Into the Kitchen

All the greens are coming in full force now, this is my pick off the porch, 6 kindsa lettuce, huge spinach (6" x 5" lvs!) and the star-flowered plant in the foreground, chickweed (Stellaria media)--it's best harvest time is right now. You can also use it to make a healing salve by simmering gently in olive oil, strain after steeping, and add some melted beeswax to make it 'gel'. Read Jethro Kloss' classic, and one of my main references, "Back to Eden, the classic guide to herbal medicine, natural foods and home remedies" for more info.

I made this Green Goddess dressing with some chickweed and....

1 cup yogurt

3 T. olive oil

1/2 cup mixed herbs: chickweed, parsley, thyme, oregano and basil, all fresh off the porch

2 T. lemon juice

1/4 t. salt
1 sm. piece green scallion or some chive and a sm. piece garlic

Put it all in the blender and 'grind' on low till blended and smooth. If it's too thin, add some nutritional yeast.

Onto greater heights, fresh pickles! I'm practicing now to get my chops by harvest time when cukes will be begging to evolve into pickles. Here I blanched cauliflower, carrot, asparagus and garlic then packed loosely into jars with chunks of jalapenos. In each jar are also mustard seed, bay leaf, salt and peppercorns.

Into the heating brine of water and white vinegar, I added sprigs of dry purple basil and got this pretty color. Bring to a boil and pour into clean jars.

Here's my recipe:

12 carrot slices

3 cloves garlic

partial head of cauliflower

Blanch these for 2 minutes. What that means is get a large pot of water boiling, then throw in everything at once and time it. As soon as time's up, drain and put veggies into a bowl of ice cold water to stop the cooking, this keeps them crispy.

Into a quart jar put:

1 teaspoon pickling salt

5 peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon mustard seed

1 bay leaf

Now pack loosely into the jar(s) the veggies along with about 8 nice big fat jalapeno peppers, sliced into 1/2" chunks.

Into a pot, put:

1 cup water

1 1/4 cup white vinegar

Heat this to boiling, then pour into the jar. Put the lid on, seal, cool then put in fridge. Eat the next day, and these will keep for weeks in the fridge.

Easy breeezy!

Porch is getting crowded. It's time to put the tomatoes into the ground, but yesterday only got up to 48 degrees! Buy all the starts you want and have room for now, and start planting, 'cause May 15 is the magic date for putting in the warm weather crops we crave all winter long. You've got 2 weeks now to make it happen, so don't delay (note to self).