My Kitchen (and me) Are Being Featured on Cheeseslave Today!

Cheeseslave is a fantastic blog about REAL FOOD. Real food means what it says...real butter, raw milk, organic meats and produce, traditional cooking....food that nourishes. Nothing that says 'light' and nothing that has been processed to resemble something 'like' real food. Eating the way your healthy, robust, cancer-free, heart-disease-free ancestors did. As most of you must know by now, that's the way we've been eating since reading Sally Fallon's book Nourishing Traditions.

Ann Marie from Cheeseslave likes to share the kitchens of fellow real food enthusiasts once in a while, and I'm so happy she has chosen mine to be featured today!

Hop on over HERE to have a look if you're curious! I hope you will not only enjoy having a peek at my kitchen, but that you will stick around and browse the awesome recipes and fascinating information that fills Ann Marie's blog.

So-Simple Linzer Torte Bars with Wild Plum Jam

I found a wild plum tree in the corner of the hilltop here, and right now the branches are heavy with ripe, glowing fruit.

I picked as many as I could carry and for a few days they sat there, pink purple and pretty, in a wire basket, because I wasn't sure what I wanted to make with them.

I decided to cook them into a simple jam of fruit and powdered sugar.

It melted down into the most delicious, tart, sweet, sticky magenta mess.

I jarred it up and put it into the fridge.

Then I found a recipe I knew I wanted to use this wild plum jam for.

Linzer Tort Bars, by Betty Crocker.

The recipe is so simple; only 6 ingredients.

And the result is lovely!

Linzer Torte Bars

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup ground walnuts or almonds

1/2 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon cinammon (I substituted 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg)

2/3 cup red raspberry preserves (I used my wild plum preserves)

Heat oven to 375°

Mix all ingredients except preserves until crumbly.

Press two-thirds of mixture into an ungreased pan, 9x9x2 inches (a brownie pan).

Spread with preserves.

Sprinkle with remaining crumbs. Press gently into preserves.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown.

Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Store in an airtight container.

YUM.

xoxo country girl

Gathering Herbs for 'Baby, Come!' Tea

The other day my friend Gerit sent me the photo you see above. She told me she had found these flowers in her garden, and that the light pink blossoms, called Robert Geranium or Geranium robertianum, were an important part of an old recipe for tea called 'Kindlein-komm!' Translated to english, 'Baby, come!" As the name states, it's meant for women who are hoping to have a visit from the stork as soon as possible. Women have claimed to have gotten pregnant within weeks or days of drinking this tea three times a day! Well, naturally I needed the recipe.

Baby, Come! Tea Recipe:

Lady's Mantle 50 g

St. John's Wort 50 g

Lady's Bedstraw 50 g

Robert Geranium 50 g

Yarrow 50 g

Yellow Sweet Clover 50 g

White or Yellow Dead Nettle blossoms 5 – 10 g

Instructions: 

Gather and dry these herbs, preferably during the waxing moon and before noon for the highest potency.  Grind into a tea. Drink 3 cups a day, beginning on the day after your period has ended or if your period is late. During your period, abstain from drinking this tea, and substitute with another, such as raspberry leaf, or mugwort, which supports ovulation.

I began gathering this morning, although it is very wet out (it's been raining on and off for over a week now), and most of the ingredients haven't yet blossomed (herbs tend to be more potent when they are in bloom). But I knew where I could find lady's mantle and yellow dead nettles and thought I would get a head start on making my Baby, Come! tea. 

When it's wet like this, you rarely see a single soul while out in the woods or fields. Which I admit, is how I like it best. It's very quiet...

...just the sound of the creek running, the birds singing, water dripping from leaves, my footsteps through tall damp grass, and Kiki behind me, sniffing and sometimes digging.

I came to the field where I had found lady's mantle once before and began treading slowly, parting the high blades of grass carefully; my sneakers were soaked through by now. I finally spotted some leaves of lady's smock, glistening with rain drops.

There is something about gathering your own herbs...you feel connected to all the women before you who did the same, picking leaves from stems on still mornings, with intentions of healing, or a heart filled with hope. And there is that closeness with God, with nature...that gratitude for the miraculous fact that every growing thing has it's own unique properties, some of which hold the power for healing, or nourishment. And there is this feeling I get when I see an herb I was looking for...the feeling that it is there, growing and existing only for me to come and discover it.

I ended up finding a whole handfull of lady's mantle, and then moved on to yellow dead nettles, which are a favorite of bumble bees and ants for their sweet and plentiful nectar. I had to shake a few insects off of the ones I picked. Yellow dead nettles have a mild and pleasant fragrance. I kept breathing it in while I gathered.

I also found some wild strawberry, and decided to harvest some of their leaves, which, when dried, make a lovely tea. Strawberry leaf tea is good-tasting tea which helps to ease an upset stomach.

On my way back home, with my hand full of herbs and Kiki with a muddy snout from poking it into mouse holes, I stopped to admire this woodpile.

Yes....I admired a woodpile. And I was glad that a neat, tawny stack of wood could bring joy to my heart.

My herbs are drying now. And I am taking time to notice the small, simple things that make me happy...

...like a wild rose in an egg cup.



xoxo country girl 

p.s. thank you, gerit, for the herblore and wisdom you share with me!

Spring Frittata with Wild Nettles, Ground Elder, and Ramsons

This morning I did my first real foraging of the year and brought home a small bag of young nettles and ground elder. I had gathered some ramsons the other day and knew I wanted to combine these three wild spring greens into a frittata. A frittata is an Italian egg dish, like a quiche without the crust. Layers of anything you like (mine always include potatoes, bacon and cheese) baked until golden and bubbly. The perfect spring dish.
As I was washing the greens in a colander, wondering what I should serve with the frittata once it was done, I heard the shuffling sound outside my door of the man who delivers my weekly box of organic produce and raw milk. It's always a little surprise what's inside. When I saw a cluster of radishes among the piles of fresh veggies and fruits, I knew I wanted to make little radish-butter finger sandwiches using organic brown bread from the local bakery. 

Spring Frittata with Wild Nettles, Ground Elder, and Ramsons

fistfull of spring greens washed of any debris, chopped
1/2 cup gouda grated or thinly sliced
4 tiny onions peeled and chopped
5 or 6 small potatoes boiled, peeled, sliced into rounds
4 strips of bacon cut into tiny pieces
salt, pepper

8 eggs room temperature

1/2 cup milk beat together with the eggs

soft butter for greasing pan


preheat oven to 200°C (392°F)


Make repeating layers with the first 6 ingredients evenly in a greased 9-inch pan.
Pour egg/milk mixture over.
Bake for 30-35 minutes. (your kitchen will be smelling lovely right about now!)
Serve warm with radish-butter finger sandwiches or a spring salad.

A note about collection stinging nettles:

One of the most fascinating things I've learned about the plant kingdom is that, where there is something harmful, the cure more often than not grows right beside it. So it is with nettles and the common 'weed' ribwort, or plantago , pictured here to the left. They often grow very close to one another. If your fingers are tingling from collecting nettles, make a knot out of a few ribwort leaves and rub and squeeze them between your palms until the juice is released. This juice will ease the pain and itching. It even helped sooth the uncomfortable bug bight my stepmother had last spring. 


On another note...
All of your heartfelt and sincere messages have touched me and uplifted me, AS ALWAYS. I am so grateful to you all. You teach me so much about myself, and about the goodness to be found in others. Thank you!

xoxo country girl