Wild Salad

   I love fresh, green salads! Often times I can make a whole meal off of them. When my body gets in its 'craving salad mode' (and it often does), I pretty much live on salads for days... even weeks .... at a time. Usually, this means that your body is needing something that is in the salads and you should go with your craving (so long as it is healthy stuff).

The other day I got in a MAJOR salad mood, didn't have any salad fixin's here at home, the salad items in the garden aren't ready yet, and I didn't want to drive in to town just to buy salad makings, so I decided to take a stroll in my yard to see what I could throw together. The picture you see on the left was the end result of my Wild Salad walk. Drizzled with a little "juice" I had saved from a jar of marinated artichoke hearts, I had a very tasty salad for the cost of nothing.

The wild greens that are available for a fresh salad vary greatly as the seasons change. But from late winter, all the way up until the weather really begins to get hot, you can almost always find a readily available supply of fresh greens for a very tasty fresh salad. But be sure and pick only greens that have not been touched by any chemicals, such as insecticides or fertilizers. Here is what this salad included:

WILD SALAD

• Lambsquarters (wild spinach, goosefoot)
• Asiatic Day Flowers (blue flowers and leaves)
• Wood Sorrel (Sheep Showers - a very lemony flavor)
• Wild Garlic Chives (from first year wild garlic)
• Honeysuckle flowers
• Mulberries (wild black)
• Redbud Tree Leaves
• Yellow Dock Leaves
• Perilla Mint (Shiso)
• Plantain (the green, leafy plant, NOT the bananas)
• Chick Weed (a little difficult to find this time of year, but I found one in the deep shade)

Wash your salad ingredients thoroughly in cool water and pat dry with toweling. Although it is important to wash the dust, dirt and possible critter pee off of your fresh greens, I did not wash the delicate flowers, as they just seemed too delicate. 

The amounts of each green used are strictly up to the individual and their taste preferences. I used very little Perilla Mint because I don't care for its licorice flavor, but a little did lend a lot to the overall flavor blend of the salad. Some people, though, might like much more of the licorice-like flavor in their salad. Make sure you pick only the young, tender leaves of your greens for your raw salad, otherwise, they might be tough and/or too strong (overpowering other items in the salad mix). 

The mulberries are actually black mulberries (as you can see by the one on the upper right), but Dave and I recently ate all the ones we could reach on my tree as we stood and chatted one evening, so we are having to wait for some more to ripen. But the reddish ones were still very good in this salad.The flavors of them, the honeysuckle and the garlic... all in the same bite .... blend especially well. 

Serve with your favorite salad dressing and a slice of homemade bread or crackers. Mmmm..... it just doesn't get much better! 

 Note: The larger Redbud lambsquarters leaves were more for decoration. The younger, more tender ones in the salad were the ones for eating. 
CAUTION: ALWAYS BE SURE YOU KNOW THE TRUE IDENTITY OF THE PLANT(S) YOU ARE EATING!    

Fried Potatoes & Onions with a Twist

I love Fried Potatoes and Onions. Sometimes I get in the mood for them and practically live on them for days. Although there is a lot of health benefits to them, eating them for dinner several days in a row can leave you lacking in protein and green vegetables.

This week, once again, found me in a Fried Potatoes and Onions mood, but I decided I really needed to do something to make it a more well rounded meal. As I got the potatoes to cooking, I pondered what else I could toss in with them. The following is what I came up with. No, the ingredients are not in exact measurements. Every ingredient in this recipe is easily varied according to the individual taste bud. There are no right and wrong amounts of any one ingredient. So have fun with it and enjoy... it is REALLY GOOD!

 
Fried Potatoes & Onions with a Twist

• 1 small to medium onion (variety is your choice, I used a strong yellow one)
•  a few potatoes (I used 4 russets, but I especially like to use red for frying)
• about a quart of fresh, cleaned lambsquarters (can also use fresh or frozen spinach or other greens, such as turnip or mustard)
• fresh farm eggs (I used 4, a ratio of about 1 per potato)
• salt to taste (and pepper if you wish)
• cooking oil (I used peanut oil)

 In a large skillet, add just enough cooking oil to pool a little on the bottom of the skillet. I especially like to use a good, well-seasoned iron skillet for this.

While the skillet of oil is beginning to heat up, peel the onion, wash and chop it up into the skillet into medium-sized, uniform pieces. The size and shape of the onion pieces is strictly personal choice.

Next, peel, wash and slice up the potatoes, then add them into the skillet with the onions. Give a little stir to coat the potatoes with oil and move the cooking onions around a bit. I like to use a heavy spatula for this.

Continue to 'fry' the potatoes and onions, turning over occasionally, just until the potatoes begin to have a little 'give', but are still a little firm. At this point, place the fresh greens on top of all and spread out evenly in the skillet. Loosely place a lid over all so that the greens can begin to steam and wilt.

In a few minutes, after the greens have begun to really wilt, and using your spatula, turn everything over, spreading the greens around well. Loosely return the lid and continue this process every few minutes until the potatoes and the greens are done to your desired tenderness. But just before they hit the desired tenderness, add in a little salt (and other desired seasonings) to taste, keeping in mind that the lambsquarters are naturally salty tasting.

 Just as everything appears done to your liking, before you turn the heat off, break the eggs and drop them in on top of all (can pre-scramble the eggs if desired, but not necessary). Break the yokes and let the eggs begin to cook. Gently stir and fold everything in the skillet a few times as you allow the eggs to cook. They will cook very quickly!  Remove from heat and serve immediately, adding more salt if desired. Serve as is or topped with salsa, ketchup or Sweet Vidalia Onion salad dressing. An added side dish of fruit also goes great with it and helps to further balance out the meal. Not only is this meal highly nutritious, but ultra thrifty as well. I think that next time, I am going to try also adding in some fresh sliced mushrooms as I add in the greens. Enjoy!

BREAD ON MONDAY - Lambsquarters Bread

Call it what you want.... Goosefoot, Goose Foot, Lambsquarters, Lambs Quarters, Wild Spinach, Pig Weed, Fat Hen, Poor Man's Spinach, and the list goes on and on. But whatever you want to call it, I call it DELICIOUS!!! It is one of the most versatile and nutritious vegetables that I know of. And I am thankful that I have been so very blessed to have it growing so abundantly on my front acre, so in the coming months, you will probably be seeing lots of recipes making good use of this wonderful green veggie.

This time I used it to make a great loaf of bread in my bread machine. It came out so good that I want to share it with you. Although I did write down how I did it as I went (in case it came out good and I wanted to make it again), I will warn you, all measurements are approximate. Although most are exact (as I used) in this recipe, I usually cook on the "dab of this, dash of that" method. Add in to the mix, there are many factors that can vary from batch to batch...such as - moisture content of your flour, amount of liquid in your soft ingredients, age of your yeast, type of sugar used, room temperature, atmospheric conditions, and the list goes on. So if it doesn't work out as well as you would like the first time, don't give up... try again, making adjustments accordingly! A bread recipe may come out somewhat differently from one person to the next, but all results are usually very good.


WILD SPINACH BREAD - For the Bread Machine

   3/4 cup wild spinach puree (fresh lambsquarter cooked tender, then pureed in a food processor)

   3/4 cup warm (not hot) filtered or spring water

   4 tsp. sunflower oil

   1 tsp. natural, unprocessed salt (I used Pink Himalayan)

   1 1/2 tsp. evaporated cane juice (granulated)

   3 1/2 cups bread flour (approximately)

   1 3/4 tsp instant yeast

   Butter

Make sure the paddle is securely in place in the bucket of your bread machine. Nothing is much more upsetting on a loaf of bread machine bread than to anxiously have anticipated that finished loaf of bread, only to learn that you had forgotten to put the paddle in!

In the bottom of your bread machine bucket, place the spinach puree, warm water, sunflower oil, salt, and sugar (evaporated cane juice). Give it all a little mix. It doesn't have to be very thorough.

Add in the flour, making sure it spreads out to cover the liquid ingredients.

Make a small well in the flour and add in the yeast. Secure the bucket of ingredients into your bread machine, set it to White Bread - Medium Crust - and turn on according to your Bread Machine instructions.

After your bread dough has mixed for a few minutes, check it for proper moisture content. While you still have plenty of mixing time, decide if the dough texture is 'just right' or if it is too stiff (needs a sprinkle more water) or too soft (needs a sprinkle more flour). But KEEP YOUR FINGERS OUT OF THE RUNNING BREAD MACHINE!

When the cycle has completed and your bread is done, carefully remove (Carefully, it will be hot!) and lightly brush the entire outside of the loaf with melted butter. (I cheat and simply rub the stick of butter around all over the loaf. If the bread is hot, the butter melts as you rub it around over the bread.)  Let cool just a few minutes for easier slicing. Serve warm or slice cold for sandwiches. Would also make good croutons for salads.

This bread provides a great nutritional punch. It may also be a great way to get your kids to eat their veggies! For me, it made absolutely wonderful Grilled Cheese Sandwiches! I do hope you enjoy!

NOTE: Spinach or other greens can be used in place of the lambsquarters/wild spinach. It is measured AFTER it is pureed.

Also, this bread recipe is NOT restricted to just a bread machine. It works just as well mixed and kneaded by hand, then baked in your oven, as you would an average loaf of bread.  We loved this bread so much, I plan to put up small packages of cooked Lambsquarters in the freezer so that I can make it throughout the cold winter months to go with hot soups.