Petal Play

Then came the day on which I picked ALL THE DANDELIONS. It only happens once a year, if that, because it’s quite a tedium, de-petaling the darlings. Usually, I just make biscuits or some such, but this year I got a bee in my wool hat (still wicked cold ’round here for bonnets), and decided to make a batch of dandelion wine.

I’ll send you here for the recipe, as I’m following it to the letter. I trust Sandor Katz with all my soul, and I’m not going to experiment with my first batch. I’m in the stirring-it-whenever-I-think-of-it-for-the-next-three-days stage of the proceedings. It’s an awful lot of work plucking a gallon’s worth of petals and I admit I was a little shy of the mark, and it seems a big to-do for just one gallon of finished product, but there is loveliness potential in a year’s time and the joy is in the process (especially for me, since I don’t metabolize alcohol very well and won’t be partaking, anyway).

For immediate consumption, these are fun:

I tweaked the only dandelion flower cookie recipe I could find so that I could use coconut flour and therefore triple the quantity of eggs. We have an abundance of the latter.

Dandy Cookies

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
6 eggs
splash vanilla
scant 1/2 cup coconut flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 to 3/4 cup dandelion petals

Preheat oven to 375º. If coconut oil is not liquid (it was too cold in our house), melt it with the honey and let cool a bit. Add the eggs and beat them in. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and mix until well blended. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes. The coconut flour will absorb the liquid and thicken the dough. Drop by tablespoons onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it because liquid sugars tend to burn quickly. You could also double up your baking sheet to prevent the bottoms from getting too brown.

Protein-packed and gluten-free, yo. Enjoy.

 

Advertisement

Little House, Rain Day

We’re almost through The Long Winter. Tonight we read two chapters, as we were all totally engrossed, fascinated, horrified and wondering why they don’t just eat the cow already and spare themselves the suffering that must come of a diet consisting of bread alone. The Boy listened intently to the description of Laura’s emotional state after months of deprivation and said, “It sounds like she wants to be dead. Like she wants to be nothing, like she wants to be earth.” She wants to be earth.

I love how he can extract that perfect little nugget of meaning from the lengthy prose.

In other news, I’ve had that Spring craving for greens greens greens. I whipped up a raw dandelion green “tapenade” with lemon juice, garlic and olive oil…

It’s really excellent on crackers with some chevre. I find it needs something creamy to cut the bitterness, but otherwise, quite yummy.

And C just keeps on baking…

…and I keep drooling and whimpering.

Rain day today…squash are planted out…cookies will be baked…popcorn popped…mud enjoyed…a cardboard spaceship built (this request just in).

This is how I rest…

I get into the kitchen. I just can’t help myself.

Yesterday’s adventures involved homemade granola:

I ended up baking three pans full…about a gallon and a half! One of our local farmer’s market vendors, Bingo Granola, sells their sprouted organic oats. They are AMAZING. I love their granola, too, but even more than that, I love making my own. I used goji berries this time, and they are delicious. No joke.