SAUTÉED WEEDS

  I´m all nuts for wild edible greens now! It´s been a rainy spring, which apparently has made the "weeds" grow luscious and generous. I´ve been collecting them almost daily with my three-year-old daughter, trying to pass down the knowledge. =)

  Today I boiled the first new potatoes of the season and served them with sautéed wild greens and tofu for the whole family.

A pan full of the most nutritious and natural greens ever, straight off our yard (we never fertilize).

This time there´s goutweed and fireweed, seasoned with fresh chives and lovage from the garden.

The recipe (serves 2-4):

4 cups (1 liter) freshly picked mild-tasting wild edible greens
a bunch of chives
a few leaves & stems of lovage
2 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
soy sauce

+ Chop the greens and lightly sauté in a skillet in little olive oil with the garlic.
  Serve over potatoes (or rice or pasta) and drizzle soy sauce over it.

  Super healthy, nutritious and free of charge! Can it get any better?

PERFECT SUMMER BITES

  After dinner today I went outside with my kids to hang out and enjoy an awesome, warm summer evening. First we headed backyard to see how the wild blueberries are coming. You know, if by any chance we could get a super-healthy dessert! Here´s what we found:

Loads of ripe blueberries! Yay!

The recipe: pick a handful and pour in to your mouth. Repeat for about twenty times. I like blueberries the most straight off the shrubs, with nothing added, eaten in the forest. They are true superfood.

  Then it was time to hit the kitchen garden. Another pleasant surprise was waiting for us:

Yum! The first strawberries have ripened too! I´m a lazy gardener, and have little interest in watering my plants. No surprise, not many things grow with never-seen-before success in my care. But strawberries are ones that do. And I love them!

The recipe: Pick a deep red strawberry, lift it up in sunlight, and take a big bite. Can summer taste any better?

  With my stomach full of perfect summer bites, I found yet another feast. But this one was for my eyes only:

Goutweed blooms so prettily in our yard. My daughter likes to smell all flowers now, so she was the first one to stick her nose in it. Only a month ago I was still collecting the small and tender leaves of goutweed into my smoothies, and now it continues to please me. I´m glad we have these natural "flower benches" in our yard. No effort, only joy.

So much beauty (and health) lies in weeds!

WELCOME LITHA!

  The time has come to greet Litha again. Earlier this week I emptied my wardrobe of Beltane clothes, and replaced them with Litha ones. There are three outfits still missing, so I have my hands full trying to get them done!

  Meanwhile, nature is in it´s fullest green, and flowers are blooming everywhere. The nights are light and short, and I freaking love this time of year! It has started off pretty rainy this year, but none the less, it is midsummer!!!

  Here is a little something my eyes have feasted on in the past few days:

Three years ago I planted these rhododendron to our backyard just to see if they would survive. I´m no gardener, and I do not want to spend my time trying to keep reluctant plants alive. But these turned out more than willing to grow and bloom.

In fact I´ve never really even liked rhodos, but there is naturally good soil for them in the far corner of our yard, so why not? And now seeing them bloom this gorgeously, how could I not like them?!

In fact, I could watch this beauty year round!

And then it started to rain again... Too bad for a sun lover like me, but naturally good for the nature.

  I can´t believe it is midsummer next week! Yipee!

FUN CARROT EARRINGS FOR SUMMER

  Summer is all about fun! These are my latest maximizers of the adjective:

Just perfect for digging and weeding the garden!  =)  Adding a drop of citronella essential oil will make the insects stay away, so the experience is all the more pleasurable.

  These earrings are also available on my Etsy shop Nelland Boutique. Let´s make this world a happier place, one pair of earrings at a time!  =)

LO-CARB & LO-CAL KISSEL SNACK/DESSERT

  Rhubarb season has started in our garden. Today I pulled up the very first stems and made kissel of them. Kissel is pretty much the only thing I ever make of rhubarb. Yum!

This was my supper today. I was not exactly hungry but wanted something sweet.

Because we have diabetes in the house, I made this low in carbohydrates using artificially sweetened juice as the base. Handy for me too, since it is automatically low in calories also!

The recipe:

1-2 cups (3-5dl) of chopped rhubarb
4 cups (1 liter) artificially sweetened juice (I used raspberry flavored)
4 Tbsp potato starch

+ Mix the potato starch with one cup of juice. Place all ingredients in a kettle, and turn the heat on in the stove. Stir constantly and bring the kissel to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for a few minutes, stirring still, until the rhubarb pieces soften. Remove from heat and eat either warm or cold.

Tip: add vanilla custard or whipped cream to make it a festive dessert (in which case screw the healthiness!).

Kissel can be made of  almost anything, but I think berries are the best choice. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and lingonberries all make a superb kissel. But also apples, peaches, and pineapple go well too. For the best result use ingredients that are in season. 

Kissel is a good and slimming dessert/snack year round!

HIBERNATING KITCHEN GARDEN

  Snow has taken over the lands here. It is nearly winter solstice, and I can feel it in my bones too. It is so dark in the mornings that it is difficult to get up no matter what the time is! And so dark again at 4pm, that it is hard to resist the soft comfiness of the living room couch...

Sometimes I wish I could just sleep off the entire dark and cold winter. Like nature does.

My small and humble kitchen garden is covered with snow. It has earned it´s rest after surviving last summer of neglected care... =)

The other day, one of these short and dark ones, my daughter (who loves food) found the last stems of kale still standing up from the ground in my kitchen garden in our back yard. She must have remembered eating them in the fall, because she went straight up to them and took a big fat bite of the frozen and snow covered curly leaf! It was so hilarious. She was perfectly happy for the next ten minutes chewing on the fibrous mouthful. What a cutie. =)

Raspberries are only a faint memory by now.

Think I went overboard with the rabbit fence? Yes, there is a small cherry tree inside, somewhere... We got it from my sister two summers ago, and I´m so terrified something might happen to this tree. It would be soooo embarrasing to kill it!

The only thing alive still in the garden is my compost.

Never before have I been able to keep it going this well at this temperature. Usually it freezes as the snow falls, but not now baby! Outside it is 10 Fahrenheit (-12 Celsius) and on the inside 86 F (+30 C). Yipee! I know it will not last through the entire winter, but the further I can go tossing our bio waste in here, instead of the trash, the happier I am.

Yum yum, food for my kitchen garden in 2015. I´ll take the mass out in the spring and dump it into another bin, where it can further decompose over the winter of 2014-2015 . Then it will be ready to be used as fertilizer in my garden. Honestly, I´m sure my daughter and I produce 90% of this material. The other 10% comes from my husband´s coffee brewing. What is it with the male sex, why won´t they eat their vegetables?!

  Rest in peace, I wish I could too! (On second thought, it is X-mas soon, and I would miss out on all the chocolate, and the excitement in my kids´ eyes before opening the presents, and seeing Santa, and watching "It´s a Wonderful Life" on tv. I take it back. I´d like to hibernate through the dark and cold, but set the alarm clock for X-mas, New Year´s, and sunny days. =)
 

HEATHERS

   Heather is pretty much the only flower that can stand the cold of these Samhain days. Therefore it is the natural choice for my pots outside.

These flower pots, three altogether, align the pathway to our yard. I love to cheer myself up (and hopefully others too) every time I come and go from the house. It is like the first, and last, impression of my home.

These fake little pumpkins have been my staple decor for ridiculously long. The only problem is that birds think they´re edible and go peck on them. So each year I have to discard some because of their bad condition. =)

I´m so happy about my recent discovery: every season is totally enjoyable, as long as the sun is shining! I´ve always strongly disliked winter, especially during Samhain, because it has seemed only murky, damp, and rainy to me. But as I can see in these pictures, it is not like that all the time, and beauty and happiness lies in this sabbat too.

The beauty in heather looks very different from a distance than up close.

  Beautiful Samhain to all!

TOP QUALITY INGREDIENTS

My neighbor is a farmer who grows organic vegetables. I can´t believe I have such a neighbor! I mean, how lucky can I be? It is awesome to get the freshest possible ingredients straight from the field. Before I did not even understand what "fresh" truly means. Now I do. It is this:

This is what I´m made of these days. I turn them into salads and stews, and steam, wok, shread, and mash them.

Beautiful yellow onions.

Beets.

Parsnip and carrots.

Kohlrabi.

  All these babies were grown 100-300 meters away from my house! Almost in my backyard, literally. It´s so great that I can just walk up to the farmer´s house and back. That´s all the transportation needed. How green is that? 

  A note on our tapwater is in place. Since we live in the (almost rural) countryside, we have our own water well. It is pure ground water, to which nothing is added. My sister always strokes her hair after washing it at our place, praising how good and soft it feels.

  I´m so happy and appreciative of these basic values being in order!  =)

BYE BYE BUMBLEBEES

  It is time for bumblebees to give it in for winter, but I still managed to catch these on camera:

This is probably the last one I will see this fall. It was already moving quite slowly, so I took advantage of the situation by snapping a good close up.

After a while it got company! Aren´t they just beautiful?

  Fall is taking over, it is enevitable. After all, it is past autumn equinox already. It just feels difficult to understand, because due to my raw food experiment I still have a lot of energy to buzz around. That energy usually fades as days grow shorter, but apparently this Mabon it is different. I can but consider it a good thing, since I still have quite a bit of yard work to do before frost is allowed in our premises... =)

FROGS RULE!

  Frogs possess an unexplained cuteness to them! I know my mom doesn´t understand that, but I have just loved frogs as long as I can remember. Even as a little girl, at about 5 or 6, I collected frogs into my little bucket I carried around with me in the forest. I liked to think they were my pets, watched what they were doing for a while, and then let them go back into the wild of course.
  Even today I have the deepest sympathies for frogs, and always am careful not to step or drive on them, or cause harm in any way.

  Now it is the time of year when baby frogs crawl up from the ponds and streams, and find their way to the big world. Here is one cutie I saw today:

This little fellow is smaller than a raspberry!

  Simply seeing this adorable baby toad made my day a little brighter. It is the little things in life... =)

EAT YOUR WEEDS- BREAKFAST

  Don´t hate your weeds, eat them!

  Here is one way of doing it:

Grab a bunch of wild edible weeds. This is what I had for breakfast this morning; lamb´s quarters. Yes, the whole bouquet. The taste is so mild and pleasant, that it can be eaten like common lettuce. Depending on what weed is in season, adjust the quantity to your taste buds (the level of bitterness varies quite a lot depending on the weed you choose). 

Chop the weed up finely, and add in enough plain (soy) yogurt to make a spread. Season with salt & pepper, chili, and your favorite herb. Mix and spread on whole-grain toast. Top with a sliced veggie. Yummy and healthy.

I eat as much as I want without guilt. Often that is four slices per morning.

  This breakfast is simply good. For you, your wallet, and the environment!
 

PURE HOME- FASHION: COZY ROSY DRESS

  There is a timeless attraction to floral printed dresses. A sight more rarely seen these modern days.

  One of my ultimate visions of the perfect summer day is a fancy, but relaxed, tea party in a  beautiful British garden. Ladies of all ages sipping from their tiny cups (some may have added in something stronger than tea...) and indulging in cakes and bisquits. Babbling along cheerfully, giggling, and playing card or chess, while checking out the men in their own flock. The sun is shining, but it is comfortably cool in the shade of big trees and roses.

  That is where I got my inspiration to make my cozy rosy dress for homewear. An outfit to be worn at home in the summer, for as long as the garden (or the weeds in it =) are in bloom.

This is probably the most feminine garment I have ever owned! But in the safety of my home I feel comfortable  stretching my limits...

This is definitely a non-makeup look. I never wear makeup when at home the whole day.

The material is light, soft, and fluid viscose. Comfortable enough even for a nightgown.

It fits well. The side profile always tells the truth about fitting. This pattern is super nice because it has a seam right down the center front and -back, which allows an easy adjustment to custom-fit me.

This is such a classic look, that I had to be careful keeping it suitable to our time. Had I added ruffles and lace, it would have ended up costume-like.

It is so cozy, that it feels almost criminal to wear this at daytime! Normally sleepwear is supposed to be like this - like you don´t have anything on at all.

There is a sewn-in petticoat in this dress also. Made from fabric I found cheap some time ago, and bought a bunch. I always go for sewn-in petticoats instead of a separate, they stay so much better in place.

  This dress belongs to my Pure Home- collection because it is at home in a garden. Not in a mall, office, or bank. Wearing it there would feel weird, and I misplaced. But now I´m so happy skipping around my home and garden, Nelland, with this beauty on!

HOT DAY´S COOL LUNCH

  This is the first year I have rhubarb in my garden, and I´m taking full advantage of it!

  Today was another hot day, and I literally had no appetite. But a girl has got to eat, so I made this for an easy-to-eat lunch:

Rhubarb kissel and summer squash scones. (As you can see, there is not much rhubarb left in the ground =)

Rhubarb is excellent for kissel. It dilutes in the juice and becomes mild, but still keeping it´s signiture tanginess.

Can I praise these scones more than I already have in this blog? My forever favorite bread. 100% healthy and tasty and quick and easy, and turns into so many different tastes and uses. This time accompanied by summer squash. No butter or spread needed, these babies are soft and slightly salty, and ready-to-eat from the oven.

The recipe for rhubarb kissel:

1/2 liter rhubarb, peeled and chopped
1 dl water
1 liter juice, your favorite kind (I used rhubarb & strawberry, low-calorie version)
5 Tbsp potato starch

+ Bring the rhubab and 1 dl water into a boil in a kettle. Let simmer for about 5-10 min, until the rhubarb has softened and is breaking into pieces.
  Add in the juice, but saving a little to mix the potato starch in for later, and bring to a boil again. As soon as the rhubarb mixture boils, pour in the potato starch and juice mixture slowly, stirring well while you pour. Mix and wait until the kyssel has bubbled a few times, then remove from heat and let cool. (You can sprinkle some sugar on top to prevent from crusting, but I never do. I try to omit "useless" sugar, and save it for a real need.)

The recipe for summer squash scones:

4 dl gluten-free flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 dl water (or as needed to make an easy-to-spread dough)
1 summer squash, shredded finely

+ Mix the dry, then add the wet ingredients. Place on a baking sheet layered oven tray, forming 9 flat scones. Bake at 225 Celsius for 15-20 min.
  Quick and easy, just the way I like it!


  If you are hoping to lose weight or keep from gaining any, I can recommend this. The foods contain relatively few calories to their quantity/size, so they will fill you up, but not make you fat.

HEAVENLY SUMMER

  Today I let myself believe that summer is here. To stay. For three months. This is the reward of surviving through the winter. And I´m loving it!

Sunlight always makes me happy and energetic.

Can´t you just nearly smell the wonderful scent?!

Even the weeds are blooming and beautiful!

Hoping for a good apple year.

   If I believed in heaven, this is what it would be like in mine. I´m so glad I can enjoy this right here and now!