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Recipes and
Newsletters
Below
are recipes, our monthly newsletter archives and feedback from our monthly email newsletter:
Herbal Musings and Updates!!
Also feel free to join us for discussions
about herbal nourishment at
http://tribes.tribe.net/herbalwisdom
"Always
nice to receive your newsletter. You have a great writing style that
really engages me, and makes me quite hungry for very yummy food!"
"This was a very beautifully written
article! Thanks for the inspiration!"
"Hi
Linda....Big SMILE! Thank you so much for sending this (newsletter)."
"I wanted to thank you for your herbal updates. I
always feel inspired reading about how you are incorporating nature's bounty
into your life."
"I want to thank you so much for your article in your most recent
newsletter. I feel deeply inspired to evaluate and re-evaluate my
relationships with plants and food."
"I really, really enjoyed the article you
wrote on how all things are interconnected, it was beautifully written and a
great meditation."
"Such
a rich newsletter, thank you for sharing".
Just a note to say how much I
appreciate and enjoy your herbal musings....(when are you going to put them
in a book????)
And I especially enjoyed John's
entertaining addition (about the broom corn harvest)
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Newsletter Archives (click on the date to
view):
August
2005 March
2007 April
May/2007 July
2007 October
2007
December
2007 Feb/March
2008 August 2008
October 2008
A
Simple Field Salad
-get a harvesting vessel, I like to use baskets
-go into your yard or local unsprayed park or field
-look around for a moment and notice the green that surrounds
-some plants to look for are: dandelion (flowers and leaves),
lemon balm, lovage, chickweed, mint, violets (flowers and leaves),
Motherwort, mugwort, garlic mustard ,
berries and any other edible plant that catches
your fancy. If you are not sure if you would enjoy the plant in your salad;
take a moment to smell it and bite into a small piece. Strong tasting plants
are best cut into small pieces.
*these salads become more diverse and flavorful as the
seasons unfold!!
-take your salad inside and add a favorite dressing. For a
local dressing use a syrup of your favorite fruit or a locally made herbal
vinegar.
Happy
Harvesting!!
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C omfrey
Freezer Poultice:
-take fresh plant material: leaf and/or root (be aware that
digging root will cultivate new plants!!)
-place freshly collected plant material in a blender -blend
until thick and spread able
-spread onto a cheese cloth and fold the cloth in thirds and
close the ends -please this pack in a plastic bag and label (so you remember
what it is a few months down the line!!)
-place in the freezer for later use
*while I prefer fresh plant material making these freezer
poultices for the upcoming year is a rhythm that you may have not had the
chance to get into. To make a poultice with dry plant material rehydrate by
placing plant material in a bowl and pouring boiling water over it to cover.
Once the plant material is soft again place this mixture in the blender and
process until you have a thick spread able mass. Spread on a cloth and apply
directly or place in the freezer. A friend who applied a comfrey poultice
prepared this way reported that his goat’s broken leg healed quickly; she
was weight bearing within 12 hours and walking within 24!!! Now that is
magic!!
Linda's Gamascio
a traditional Japanese condiment that can
be added to salads, rice, soups
or any other dish you feel inspired to sprinkle it on.
When you add sea vegetables and/or herbs you increase the nutritional value.
- Place sesame seeds to cover the bottom of a
frying pan ( I like to use my cast iron pan)
- Begin toasting seeds in the frying pan-
- After two minutes add seaweed 1-2 ounces
seaweed (Nori and/or Kelp work well)
- I also like to add herbs: a tsp or two of
dried rosemary is a nice addition and/or a handful of dried nettle
- Toast these together until the seeds begin
to pop or brown lightly around the edge of the pan. Turn everything over
with a spatula-toast until both sides are light brown and the sea vegetables
are crunchy. If you have added rosemary your whole kitchen will fill with
the sweetness of this aromatic herb.
- Place in a jar and store for 1-2 weeks.
Sprinkle lavishly on your favorite foods.
To learn
more join us for our annual sea vegetable harvesting on Lopez Island, WA
or watch for our
popular class Sea Vegetables for Health, Wellness and Fun!
Cottonwood infused oil:
-
Take a walk after a windstorm along your favorite waterway and see if you
find downed Poplar trees
-
Collect enough buds to fill a jar ¾ full
-
Fill the jar pour olive oil over to cover (plant material sticking up may
mold)
-
Label with date and place harvested as well as any other identifying
characteristics
-
Place in a dark consistent temperate cabinet (I usually place a bowl or
plate under this as it often leaks)
-
Check your oil in a day or two and cover with more oil if it has settled
- In
6 months strain the oil and use lavishly for massage, healing, bath, salves,
lotions and soap.
Herbal
Facial Steam
Add a
couple handfuls of lady's mantle, mixed with burnet, violets, borage or
lavender to a bowl and pour boiling water over the herbs. Use this as a
facial steam by placing a tent over your head with a towel at least 18
inches above the pan or bowl. Gently dry your face with a soft towel
afterwards and use a nice moisturizer.
Motherwort Syrup Recipe
- Harvest the
flowering tops of Motherwort on a dry August day.
- Cut them into small pieces (the smaller the better surface contact with
the water-you will end up with a stronger infusion). - Place them into a pot
or glass jar and pour boiling water over them. For every 2½ pounds of herb
use 1 gallon of water. - -- Place a cover on the jar or pot and leave set
for 8 hours.
- Strain the herb, making sure to press it and release any liquid that is
left in the plant material.
- Place this infusion in a pot and add fresh plant material.
- Boil the liquid to ½ of it’s original content.
- Strain and to every quart of infusion add 2 pounds of honey.
- Cook until the mixture thickens.
This can be bottled
and stored in the refrigerator for future use. This mixture will store for
several months and can last longer if brandy is added as a preservative.
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Black
Hawthorn Berry and Black Currant Jam
-2
quarts Black Hawthorn berries
-1
quart Black Currants
-1-cup
honey (or to taste)
-water
to cover
(*Black
Currants are high in pectin and make a great addition to thicken any jam or
jelly.)
1.
Place berries in a pot.
2.
Cover with water (2 inches above the berries)
3.
Add honey
4.
Simmer until mixture thickens, (most of the liquid will be evaporated and
the jam will thicken quickly when on a spoon that has been removed from the
heat)
5.
Run the mixture through a food mill, to remove seeds and stems.
6.
Place back in the pot add a quart of water and simmer again until mixture is
quite thick.
To
can:
-Simmer
canning jar lids
-Place
mixture in clean canning jars
-Place
lids on top
-Place
jars in a canning kettle, cover with water (2 inches above the jar)
-Bring
to a boil and boil for the appropriate time frame for the jar size.
½
pint 10 minutes
pints
15 minutes
quarts
20 minutes
Set up in the pantry for later use-if you can
wait!!!
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Nourishing Herbal Infusions
Creating nourishing herbal infusions is easy and fun!! For
certain herbs we are looking for the nutritive qualities of the plant ie
vitamins and minerals. These nutrients “live” behind the cell wall of
the plant and release themselves only after steeping dried (drying makes the
cell wall more fragile) plant material for 4-8 hours. Flowers can be steeped
for 4 hours and leaves as well as roots for 8 hours.
The essential or volatile oils as well as vitamin C are on
the outside of the cell wall and are readily made available in water after
5-15 minutes. Tea can be made with fresh plant material. For example
chamomile tea will only be steeped for 5-10 minutes. Steeped too long and
the tea becomes bitter-have you ever had this experience? If you have you
know what I mean. The reason for the bitterness is that the water begins
breaking down the cell wall and releasing bitter alkaloids. In small
quantities this is fine and will assist in promoting digestion, but if you
are looking for a sweet relaxing beverage you will only want to steep your
herbs with volatile oils for 5-15 minutes.
My favorite infusions herbal infusions are
Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioca), Oatstraw (Avena sativa), Red Clover (Trifolium
pratense) and and Comfrey (Symphytum officinale)
To
make a nourishing herbal infusion:
1. Boil
Water (1 quart for every ounce of herb)
2. Place one ounce of herb (for each quart of water) in
a tea pot, fresh press or canning jar
3. When the water boils pour the water over the herb (if
you are using a canning jar place a butter knife in the jar to act as a
conduit-the knife will absorb some of the heat and keep the jar from
breaking)
4. Put a lid on the container and set aside for 4-8
hours
5. After 4-8 hours strain the herb and enjoy!!!
6. You can store infusions in the refrigerator for 2-3
days after which they will start to spoil Infusions are nutrient rich and
become food –if they spoil feed them to your plants!!!
&. You can drink infusions warmed, iced or
sweetened!! You can also incorporate them into your diet as a soup base!!
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Purslane Pesto
This is one of my favorites. I
love the flavor of this pesto. It is slightly sour, like sorrel but has a
creamy texture. It is delious served with fish or anyplace else pesto is
called for.
2 cups purslane chopped
1-1/2 cups olive oil
3 cloves garlic (or to taste)
salt (a large pinch)
Grated Cheese to taste (optional)
Nuts (a large handful and/or to
taste) (optional)
Combine all of the above (except
the olive oil) in a blender or food processor. Start blending and add the
olive oil slowly-checking for the consistency that you prefer. If you have
the option drizzle the olive oil as you blend. Pesto can be eaten fresh
and/or frozen for later use. Enjoy!!
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Yule High bush Cranberry Sauce
High bush cranberries of the Viburnum
genus
make this a wild food and is
ideal for this sauce, but the more common variety of the Vaccinium
genus offers a wide array of healing properties and nutrients!!.
4 cups cranberries
1-cup orange peel honey-
(make this by finely chopping the peel from 2-3 organic oranges and placing
them in a jar-cover with honey and let steep for several weeks) You can of
course include plain honey and chopped orange peel-but steeping them
together enhances the flavor.
½ cup Black Walnuts (or your
other favorite nuts)- we sometimes include hazelnuts and/or English walnuts.
1 cup
orange juice
Mix all ingredients together in a pot. Simmer on
low heat until the mixture thickens-it will stick to a spoon without falling
off. *Cranberries contain a significant amount of natural pectin so will
thicken without the addition of pectin.
*A tasty sweetener for this
sauce is maple syrup. Simply replace the honey with maple syrup.
*This makes a wonderful pie
filling as well!!!
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Squash
Soup: With
a touch of the wild
2 cups
of your favorite squash cooked and mashed (I am using butternut right
now as we have a lot put up in the pantry)
2 garlic
cloves (or more to taste) minced
¾ cup
chopped wild leeks (or
cultivated-and if pickled rinse them off) minced
6 cups
chicken or vegetable stock (I often used both)
½ cup
powdered kelp
2 pints
tomato sauce (with or without nettle and mushrooms)
½ pint
Nettle pesto (basil or other wild pesto i.e. dandelion will do-we often
freeze pesto for the winter months)(adding pesto to this soup offers a
delightfully surprising flavor to this soup)
2 cups
Cooked Amaranth, Lamb’s Quarter or Nettle Greens (cultivated greens
i.e. Swiss chard, kale etc. can be used if you do not have wild greens
frozen)
Olive
oil (I like to used the oil from my homemade cheese or other infused
herbal oil for this recipe)
In
a large stockpot sauté garlic and onions in olive oil until lightly
brown. Add stock and simmer for 20 minutes. Add squash, tomatoes sauce
and kelp simmer another 10 minutes. Blend together (I like to used a
hand blender so I can do this right in the pot; putting the mixture in a
blender will work just as well). Add
pesto sauce and cooked greens. Gently simmer until all ingredients are
warm (I like to use a diffuser here and stir frequently at this point so
that the squash does not stick to the bottom of the pot). This is
wonderful served with your favorite homemade sourdough bread!!
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Miso
Recipes
Here are
just a few of my favorite recipes combing miso with other nourishing food!
They can get you started and from here use your imagination!!
Note
*Miso paste can be kept in the refrigerator for at least a year.
Miso Soup
To
make Miso soup: put a TBS of miso paste in a bowl (approximately a cup of
water) and pour boiling water or your favorite broth over it. You can add
more miso to taste, but start with this amount, as it is quite salty. Add
scallions, carrots, burdock, diced meat (pork is traditionally served in
Japanese restaurants), seaweed and any other ingredient that inspires you.
Or add miso to any already prepared soup to enhance the flavor.
Miso Sandwich
Spread
Miso on a sandwich to taste and add avocado, greens, and cheese. meat or
any other favorite sandwich filling. One of my favorites is miso,
chickweed and crisp kelp (and tomatoes when they are in season).
Salad Dressing and/or Dipping Sauce
1 cup Olive oil
1 TBS miso
1-2 TBS raw local honey
½ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup Tamari or Shoyu (another fermented soy type sauce)
Combine above ingredients in jar and shake or wisk together. You can
also add ground flax seeds, ginger, and/or garlic to make an
Asian-inspired dressing. This can be used on salads, any vegetable dish,
grain dishes and/or as a marinade.
*Use miso as an ingredient in marinades for meat,
fish, poultry or game.
Dandelion
Fritters
- Gather
dandelion flowers on a sunny day, for the bitter quality keep the
sepals attached.
- Bring
your flowers inside, find a bowl, mix together one egg and one cup of
milk. Add a cup of flour and your batter is ready. (If you
like your fritters sweet you can add a little maple syrup or honey.)
- Prepare
a skillet with gently warmed coconut or other oil –I find the
coconut heats to just the right temperature for making a crisp
fritter.
- Immerse
the flowers into the batter until they are covered.
- Drop them into the
skillet, flower side down. Dip and drop flowers. Check them
frequently to avoid burning them. Once they are lightly browned, flip
and brown on the other side.
- When
brown on both sides remove them from the skillet and drain the excess
oil.
- Enjoy!!
- For
a sweet treat, drizzle them with maple syrup, honey or jam.. For
savory fritters dip them in a tamari dipping sauce, mustard and/or add
savory herbs to the batter
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Switchel
Recipe
Elderflowers
photo by John
Holzwart
One of my favorite
summer time beverages is a switchel. According to one source on the
internet: Switchel originated in the West Indies, and became popular as a
summer drink in the American Colonies in the late 1600's. By the 1800's,
it had become a tradition to serve it to thirsty farmers at hay harvest
time, thus it acquired the alternate name of "haymaker's punch."
When I traveled in Alaska and flew regularly in small planes we carried
this combination in our inside coat pockets as a survival beverage just in
case the plane went down.
Switchel is a natural
“sports drink”, perfect for hot summer days. It replenishes potassium,
contains a wide spectrum of vitamins and minerals and helps the body to
absorb those nutrients.
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Ingredients
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1
gallon cold water
1 cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup honey
-chill
and then drink while contemplating life!!
*herbal
variations for added nutritive value and flavor:
-make
an herbal water infusion and use that in place of plain water
(lemon balm is quite good!)
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-make
an herbal infused vinegar and add that for additional nutrition value.
(recently I added dandelion flower vinegar).
-make
an herbal infused honey and add that instead of plain honey. (I recently
added elderflower honey with the dandelion vinegar for a summertime
flower drink that was incredible refreshing!!)
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We love to eat this for breakfast!! It makes a great stuffing too!!
• Wash the rice by running it under cold water in a strainer
• Add 1 cup of raw wild rice to 3 cups of boiling water in a heavy saucepan or pot and cover.
• Reduce heat and simmer for 35-50 minutes or just until kernels puff open
• Uncover, fluff with a fork and simmer 5 more minutes.
Depending on how long the kernels are this will make 3-4 cups of rice.
Variation-for breakfast: add your favorite wild nut or berry and top with maple syrup and/or yogurt.
Choke Cherry or Rosehip Syrup
Gather choke cherries or rosehips at the hight of the season.
Place the fruit in a pot and pour water over it to cover.
Begin to boil the pot of fruit all the while crushing with a potato
masher, until the water is thick and a purple or red color.
Then strain out the berries and you are left with the liquid, if using
rosehips be sure to strain the seeds and hairs with a tight woven cloth as
they can be quite irritating if left behind.
For every 4 cups of juice add 2 cups of honey (or more to taste, as some
choke cherries are sweeter than others).
Optional: for every 4 cups of juice add 1 cup of homemade pectin.
Bring this mixture to a boil, and if you have added the pectin boil until
the mixture coats a metal spoon, like gravy. If you have not added pectin
reduce mixture to 1/2 or until desired consistency is reached.
Pour mixture into canning jars, I usually use 1/2 pints or pints. Process
in boiling water bath for 10-15 minutes. Place on pantry shelf and enjoy
througout the winter!!
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Burdock
Stew
-Cut burdock root into julienne
pieces and soak in water (you can add a few tablespoons of apple cider
vinegar to this)
-Cut up other seasonal
vegetables: since this is November I am primarily cooking: carrots, squash,
sweet potatoes, potatoes, cabbage, mushrooms and broccoli. I also add some
garlic and seaweed.
-Drain burdock roots and stir-fry
in a large saucepan together in your favorite medium i.e. olive oil, lard,
coconut oil etc.
-Once all the vegetables are
quite tender add water to cover and tamari to taste
-Allow this to simmer on the
stove until the mixture thickens.
-In the meantime have your
favorite grain ready and pour this over the grain: quinoa is one of my
favorite.
This is a variation of a dish I learned to make from a friend
who is Japanese. She called it Japanese “pot roast”. I have since
learned that it is actually called Kinpira,
which is a technique that calls for sautéing and then simmering. This
dish is rich and nourishing. I find it perfect for cold winter days.
Blackberry Applesauce
Chop apples and fill a pot
For every 3 cups of apples add a cup of blackberries (of course you can also
use blueberries, raspberries and others!)
Cook apples and blackberries down to the desired consistency-I usually
prepare this when I will be home for a good part of the day as it takes
hours to cook. I also leave the skins on the apples. It takes longer to
cook-but removing the skins removes nutrients and I want to retain as many
nutrients as possible. When the sauce is the texture that I want I add honey
to taste. Applesauce can be put up in cans and/or frozen for later use. It
is delicious on pancakes, oatmeal and offered with holiday meals!!
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