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Stinging Nettle Soup

April 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

IMG 6181 Stinging Nettle Soup

Want a quick, easy and nourishing soup for Spring?  Want to eat more greens?  Want to do both of these things while saving money on your grocery bill?  Have I got the soup for you.

This recipe was a last minute light supper for us over the weekend.  I was out picking more clivers for my detox infusion, and came across a massive patch of stinging nettles.  So I picked some, and instead of making nettle tea, I experimented with a soup.  Oh yum.  Even Zak loved this one.  If you want to try eating wild food, this recipe is a great starting point!

Why would I want to eat wild food?

Eating wild, foraged food is becoming more popular.  Actually it’s the ultimate vintage skill, it’s how our ancestors ate for generations – just eating what’s around you!  But even in our modern lives, I think there are benefits to eating wild foods:

  • Wild foods are organic
  • Wild foods are local
  • Wild foods taste good
  • And wild foods are free!
Eating wild food also puts you in touch with your local environment, seasonal changes, and gets you outdoors in nature.  Since you’re eating seasonally, nature usually gives you what you need at that point in time … and in the Spring that means lots of healthy young greens for a vitamin boost and spring cleanse!

What are the benefits of stinging nettles?

Stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) are in the top 10 list of useful wild plants for most herbalists.   According to Rosemary Gladstar, nettles are:

  • Full of vitamins, iron, calcium, potassium, silicon and magnesium
  • An all around tonic herb to strengthen and tone the body
  • Reproductive tonic for men and women, even alleviating PMS and menopausal symptoms
  • Strengthens kidneys and liver
  • Excellent for allergies and hay fever

I like nettles because they grow abundantly everywhere, and they’re really easy to identify.

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Mint Coconut Sugar Scrub

July 11, 2011 By 2 Comments

4188121595 2166729315 z1 300x277 Mint Coconut Sugar ScrubLove the way your skin feels after using one of those fancy sugar or salt scrubs?

Feel a little silly paying lots of money for salt & oil in a jar?

This is a project that I wrote for Joie magazine last summer, but it’s so yummy that I wanted to included it in Summer Camp for those of you who missed it!

This recipe makes enough for one use of body scrub.  It smells delicious and so summery!  Since this is just oil and sugar, you could make a big batch and scoop some out to use throughout the summer.  It should keep for a couple of months if you keep it away from water.

 

 

 

 

Mint-Coconut Sugar Scrub

 

4TB (60 ml) sunflower oil

1 TB (15 ml) raw coconut oil (will be solid at room temperature)

½ c. (100 g) demerara sugar

handful of mint, finely chopped

Peppermint essential oil (optional)

 

Put the two oils and mint in a double boiler (if that’s too complicated, just put it in a pan on low heat). Heat gently for 15-20 minutes to infuse the mint in the oil. Remove from heat and strain out the mint leaves, reserving the oil. When the oil has cooled, add the sugar and stir well. You can add a drop or two of peppermint essential oil, if you have it. Put in a wide-mouthed container to use in the shower or bath. Use this scrub on damp body skin (it’s too scratchy for your face), then rinse off. The bottom of the tub might get slippery from the oil, so avoid shower aerobics while using any oily scrub!

Note: It’s always important to do a patch test with any new beauty product. Try it on your inner arm, then wait 24 hours to see if any irritation develops. Remember, homemade beauty products aren’t tested on animals – they’re tested on you!

 

If you’re not into Mint & Coconut, you can also try this Coffee Body Scrub.

If you make either of these body scrubs, either leave a comment with a link to your blog, or add a photo to our Summer Camp group on Flickr!

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Grandpa’s Rhubarb Cake

April 29, 2010 By 8 Comments

DSC01807 300x225 Grandpas Rhubarb CakeRhubarb, how do I love thee, let me count the ways…

Rhubarb crisp

Rhubarb compote

Rhubarb ginger jam

Strawberry rhubarb pie

Rhubarb fresh from the garden dipped in a bit of sugar…

and of course, this Rhubarb Cake recipe from my Grandpa.

This is a really simple cake recipe studded with pieces of fresh, tangy rhubarb.   Grandpa grew up in Iowa during the depression, and remembers his mother making this cake for him as a boy.  Apparently it’s an old pioneer recipe from much earlier days in America.  I remember eating big squares of this cake with coffee while visiting him at his farm.

This cake is not a fussy, fancy, complicated cake.  It’s rustic and sweet and delicious.  It’s a family cake.

The original recipe calls for a 9×13 cake pan, which is still my favorite way to have this cake.  But I’ve also tried it as muffins, as you can see from the picture.  The muffins were quite soft, so if you do decide to try muffins over a cake, be sure to let them cool completely first to firm up.

Old Fashioned Rhubarb Cake

1/2 c. (110g) butter
1 1/4 c.  (275g) sugar
1 egg
1 c. (250ml) buttermilk (In a pinch, I use regular milk and a squeeze of lemon juice)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. (270g) flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 c. (250g) chopped rhubarb

DSC01798 300x225 Grandpas Rhubarb Cake
Method:
In a mixing bowl cream butter and 1 c. sugar.
Add egg; beat well.  Add vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda.

Add this to the creamed mixture, mixing until incorporated.  Add the buttermilk and stir to get a smooth batter.

Stir in rhubarb.

DSC01802 300x225 Grandpas Rhubarb Cake

Spread in a greased 9×13 baking pan (or in lined muffin tins).
Combine the remaining sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle over batter.
Bake at 350F (180c) for 35min. or until cake tests done by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cake.

It’s rhubarb season!  What are your favorite ways to eat rhubarb? Let us know in the comments.

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Chocolate Temptation Liqueur

April 12, 2010 By 5 Comments

DSC01420 300x225 Chocolate Temptation LiqueurNot long after mastering the art of making tinctures with herbs, I started acquiring quite a supply of little herb-infused-alcohol on my shelves. What to do with them?   I know you can add tinctures to body/beauty products like creams, lotions, body scrubs, facial toners etc.  Also, you can use them as part of your kitchen first aid kit.  But with my love of food, I wanted to find a more tasty way to use the tinctures.

Enter Rosemary Gladstar.  Her book is brilliant if you’re inspired by Harry Potter’s Potions class, and want to start concocting things in your own kitchen.

I adapted this recipe for a chocolate liqueur that uses the herb ‘damiana’ (ok, admittedly, I had to go buy this herb especially for this project, but it just sounded too delicious to pass up!)

Damiana is a restorative herb that is a gentle anti-depressant, helps you deal with stress/anxiety, and is also supposed to be an aphrodisiac!  Sounds perfect for an after dinner drink.

The key with liquors is that they just take time.  Letting them steep and mellow really improves the flavor.  Also, I learned again that packaging is SO important.   Straight out of the measuring cup this was tasty … but once I bottled it nicely, and added a name and a label, somehow it just tastes better to me.  Yikes, I’m really a child of the advertising age!

Chocolate Temptation Liqueur

(Adapted from Rosemary Gladstar’s Damiana Chocolate Liqueur)

1 oz. dried damiana leaves

2 cups brandy

1 1/2 cups filtered water

1 cup honey

vanilla extract

rose water

chocolate syrup

Method:

Put damiana leaves and brandy in a covered jar, let them soak for 5 days.  Shake daily, if you think of it.  Strain, reserving the liquid. (You just made a tincture!)

Soak these same leaves in the water for 3 days, strain and reserve the liquid.

Over low heat, warm the infused water and stir the honey in until it’s dissolved.  Remove from heat, add infused alcohol.

Add a splash of rosewater and vanilla extract.  Pour into a clean, pretty bottle (I usually fill bottles with boiling water for a few minutes first, as a sort of semi-sterilization).  Label the bottle.  Let it sit for one month or longer, for the flavors to develop.

To serve, take 1 cup of liqueur and add 1/2 cup of chocolate syrup and a splash more rosewater.  Serve in little cups straight or over ice. Yum!

Being lazy, I mixed the entire bottle’s contents of liquor with the syrup and rosewater at one time, and then rebottled it.  I think I decreased the shelf life of the liquor by doing this – will let you know!   The liquor mix (without chocolate syrup) should last quite awhile, at least a year.

Have you tried making flavored liquors at home?  I invented a few more that are still steeping, will share the results soon (a hawthorn berry and cinnamon in vodka, and another with dandelion and burdock in brandy).  Happy experimenting!

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Split Pea and Ham Soup Recipe

April 5, 2010 By 1 Comment

Knowing how to make great soup is a key element of having vintage savoir-faire in the kitchen.

Short on time?  Make a big pot of soup on the weekend, for easy weekday lunches and dinners. Soup also freezes really well in individual containers, for those nights when you just can’t cook.

Want to eat healthier? Homemade soup has no preservatives and much less sodium than the store bought kind.  Plus, you control what goes into it – so it can be loaded with veggies and nutritious homemade chicken stock.

Saving money?  Soup can feed a crowd. It can be a starter or a main course.  And best of all, it is the easiest, sneakiest way to use up leftovers and random vegetables.

This Split Pea and Ham soup is thick, hearty and comforting.  Perfect for the last chilly nights of early spring.  It’s also a great way to use leftover easter ham!  I made this low maintenance recipe  in a slow cooker (crockpot), but you can just as easily make it on the stove.

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Ginger Glazed Ham for Easter

March 22, 2010 By 2 Comments

FancyHams 196x300 Ginger Glazed Ham for EasterFinally, after a long winter, the air is getting soft, the snowdrops are pushing through the ground and I’m getting spring fever!   Spring makes me think of asparagus, new potatoes, baby spinach, salmon… and an Easter Ham.

Growing up in the US, we always bought hams that were pre-cooked, and just needed glazing and baking in the oven.  When I arrived in the UK, I found that hams aren’t called ‘hams’, they’re called ‘gammon’, and they’re completely uncooked.   I was a bit intimidated by this at first since it requires boiling and then roasting – but the big benefit is that you can flavor the meat much more than just putting a glaze on a pre-cooked ham.

If you’re looking for vintage cooking skills, a ham roast is another easy, impressive main course.  And much like the classic roast chicken, gives you a lot of options for leftovers!

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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

March 14, 2010 By 8 Comments
DSC01652 300x225 Oatmeal Chocolate Chip CookiesI learned to cook from my mother.  She is the original inspiration for vintage savoir faire.  Mom is a country girl transplanted to the east coast with a bit of 1960′s organic/crunchiness about her.  I grew up with homemade baby food, weekly bread baking, lots of playing in the woods and garden, and an endless supply of creative crafts and projects.
Mom also has a big love of old things.  At one point in my life (oh, between age 11 and 17) I thought this was just totally embarrassing, and that she should modernize things!  Every summer we’d go back to my grandparent’s farm in Iowa, and come home with assorted old books, glass bottles, fabrics etc from the local fairs.  I thought it was such a waste of time and energy when we could be doing fun things – like going to the Mall! (*Groan*) But everything comes full circle, doesn’t it? And now I wish I still had the chance to talk with my grandmother about her earlier life on the farm and sort through the treasures in the attic.
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Apple blackberry muffin recipe

March 8, 2010 By 4 Comments

DSC01385 300x225 Apple blackberry muffin recipeBreakfast crisis on Saturday morning:  no sausages or bread in the house for a Proper English Breakfast!  What to do?!

I usually eat a bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon for breakfast … but on the weekends when Zak  and I eat together, we like to have something a little more interesting.   So this weekend, with sausages nowhere to be found, I dug through the pantry and found the ingredients to make these yummy muffins.

Apple and Blackberry is such a British Autumn combination.   Apples are easy to find year-round, but the blackberries I had stashed away in the freezer a few months ago after Zak’s mom came to visit (she always brings a supply of home-grown produce in-season.  For a city-dweller like me that’s such a treat!).

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What smart women drink when they have a cold

February 24, 2010 By 1 Comment

When you have a cold, do you pop a few pills and carry on with life?

There’s a simple, time-tested home remedy that you can make to feel better when you have a cold – or anytime during the winter months.

What is this home remedy?  Hot honey, lemon and ginger.

Hot honey, lemon and ginger is quick & easy, and uses ingredients you probably have in the kitchen.  Don’t have fresh ginger root on hand?  You can always use some powdered or dried crystal ginger too … but fresh is best!   In traditional usage, honey, lemon and ginger was used to help get over a cold. Personally I love the fresh citrusy/spicy taste from the lemon and ginger, and I enjoy it as an easy, warming drink all winter long.

[Of course, you can always add a shot of whisky for a nice hot toddy ... and extra cold-fighting power, depending on who you ask!]

Why Honey, Lemon and Ginger?

Honey:  Honey is a naturally antibacterial and antiseptic.  It also coats the throat, to soothe dry or sore throats.

Lemon: Lemon is antibacterial and has a high amount of vitamin C (and gives a nice fresh taste.)  In aromatherapy, lemon is used to detoxify the body, stimulate the lymph and liver, and for purifies the skin and respiratory tract.

Ginger: Ginger is the essential ingredient in this drink.  Ginger is hot and spicy, and is traditionally used to warm the body, for colds & to stimulate the immune system.  Ginger also may reduce inflammation.

 

How to make Hot Honey, Lemon and Ginger tea

  1. Cut a 1/2″ piece of fresh ginger root. Peel.  You might want to cut in a few smaller slices to put in the mug (more exposed surfaces means more ginger juice gets in the tea!).   Place ginger in mug.
  2. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon in the mug.
  3. Add 1 big spoonful of honey (or to taste).
  4. Fill with recently boiled water.
  5. Optional:  Add a healthy shot of whisky, if you’re feeling like you need an extra kick.
  6. Enjoy!

What’s your favorite winter warmer or pick-me-up for the February slump??

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Easter Bunny Blondies Recipe

February 22, 2010 By 5 Comments

DSC01418 300x225 Easter Bunny Blondies RecipeMy mother would be proud – I’ve definitely inherited her inability to throw away anything that ‘might be useful someday.’   Especially if that thing involves chocolate!

Going through my pantry the other day (full disclosure: My pantry is really one small kitchen cabinet crammed to the brim – ahh the joys of apartment living!) I found unopened dark chocolate Easter bunny that I had stashed away last year.  Since Easter is just around the corner, I figured I should really use this one up before the new season of chocolate bunnies appear on my doorstep.

OK, I could just eat the chocolate bunny.  But it was the weekend and I was feeling more adventurous.  I’ve been having a wicked craving for 7-layer bars recently, but haven’t quite made the effort to figure out substitutes for graham crackers etc. here in England.  These blondie brownies have that toffee-coconutty goodness of the 7 layer bar, with a very dense chewy consistency.  Don’t be discouraged by the super thick batter (mine was basically a dough) of this recipe, just press it into the pan like a cookie dough.

Plus, you get the added enjoyment of chopping up an easter bunny, if you have a little pent-up frustration to get out icon wink Easter Bunny Blondies Recipe

So, if you have a leftover chocolate Easter bunny – turn it into these delicious butterscotchy, chewy, blondie brownies.

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