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
2 sticks (8 oz.) cold, unsalted butter

Dissolve yeast in warm water with a pinch of sugar.

In a different bowl, cut butter into flour until pea sized butter lumps remain.

Using a third bowl, mix the remainder of sugar with milk, egg and salt. Add the foaming yeast mixture and stir until combined.

Pour liquids into flour and stir until just combined. Lumps of butter should remain.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 8 hours to overnight. Make sure the dough is very cold.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and pat into a square. Dust the top with flour and roll to a 16 by 16 inch square, dust as you go. You will probably have to dust a little underneath the dough too, so it remains loose.

The colder your kitchen is, the better. You don't want the butter to melt and become too incorporated into the dough. And as the dough is stiff, you will be working out those guns of yours.

Fold dough into thirds, outside right to center, outside left to center. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Do not unfold it, roll out again to the 16 inch dimension. Refold into the thirds, wrap a refrigerate for 30 minutes. You want to repeat this process a total of 6 times. Place in the freezer for about 20 minutes, no longer, then get ready for the final roll.

The dough will be very stiff at this time, but you want to roll it out to a 20" x 20". If needed, flour lightly. Cut the dough into 5" squares.

Or just go and buy it already made at the store.

Mulberry filling;

Place your mulberries into a jar, add sugar to taste and bruise (shake the jar) place in fridge until you puff pastry is ready for it.

The "doughnut".

After you have cut the squares into your dough, fill the centers with the mulberries. Try not to add too much of the juices, but reserve it for another recipe or a simple syrup.

Fold the pastry and allow it to rest 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 450F. Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on how much of the liquid remains on the pastry. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temp. For a more golden color, brush with whisked egg yolk and a bit of water.

My boys love it! Claim it tastes just like a jelly doughnut. (Speaking of boys, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LARGE!)

EO(S) Wild Clover and Wild Mustard Omelettes.

This meal cost me nada.

As with any omelette, the amount of ingredients used is personal choice.

You will need

eggs
milk
butter
salt and ground black pepper to taste
farmer's cheese

wild clover flowers
wild clover leaves (pick the young leaves off of plants that have yet to produce flowers)
wild mustard leaves (you can substitute with dandelion leaves)

Get any extra ingredients ready (meats or other chopped veggies, I like mushrooms)

Puree the leaves (a little spinach is good here as well) with just enough milk to blend it well. Leave some chunks for texture.

Saute the clover flowers in a touch of butter and salt (this helps with digestion of the flowers) set aside. (if using mushrooms, add to the pan)

Mix your eggs with the leaf puree. Pour into pan and cook.

Add the remaining ingredients to the top of you omelette before folding.

Serve.




The rules

EO(S) Deviled Eggs with Redbuds

Hey, they are high in Vitamin C

Pickled Redbud Buds

2 cups flower buds (remove stem)

1 cup cider vinegar

1 tbl. sugar

1 tsp. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. canning salt

1-one inch long cinnamon stick

1 whole clove

Combine all. Bring to just boiling. Add to your sterilized jar. Refrigerate until use

Now to the Deviled egg part. I used my Deviled Egg with Ham recipe that can be found here. You can omit the dill if wanted. Carefully fold in your redbuds, the amount is up to you. Or you can garnish with them, substituting them as capers.

The Rules

EO(S) Ravioli stuffed with dandelion greens, and a pesto

Per my rules


Nachinat my malenky droogs, your humble narrator made a mistake. In an attempt to make weedy pishcha I neglected to see what I got free and how much it would kupet most of you. Appypolly loggy. Tis why I neglected to post my Eating Out(side) challenge last week. The moloko and maslo kupet more than last raz I bought it. I had to redo it all to keep it frugal for those that need to buy the ingredients.

I present to you Ravioli stuffed with dandelion greens, served with a dandelion greens pesto sauce. Real horrorshow.

Viddy well my droogs, viddy well.

(if you have no idea what I said, you are not alone. If you did understand it, you are as big of a dork as I am. Nadsat dictionary)

Dandelion ravioli
If you do not have a noodle/pasta recipe, here is mine

Making the pasta part 1

Part 2

For the filling
1 lb young dandelion leaves, washed, chopped

olive oil

1 pck cream cheese

salt and pepper to taste

In a skillet saute the greens in a bit of olive oil until tender. Transfer to a bowl. Mix the cream cheese, salt and pepper in with the greens. Bend very well. Spoon into your prepared pasta.

In a large pot, bring water, slightly salted, to a boil. Add the ravioli and cook until tender, about 20 minutes.

Drain and serve with a little butter and Parmesan cheese, an Alfredo sauce or a pesto.

Dandelion greens pesto sauce

12 ounces washed and cleaned young dandelion leaves
1 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled
6 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly toasted1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated

Place one-third of the dandelion greens in the food processor or a blender with olive oil and chop for 1 minute, scrape down the sides. Add the remaining dandelion greens in two batches, until finely chopped up.

Add garlic cloves, pine nuts, salt, and Parmesan, process until everything is a smooth puree.

Taste, add salt if necessary. If too thick, you can thin it with olive oil or water.

Eating Out(side) A personal challenge

Jelly. . .jelly. . . jelly. . . SALAD!

I think we are much more than jellies and salads. But when it comes to edible flowers and weeds, that's what we do, jelly and salad. Oh sure once in awhile we throw a wrench into the machine and make a butter.

And add injury to insult, I have found myself in a food rut. After my dad died, I just don't have the passion for cooking I once had. Use to be that at least once a week, Husband or the boys would walk in while I was cooking and ask what was for dinner. "experiment" I would answer. Oh how I miss the moans of discontent. Rarely did one of my experimental meals turn out to be yucky.

Husband and I were talking the other day, well we were laughing the other day, about my issues with fancy restaurants, and how I belittled more than one in house chef because of the poor quality octopus or their microwaved fettuccine Alfredo that was way too expensive. I was harder on over priced chefs than the food critics I knew. But that came from the passion that my father instilled in me. The perfection of blends, flavors, and spices. No one got away with serving me a $40 plate of Chef Boyardee. I miss "fancy" foods. And have fell into the mundane menus that would make most children happy.

I have decided that I have been in mourning long enough. I have decided to take up a personal challenge. . .

Once a week I will make an experimental meal. The main ingredient must be a wild flower or weed that is in season. It can not be a jelly, butter, syrup, salad or candy. It must be on par with the gourmet restaurants, but easily made in home. And not have expensive ingredients to hide or cover the weeds.

I have already worked out the first meal.