I am very sensitive to nettle with rashes that last about three days. Anyone who has braved a stand of nettle knows it is not an issue of “if the nettle gets you…” but “how badly.”

I was stung, rubbed lamb’s quarters on the affected spot, and felt no rash.

Three days later feeling even more bold, I entered a stand of nettle and cut and grabbed nettle stems with wild abandon. By the time I got two bag fulls to the car, the rashes were forming on my arms. I rubbed the rashes in lamb’s quarters and the pain stopped immediately. The rash itself was gone within a few hours.

For information on identifying lamb’s quarters, check out this resource by Wild Man Steve Brill.

Since lamb’s quarters is seasonal here and nettle is available to us throughout the year at different elevations, I am going to make a lamb’s quarter extract for my future nettle harvest. I will make the extract simply by putting lamb’s quarters leaves in vodka for a couple of months and then straining out the leaves and using the liquid on my nettle rashes. I will report back on how well the extract works.

This post was shared at Wildcrafting Wednesday

I preach about how you have to be creative. You have to be ready to punt. So I followed my own preaching, somewhat begrudgingly, and heated up a large, heavy skillet. When the skillet was ready, I poured the contents of my roasting pan into the skillet. The cauliflower was already coated with olive oil, so I added none. The bacon also released some fat as it cooked.

Here’s what I learned: The cauliflower had enough water in it to cook without adding water to the skillet. I never would have believed it. I had planned to toss the cauliflower until it just showed signs of browning and then add a tad of water to the skillet and a lid. By the time the cauliflower was browning it was already cooked to perfection. I will be trying this with a few other vegetables, like turnip cubes, for instance.

This dish is simple and tasty– especially if your oven lights. The recipe below requires a working oven. We ate the leftovers at room temperature at another meal along with some bits of grilled chicken tenders. These leftovers tasted like anything but leftovers, served with homemade garlic mayonnaise for dipping and a few whole-grain crackers. It was delightful!

Roasted Cauliflower Ingredients

• 1 head of cauliflower

• 4 finely minced cloves of garlic
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 4 slices of bacon cut into bite-sized pieces

Roasted Cauliflower Steps

1. Wash the cauliflower and cut it into small pieces, about bite size.

2. Place the cauliflower pieces in a bowl and toss with the olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.
3. Arrange the bacon pieces across a cookie sheet with sides.
4. Arrange the cauliflower over the bacon. The cauliflower should be in a single layer, not crowded or sitting on top of one another.
5. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Toss the cauliflower a bit and check for doneness. If it is still a bit under-cooked for you, try another 3-4 minutes in the oven and check again.
6. Toss the ingredients of the pan well to fully coat the cauliflower with the oil from the bottom.
7. Serve hot or at room temperature.

This cauliflower would also do well as part of a composed salad. It is flavorful enough to stand on its own but also sings beautifully when accompanied by a fine homemade dressing. Consider this as lunch bag fare. It is not messy, but it could have a small container of dressing for a dip.

In case you missed it, we have a Mother’s Day giveaway going on this week and the great news is that everyone wins. Go get your free copy of my phytic acid white paper or my iron rich foods digital book. If you are a food data junkie, you will love these products and you cannot do much better than “free.” Read the details.

Another project for the week is the big reveal of data on nutrient decline in small garden crops. Broccoli today just ain’t what it used to be. Check it out.

On your posts from last week, I must admit that I’m on a diet and you guys are killing me. Truly, I don’t know if I can keep hosting this link up if you guys are going to be posting this stuff. Just leave it at that and click through the pictures.

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This is not a soup to serve young children learning to feed themselves as there is enough color in each bowl to color your dining area. Be careful. On the other hand, this is definitely a soup for adults with developed palates. The flavors are delicate, but complex and satisfying. It is slightly sweet and fruity with intense color.

Beet Root Soup Ingredients

(serves 4 as a meal starter)

• 3 large roasted beets cut into cubes (find the recipe here)

• 2 cups hot chicken bone broth
• 4 tablespoon butter
• 1 large shallot, finely minced
• 1 heaping teaspoon orange zest
• 1 teaspoon finely minced fresh fennel weed
• 3/4 cups heavy cream
• 2 heaping tablespoons of flour or a thickener of your choice
• Garnish with heavy cream, minced chives, and fennel weed

Beet Root Soup Steps

1. Melt the butter in a heavy sauce pan or soup pan.

2. Add the shallot and saute for about 2 minutes.
3. Add the beet cubes and crush with a potato masher while stirring in the butter and shallot.
4. When the beets are sizzling hot, run them through the food processor to puree. Be careful not to burn yourself.
5. Return the beets to the soup pot and add the chicken broth.
6. While the soup heats, mix up the cream with the thickener and slowly add it to the soup mixture.
7. Add the orange zest and the minced fennel weed.
8. Stir until the soup is thickened.
9. Ladle the soup into serving bowls and garnish with a few drops of heavy cream and a sprinkling of minced chives and fennel weed that have been mixed together.

This post was shared at Real Food Wednesday

Allow the salad flavors to blend for an hour or so before serving. The flavors are best at room temperature. If you have enough salad for another day, know that the color will have intensified in the dressing. Your salad will be quite red. Let the dish warm up to room temperature before serving it.

For the dressing and the garnish, use fresh herbs if at all possible. This makes a world of difference in the flavor of the salad and the bright green sings against the beets.

Roasted Beet and Potato Salad Ingredients

(4 servings)

• 2 large beets roasted and cubed (see recipe)

• 2 large potatoes, peeled, dressed with sumac and roasted (see recipe)
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons freshly minced dill weed or 1 tablespoon dry dill weed
• 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk to thin down the sour cream
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons finely minced fresh Italian parsley (flat-leafed)
• 2 tablespoons finely minced fresh chives

Roasted Beet and Potato Salad Steps

1. Carefully combine the roasted beets and potatoes in a mixing bowl, combining gently to keep the beet and potato cubes intact.

2. In a smaller mixing bowl measure the sour cream and dill weed. Add enough milk to get the consistency you want for a dressing. If you add no milk, the dressing will still spread nicely but be a thick creamy coating on the vegetables. Personally, I like it this way.
3. Add the salt and pepper. Taste for adjustments. This is the best time in the building process for the salt and pepper to be set in place.
4. Pour the dressing over the beets and potatoes carefully mixing in the dressing. Do not over mix — keep the dressing fairly white. The red, white, and green of this dish is stunning so you will want to guard it with care.
5. Mix the minced parsley and chives together and then sprinkle them generously over the salad. If you are plating individual salads, save the garnish for last and you might place some whole parsley stems or whole dill springs on the side for more color.

Try each of these methods and find what works for you.

Roast the Whole Beet

The simplest way, and my preference, is to roast the beet whole:

1. Trim the tops to within an inch of the stems. Do not cut down into the beet.

2. Scrub the beet but do not peel.
3. Wrap each beet in foil and seal as tightly as possible.
4. Arrange the beets on a cooky sheet leaving plenty of room around each beet.
5. Roast in a 425 degree oven for about an hour and a half. The time will vary depending on the size of your beets. You want each one to be easily pierced with a sharp knife.
6. Remove from the oven when the beets are roasted through. Unwrap them and let them cool enough to handle.
7. Peel the cooled beets. The skins should just slip off. You are now holding a cooked beet that has almost caramelized. The flavor is intense, but quite sweet.

Store the roasted beets in an airtight container in the refrigerator for as long as a week. They are yours to slice or cube, to use in salads, as the base of a soup, and in baked goods. You have endless possibilities in a container of roasted beets.

Roasted Beet Cubes

This approach is a little more work, but what comes out of the oven is ready to eat and it doesn’t take long for it to disappear.

1. Scrub and peel the beets.

2. Cut the beets into uniform cubes, as uniform as they get of course. Aim for half-inch cubes.
3. Toss them with enough olive oil to fully coat each cube and dust with some sea salt or zaatar.
4. Spread the cubes on a cookie sheet with sides, giving each cube a bit of breathing space. Do no pile the pieces on top of each other.
5. Roast at 425 degrees in a preheated oven for about 45 minutes. Toss once or twice during the roasting time. The beets should be soft all the way through the cube. The outsides may be getting a bit crusted over by the time they are totally cooked.

Remove the cubes to a serving bowl or tray. They are delicious warm or at room temperature. Because they are crusted over, there is less chance that these cubes will recolor anything you mix them with.

Just as you go through Mexico and experience many different taco or mole flavors, the same is true with zaatar. There are regional differences for Zaatar and families often have their secret recipes. The common denominator is the presence of a bit of salt, sesame seed, and oregano. Most combinations will also have sumac and thyme. In homemade zaatar, you may find the dried white blossom of the thyme plant.

Zaatar is available commercially but in making it yourself, you can have great fun in mixing your own and developing just the right mix for your palate. I use sumac in abundance because of its antioxidant properties — it is a delicious way to protect your well being. The recipe I used is based on one from About.com. I chose the recipe for the large proportion of sumac. As you develop your own recipe, consider that sumac is tart and lemony. You may need to start with smaller portions of sumac and build up to larger amounts.

Sumac Ingredients

• 1/4 cup sumac

• 2 tablespoons thyme
• 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons marjoram
• 2 tablespoons oregano
• 1 teaspoon course sea salt

Mix all of the ingredients in a food processor, but do not over-mix it. You want the sesame seeds to still be recognizable. A mortar and pestle will work fine too. Store the zaatar in a glass container with a tight lid. Keep the container in a cool dark place and the freshness will last for several months.

Use the freshest ingredients you can find. Once I began buying seasonings at a Syrian grocery I realized how worn out the seasonings in my pantry were. Over a couple of months the old seasonings got replaced and now I keep an eye on freshness. The worn out herbs and spices get sprinkled on the compost pile. The secret is to figure out how much of any herb or spice you use in a six-month period of time and buy just that amount. Freshness is a critical factor if you are going to get the optimum punch from your zaatar.

Just for fun: In some cultures zaatar is believed to enhance brain function. On the morning of a test school children are given zaatar for this reason. Try it out. Zaatar may be your spicy key to peak mental performance. All I can vouch for personally is that zaatar is an attention-getting bright flavor.

One of the ways we enjoy the dependable potato is in roasted cubes. This roasting option is a great way to use up a supply of potatoes that has been held long enough or to enjoy a bonanza of potatoes from a sale or from the garden harvest.

They taste a bit like potato chips so the kids will snack on them all day long if you allow. If you still have some left over, these roasted cubes make wonderful additions to salads, soups, and side dishes with other vegetables such as green beans with bacon.

These potato cubes roast for at least 45 minutes, so begin your preparation as soon as you get started on dinner. The potatoes will be roasting merrily while you assemble the rest of the meal.

Any type of potato will roast but russets work the best. With the russet cubes, the outside gets crispy and the inside gets soft. The russets also soak up the seasoning better than the waxy potatoes.

Roasted Potato Ingredients

• Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

• Olive oil
• Sumac or zaatar, cumin pepper, or simply salt and pepper to taste. (Find our recipe for zaatar.)

Roasted Potato Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2. Pour about 2 teaspoons olive oil to each cup of potato cubes onto a baking sheet with sides. I use a large cookie sheet for this.
3. Drop the potato cubes onto the baking sheet and toss until each cube is coated with oil. This needs to be a single layer — do not pile them or the potatoes will steam rather than roast.
4. Sprinkle your seasonings over the potatoes in amounts you know you will enjoy. If you are just starting out with sumac or zaatar, you may want to go lightly and then slowly increase the seasoning amounts each time you make this dish until you find the what works for you. If you are a seasoning junky like me, you will be heavy handed and add some extra ground black pepper or cayenne.
5. Toss the potato cubes until the seasonings appear to be uniformly distributed.
6. Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and roast until the outsides of the cubes are browning and crispy.
7. Toss the cubes a couple of times during the roasting process for a more complete browning.

Serve the potatoes with dinner. Save some at room temperature for snacking later. If you happen to have any left at this point, refrigerate and re-warm in the next few days. Drop the cubes onto the baking sheet and return it to a hot oven for about 15 minutes (450 degrees).

I loved your posts from last week as I jumped on from cleaning. Check out this avocado, grapefruit, and papaya chicken salad from Huckleberries and Rain. I love fruit and chicken together, splashed with some olive oil and vinegar. I love the use of coconut flour crepes at Real Food Freaks. This mint, cilantro, and parsley pesto rendition is really cool too.

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For cooking the flatbread, I prefer the griddle on the stove top. Two large iron skillets will work as well. I have read flatbread instructions that send the formed breads into the oven for baking. That is fine if you like a cracker bread. You will have a softer bread on the griddle or skillet. I would love to have one of those flatbread cookers that has moveable wheels and an open flame. They are fascinating to watch.

When it comes time to do the cooking, it happens so fast that it helps to have two people work it. I roll the bread. Amanda picks it up, puts it on the griddle, turns it, and returns it to me. I am still rolling bread but I take time to brush the freshly baked flatbread with extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of zaatar. It is a dance – a brief one!

This recipe makes 8 pieces of flatbread. I usually double the recipe. Leftovers can be warmed up in a bit of butter in a heavy iron skillet.

I would not try this recipe with store-bought whole wheat flour. Spelt makes a lighter bread and fresh grinding the flour may add to the lightness as well. It certainly adds to the flavor. If you do not have fresh ground spelt, you may want to replace some of the whole spelt flour with all-purpose flour.

Flatbread Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon baker’s yeast

• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 3/4 cups spelt flour
• All purpose flour for kneading
• Oil for the bowl
• Olive oil and zaatar for serving (optional)

Flatbread Steps

1. Warm up the mixing bowl by swirling hot water in it. If it’s summer, you may be able to skip this step.

2. Pour the 3/4 cup warm water into the bowl. This water should be about body temperature or a degree warmer. Get it too hot and it will kill the yeast.
3. Sprinkle the sugar into the water and give a little stir.
4. Sprinkle the yeast on the water and give a little stir. Leave it alone for about five minutes. When the yeasted water starts looking a little bubbly, you are ready to proceed.
5. Set the bowl in place on the mixer stand with the regular mixing paddle inserted.
6. With the mixing speed on low, slowly add the spelt until the dough is too much for the paddle. Switch to the dough hook. At this point the dough comes off the paddle easily so this is no big deal.
7. Add spelt flour until a nice mound of dough forms. I can’t quite call it a ball at this point. The dough is soft and should not be taxing the motor on your mixer. Stop adding flour and let the dough hook knead the mound for a good five minutes. This kneading gives the texture you want for flatbread.
8. Place the plop of dough on a floured surface. I use all-purpose flour for this finishing. Flour your hands and knead the dough for a couple of minutes. Knead in just enough flour to make the dough manageable. This is a soft dough.
9. Place the ball of dough in an oiled bowl. The oil is necessary to keep the dough from sticking to the sides of the bowl as the dough rises.
10. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and set in a warm place to rise until it has doubled in size. Depending on the temperature in your kitchen, this could take up to an hour.
11. After the dough has risen, punch it down and put it back on the floured surface. Knead for a moment or two then pull it apart into eight balls.
12. Roll the balls of dough as you would pie crust or tortillas. Mine are still fairly free-form. It takes a lot of practice to get a circle. No one around here cares, fortunately.
13. Bake on a hot griddle, much like pancakes. Do not try to smash them down with a spatula — it will mess up the texture. Watch for bubbles forming on the top. As soon as they do (about 2 minutes), flip the breads over for another minute of baking. Avoid the temptation to smash them.
14. If you are going to add the olive oil and zaatar, do it as soon as the bread comes off the griddle so that the olive oil sinks in and the zaatar sticks.

Flatbread is at its peak when first baked. If you have any left over (lucky you!), then store them in an airtight container.

I was amazed but did nothing with my new-found knowledge until last week. The broccoli plants in my garden were needing extraction to make way for new vegetable plants. While the broccoli was done producing little flowerettes, each plant had an abundance of healthy tender leaves. I decided to put John’s method to a test.

The process is quick and straightforward — so simple your kids could do it. Six hours later we were eating crispy seasoned broccoli chips and marveling over how sweet they were. We ate and kept eating. How could a food this fun be so healthy? With the low temperature used in dehydrating, these broccoli chips are considered raw by many people. Most of the nutrients are still intact.

To make your own, start by watching John’s video linked above. He delivers loads of information and inspiration. Then follow these steps:

1. Decide what you have available in your garden. John did not strip any plant clean of leaves like I did the broccoli plants. Choose two or three from each plant.

2. Wash the leaves and let them dry. To speed the drying process, tear the leaves into your desired size and run them through a salad spinner. (I cleaned those broccoli leaves the lazy cook’s way. Hours before plucking the leaves, I washed the plants down with a spray nozzle and let them dry standing like soldiers in their little bed. This was a real time saver.)
3. Put the dried leaves in a large bowl and drizzle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil. Toss, toss, toss. You want each leaf to be coated with oil but not dripping.
4. Sprinkle on a bit of sea salt and desired seasoning. I had a sample envelope of organic steak seasoning and decided to use it. It was quite tasty. You could opt for garlic powder, curry powder, and on and on. Sprinkle the seasoning lightly and toss some more. Go for an even distribution of the seasoning.
5. Lay the leaves out on the dehydrator trays. Do not overlap the leaves as you arrange them.
6. If your dehydrator sheets have holes in them, place a piece of aluminum foil in the bottom of the dehydrator to catch oil drips in case there are any. I had none, but you never know.
7. Dehydrate your leaves for about eight hours at 120 degrees. Check from time to time for doneness. The finished chip will be crispy and tender. The dehydrating time can vary depending on what leaves you have chosen, on the humidity, on the size of the leaf pieces, among other variables. Check from time to time.
8. Pile the chips onto a platter for all the family munchers. The chips will begin to lose their crispness within a few hours. Simply return them to the dehydrator for an hour or so for more crispness. An approach that works for us is to set the serving bowl of chips into the oven with just the pilot light heat. In an hour or so the crunch is back.
9. Wash the dehydrator trays clean of oil and seasonings. What tastes great on your vegetable chips may not blend well with your fruit leather. When I know that I will only be doing chips for the next week or so, I just wipe down the trays to remove excess oil and save the bath for later.

One of the pleasures of driving to Fresno is eating at one of the “mom and pop” Armenian restaurants. The savory aromas waft past you as you walk in the door. Unfortunately, those fun places are two hours away, a serious drive from here in our part of the Sequoia National Forest. But with these recipes, we are enjoying more Armenian food right at home and getting closer to authentic every day. You can too!

Start with these shockingly simple cookies. The first time I tried them I thought, “This can’t be right. This is too easy!” Three of us, with decades of experience baking, hung around the oven to watch. We all three agreed: “This can’t be right!”

Then there they were–perfectly shaped and golden, crispy and not too sweet. This cookie is actually a crispy shell with a hollow interior. For its lightness, the cookie is satisfying. You do not need five of them in one sitting. One or two will do nicely. Here’s the line-up.

Tahini Cookies Ingredients

• 1 cup tahini

• 1 cup turbinado or sucanat sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• Sesame seeds – about 1/3 cup

I know you are wondering, “Is this all?” Yes, this is it.

Tahini Cookies Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Stir the tahini. It doesn’t matter how well the tahini was stirred last time you used it, stir again. Stir thoroughly.
3. Measure the tahini into a bowl. Add the sugar, egg, baking soda, and salt.
4. Mix thoroughly.
5. Instructions from The Armenian Kitchen say to form the dough into walnut-sized pieces with slightly dampened hands. My dough was too runny to be handled. The recipe has no flour, so what do you do? I just spooned out dough onto the ungreased cookie sheet and hoped for the best. With about an inch and a half between the cookie batter plops, there was ample room for spreading, which they did. All was well, so just don’t sweat this part.
6. If you end up with balls, press them down gently with a fork.
7. Sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds. This is optional, of course. I opted for a good dosing of seeds. Why not? They are good for you!
8. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. The cookies will be golden when cooked. The centers will still be soft.
9. Allow the cookies to cool for several minutes on the cookie sheet before handling. They are very fragile until cooled.

Store the cookies in an air-tight container. These lovelies are perfect for an afternoon pick-me-up with a cup of tea.

This post was shared at Whole Foods Wednesday

Lydia recommends some prepared ingredients for this dish. She is speaking to college students and folks whose insane schedules preclude cooking. You may have those ingredients in your freezer or home-canned stash as I did. This recipe is a perfect use of garden tomatillo sauce and roasted pepper patties, both stock issue in my freezer.

Putting together a meal of Cuban-inspired black beans, brown rice pilaf, and chili verde chicken will keep you in the kitchen for over an hour. Make it count! Cook enough of everything to provide for two meals. Any of the three dishes reheat without loss of flavor or texture. If you only have enough chicken for one meal, double the other two dishes anyway. To have black beans and brown rice pilaf in the refrigerator puts you ahead in dinner preparation for another meal.

Rinse your soaked beans and put them on to cook before doing anything else. The beans require the most time. While the chicken browns on the stove top you can do the chopping of ingredients to use in the pilaf and bean recipes. Sauce the chicken. Pop it in the oven. Then start on the pilaf. Everything will be done about the same time.

Find our recipe for Cuban-inspired black beans and watch for our special brown rice pilaf. Below are the instructions for the chili verde chicken thighs.

Chili Verde Chicken Thighs Ingredients

• 2 pounds chicken thighs (about 8 thighs)

• 1 rounded tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil
• 2 tablespoons ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
• Salt and pepper to taste
• About 2 cups of tomatillo sauce or green chili sauce
• 1 roasted pepper patty or a small can of chopped Ortega peppers

Chili Verde Chicken Thighs Steps

1. Remove the skin from the thighs. Wash in cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.

2. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet.
3. Add the chicken thighs. Do not crowd.
4. Season the side facing up with salt, pepper, and coriander.
5. When the bottom sides are brown, flip the thighs over and season as in the previous step.
6. While the second side is browning, add the cumin seed.
7. Mix the tomatillo sauce and the roasted peppers in a large baking pan.
8. Add the chicken, coating each piece with sauce. There needs to be a single layer of chicken for even cooking.
9. Bake, uncovered, for about a half hour. When done, the meat will easily pull apart.
10. Dish it up and call everyone to dinner. You won’t have to call twice. The aroma that wafts from the kitchen on this one will have mouths watering and ready.

If you are not using my recipe for tomatillo sauce, add a half cup of finely minced cilantro to the sauce before adding the chicken.

Remember that this started out as a slow cooker proposition. Give it a try when you are really pressed for time.

Our postmaster: “Did you hear that the MAD COW is right here in Tulare County? … That’s why I eat at McDonald’s.”
Me: “Wy would you eat there??!!?!”
Postmaster: “McDonald’s doesn’t sell beef.”

We are not to worry about to spread of this disease that was discovered by a random check of downed cows. With tuberculosis, they test when cows are symptomatic. When they have to use a random number generator to find SE/mad cow, I get a bit concerned…

I’ll leave you with an image of what I hope is a healthy cow a few miles from here trying to hitch a ride with us.

Back to our regularly scheduled recipes and garden photos. Share your post!

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Mom asked a local liquor store for their empty gallon-sized jars from which they sold pickles and pickled pigs feet. The store owner would have thrown out the jars anyway and was happy to have someone to take them off his hands.

One summer I helped scrub dozens of foul-smelling jars. I scrubbed the jars and lids in the yard and left them in the sun for about a month until the pigs feet and pickle stink disappeared. (The lids will hang onto the stink a bit longer than the jars.)

My mom and I still share a pantry some thirty-plus years later, living on a five acre property in the Sequoia National Forest and we still have many of those jars in our collection. A jar may break every couple of years but, for the most part, these jars are about as close to a life-time storage solution as you can get.

And they were cheap. They required only a trip to the liquor store and free child labor.

Last week I happened upon a relish jar that was long-past expiration. I dumped out the contents and cleaned it up for my pantry, thanking God that it was a relish jar and not a jar of pickled pigs feet.

Where to Find Your Jars

With your “used jar” strategy in mind, keep your eyes peeled, especially for these sorts of opportunities:

• An ethnic market that sells pickled pigs feet (or fill in your favorite pickled item here) right out of the jar.

• Gas stations, corner markets, and ethnic grocery stores that sell pickles out of the jar.
• Organizations (churches, schools, PTA) buying a condiment in bulk for an event. You can definitely score plastic jars this way and use the same sun-bathing clean-up method if the jar has an odor. Glass jars are harder to come by for condiments, but the relish jar in this post suggests it is still possible to find them.

When you find an opportunity, just ask.

My mom and I were at a fruit stand last week and I simply made a subtle gesture toward a half-empty pickle jar. There is no need for words when you are in the company of a fellow jar scavenger. The stand was filled with customers so we didn’t do the ask, but she returned days later only to find the jar had been promised to someone else.

We’re glad we’re not the only jar scavengers in the county.

The end result looks somewhat like hash so you will want to serve it in creative ways, making it appear that you have labored long and hard. Here are some ideas for using this chicken salad with tomato combination:

• Add it to a pita pocket along with greens, cucumber, and spicy yogurt dressing.

• Top a pile of mixed greens that have been tossed with a vinaigrette. Sprinkle toasted nuts on top – any kind will work: pine nuts, cashews, walnuts, almonds.
• Chop the chicken into really small bits and use it to build a lavash sandwich along with crispy greens, onion, avocado and arugula. Smear plenty of homemade garlic mayonnaise on to help blend all the flavors.
• Drop a scoop into a bowl of hot chicken bone broth and you have an instant gourmet soup. Garnish the soup with a couple long sprigs of sweet oregano. Side it with a slice of crusty sicilian sesame read with plenty of butter. Oh my! Now you have a magazine-quality lunch.
• Add it to a pan of reheated brown rice pilaf. Lay springs of fresh oregano over the mix as it heats. Keep the lid on and let the herbal steam turn you dish into a unique work of art. Finish with a melting of cheese on the top. Mozzarella and Romano would be a good combo for this.
• Use the brown rice mix above to stuff peppers for roasting. Top with cheese.
• Use it along with jack cheese to fill chicken enchiladas. When the chicken is already flavorful, the enchiladas rise to a whole new level.
• Use it in tacos. Try this chicken combination along with some minced green onion, radishes, and cilantro. Drizzle on the hot sauce of your choosing.

The above list will help you serve outstanding meals in record time. Follow this absurdly easy method for assembling your chicken strips and dried tomato. The amounts of ingredient are just suggestion. Use what you have. Be directed by your own sense of flavor and by what your family will respond to. Experiment with additional ingredients like slivered basil or minced parsley, red pepper flakes and minced cilantro, minced fresh dill, and mint along with a few raisins. There are no limits with this one.

Chicken Salad With Sun Dried Tomato Ingredients

• 4 cups cubed cooked chicken (white or dark meat or mixed)

• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup dried tomatoes in oil
• Salt to taste

Chicken Salad With Sun Dried Tomato Steps

1. Saute the garlic in the olive oil for a moment to just get the aroma going and some of the garlic oil mixed into the olive oil.

2. Add the chicken and toss. Remember the chicken is cooked so you don’t want to walk away from the stove. Over-cooked, chicken turns hard and dry. Get the chicken to the point of sizzling hot. Any surface bacteria should be destroyed and the tomatoes will melt right in.
3. Drop in the dried tomatoes. Unless you have a jar you just purchased from the market, the tomato potion came out of the frig and is quite stiff. The oil is solidified from the cold. Stir in the tomatoes until all the oil is liquid and the tomatoes are evenly mixed.
4. Check for salt and make adjustments.

Use your chicken bravely and explore new frontiers in meal construction. Be sure to enjoy that bit of free time you just carved for yourself with this time-saver.

Kandy kindly offered to send me the measurements on these ingredients if I was interested. I almost accepted her offer and then thought about how I would just change the proportions anyway. I almost always do. You may too.

I scooped, mixed, and chopped, tasting gingerly after each addition. My, my, what a sauce! I could not wait until dinner time. Amanda and I had chicken and dried tomato whip-up on home-made flat bread topped with the spicy yogurt sauce.

When our plates were clean and I was still licking my fingers, Amanda called Sander who was still in town. We needed him to bring home a pack of corn tortillas so we could try Kandy’s core idea: fish tacos. We didn’t want to miss any opportunities with this splendid sauce! It is light and bright, blending with both chicken and fish to make them sing. This is a sauce you could use as a dressing on bean salads, cooked beets, or any of the dense root vegetables. Use it instead of tartar sauce for baked fish. It is very versatile!

Here is Kandy’s sauce with a couple of adjustments to fit the family palette. You will make adjustments too, I’m sure. Get going on this recipe and you will probably get quite creative.

Spicy Yogurt Dressing Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 large jalepeño pepper, seeded and finely minced
• 1 heaping tablespoon capers
• 1 finely minced garlic clove
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 heaping tablespoon fresh dill, minced
• 2 teaspoons sweet oregano, finely minced

Spicy Yogurt Dressing Steps

1. Mix all ingredients in a medium sized bowl.

2. Check for salt and check for heat. Kandy suggests adding cayenne pepper.

By the time I had added the jalepeño, we had reached out heat limit. You can decide for yourself. Any leftover sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for four or five days. You will find plenty of uses for the leftovers.

For best results, soak the black beans over night as per our instructions on soaking beans. Soak your rice overnight as well. Cook them in bone broth for additional flavor.

Cuban Black Beans Ingredients

• 7 cups cooked black beans

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 cup orange juice
• 2 fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 cup freshly minced cilantro

Cuban Black Beans Steps

1. Using a large, heavy skillet, saute the garlic for a moment, stirring all the while. Do not let the garlic get brown.

2. Add onion and continue to saute, stirring every couple of moments.
3. When the onion is just beginning to turn transparent, add the cumin, coriander and paprika. Sauté for 3 or 4 more minutes while the flavors develop in the spices.
4. Add the orange juice and tomatoes and cook another 5 minutes.
5. Add the drained beans and cook until all is hot.
6. Puree 2 cups of the bean mixture with some of the bean liquid to make a smooth mixture.
7. Return the pureed beans to the pot, stirring well.
8. Adjust for salt.
9. Serve over brown rice pilaf.
10. For add richness, serve this dish steaming hot with grated jack cheese sprinkled over the top. The cheese melts quickly and adds a glossy top to an already beautiful dish.

Chicken Adobo Ingredients

• 8 chicken legs

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• sea salt
• 12 finely minced garlic cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cups chicken bone broth or water
• 3/4 cups rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoon tamari sauce
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 tablespoon corn starch mixed with 3 tablespoon cool broth or water

Chicken Adobo Steps

1. Wash the chicken and pat it dry with paper towels.

2. Salt the chicken generously, according to your own tastes.
3. Heat the oil in a large skillet until the oil is shimmering.
4. Fry the legs, turning them to brown the skin all around.
5. Sprinkle the crushed garlic over the chicken.
6. Tuck in the bay leaves.
7. In a medium bowl thoroughly mix together the broth, vinegar, tamari, maple syrup, black pepper, and red pepper.
8. Pour this mix over the chicken and bring it to a boil.
9. Lower the heat to a simmer and let the chicken cook uncovered for about 25 minutes.
10. Pull the chicken from the pot to a side bowl.
11. Add the cornstarch and broth to the chicken pot and stir until the broth turns from cloudy to clear.
12. Return the chicken and any juices to the pan and roll the legs around to coat them in the sauce. Keep the chicken simmering for anther 10 minutes to glaze the chicken.
13. Serve on a bed of rice.

Chicken adobo reheats nicely and can be toted to a potluck in a slow cooker. This was my introduction to the dish. Thank you to all the wonderful people who took the trouble to prepare such delicious food for those potlucks!

We’ve been enjoying our opportunity to take pictures in our area, with incredible green hills and wild flowers. On one of our ventures, we grabbed some shots of these clementine trees and thought you’d find them interesting. Clementines are the small seedless and easy-peel tangerines that have become very popular in the last few years. They get draped with these nets every season and it is something to see.

There are acres upon acres of trees draped in net, usually white but sometimes an ominous black. (Black net in your orchard looks normal. Black net on a hundred acres looks ominous.)

Check out the expanse of these operations. The money just in the netting but then in the extreme time to get it on these trees is mind-boggling.

A citrus friend tells me that the nets keep the trees from cross-pollinating. In the citrus belt, these clementines could cross with another citrus and end up with seeds, dramatically lowering its market value.

They keep the netting in large spools at the end of each row and roll it across when the fruit is in blossom. The netting is weighted at the bottom by soil from the row. Walking up close to them, you could see bees buzzing around inside the netting. It’s pretty cool if you ever have a chance to take a look. You may never complain about netting a few fruit trees in your yard again.

Last Week’s Entries: Maternal Diet

Thank you again for participating last week. Among the food entries, Kendahl from Our Nourishing Roots posted about her son’s cleft palate and the care and nourishment she is showering on her son and reports on his progress and his enjoyment of real food. She wonders out loud in the post if her son’s condition was partly due to her diet, knowing well the connection between maternal nutritional and, well, just about everything when it comes to producing babies. In fact, the relationship is so well established and the role of maternal nutrition so important in the real food movement, that it is common to face judgment from the community, or at least to feel judged.

I get a bee in my bonnet over this very issue because there are so many factors that affect birth defects — a good diet is simply going to help us get dealt a better hand in the game. In the spring of 2009 when we were running around with my infant son getting therapy for his bilateral club foot, an article was published linking higher rates of birth defects to seasons of the year with higher pesticide concentrations in the environment. It’s an interesting article — if you conceive during a season with higher environmental toxins, your baby is more likely to have a birth defect. A good diet will help mitigate the effects of pesticide exposure but the sad fact is that we get exposed to piles of crap out there and that exposure is affecting the cards that we are dealt in pregnancy. Our children are being affected and Kendahl’s approach is critical for all families, with or without clefts or curled feet.

(Here are a few articles from the Rebuild Blog from back in the day with my son: Love, Care, and Nourishment, Baby Misery, and the big Postpartum Depression Survival story).

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