Cool as a Cucumber...

Creamy Cucumber-Mint Salad with Borage Flowers

...and getting cooler! As the nighttime temperatures have been dropping, we have been doing our best to make use of the last of the garden produce and fresh herbs. Off-season cucumbers from the grocery store just aren't the same! So... we have to savor them while we can. I love eating plain, salted cucumbers, as a rule, but once in a while it is nice to enjoy them in a new and dressed up venue, which will still enhance their delicate flavor. Here's a recipe to help you enjoy your last cucumbers of the season:

Creamy Cucumber-Mint Salad with Borage Flowers

1 lb cucumbers (about eight small cucumbers)
4 Tbsp chopped fresh mint + whole leaves for garnish
1 cup of diluted coconut milk or plain yogurt
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Sea salt
a handful of fresh borage flowers

Scrub cucumbers and peel alternating strips, so that you have striped cucumbers. Thinly slice and put in a bowl. Add chopped mint, coconut milk or yogurt (or coconut milk yogurt, for that matter!), coriander, lemon juice, and salt, and toss until well-combined. Pour into a serving bowl and garnish with whole mint leaves and borage flowers. Chill before serving. Serves 4.

Capture Fall... Make a Terrarium!

 

 As the leaves turn color, the wind blows colder, and the days grow shorter, it can make a person a little wistful that summer is over, and that we are slowly making our autumn transition into the cold winter ahead. At such a time, one may wish to hold onto anything green and alive before all is covered by a blanket of snow. Well, it is possible! ...with Terrariums!

A terrarium is a bit of nature captured in glass. It often has a cover, but not always. The cover makes a terrarium very easy to take care of, as it minimizes the need for the live plants within to be watered. All that is needed is an occasional light mist. The closed environment preserves the moisture and makes its own small ecosystem. All that is need is a glass container (bowl, candy jar, cheese ball platter, etc), some soil, some moss, perhaps some plants, flowering or not (ferns are especially traditional), and any other gem of nature one would wish to add to the mini garden or piece of nature: stones, pinecones, colored leaves, a piece of birchbark... the possibilies really are endless.

Terrariums were very popular during the Victorian Era, after the concept was discovered by Nathaniel Ward. Read the history here. The "Wardian Case" style of terrarium is named after him. His book on the subject, On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases is available to read online here. A very helpful, up-to-date book on the subject, with artistic ideas and good advice is The New Terrarium: Creating Beautiful Displays for Plants and Nature. I checked it out at our local library and found it to be both helpful and inspiring. "Apartment Therapy" has some inspirational pictures of terrariums here.

Terrariums don't have to be complicated at all. Here are a couple other resources:
How to Create a No-Fuss Garden: Terrariums give you low-maintenance beauty all year long
Grow a Mini-Garden



My Terrarium



Inside My Terrarium

My dad really "gets into" terrariums... Literally. A Greenhouse is merely a giant terrarium! Here is my dad working on our permanent greenhouse, which will help extend the growing season for those of us in the northern part of the country:

Dad working in the Greenhouse. Photo taken by my Mom.

Enjoy Fall & Get Healthy: Go Foraging!

Sumac berries, Blackberries, and Rose hips from a recent forage

Ah, Fall... a time when colors change, and everything seems to be dressed in varying shades of red, orange, brown, and gold: the leaves, the garden bounty... nature itself. As beach days and barbeques give way to school days and soup dinners, it is nice to be able to make use of these lingering longer days by gathering treasures of nature to pleasure the senses.

On a leisurely walk to the lake over the past weekend, I was delighted to find a few last blackberries, some rose hips, and sumac berries. Foraging this time of year awards a number of satisfactions of both sight and taste, as we wish to savor the season by bringing the outdoors in:

Decor: The following gems of the season all lend a lovely autumn flair to centerpieces, fireplace mantles, window sills, office desk, or anyplace that needs to be "spiced up'" with some fall decor:  

Sumac berries

Acorns
Pressed leaves
Pinecones
Crab apples
Rose hips
Small stones

The addition of locally-made beeswax candles adds a soft amber glow to such an arrangement, when lighted.

A Nature-inspired Centerpiece on our Dining Room Table

Culinary Delights: Some of the nature's offerings to the culinary scene include:

Blackberries (the last of the season)

Steep about five leaves in a cup of boiling water for a light tea.


Sumac berries
Sumac-ade: Pick about half a dozen clusters, place them in a pitcher, pour cold water over them, and bruise them a bit with your hand. Let steep in a cold place for a while, until the water turns a light pink. Sweeten with stevia, honey, maple syrup, or unprocessed sugar (Sucanat or Rapadura), or enjoy plain.


Apples (Perhaps a sweeter variety in your own yard!)

Rose hips

Rose hip tea: Cover 3-4 chopped fresh rose hips with a cup of boiling water and steep for 3-5 minutes. Sweeten with stevia, or as desired.


Dandelion roots (By this time of year, the leaves are pretty bitter)
Dandelion root "coffee"



Apple picking from the tree of very generous neighbors

Don't forget your cultivated corner of nature: Your Garden! (or a Farmer's Market). Make use of the fresh herbs while you have them available. Turn basil and parsley into pesto, and see which herbs you can easily nurture on a window sill or in a sun room over the fall and winter.

End of Summer, Beginning of Fall

Canoe trip on the Bigfork River

After inadvertently taking an extended summer vacation from blogging, I'm back behind the desk with my apple and books... and a freshened-up look for the blog, which is still in progress as I hit the books to catch up on my technology knowledge... !

The above picture I took during a short canoe trip I took with three of my high school friends in July... a beautiful segment of the Bigfork River, in northern Minnesota. Camping along the way brought out some new fashion ideas, in the way of mosquito netting: stylish hats and jackets that could even rival tea time or bridge party apparel! (think netted hats of the 1940s and 50s)

Besides canoeing, this summer has been full of all kinds of summer fun: swimming, hiking in the woods, picnicking, attending or singing in weddings, eating garden produce, berry-picking, flea marketing, swing dancing to big band music on a lake, attending or participating in living history events, traveling, reading... Oh yes-- I do actually work too! Now that summer adventures and travels have come to an end, it's time to get back to class! Yes, I've already graduated from college, but still there is that desire to attend classes and/or listen to lectures. Especially in the fall. I guess about 20 years of the pattern makes the habit difficult to break!

So, this fall I have so far decided to take up Watercolor, Knitting, Crocheting, Photography... attend a seminar on essential oils... and cultivate the much neglected singing voice with voice lessons. No Organic Chemistry or Statistics or Macroeconomics here! Working at the health food store and playing the pipe organ for church should round out my daylight hours this fall, and keep me doing the things I love best.

The care-free days of summer are over, but good things lie ahead! Up next: fun ways to enjoy fall, improve your health, and feel your best!

Dandelion Pesto... the Delicious Result

Here it is!

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned a recipe for making dandelion pesto, and a few days ago I got around to trying it. I can't say it has an exotic flavor or anything. With the basil in it, it still has the taste of regular pesto, however the dandelion greens do add a bit of bitterness. However, the result was definitely worthwhile, and yet another way to get excellent greens in your diet: eat gourmet and cleanse your liver too!

I enjoyed the dandelion pesto on broccoli and cauliflower florets at an al fresco lunch with a friend ~ a lovely way to spend a day in May! :)

Again, dandelion greens have all kinds of health benefits, so it's well worth your while to reap these wily weeds!

Vitamins A, B, and C

Beta Carotene
Calcium
Magnesium
Phosphorus

Look at this list for all the benefits of dandelions:

http://www.leaflady.org/health_benefits_of_dandelions.htm

Want more recipes for using dandelions? Check these out:

Wilted Dandelion Greens Salad and Dandy Greens Pasta

You can use Google to find all kinds of other ways to use dandelions...

Dandelion wine

Dandelion root tea (easily found at a health food store, and a great coffee substitute!)
Dandelion salads (you can use both the leaves and the flowers)
Dandelion fritters
Dandelion omelets
Dandelion floral jam
Dandelion soup

...Use the greens any way you would use bitter greens (pizza topping?) and the flowers wherever you would use any other edible flower. I used the greens in a fresh juice (with green apples, romaine, and ginger) yesterday, and in an omelet (with spinach and chives) today.

While weeding your garden, you can put together a soup or salad at the same time! Happy weeding and eating... : )  

Foraging Fun: Fiddlehead Ferns!

Getting bored with your green vegetables? Try Fiddlehead ferns!

In early spring, when fern heads are still lifting up their shy heads after a long winter's slumber... it is the perfect time to glean! While the fronds are still tightly coiled, they can be plucked and eaten raw on a salad, sauteed with mushrooms as a side dish, cooked in a soup, or tossed with pasta. You can basically use them as you would asparagus. The flavor is definitely complemented by some good tasting butter. (the secret of the French culinary arts!) : )

If you can't find them while foraging in the woods (be sure you know for sure which ones are edible), you will often be able to find Fiddleheads at farmer's markets or even in certain upscale or specialty grocery stores. In fact, I even saw them at a Whole Foods Market a couple of weeks ago. I'd have to say though, at $19.99 per pound, it's nice to be able to harvest them from our very own yard... 

The benefits of eating Fiddleheads?

• Something new and interesting to make mealtime exciting! : )
• An additional way to get greens, and therefore the cleansing, detoxifying capabilities of chlorophyll, in your diet

Additional tips:

• Fiddleheads spoil easily, so be sure to use them as soon as possible after picking or purchasing.
• Be sure to clean them very well, and keep rinsing until the water runs clear.
• Cut off the stem at about two inches from the coiled portion, as the stem begins to get bitter at that point.
• Some resources recommend cooking them well to remove any possible antinutrients or possible bacteria (less likely, I would think, when very fresh).

Have you ever tried Fiddlehead ferns? What is your favorite way to enjoy them?

Eggplant Bruschetta

Traditional Italian bruschetta is an appetizer that consists of small toasted bread slices, rubbed with garlic, drizzled with olive oil, and seasoned with salt and pepper. There are many topping variations, such as chopped vegetables, olives, tomatoes, cured meats, puree of legumes, etc.  This recipe features eggplant, standing in for the traditional bread. ...Just another way to get more fruits and vegetables in your diet! This recipe is from goneraw.com, and is listed under Eggplant Mini Pizzas, but to me they seem more like bruschetta. In light of that, the topping may be added after the eggplant "toasts" are crisp, rather than putting the bruschetta in the dehydrator already assembled. Nutritional yeast is a nice addition for a non-dairy (and B-vitamin-rich) bit of parmesan cheese flavor.

Eggplant Buschetta

Ingredients:
2 Eggplants, sliced in rounds 1/4 - 1/2 in. thick
2 cup Tomatoes, Chopped/sliced
¼ cup Olive Oil
2 tablespoon Basil, chopped
1 clove Garlic, minced/pressed
¼ cup Onions, chopped
2 tablespoon Oregano, dried

Preparation:
1.Topping: In a bowl, mix all ingredients except the Eggplant.
2.Spoon topping onto eggplant rounds, and dehydrate at 118 (or desired temp) untill eggplant becomes crispy around the edges (about 8-12 hours.) *

*I'm sure you could also bake them in the oven on the lowest temperature setting (150), if you don't mind that they are no longer "raw."