Fast Food Fix the Slow Food Way: Curly Fries

I stopped eating fast food 20 years ago (that's right, drive thru's are not a part of my life), but I still get a hankerin' for some Curly Fries, so what's a gal to do?

I make them at home!  But using all organic materials, healthy fat:  extra-virgin olive oil, Himalayan sea salt, and this spice blend (all powders):

Cayenne 1 part
Onion 1 part
Garlic 1 part
Salt 2 parts
Turmeric 2 parts
Paprika 8 parts
Starch 24 parts

By parts, I mean any unit of measurement you choose.  If you choose teaspoons, you will have a total of 39 teaspoons of spice blend, or 13 Tablespoons since there are 3 teaspoons in a Tablespoon.  If you'd like more finished product than this, then enlarge your part, maybe a Tablespoon, or if you want to make a whole lot, maybe a 1/4 c.  You choose.  And you can eyeball the measuring if you wish, or add another spice you'd like to include...no rules.  This is kitchen alchemy not rocket science.  ;)

I like to make up more than I will use at once and keep it in a jar so it's ready to go for the next time.  Being an Herbalist I buy my spices by the pound as many I also utilize medicinally, and I simply use them often and in large quantities in my cooking.  :)

The starch can be any type, I have used Tapioca or a non-GMO corn starch.  This acts as a carrier and also provides a "coating" like "crust" on the fries.

I use a Spiralizer (also works great for all those Zucchini - I make Zucchini pasta - anyone who grows them knows what I mean), but you could just cut strips by hand.  Coat the cut potatoes and the baking sheet with olive oil (I just pour some on and use my hands to mix it all up), sprinkle with salt and the spice blend to taste and bake 400 degrees for about 40 minutes, turning at least once to get them evenly crispy.

Enjoy this healthy snack!  or even make it a meal - top with avocado and mix with some steamed Kale. 

I like to make a lot at a time and have leftovers; they're great on soup or in an omelette for instance...

Vegetable and Fruit Garden Flowers

We don't often see pictures of flowers of vegetables and fruits in the garden, so I thought I'd share some...The bees are loving them!

Taste a Rainbow

Watermelon

Okra

Butternut Squash

Eggplant

Cucumber

A laughing matter:  only a few days and they get away from you...

The Curcubit's Orgy.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
  - Marcel Proust

What to do with all those Zucchinis!

The Summer Garden equals Zucchinis! (amongst other veggies)...

Zucchinis are making up the whole bottom layer of the wheelbarrow.

 Here is something a little different to help you utilize this abundant vegetable...

Lemon Zucchini Bread

Taking this bread to a friend's house for dinner...

Preheat 350 degrees, in one bowl mix:
5 c. whole wheat flour, whole grain sprouted is ideal
1 tspn. sea salt
4 tspn. baking powder

In another bowl mix:
4 eggs
1 c. walnut oil (or other of your choice)
3 c. raw can sugar
Then add and mix:
10 Tbspn. lemon juice
1 c. yogurt
Then fold in 3 c. of grated zucchini

Now mix first bowl of dry ingredients into this and pour into greased pans.  This recipe will make 2 cakes or 2-3 loaves depending on the size you choose. Baking time also depends on the size you use, begin checking at 40 minutes...may take up to 80.  Done when golden browned and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cool before cutting - if you can!
Makes a great french toast the next day or toast with ghee and cinnamon.  Enjoy!

Japanese Knotweed - Lime Bars and Native Mason Bee Housing - A Primer on this Ubiquitous Weed

Japanese Knotweed

Japanese Knotweed Lime Bars

Japanese Knotweed utilized as part of a Mason Bee House

I just love utilizing invasive non-native plants.  I can feel good about harvesting them because I know it helps other plants that are native and/or not invasive by keeping down the growth and spread of the invasive AND I know I won't hurt the plant's ability to survive (try as I might). In some instances, like Garlic Mustard, you just can't eradicate it even if you want to.

Up Close

It's that time of year when Japanese Knotweed Polygonum cuspidatum sends up it's new stalks from the Earth.  These can be eaten like Asparagus, though they also work well in deserts, and have a lemony type flavor, as we shall see...
The roots are used medicinally and are called Hu Zhang in TCM; they have been used for an assortment of issues such as cancer, cystitis, Lyme, and traumatic injury (see a qualified practitioner for this).

To make this delectable desert:

Harvest the stalks before they have done much leafing out, remove any leaves and the very top where the leaves are forming (these can be added to an omelette or the like); chop the remaining stalks up into small pieces.  You want about 4 cups of chopped stalks, a little more or less is fine.

Leaves and tops to use for another dish.

Chopping into small pieces.

Splitting the larger ones lengthwise before chopping.

Preheat oven to 350.  For the bottom layer:  melt a stick of butter in an 8" x 8" pan, once melted mix directly in the pan with the butter:  one cup of whole wheat pastry flour and one cup of raw cane sugar.  I like to use all organic ingredients so I'm not ingesting pesticides or contributing to their being sprayed on farms and poisoning the water and land (along with the food).  Mash this dough evenly into the bottom of the pan covering the entire bottom.  Bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool so it hardens.

The top layer mixed and ready to pour onto bottom layer.

In the meantime, make your top layer:  mix 3 eggs, 1 c. raw cane sugar, 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour, 1/4 c. lime (or lemon) juice until well blended then stir in the chopped stalks.  Pour this over the cooled bottom layer and spread evenly.  Bake one hour, turning oven to 400 for last 15 minutes.  Make sure the topping is set up; it might need a little longer cook time. 

Delish!

If you build it they will come:  the Mason Bee House on the art studio, L'Atelier.  Netting is to keep birds out.

A...n...d....  another use for those stalks after they die back in the fall (they persist through winter so you can harvest them right up into early Spring) is housing for Mason bees.  These solitary bees nest in tubes, whether that be hollow plant stalks, holes beetles have drilled in trees, or anything similar such as holes we drill or tubes we put out.  They live for 6 weeks in the Springtime right at the moment fruit trees bloom.   
***If you have fruit trees, you want these bees on your property.***  They are easy to care for and do a better job with fruit trees than honeybees because of how they gather nectar.

Drilling the starter holes in 7" pieces of Fir 4" x 4", then on to using a hand-held drill to finish them.

Mason bee cocoons gifted from a friend, thanks Laura!  Males on left, Females on right.

Mason Bee cocoon, they hatch from the nipple end, so this needs to face out if placed in a tube.

Here is a great book if you want to learn more.  Here is one of many houses you can purchase for them.
If you want to make your own, they prefer 5/16th size holes 6" deep (don't use pressure treated wood).  And of course, if you have access to a stand of Japanese Knotweed (bamboo also can work well), you can harvest your own as I did (seen collected in the 4 black pots in above picture of large Mason bee house).

A simple, smaller house can be made too, such as this one upper left.

~~~

Collage from the Archives

I am giving a talk tonight at Shenandoah Arts Council on Collage as a tool for healing 

and am giving monthly upcoming hands-on workshops on the same at Mountain Mystic Company, 

If you're local to the DC, MD, northern VA, and WV area and interested, 

check out this Facebook group for details.

Some of my collages from the archives for inspiration...

(technically they are mixed media assemblages; they are 3D)

Mindfield 2007

Tecknowledgy:  Take a Byte  2007

Fuel  2009

 Ants ended up invading the last one to eat the candy.  I loved this as it added so much to the concept I was attempting to capture, with the collage being about food.  It was interactive art with the ants crawling around and eating it.  Now the candy is long gone.  :)

~~~

Herbals Truffles - a.k.a. Little Balls of Utter Bliss!

These de-stressing herbal treats move Liver Qi, help digestion,
are high in antioxidants, and are adaptogenic.

Have one as needed, share them with guests, make them as gifts...they taste out of this world.

These are made with Rosebud, Tulsi, Ashwaganda, Tangerine Peel, Cardamom, and Ginger.

So, I am bad about actually using or writing down recipes when I create food and herbal remedies.  With these herbal truffles, I usually just mix ingredients until I feel satisfied with the combination and texture.  This time I did this with my apprentices and made it a point to create a recipe with measured amounts.   That said, please feel free to deviate.

You can start simply with alternating a different nut, or using nut butter, or altering the herbs used.  Just making these seemingly simple changes though can change the consistency and you want them to stick together.  So if needed, add more coconut oil, maybe a little honey if you need its stickiness, or maybe use another fat that will be firm at cold temperatures such as cocoa butter.  If you need it more wet, you could even add some avocado or coconut milk.  Experiment.  If need be start with this exact recipe until you feel comfortable with it, then deviate...

These have no added sugar; dates and raisins were used for sweetness.  These balls have some bitterness, but those of us who enjoy straight tea, black coffee, hoppy beer, or dark chocolate won't mind.  You could try other fruits...I do find dates to be the sweetest and raisins to be nice and gummy adding a good texture.

If you try an experimental batch that you can't seem to get right to roll into balls, add a bit of whole grain flour and a few eggs and bake it.  It's hard to go wrong with these ingredients.

Keep refrigerated.



Here's what to use and how to make the balls pictured above:
Grind all your Herbs and Cacao into powder (or buy them already powdered) before mixing them;
I use a coffee grinder that is not used for coffee. (until I can get one of these that is ....someday) 
Bear in mind that powdered herbs do not last anywhere near as long as whole or cut & sifted ones.
I try not to buy my herbs powdered for this reason, unless I will use them right away, and also because I don't care for the sludge in the bottom of my decoctions.

Mix all dry ingredients together (all ground)
1/2 c. Mei Gui Hua, Rosebuds
1/2 c. Chen Pi, Tangerine peel (you can make your own and can use other organic citrus if you wish)
1/4 c. Ashwaganda
1/2 c. Tulsi
1 Tb. Cardamom
1 ts. Ginger
1 c. raw Cacao
pinch sea salt

Blend "wet" ingredients
6 Dates, pitted and chopped
1/2 c. Raisins
2 Tb. Coconut oil, melted
1/2 tspn. Vanilla
2 c. Walnuts
optional:  about 5 drops of a flower essence, these included Bee Balm.

Then stir or blend both together; it will be dry but should form a sticky ball with pressure once mixed.  You can add a little water for moisture if you need to, but these did not have any added.

On the side mix 1/4 c. ea. Hemp seeds and ground Cacao
After pressing into to ball, roll the ball into this coating.




These balls are more herb than food; for a ball more food than herb, see this recipe.

~~~

Persimmon Bliss Cake

Okay, so I have to share with you this cake I made recently because it was one of the best eva!

~ Persimmon Cake with Quince Jam and Elderberry Syrup ~

 

This was my hubbie's Birthday cake; here he is about to devour it.

Depending on where you are, you may still be able to harvest some Persimmons.  We harvested ours mid-November just as they were leaving their astringency for sweetness. 

More like a bread pudding... rich and decadent with a perfect blend of smooth but substantial texture and complex, delightful taste.

Unfortunately, I did not follow a recipe or even measure all the ingredients, but fortunately! I am now going to compile a recipe from memory...it goes something like this:

Play around with it and make it yours.

Using a Foley Mill, or another method, separate the Persimmon pulp from the skin and seeds.  Use as much water as needed to do this and blend it all together (pulp and water).  
You'll want about 4 c. of this blend for the cake.

Mix this blend with 3/4 c. honey, two sticks butter, 2 eggs.

Then add 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour, 1 tspn. baking soda, 1/2 tspn. salt, and 1/4 tspn. baking powder.

Blend and pour into (2) 8-9" greased round pans or similar, bake 350 degrees for an hour and a half
(or until toothpick comes out clean), watch for too much browning, 
this long length of time worked for me.

Once separated, blend the pulp with water until it's the consistency of "slop."  :)

 I topped this cake with Quince jam and Elderberry syrup we just made, but you could top it with any type of jam or syrup.  The sweetness of the jam with the tartness of the Elderberry was perfect.  Lemon curd and maple syrup with some Ginger come to mind as a great combo to try.

A tithing:  Racoon offerings

These seeds got fed to the racoons because we are already loaded down with loads of squash seeds to prep and eat, but you can also roast and eat these.  Let removing the pulp be your Zen meditation for the day.

Flower Power: An Edible Flower as Medicine

Are you spellbound yet?

Nasturtium is the very definition of piquant:  

ˈpēkənt,ˈpēkänt/

adjective

 1.  having a pleasantly sharp taste or appetizing flavor.

 2. pleasantly stimulating or exciting to the mind.

Gotta love that, right?  right.

Why hello there.

This gorgeous flower is one of those I grew up with as a child; one of my favorite Aunts grew Nasturtium and they remind me of her and the wondrous time spent at her house.  I get extra delight now seeing that it also makes the hummingbirds and honey bees happy in my garden.  They both visit the flowers regularly.

An unusual site in November; an opportunity within the crisis of global warming.

We are having a late frost here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, but it's expected tonight so I am harvesting the Nasturtium flowers before they get blasted by the cold.  Being a native to South America; they cannot tolerate frost, but they will grow all summer long gracing us with their presence - and their food and medicine.  Both the flowers and leaves are edible; both give a spiciness to the dishes they accompany.

Sunshine captured in a basket.

They are also anti-bacterial and can be used medicinally.  I have read of them being used for colds, flu, urinary tract infections, etc.  I am going to tincture them to experiment with this use...  I will do a vinegar tincture so it may easily be used in cooking and on salads.

To do this I will cover the flowers with vinegar in a jar, making sure all the flowers are submerged.  Next I will wait 2-4 weeks, shaking the jar daily, and then strain for use.  It can be used for cooking or taken by the teaspoonful as needed - or as wanted for its flavor!

I used wax paper under the jar lid so the vinegar doesn't react with it.

Update:  4 days later, I had to share with you this gorgeous color!

Oh, and no frost yet.
~~~