Garden Fairy's Cafe

Red clover infusion

2012-05-23T23:47:00.000-04:00

Chilled red clover infusion and dried blossoms

Recently good friends of mine asked me to house-sit and take care of the animals and plants on their farm for a week. Their property was abundant with edible and/or medicinal wild plants (such as red clover, yellow dock, lamb's quarters, sheep sorrel, cleavers, pepperweed, and mullein), and I enjoyed harvesting them to make dried herbs, tinctures, and vinegars. I picked and dried a lot of red clover blossoms for infusion. It has mildly earthy, slightly sweet and astringent flavors, which is palatable as hot or cold.

Hot red clover infusion with a slice of lemon and honey

Red clover is highly nutritious and medicinal, containing a lot of calcium along with other minerals for healthy bones and teeth for everyone as well as isoflavones (dietary estrogens) for healthy breasts for women and healthy prostate for men. And you can get it for free every spring if you know where it voluntarily grows without being sprayed with pesticides or being polluted by gas fumes on the roadside.

Here is a great video of Susan Weed demonstrating how to make red clover infusion and explaining its nutritional and medicinal properties.

Lavender

2012-05-21T21:48:00.001-04:00

Lavender (Photo by bodhilens)

This is the spring 2012 harvest of lavender blossoms. The lavender bush in our backyard grew from seeds and is now 4 or 5 years old. It provides me enough leaves and flowers to make tea (very fragrant), herbes de provence (great for pizza crust), and shortbread (the best) for two throughout a year.

Redbud pickles, young bamboo shoots with seaweeds, and omelette with swiss chard and sweet mini peppers

2012-04-25T16:03:00.001-04:00

Here are some nature-inspired, spontaneous, and delicious green witch projects that took place in Danville, KY, this early spring. They were made possible by Virginia, her family and friends. Thank you all.

Redbud pickles (Photo by bodhilens)

Virginia let me pick blossoms on her old and gorgeous redbud trees in her yard. I just rinsed the blossoms with water, air-dry them, and pickled them in apple cider vinegar and a table spoonful of raw honey for a couple of hours. We poured a few spoonfuls from the jar over mixed commercial and wild greens (lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, and chickweed) and sprinkled a little salt and pepper. The salad was so tasty and refreshing that I ate two bowlfuls.

Young bamboo shoots with "wakame" seaweeds (Photo by bodhilens)

Virginia's friend Fox let us dig a bagful of young bamboo shoots on her farm. Bodhilens planted a few shoots in our yard, and I cooked this traditional Japanese dish with the rest. It was such a rare treat that I had not eaten for ages. My mother was proud of me for making it from scratch. It is a lot of work peeling and boiling the finger-size cores of the bamboo shoots, but it is worth the effort for this seasonal delicacy.

Ginger-flavored omelette with swiss chard and sweet mini peppers (Photo by bodhilens)

Virginia's daughter Margaret shared with us very fresh farm eggs laid by her "girls" in her yard. I stir-fried swiss chard from Fox's garden and sweet mini peppers from Kroger with grated ginger in extra virgin canola oil, beat the eggs and poured in the pan, and seasoned the omelette with salt and pepper.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the chickweed in the salad also came from Margaret's yard. I gave the girls a bunch of chickweed in return for their eggs, and they went crazy over it and seemed to really love it. The common name of the plant totally made sense to me. Chickweed is ranked #3 on Top 10 Edible Plants in Your Yard and is actually very nutritious and healing to both humans and animals. Next time you think about weeding chickweed, think about tossing it in salad, soup, and feed.

Dandelion and violet flower honeys and vinegars

2012-03-29T23:19:00.007-04:00

Dandelion and violet flower honeys (Photo by bodhilens)

Dandelion and violet flower vinegars (Photo by bodhilens)

Paying attention to wild plants gives me a sense of abundance, and learning about them makes me appreciate their uniqueness and beauty. Many of them are actually nutritious and/or medicinal. I do not see them as unwanted and invasive "weeds" anymore, but instead I am always amazed by their vitality. I am even grateful for their generosity when I keep harvesting them to make herbal infusions, vinegars, tinctures, and honeys, and they keep coming back. I have just made small jars of dandelion and violet flower honeys and vinegars, and look forward to using them in teas, salads, and sweets.

Directions:

1. Select a glass jar that is a right size for the amount of your harvest.

(Ideally, fill a jar with flowers and honey to the top. I filled mine over a few days because I could only harvest a soup-bowl-full of flowers a day from my yard. Also, use a plastic lid or a parchment paper liner under a metal lid for vinegars.)

2. Pick flowers and rinse them with water to clean any dirt and small insects off.

(I usually just pour tap water in the bowl of flowers, stir for a minute, and scoop the flowers out in a strainer to drain.)

3. Air-dry flowers on a clean cloth.

(If flowers are dirt-free and/or you want to keep pollen, skip #2 and let small insects escape at #3.)

4. Sterilize the jar.

(I usually place a jar and a lid in a bowl and pour boiling water over them, carefully take them out on a clean cloth, and air-dry them.)

5. Put flowers in the sterilized jar and pour honey (preferably organic raw honey) or apple cider vinegar in. Use a clean chopstick to stir and make sure all flowers are mixed well with honey or vinegar.

6. Keep herbal honeys and vinegars in a dark place. Check everyday for a week or so and top off honey or vinegar to keep flowers mixed well with honey or vinegar. Enjoy consuming herbal honeys in 2-4 weeks, herbal vinegars in 4-6 weeks.

Here are some nice videos of Susan Weed making violet flower honey and dandelion flower vinegar. She explains that the medicinal properties of honey are "soothing and dissolving," and violet flower adds to the effects. Therefore, violet flower honey helps to heal bruises, minor burns, and sore throat. She also explains that vinegar extracts vitamins and minerals out of plants, and dandelion flower vinegar is especially good for digestion.

Last year I made and consumed quite a bit of dandelion leaf and root vinegar. It is even more nutritious and medicinal than the flower vinegar, and all the minerals extracted from the plant makes apple cider vinegar tastes mellower, which makes it perfect for salad dressing. The flower vinegar is prettier, though.

Recycling stale bread heals and baguettes

2012-03-23T10:27:00.000-04:00

I always keep a bag of stale bread heals and leftover baguettes in my freezer, which becomes handy when I want some bread crumbs for a dish or rusks for a snack. I usually thaw some frozen bread in a microwave (and make sure it is dry), chop it into bite-size pieces, and run them in a food processor. Homemade bread crumbs retain unique flavors from whatever bread they were made of and tend to be crunchier and not so absorbent than store-bought bread crumbs, especially if they are made of heals or baguettes.

Ingredients

3-4 heels of bread or 10-12 slices of a small baguette (naturally stale or dried in a microwave)
2 TBSP of coconut oil and/or butter (melted)
1 TBSP of honey or sucanat
A pinch of stevia
1 TBSP of ginger (grated)

Directions

1. Cut bread into bites or slices.
2. Mix all the seasonings.
3. Coat the bread with the mixed seasonings well. (I use my hands.)
4. Place the seasoned bread pieces or slices on parchment paper and bake at 360F until they are golden-brown (about 20 minutes).

Mystery wild plant in backyard

2012-03-22T23:13:00.003-04:00

Mystery wild plant in backyard (Photo by gardenfairy)

This is one of the wild plants in our backyard about which I have been curious for the past few years. The plant seemed to be biennial, considering that only its rosette base grew last year. I begged bodhilens to mow it around last spring so that I could find out what it is this spring. I initially thought it might be a kind of mullein because the forage was oval and velvety, then I wished it were white borage when someone at Garden Forums suggested that it might be a plant that belongs to the family of Boraginacease. When the flowers bloomed, however, it became obvious that they were neither mullein nor borage but appeared to belong to the genus of Erigeron in the family of Asteraceae, most likely Eastern daisy fleabane or Philadelphia fleabane.

Eastern daisy or Philadelphia fleabane (Photo by bodhilens)

According to some online sources, the name "fleabane" came from the belief that the dried plants repelled fleas, and people used to hang the dried plants in barns. We seem to have lost the wisdom, but birds, particularly starlings, still line their nests with the plants to repell mites.

Meatless meatballs & mung bean sprouts and pickled red ginger salad

2012-01-17T23:57:00.000-05:00

Photo by bodhilens

This meatless meatball is made of a mixture of mushrooms and walnuts with seasonings. I think this mixture is one of the most delicious vegetarian alternatives to ground beef. I am always amazed by how meaty it tastes. According to raw foodists on YouTube, you can dehydrate the meatballs in a dehydrator or in an oven at 115°F for several hours (to preserve the nutrients and enzymes in raw food), but I usually pan-fry them with 1 TBSP of oil to save time and electricity. This "moyashi" (mung bean sprouts) and "beni shoga" (pickled red ginger) salad is a tasty and nutritious side dish that is super-easy to make. I found the original recipe at the largest Japanese recipe site called "Cookpad" when looking for ways to eat home-grown mung bean sprouts.You can find pickled red ginger and Japanese mayonnaise at most East Asian grocery stores. I know that mayonnaise is not the healthiest thing, but I cannot resist using a small amount of Japanese mayonnaise occasionally because it does some magic for many dishes.

Meatless meatballs (for 4 servings)

Ingredients:

1 pack of mushrooms (portabella or white)
2 cups of walnuts
1 tsp of soy sauce, 1 tsp of olive oil, and 1 clove of garlic (for marinating mushrooms)
1 tsp of thyme
1 tsp of oregano
1 TBSP of fresh parsley (or 1 tsp of dry parsley)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp of natural salt
2 small pieces of "taka no tsume" (or any other kinds of red hot chili peppers)
1-2 TBSP of olive oil (for consistency)
1 TBSP of canola oil (or any other kinds of oil of your choice for pan-frying)

Need a food processor and your favorite meatball sauce (e.g., sweet and sour sauce, BBQ sauce, soy sauce with "mirin" [rice wine sweetener], and tomato sauce).

Directions:

1. Soak walnuts in water for 1 hour or longer.

2. Marinate mushrooms in soy sauce, grated garlic, and olive oil for 1 hour or longer.

3. Put #1 and #2 in a food processor. Add all the seasonings and 1 TBSP of olive oil in. Run the food processor until the mixture turns into the right consistency for meatballs. Add another TBSP of olive oil if necessary.

4. Take 1 tsp of the mixture and make a small piece of meatball. (The mixture is softer and looser than regular meatballs, so a large piece tends to crumble. )

5. Pan-fry the meatballs with 1 TBSP of oil of your choice until they are brown.

6. Pour a sauce of your choice over the meatballs.

Mung bean sprouts and pickled red ginger salad (for 4 servings)

Mung bean sprouts (4 TBSP of mung beans sprouted to almost fill a quart jar. See the directions here.)
1 TBSP of "beni shoga" (pickled red ginger)
1 TBSP of Japanese mayonnaise

Need a large bowl.

Directions:

1. Put the sprouts in boiling water for 30 seconds and drain.

2. In a large bowl, mix the blanched sprouts with pickled red ginger and Japanese mayonnaise.

Cauliflower and potato sabzi and germinated brown rice with azuki beans

2012-01-08T23:52:00.004-05:00

Photo by bodhilens

I used to know only one way to eat cauliflower: baked cauliflower with cheesy white sauce. I did not like it very much, so I rarely ate cauliflower. However, since I learned about the high nutritional value of cauliflower, I have been trying out different recipes. This cauliflower and potato stir-fly is called "aloo gobhi sabzi" by Indian people. It is simple but flavorful with spices.

When brown rice is germinated (called "hatsuga genmai" in Japanese), it is tastier (because starch and protein are converted into sugar and "umami"), easier for our bodies to digest (because the hard cell gets broken, and phytic acid is reduced), and more nutritious (because some nutrients, including GABA, increase in amount or become more readily available to our bodies, and additional nutrients are developed). Azuki beans help to activate even more enzymes in this rice dish called "hatsuga koso genmai (germinated enzyme-enriched brown rice)," one of the nutritionally near-perfect foods about which Japanese people rave.

Cauliflower and potato sabzi

Ingredient (for 6 servings):

1 head of cauliflower

2 medium-size or 3 small-size potatoes

1 small-size onion

1 TBSP of coconut oil (ghee, butter, or olive oil)*

2 TBSP of fresh ginger

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp of tarmelic

1 tsp of cumin

1 tsp of natural salt

1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Grate ginger and garlic and chop onion finely.

2. Heat oil in a frying pan and stir-fry #1 until onion looks transparent.

3. Wash and cut potatoes and cauliflower into small cubes/florets.

4. Add potato cubes in the pan and stir-fry and steam-cook them with a lid until they are almost fully cooked.

5. Add cauliflower florets in the pan and stir-fry and steam-cook them with a lid until they are almost fully cooked. (By this time, potatoes should be golden brown and soft.)

6. Add all seasonings in the pan, mix everything well, and continue to cook until cauliflower is done.

*Ghee is tasty and is often used for Indian dishes, but coconut oil (organic, extra virgin, and cold-pressed) is the healthiest when being cooked in high heat. Olive oil (organic, extra virgin, and cold-pressed) loses its health benefits when being cooked in high heat, so it is better saved for salad dressing, drizzling over pasta, or dipping bread in. Here is a great fat debate online, if you are interested.

Germinated brown rice with azuki beans

Ingredients (for 6 servings):

3 cups of brown rice (preferably organic)

1/2 cup of azuki beans (preferably organic)

1/2 tsp of natural salt

Filtered water

Need a strainer, a large bowl, a whisk, and a rice cooker.

Directions (to serve for supper next day):

1. On the previous night, quickly rinse brown rice and azuki beans in running water (If not organic, wash them more thoroughly).

2. Put the rice and beans in a large bowl, and add filtered water until the rice and beans are submerged in water.

3. With a whisk, beat the rice and beans slowly for several minutes until the water gets cloudy.

4. Boil a cup of filtered water and add it slowly to the bowl until the water in the bowl gets lukewarm. Soak the rice and beans in lukewarm filtered water for 24 hours (Lukewarm water accelerates their germination processes).

5. Drain and air-dry the rice and beans for a while. (Just leave them wet in bowl for several hours, which further facilitates their germination processes. You do not see them sprouting, but the germ of brown rice may look more plump and white, and azuki beans should also look more plump and lighter in color.)

6. Put the germinated rice and azuki beans in a rice cooker, pour filtered water up to the water measurement line for 4 cups of rice, and start cooking.

7. After the cooking time is up, keep the lid on for 15 more minutes for some steaming effect. After 15 minutes, open the lid and stir up the cooked germinated brown rice with azuki beans well, and put the lid back and keep it warm until it is served.*

*Some people suggest that the longer you let this germinated brown rice with azuki beans rest in a keep-warm setting, the more enzymes it develops (because it begins to ferment) and the tastier it gets. I am not sure about the biochemistry of enzymes, but in my experience, it tasted best after being kept warm no longer than an hour or so.

Raw granola

2011-12-07T23:19:00.000-05:00

Raw granola (Photo by bodhilens)

I've been trying to incorporate more raw food into our diet to replenish enzymes in our bodies. This is one of our favorite raw food dishes, a super-nutritious and tasty alternative for cereal. I learned a lot of interesting and helpful information from raw foodists on YouTube. Sprouted grains and seeds are so alive that they give us extra boost of energy.

Ingredients (for 8-10 servings):

1 cup of hulled buckwheat

1 cup of oat groats

1 cup of hulled sunflower seeds

1 cup of raw almonds

1 cup of shredded coconuts

1 cup of dry fruits (e.g., cranberries)

1/2 TBSP of cinnamon powder

1 pinch of natural salt

1/2 tsp of vanilla essence

2-3 TBSP of raw honey

2-3 TBSP of coconut oil (or melted butter)

1/2 cup of yogurt and 1 tsp of fruit spread/jam for garnishing a small bowl of raw granola

Directions:

1. To sprout grains and seeds, put them in separate bowls/containers and wash them well, soak them in water for a few hours to overnight (e.g., buckwheat and sunflower seeds for a few hours, oat groats and almonds overnight), strain water and leave them wet in the bowls, rinse them with water again and strain water twice a day until they germinate/sprout. Buckwheat gets slimy when soaked in water, so rinse them a few times after soaking. When it's warm, buckwheat and sunflower seeds sprout in a day or two (i.e., tiny white tails grow visibly). It's hard to tell when oat groats and almonds germinate, but I consider them ready for use around the time when buckwheat and sunflower seeds sprout.

2. When all grains and seeds are ready for use, rinse them with water again and spread them on a cloth to air-dry them for an hour or so.

3. Crush oat groats, almonds, and dry fruits in a blender.

4. Mix #3 with the rest of the ingredients in a big bowl.

5. This raw granola goes well with yogurt and fruit spread.

You can dehydrate this raw granola if you like it crispy and crunchy and want to store it in room temperature. I don't bother to dehydrate it. I keep it in fridge, and it will stay fresh for several days.

Black beans, avocado, corn, and bell pepper salsa

2011-11-20T22:49:00.000-05:00

Black beans, corn, and avocado salsa (Photo by bodhilens)

This is a nutritious, easy-to-make, super-tasty salsa for main dish.

Ingredients (for 4 servings as main dish):

3 cups of cooked black beans (about 2 cans)

1 cup of cooked corn kernels (about 1/2 can)

1 ripe avocado

1 red bell pepper and/or green bell pepper

1 can of diced tomato (with Mexican seasonings or add a pinch of cayenne pepper)

Juice of 1 lime or lemon

A handful of cilantro (or 1 TBSP of cilantro paste*)

1-2 stems of green onion

1/4 cup of olive oil

1-2 cloves of garlic

1/4 tsp of natural salt

For garnishing:

Whole milk yogurt (or sour cream)

Shredded cheese

BBQ sauce

Directions:

1. Chop avocado, bell pepper, cilantro, and green onion into small pieces.

2. Cut lime into half and squeeze juice. Grate garlic. Mix them with the rest of seasonings.

3. Mix 1 and 2 with black beans and corn kernels, and let the mixture rest in fridge for a while.

4. Garnish salsa with yogurt, shredded cheese, and/or BBQ sauce. Serve with tortilla or rice.

*To make cilantro paste, get a bunch of cilantro, wash and dry it, put it in blender along with 1 clove of garlic, 1 TBSP of olive oil, and a pinch of natural salt, and run the blender until the mixture becomes paste. Spread cilantro paste thin in a ziploc. Store it in freezer. Break it into pieces and use a piece or two as you need.

"Ganmodoki" (Japanese tofu fritter) and steamed broccoli and scrambled egg with oyster-mayonnaise sauce

2011-11-13T23:17:00.001-05:00

Photo by bodhilens

"Ganmodoki" means pseudo-goose in Japanese. I've heard that Japanese Buddhist monks invented it for poultry substitute. Traditionally it's deep-fried, but this oven-baked version turned out to be yummy and easier to make. Also, whoever first thought of mixing oyster sauce and Japanese mayonnaise is genius, I think. The sauce amazingly goes well with steamed broccoli and scrambled egg.

Ingredients for ganmodoki (for about 16 pieces):

1 large or 2 small packs of firm tofu (14 oz)

1/3 pack of dry "hijiki" seaweed

2 carrots

5 "shiitake" mushroom (or any other mushrooms)

5 "ao-jiso" leaves (green perilla) (or green onion)

1 egg

3 TBSP of "katakuriko" (potato starch)

1 TBSP of cooking rice wine (or any white cooking wine)

2 tsp of soy sauce

1/2 tsp of sea salt

Sesame oil (for brushing)

"Ponzu" (citrus soy sauce, for dipping)

Directions:

1. Strain water from tofu by wrapping it with a cotton cloth or paper towel and heating it in microwave for a few minutes.

2. Wash and soak hijiki in water, while grating carrots, chopping mushrooms and ao-jiso.

3. Squeeze water out of hijiki, and crush tofu.

4. Mix all and add seasonings (except for sesame oil). If the mixture is too loose, add more katakuriko until it clumps.

5. Preheat oven at 400F.

6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Take 2 TBSP of the mixture, make a small patty, and put in on the paper. Brush all patties with sesame oil.

7. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the patties turn golden blown.

8. Serve ganmodoki with ponzu.

Ingredients for steamed broccoli and scrambled egg with oyster-mayonnaise sauce (for 2 people):

1/2 bunch of broccoli floret

1 egg

2 TBSP of oyster sauce

2 TBSP of Japanese mayonnaise

1-2 smidgens of stevia

Directions:

1. Cut broccoli floret into a bite size and steam them.

2. Make scrambled egg

3. Mix #1 and #2 with the seasonings.

Roasted dandelion roots (and roasted barley) for a coffee substitute

2011-10-30T22:10:00.003-04:00

I've been learning a lot to enjoy eating dandelions this year. In late spring, I infused mature leaves and young roots in apple cider vinegar, and I've been using the mineral-rich, less acidic vinegar for a salad dressing (dandelion leaf and root vinegar tastes milder than apple cider vinegar itself due to a lot of calcium in the leaves and starch-like inulin in the roots extracted by vinegar). In early fall, I harvested re-emerged young leaves as salad greens, which was surprisingly tasty, like arugula. Now I'm harvesting a lot of thick tap roots to roast for a caffeine-free coffee substitute. Here are my steps:

1. Wash harvested dandelion roots well, air-dry and chop them up.
2. Roast the roots in the oven at between 200F and 250F (with the oven door slightly open) for a few hours until they turn dark brown with chocolaty aroma.
3. Grind the roasted roots in the blender.
4. Make decoction (boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes) with 3 teaspoonful of ground roasted roots in a mug-cupful of water.

Roasted dandelion root decoction tastes like weak but bitter coffee, so I usually add a smidgen of stevia and 1 teaspoonful of heavy cream to make it taste like cafe ole. To make it even more flavorful, I roast barley (preferably germinated for a few days) in a frying pan (about 20-30 minutes in low heat) and mix it with roasted dandelion roots (about 2:1 ratio). Roasted barley seems to add boldness and sweetness. I plan to grow chicory next year. Hope I will be able to harvest the chicory roots to add to the mix by this time next year.

Roasted dandelion roots mixed with roasted barley

Ground roasted dandelion roots and barley

Roasted dandelion roots and barley cafe ole with a curious cockatiel

Sharing dill and parsley with black swallowtail caterpillars

2011-10-04T23:18:00.000-04:00

A very acrobatic black swallowtail caterpillar by bodhilens

The black swallowtail we saw in July must have laid a lot of eggs in our yard. We found two caterpillars on dill in a pot in August. They ate up all fresh leaves and left (or captured by other creatures). We enjoyed watching them eating and growing happily, and I had already harvested some leaves and seeds, so it was all good, except that their sudden disappearance was disappointing. Then, in September, half a dozen caterpillars showed up on parsley in a pot. I divided the plant and transplanted some from the pot to the ground, hoping to save some leaves for me to harvest for a little longer. That was a good idea. Parsley in the ground grew well and spread quite a bit. I also took two caterpillars in the house and went to a store to buy a bunch of parsley to feed them, hoping to see them metamorphosing into butterflies. That was a big mistake. I was saddened to find them dead in the following morning. I learned that they could not tolerate a trace of pesticides on store-bought non-organic parsley, though I rinsed it thoroughly before feeding it to them. I felt really bad about killing two caterpillars and decided to give all parsley in our yard to their siblings. Two caterpillars were on the parsley in the ground until a few days ago, but now they are gone. I hope that they left to be chrysalises somewhere else and will show up as butterflies in our yard next spring.

Dill flowers with a bee by bodhilens

Echinacea infusion

2011-10-03T21:15:00.000-04:00

Echinacea infusion

This summer I tried echinacea infusion for sore throat and ear ache. According to botanists/herbalists, the medicinal properties of echinacea are concentrated on its roots, but I did not want to cut a piece of roots from blooming echinacea, so I harvested some flower tops, leaves, and stems. Also, experts suggest that echinacea should be taken as tincture (of fresh root) or tea (of dried flower tops, leaves, and stems) for herbal remedy, but I had neither form of echinacea handy, so I made infusion of fresh flower tops, leaves, and stems. The below is my notes for the experiment and the results.

1. Rinsed harvested herb with water. Put 3 flower tops and 2 cups of chopped leaves and stems in a quart mason jar, poured boiling water over the herb until it filled up to the top of the jar, and closed the jar with a lid.

2. Waited for 2 hours or so until the infusion turned golden brown. Sipped a teacupful, warm. It's hard to describe the flavor. Reminded me of Japanese twig tea. It's not bitter.

3. Let the rest of the infusion sit for another 2 hours or so. Sipped another teacupful, lukewarm. Began feeling some positive effects on me. Took out the herb from the jar and stored the rest in fridge.

4. Sipped 2 more cups, chilled, over several hours.

After drinking the quart of echinacea infusion, I noticed some positive effects on me, so I made another quart and sipped a teacupful at a time throughout a day. Within 2 days, my sore throat and ear ache were totally gone. I never expected herbal infusion to be noticeably effective because no commercial herbal/medicinal tea bags have ever worked well on me. As a back-story, I gave echinacea in my yard extra attention and care this spring because the young shoots were chewed up by flee beetles and the growth was stunted. I felt as if the echinacea shared her loving and healing energy with me in return when I needed it this summer.

Pine needle vinegar

2011-09-05T22:04:00.001-04:00

Photo by bodhilens

I made a number of herbal vinegar with different herbs this summer to enrich minerals and vitamins in my diet and reduce the amount of synthetic nutritional supplements that I've been consuming for the past few years. You can find inspiring and useful information here and here about why herbal vinegar is so good for your health and how to make herbal vinegar at home at very little cost. I sampled my first one-month-old batch of pine needle vinegar (mostly white pine needles with a little bit of red/black pine needles infused with apple cider vinegar), and it smelled and tasted like balsamic vinegar as some people have described so! Pine needles were free (I'm fortunate to have a husband who loves and owns bonsai pine trees). I used some store-brand apple cider vinegar, reused a jar of jam or something, and put some wax paper under the metal lid to prevent corrosion.

Gifts from birds 2: Black bindweed (wild buckwheat)

2011-07-20T23:55:00.003-04:00

Black bindweed aka wild buckwheat (Photo by bodhilens)

I finally identified one of the mystery plants growing around the bird feeder in our yard: black bindweed (aka wild buckwheat). Now it totally makes sense to me that this plant looks like a tiny version of morning glory without big flowers (They belong to the same family), and that the seeds just look like those of commercial buckwheat. It's this plant's second year growing on this spot, and this spring I led it to climb the feeder while containing it within a 30cm radius of the feeder. It's not gorgeous but pretty in its own way. I've read birds love the seeds, but I've never seen birds picking them from the plant. I guess they prefer commercial safflower seeds in the feeder hanging above the plant. When I picked some seeds and put them out on a plate, a few doves were eating them, though. When more seeds get mature, I'll see if my cockatiel likes to eat them.

Speaking of safflower seeds in the feeder, birds scatter a lot of them around the feeder, and some of them do sprout. I let a few sprouts grow this spring. I had to scrape a lot of aphids off when they were young, but they eventually bloomed and produced seeds. Safflower is called "benibana" (red flower) in Japanese because the flower can be processed as a natural red dye for food and cosmetics. Also, safflower flower tea/infusion is believed to promote "women's health." So I'm considering letting more sprouts grow next spring and making use of not only seeds but also flowers. It's so difficult (and painful) to harvest flowers and seeds because they are covered with thorns, though.

Safflower (Photo by bodhilens)

Yomogi (Japanese mugworts)

2011-07-19T00:52:00.007-04:00

Yomogi (Japanese mugwort) by bodhilens

Recently a distant relative of mine passed away. She was my mother's older brother's wife's mother, who used to live near my family in Osaka. We affectionately called her obaachan (grandma). When I was a child, I remember her sometimes visiting us with homemade sweets, like kusa mochi (sweet rice cake pounded with cooked yomogi [Japanese mugwort]). Although kusa mochi is available at some Asian grocery stores in Kentucky, I kind of missed fresh homemade kusa mochi. So this spring I bought a packet of yomogi seeds from Kitazawa Seed Company (They sell seeds of Asian vegetables and herbs in California.) and sowed them in a planter. To my surprise (and the company's), they grew into at least three seemingly different kinds of yomogi. (See the photos below.)

To make sure that all the plants in the planter were indeed yomogi varieties, I read a lot of information published on the Internet. A gist of what I learned is that yomogi or Japanese mugwort usually refers to artemisia princeps. However, several hundred varieties of artemisia grow worldwide, and according to some Japanese information, more than 35 kinds of yomogi grow in Japan, any of which can be called "Japanese mugwort." The good news is that they are all edible, although some are less bitter and more palatable, while others are more bitter and more medicinal. I sampled a few leaves and found them all fragrant as yomogi should and some more bitter than others as I had read. So I said to myself, "Fair enough," and harvested a bunch of young leaves, cooked them, ground them in a mortar with a pestle, pounded them into mochi (rice cake) made from glutinous rice flour sweetened with stevia powder, and wrapped a spoonful of anko (sweet red "azuki" bean paste) with the mochi. My first homemade kusa mochi turned out to be pretty good.

Black swallowtail by bodhilens

While watering yomogi in my garden, I was reminiscing of obaachan and her kusa mochi, and a black swallowtail appeared and flew around me. She lingered for a while, so I was able to ask bodhilens to bring his camera and take a photo of her. Japanese say that insects can carry souls of the dead. I wonder if the butterfly was carrying the soul of obaachan.

Tiramisu with cream cheese and custard sweetened by stevia

2011-07-06T01:11:00.004-04:00

Tiramisu is probably one of my favorite desserts for a special occasion. Hope this recipe won’t offend Italian people. It’s difficult to find mascarpone cheese at local grocery stores in Kentucky (or anywhere in Japan), and if they sell one, it’s kind of pricey. So I searched alternative recipes online and learned that some people used cream cheese instead. I tweaked this Japanese recipe by replacing fresh egg yokes with custard (well, because I’ve been advised not to eat raw eggs in the United States), and as usual, almost all sugar with pure stevia powder. If I could not find ladyfingers at local grocery stores, I would use Marie biscuits as they were called for in the original recipe. (They are usually sold in Indian grocery stores in the U.S.) Graham crackers might work, too. (Photo by bodhilens)

Ingredients (for one 8 inch x 8 inch x 2 inch Pyrex square baking dish):

Custard (100 ml or about a half cup of milk, 1 TBSP of flour or cornstarch, 2 egg yolks, and 1 tsp of rum or vanilla essence, sweetened by 3 smidgens of stevia)

1 pack of cream cheese (200-250g)

200-250 ml (about a half pint) of heavy cream, sweetened by 3 smidgens of stevia

24 pieces (or more) of ladyfingers

2 TBSP of instant coffee dissolved in 7 TBSP of hot water (or espresso) sweetened by 1 TBSP of sucanat (or sugar) and 3 smidgens of stevia

1 TBSP of unsweetened cocoa powder sweetened by 1 TBSP of sucanat (or sugar) and 1 smidgen of stevia

Directions:

1. Make custard. If you go for a conventional way, put flour in a sauce pan, turn on low heat, slowly pour milk and whisk until flour is completely dissolved in milk, slowly pour beaten egg yolks while whisking the mixture, and continue to whisk the mixture until it thickens. (If you go for a convenient way, dissolve flour in milk and beaten egg yolks in a microwave safe bowl, heat the mixture in a microwave for a minute, take it out and whisk it, heat it again for another minute, and continue the procedure until the mixture thickens.) Add rum or vanilla essence and stevia. Let custard cool.

2. Make coffee. Add sucanat and stevia.

3. Whip cream cheese in a bowl.

4. Whip heavy cream in another bowl. Add stevia.

5. Make cream mixture. Add #1 to #2 and whip a bit. Add #3 to the mixture and whip a bit again.

6. Place a half of lady fingers in a baking dish. Pour a half of #2 sweetened coffee over.

7. Spread a half of #5 cream mixture on the layer of lady fingers soaked in sweetened coffee.

8. Place the rest of lady fingers on the layer of cream mixture. Pour the rest of sweetened coffee over.

9. Spread the rest of cream mixture on top.

10. Cool tiramisu in a fridge for an hour or longer. (In the meantime, you can wash a pile of dishes in your sink.)

11. Mix cocoa powder, sucanat, and stevia. Sprinkle the mixture over tiramisu with a strainer. Let tiramisu rest in the fridge for a while. It tastes even better next day.

Quinoa tabouli (with Japanese red perilla and watermelon rinds)

2011-07-05T01:31:00.004-04:00

I sowed seeds of Italian parsley in a terracotta pot this spring, and they are growing so well. I thinned the seedlings at least three times, transplanting some in the ground and giving some away, but the pot soon returned to be full. I decided to harvest a bunch of parsley leaves and make tabouli. Tabouli is usually made of bulgur wheat, but I used quinoa this time. Quinoa is one of those super-nutritious ancient grains, and I often substitute it for couscous, too. I experimented with tossing in some spearmint and "akajiso" (Japanese red perilla) that I also harvested from my garden and watermelon rinds that I was saving in my fridge for additional flavors, textures, and colors. Red perilla is often described as having an anise- or licorice-like flavor. Believe or not, watermelon rinds are actually nutritious and taste like slightly sweet cucumbers. They both were perfect for this dish. Also, this dish goes very well with humus. (Photo by bodhilens)

Ingredients (for 6 or more servings):

1 cup of dry quinoa (makes about 3 cups of cooked quinoa)

2 handfuls of fresh parsley
1 handful of fresh spearmint
2 cloves of garlic (or 1/4 onion)
1 handful of fresh red perilla
1-2 cups of watermelon rinds (or a cucumber)
1 can of tomato (or 2 fresh ripe tomatoes)
2 fresh lemons
2-3 TBSP of extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt (optional)

Directions:

1. Cook quinoa and let it cool. (Boil it in 3 cups or more hot water for 5 minutes, turn off heat, keep a lid on the cooking pot, and steam it for 10-15 minutes until it’s tender. Or cook it in a rice cooker, just like white rice.)

2. Chop all herbs and vegetables finely. Grate garlic. (If you use a can of tomato, drain juice and save it for another dish.* I often use a can of tomato with Italian seasonings for additional flavors.)

3. Zest and juice lemons. (Use 1 TBSP of zest for this dish and save the rest for another dish.*)

4. Mix 1, 2, and 3 with extra virgin olive oil. Add sea salt if you like.

5. Let the mixture rest in a fridge for half an hour or longer.

*Tomato (canned or fresh) and lemon zest are freezable.

Italian parsley (Photo by gardenfairy)

Young "akajiso" (Japanese red perilla) (Photo by bodhilens)

Sprouting mung beans and brown rice

2011-07-01T22:47:00.002-04:00

Sprouted mung beans (Photo by bodhilens)

I got curious about sprouting legumes and grains at home because I read all sorts of good things about it. Their nutritious values spike up when they germinate and get ready to grow. In particular, germinated brown rice turn sweeter and take less time to cook. It's much less expensive to buy a bulk of mung beans and sprout them at home than buying bags of "moyashi" (mung bean sprouts) at grocery stores in the U.S. (This is not true in Japan since a bag of moyashi only costs a dime or a quarter.) In short, sprouting is healthy, tasty, and economical. So I said to myself, why not? I asked bodhilens to craft a few sprouting strainer lids out of a plastic mesh sheet for cross stitch (which he uses for bonsai, not cross stitch) to put on top of mason jars. Sprouting mung beans or brown rice is easy, although it takes a bit of attention and patience.

1. Put 4 TBSP of mung beans or 1 cup of brown rice in a large mason jar (32 oz.), wash and soak them in water overnight.

2. Strain water on the following day and leave them dump in the jar (with a cover to quicken sprouting).

3. Rinse them and strain water twice a day (to prevent them from getting infested with harmful bacteria) for several days until they sprout.

Mung bean sprouts can be eaten at any stage of sprouting. I let them grow enough to fill the entire jar and briefly boil or stir-fry them. Germinated brown rice taste best and are most nutritious when they are just about to sprout. (You notice tiny white heads.) I usually mix a cup of germinated short- or medium-grain brown rice with 2 cups of Japanese rice (glutenous short-grain white rice) and cook them together in a rice cooker. Sprouting bigger beans seems to be tricky. When I sprouted soybeans, they got smelly before they grew big enough for a stir-fry. I ended up planting them in the ground instead of eating them as soybean sprouts. (They did grow into soybean plants, bearing pods of soybeans now.) It’s awesome to see how alive each bean or rice is. Also, it’s a good reminder that whatever wholesome has everything that it needs to grow into what it is.

Germinated brown rice (Photo by bodhilens)

Cardinal couple

2011-06-27T00:55:00.050-04:00

A lot of birds visit our yard to eat, drink, bathe, and relax. I love them all, but this particular couple of cardinals is very special to bodhilens and I. They have been frequent visitors in our yard for the past few years. We began to recognize them because the female cardinal is noticeably one-legged, and her mate takes care of her so lovingly. He always appears to stand by to protect her. He often follows her, sings to her, and listens to her. He sometimes even feeds her, although she can eat by herself. This spring they decided to make nest in our honeysuckle bushes. We are happy to know that they feel safe and comfortable in our yard. Hope to see their babies soon. (Photo by bodhilens)

Humus with the x factor

2011-06-23T01:08:00.010-04:00

I have tried a few different recipes for humus, but this Japanese recipe turned out to be the best. The x factor is almond poudre (i.e., powder). (Japanese adopted the French word instead of the English word.) No, you don’t have to go get expensive almond poudre. I usually buy whole almonds on sale, stock them in my pantry, and grind them into powder when I need almond poudre. I tweaked the recipe a bit to make the humus creamier. I also used sea salt instead of table salt. All the trace minerals in more wholesome forms of salt do enhance the flavor of any dish, which helps me to use less salt. When I use this humus as a sandwich spread, I don’t need mayo or cheese. That’s important for me because I tend to use a little too much Japanese mayo not only for dressing but also in cooking. (It’s addictive.) You can replace chickpeas with black beans, and a pinch of black pepper with 1 tsp of cumin, 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper, and 1/4 tsp of paprika. The black bean version is tasty, too.

I’ll share recipes for the other items on the plate (quinoa tabouli, curry flavored falafel, and naan bread) sometime. (Photo by bodhilens)

Ingredients:

400g (apx. a regular American size can) of cooked chickpeas

2 TBSP of lemon juice
2 TBSP of extra virgin olive oil
2 TBSP of tahini (roasted sesame paste)
2 TBSP of almond poudre
1 clove of garlic (grated)
1/2 tsp of sea salt
1 pinch of black pepper
4 TBSP (or more) of bean stock*, soy milk, or cow milk

*Remember to keep the stock when you drain cooked beans.

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients in a food processor and run it until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

2. Adjust the consistency and saltiness by adding more liquid and/or salt as you like.

Citrus flavored olive oil biscotti

2011-06-21T00:26:00.091-04:00

I had never thought of myself becoming a baker while growing up in Japan. We only had a toaster oven in our kitchen and kept a small container of margarine in our fridge. Several pieces of cookies were all I could bake at home, and my mother would be upset if I used up all margarine for cookies. So you can imagine how excited I was when I seized my first opportunity to bake cake in an American-standard size (= gigantic) oven in my apartment in Kentucky. I had fun trying out a few boxes of cake mix with different flavors, but soon I realized that they were too sweet and heavy for me. Now whenever I find intriguing recipes for sweets, I almost always tweak them. I first see if I can reduce the amount of sugar and butter. Then, I experiment with replacing white wheat flour with whole wheat flour, white refined sugar with sucanat, raw unfiltered honey, and/or pure stevia powder, and butter with extra virgin olive oil.

Here's an example of my tweaking and experimentation. This recipe is based on “Gigi’s olive oil biscotti” that I found in the DHC magazine. (DHC is a Japanese company that is famous for olive oil-based skincare products, and they recently sell fancy olive oil, too.) Although the biscotti were delicious as they were (see the original recipe here) and already healthier than buttery biscotti, I wanted to make them even healthier. You can use any citrus peals/juice/extracts (e.g., lemon, orange, yuzu) for flavor or citrus conserves/spreads to take care of both sweetness and flavor. (Photo by bodhilens)

Ingredients (for about 40 small pieces):

2 cups of whole wheat flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 pinch of sea salt
Any combination of sweeteners that is as sweet as 10 TBSP of sugar*
1 TBSP of citrus peels and 1 tsp of juice/extract*
2 eggs
3 TBSP of extra virgin olive oil
40 roasted whole almonds (or any other large nuts)

*I have tried the following combinations of sweeteners and flavors: (a) 4 TBSP of yuzu marmalade, 1 TBSP of orange spread, and 5 pinches of stevia; and (b) 1 TBSP of lemon zest, 1 tsp of lemon juice, 5 TBSP of sucanat, and 5 pinches of stevia. Both delicious.

Directions:

1. Mix all wet ingredients (i.e., citrus peels and juice, and olive oil) and sweeteners in one bowl .
2. Add eggs in the bowl and beat the wet mixture.
3. Mix all dry ingredients in another bowl (i.e., whole wheat flour, baking powder, and salt).
4. Gradually add the dry mixture into the wet mixture to make dough. (You don't have to knead the dough, just mix all ingredients well.)
5. You can either knead nuts into the dough or half-bury them on top of the dough after Step 6**
6. Divide the dough into 4 parts and form them into 5 cm x 20 cm (apx. 2 inch x 8 inch) flat squares on a parchment paper.
7. Bake at 360 degrees F (apx. 180 degrees C) for about 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.
8. Remove the baked squares from oven, let them cool a bit, and slice each square diagonally into 10 pieces.
9. Return the sliced pieces to oven and bake them for about 10 minutes or until they are crispy.

**In the former, nuts are likely to stay inside but may be placed very unevenly across biscotti; in the latter, they can be placed very evenly but may fall off from the top of biscotti. Your choice J

Gifts from birds: Queen Anne's lace (wild carrot)

2011-06-20T00:49:00.011-04:00

Queen Anne's lace (Photo by bodhilens)

I'm tickled whenever I find a new wild flower growing in our yard and enjoy learning about it. I've so far identified spiderwort, European black nightshade, common yellow woodsorrel (aka lemon clover), and Queen Anne's lace (aka wild carrot). Many people call them weeds, but I see them as gifts from birds. Actually, spiderwort is sometimes sold at a store, so I guess some people consider it precious as I do. A few black nightshades popped up in our sunflower bed last summer. Their fruits did taste like very sweet tomatoes. (Tomatoes belong to the nightshade family.) I sowed the seeds in the ground, but I haven't seen them coming out yet. Did you know that a common yellow woodsorrel's floriography is "shining heart," and that it has been used as the design of family seals in Japan because its strong breeding capability symbolizes a long-lasting family line? (This link is in Japanese.) Just amazing how some people paid attention and gave meaning to such a small plant. This summer Queen Anne's lace stands out in our yard for its size and beauty. Queen Anne's lace is also considered as a companion plant for tomatoes because it attracts beneficial insects. That's perfect in our yard because I'm growing a lot of tomatoes. Another pretty wild flower is growing around our bird feeder for the second year. Its seedlings are just like those of morning glories, but this plant has tiny white flowers. If anyone knows what this plant is called, please let me know.

A mystery plant (Photo by bodhilens)

Virginia's favorite tofu and vegetable chili beans (garnished with low fat yogurt and Mexican-style shredded cheese, served with soft corn tortilla and blueberry tea)

2011-06-17T21:56:00.024-04:00

Virginia is my beloved mother-in-law and an artist who inspired me to create this blog. She liked this dish so much that it earned the honor of being named after her. I share with you a trick to make tofu ground-beefy and a few ingredients that you may not find in other recipes for chili beans. (Photo by bodhilens)

Ingredients (for 7-8 servings):

For Step 1:
4 cups (or 2 cans) of cooked red kidney beans or chili beans (aka pink beans)

For Step 2:
1 pack of firm tofu

For Step 3:
1 tsp of olive oil
1 medium size onion (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (grated)
1 stalk of celery (chopped)
1/2 large green pepper* (chopped)
1/2 large sweet red pepper* (chopped)
2 broccoli stems* (chopped)

*You can use any cut vegetables (e.g., 1/2 green pepper and 1/2 sweet red pepper) or vegetable scraps (e.g., broccoli stems) left in your fridge.

For Step 4:
3 TBSP of chili powder
1 TBSP of paprika powder
1 TBSP of oregano
1 tsp of chipotle powder
1 tsp of cumin powder
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of nutmeg
2 bay leaves
2 bouillon cubes (or add anything that contains "umami")

For Step 5:
1 can of diced tomato (I sometimes use a can of tomato in juice with Italian seasonings, like basil, to further enrich the flavor.)
1/2 cup of red cooking wine
2 TBSP of Worcestershire sauce** (include 1 TBSP of Japanese "tonkatsu" sauce** if you have it)
1 TBSP of ketchup

**Japanese brands of Worcestershire sauce may be sweeter than American brands, and tonkatsu sauce is definately sweeter than Worcestershire sauce. So if you don't use either, you may want to add more ketchup to adjust the sweetness of this dish.

For Step 6:
1-2 cups of water
1 pinch or two of salt and pepper

Directions:

Step 1. Soak beans in water overnight, cook them for several hours in a crock pot at a high temparature setting until they are tender, and drain. (Or open cans of beans and drain.)

Step 2. Here's the trick to make tofu ground-beefy. You need firm tofu for this. Crush tofu, squeeze excess water out of it, put it in a freezer bag, and freeze it overnight. Then, thaw it, squeeze excess water out of it again, and pan-fry it without oil to dehydrate it further. This treatment gives tofu a ground-beefy texture that is ready to absorb all the flavors from the other ingredients.

Step 3. Sautee garlic and onion with olive oil in a cooking pot. Add vegetables, dehydrated tofu, and 1/2 of cooked beans in the pot.

Step 4. Add the listed dry herbs and consomme cubes in the pot.

Step 5: Pour the listed wet ingredients in the pot.

Step 6: Add water to adjust the thickness of the mixture as you like. Cook it at low heat for an hour or so (or in a crock pot at a high temparature setting for several hours) . Add the rest of cooked beans 30 minutes before you serve. Add salt and pepper if you like.

I garnished this dish with low fat yogurt (instead of sour cream) and Mexican-style shredded cheese (including monterey jack, mild cheddar, queso quesadilla, and asadero) that I found in my fridge.

I also made soft corn tortilla to serve with this dish. I'll share the recipe for the tortilla sometime.

Many herbal/floral teas (e.g., red zinger [hibiscus + rosehip], any mints, and jasmine) can be cold-brewed, and they are as tasty as hot-brewed. I put 4 bags of blueberry tea in a 1+1/2 quart pitcher filled with filtered water and left it in my fridge overnight to serve with this dish.