Redbud pickles, young bamboo shoots with seaweeds, and omelette with swiss chard and sweet mini peppers

Here are some nature-inspired, spontaneous, and delicious green witch projects that took place in Danville, KY, this early spring. They were made possible by Virginia, her family and friends. Thank you all.

Redbud pickles (Photo by bodhilens)

Virginia let me pick blossoms on her old and gorgeous redbud trees in her yard. I just rinsed the blossoms with water, air-dry them, and pickled them in apple cider vinegar and a table spoonful of raw honey for a couple of hours. We poured a few spoonfuls from the jar over mixed commercial and wild greens (lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, and chickweed) and sprinkled a little salt and pepper. The salad was so tasty and refreshing that I ate two bowlfuls. 

Young bamboo shoots with "wakame" seaweeds (Photo by bodhilens)

Virginia's friend Fox let us dig a bagful of young bamboo shoots on her farm. Bodhilens planted a few shoots in our yard, and I cooked this traditional Japanese dish with the rest. It was such a rare treat that I had not eaten for ages. My mother was proud of me for making it from scratch. It is a lot of work peeling and boiling the finger-size cores of the bamboo shoots, but it is worth the effort for this seasonal delicacy.

Ginger-flavored omelette with swiss chard and sweet mini peppers (Photo by bodhilens)

Virginia's daughter Margaret shared with us very fresh farm eggs laid by her "girls" in her yard. I stir-fried swiss chard from Fox's garden and sweet mini peppers from Kroger with grated ginger in extra virgin canola oil, beat the eggs and poured in the pan, and seasoned the omelette with salt and pepper.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the chickweed in the salad also came from Margaret's yard. I gave the girls a bunch of chickweed in return for their eggs, and they went crazy over it and seemed to really love it. The common name of the plant totally made sense to me. Chickweed is ranked #3 on Top 10 Edible Plants in Your Yard and is actually very nutritious and healing to both humans and animals. Next time you think about weeding chickweed, think about tossing it in salad, soup, and feed. 

Dandelion and violet flower honeys and vinegars

Dandelion and violet flower honeys (Photo by bodhilens)

Dandelion and violet flower vinegars (Photo by bodhilens)

Paying attention to wild plants gives me a sense of abundance, and learning about them makes me appreciate their uniqueness and beauty. Many of them are actually nutritious and/or medicinal. I do not see them as unwanted and invasive "weeds" anymore, but instead I am always amazed by their vitality. I am even grateful for their generosity when I keep harvesting them to make herbal infusions, vinegars, tinctures, and honeys, and they keep coming back. I have just made small jars of dandelion and violet flower honeys and vinegars, and look forward to using them in teas, salads, and sweets.

Directions:

1. Select a glass jar that is a right size for the amount of your harvest.

(Ideally, fill a jar with flowers and honey to the top. I filled mine over a few days because I could only harvest a soup-bowl-full of flowers a day from my yard. Also, use a plastic lid or a parchment paper liner under a metal lid for vinegars.)

2. Pick flowers and rinse them with water to clean any dirt and small insects off.

(I usually just pour tap water in the bowl of flowers, stir for a minute, and scoop the flowers out in a strainer to drain.)

3. Air-dry flowers on a clean cloth.

(If flowers are dirt-free and/or you want to keep pollen, skip #2 and let small insects escape at #3.)

4. Sterilize the jar.

(I usually place a jar and a lid in a bowl and pour boiling water over them, carefully take them out on a clean cloth, and air-dry them.)

5. Put flowers in the sterilized jar and pour honey (preferably organic raw honey) or apple cider vinegar in. Use a clean chopstick to stir and make sure all flowers are mixed well with honey or vinegar.

6. Keep herbal honeys and vinegars in a dark place. Check everyday for a week or so and top off honey or vinegar to keep flowers mixed well with honey or vinegar. Enjoy consuming herbal honeys in 2-4 weeks, herbal vinegars in 4-6 weeks.

Here are some nice videos of Susan Weed making violet flower honey and dandelion flower vinegar. She explains that the medicinal properties of honey are "soothing and dissolving," and violet flower adds to the effects. Therefore, violet flower honey helps to heal bruises, minor burns, and sore throat. She also explains that vinegar extracts vitamins and minerals out of plants, and dandelion flower vinegar is especially good for digestion.

Last year I made and consumed quite a bit of dandelion leaf and root vinegar. It is even more nutritious and medicinal than the flower vinegar, and all the minerals extracted from the plant makes apple cider vinegar tastes mellower, which makes it perfect for salad dressing. The flower vinegar is prettier, though.

Recycling stale bread heals and baguettes

I always keep a bag of stale bread heals and leftover baguettes in my freezer, which becomes handy when I want some bread crumbs for a dish or rusks for a snack. I usually thaw some frozen bread in a microwave (and make sure it is dry), chop it into bite-size pieces, and run them in a food processor. Homemade bread crumbs retain unique flavors from whatever bread they were made of and tend to be crunchier and not so absorbent than store-bought bread crumbs, especially if they are made of heals or baguettes.

Ingredients

3-4 heels of bread or 10-12 slices of a small baguette (naturally stale or dried in a microwave)
2 TBSP of coconut oil and/or butter (melted)
1 TBSP of honey or sucanat
A pinch of stevia
1 TBSP of ginger (grated)

Directions


1. Cut bread into bites or slices.
2. Mix all the seasonings.
3. Coat the bread with the mixed seasonings well. (I use my hands.)
4. Place the seasoned bread pieces or slices on parchment paper and bake at 360F until they are golden-brown (about 20 minutes).

Raw granola

Raw granola (Photo by bodhilens)

I've been trying to incorporate more raw food into our diet to replenish enzymes in our bodies. This is one of our favorite raw food dishes, a super-nutritious and tasty alternative for cereal. I learned a lot of interesting and helpful information from raw foodists on YouTube. Sprouted grains and seeds are so alive that they give us extra boost of energy.

Ingredients (for 8-10 servings):

1 cup of hulled buckwheat

1 cup of oat groats

1 cup of hulled sunflower seeds

1 cup of  raw almonds

1 cup of shredded coconuts

1 cup of dry fruits (e.g., cranberries)

1/2 TBSP of cinnamon powder

1 pinch of natural salt

1/2 tsp of vanilla essence

2-3 TBSP of raw honey

2-3 TBSP of coconut oil (or melted butter)

1/2 cup of yogurt and 1 tsp of fruit spread/jam for garnishing a small bowl of raw granola

Directions:

1. To sprout grains and seeds, put them in separate bowls/containers and wash them well, soak them in water for a few hours to overnight (e.g., buckwheat and sunflower seeds for a few hours, oat groats and almonds overnight), strain water and leave them wet in the bowls, rinse them with water again and strain water twice a day until they germinate/sprout. Buckwheat gets slimy when soaked in water, so rinse them a few times after soaking. When it's warm, buckwheat and sunflower seeds sprout in a day or two (i.e., tiny white tails grow visibly). It's hard to tell when oat groats and almonds germinate, but I consider them ready for use around the time when buckwheat and sunflower seeds sprout. 

2. When all grains and seeds are ready for use, rinse them with water again and spread them on a cloth to air-dry them for an hour or so. 

3. Crush oat groats, almonds, and dry fruits in a blender. 

4. Mix #3 with the rest of the ingredients in a big bowl. 

5. This raw granola goes well with yogurt and fruit spread. 

You can dehydrate this raw granola if you like it crispy and crunchy and want to store it in room temperature. I don't bother to dehydrate it. I keep it in fridge, and it will stay fresh for several days.