Lemon Verbena Jelly

I finally made Lemon Verbena Lady's lemon verbena jelly.

The only thing I did differently from her recipe was to add a teaspoon of fresh lemon zest.  We have so many lemons that I generally add it to as many recipes as I can! I like the little specks of the zest in the jelly, it looks like little topaz stones glistening in the light.

Start sterilizing your jars first.

Put lids and rings in a separate saucepan, add hot water, don't boil, just keep hot on a low simmer while you prepare the jelly.

I used 2 cups of leaves and some blossoms.

I use a coffee filter to strain the infusion.

This will remove all of the tiny particulates that may be on the leaves.  My Lemon Verbena was also in bloom when I harvested the leaves and I used some blossoms as well.

Straining the infusion.

Nice, clear pretty infusion ready to measure and heat.

Cider vinegar and Lemon Zest

Full rolling boil after adding the pectin. Boil 1 minute only.

 

Process filled jars in boiling water bath for 5 minutes.

This jelly is so delicious; whole grain bread a bit of the jelly and goat cheese would be delightful snack.

If you don't have a plant, look for one. You can use the leaves for tea, or the Lemon Bread recipe.  I also make a Lemon Verbena and Tarragon Sorbet that is nice to have for dessert on these warm nights.

Click on the photo to enlarge.

Here is my Lemon Verbena plant. It stands at least 5' tall and as wide.

Closer view of  the flower is on the lower right.

Sneaking in the photo on the top left is the flower from Purpletop Vervain (Verbena bonariensis) which is growing in the background.  It uses the Lemon Verbena (Aloysia triphylla) for support.

Summer Squash Patties with Ancho Chili Yogurt Sauce and Cilantro Flower Garnish

 

Summer squash is often overcooked into a flavorless mash, which is sad because these squash have a delicate, delicious flavor if prepared properly.  For this recipe, I used zucchini, crookneck and scallop squash prepared with the flavors of the Southwest. 

If you are not growing your own, Farmers Markets have these beauties available from June through early September in most areas.  Pick out small squash to get the best flavor. Avoid any patty pan over 4 inches wide; the best size for crookneck and zucchini is less than 6 inches.   The seeds begin to develop if much larger than that.

Be sure to stop over to the Dandelion House  and visit with Deborah Jean's garden and blog hop party!

Summer Squash Patties with Ancho Chili Yogurt Sauce, and Cilantro Flower Garnish

Makes 10 Patties
PRINTABLE RECIPE 

2 cups packed, grated, drained, Summer Squash (9 ounces)
1 cup unseasoned Bread Crumbs
1 Egg beaten
1 tablespoon (¼ ounce) dried Ancho Chili, chopped (first soaked in 1 cup boiling water for 10 minutes then chopped)

¼ cup Green Onion with tops (¾ ounce)
½ teaspoon ground Coriander
1 teaspoon dried Mexican Oregano

1 tablespoon Butter, softened

Spring lettuces (optional)

Garnish: Cilantro leaves and flowers (optional)

For Frying: ¼ cup Canola Oil, you should have around 2 tablespoons left in the skillet after frying.

Place grated squash in a colander and press down with a plate that has a weight on top to drain out the juice ̶ I used a quart jar filled with water for the weight. Allow at least 15 minutes and up to 30 to drain.

Beat the egg, measure or weigh out the drained summer squash and add the remaining ingredients, mixing just until blended.  Shape into 10 patties. 

Heat skillet over medium high heat, then add the oil.  Fry the patties, 5 at a time until golden brown on each side. This takes about 3 minutes per side.  Don’t move them for the first minute or two so they won’t stick to the pan when you go to turn them.  This works every time, perfectly, if you are patient. (I use a stainless steel pan, if using a non-stick pan you can probably get away with less oil.) Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.

Serve warm, atop a bed of spring lettuces topped with Ancho Chili Yogurt Sauce and Cilantro leaves and flowers.

Ancho Chili Yogurt Sauce

Makes ¾ cup sauce

½ cup Plain Non-Fat Yogurt
¼ tsp. Sea Salt
¼ cup Ancho Chili Sauce (recipe below)

Combine all ingredients stirring well, cover and refrigerate while making the squash patties.

Ancho Chili Sauce

Recipe makes a little over 3 cups.

4 to 6 Ancho Chili pods dried (if large use 4)

3 cups Boiling Water

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

2 cloves Garlic, minced

1 tablespoon ground Cumin

½ cup chopped, Brown Onion

½ teaspoon Sea Salt
1 cup Tomato Sauce (Mexican Sauce is fine)

Remove the stem end and seeds from the Ancho Chili pods.  Soak pods in 3 cups of boiling water until softened, about 15 to 30 minutes.  Pour into a blender container and add the remaining ingredients.  Blend until smooth. Pour mixture into a skillet, add tomato sauce and simmer over low heat for 20 to 30 minutes. 

 

This sauce is also very good for enchiladas. It is a dark, rich flavored sauce.

The nutritional information is for 3 patties with 2 servings of sauce and does not include the spring greens.

Nutritional Information Provided by NutriMirror

Italian Style Peasant Bread or Sandwich Rolls

Here is a fail-proof recipe for the peasant style sandwich rolls you see in a lot of the old world bread bakeries.  I have been making this recipe for years and don't remember where I first found it.  You can also use this recipe to make two or three round loaves of bread for slicing. It has a crunchy outer crust that is achieved by putting a shallow pan of water under the baking pan, or if using a pizza stone, put it under that in the oven.  I bake these on the middle rack of the oven and place the pan of water on the lower rack.  Make sure you check the pan of water during baking to make sure it has not evaporated, if so add more water.  The white dusting of flour you see on the rolls is from the final rise.  You put the rolls or bread on a floured cotton muslin or flour sack towel.  In the old world bread bakeries they have baskets that are lined with the muslin, dusted with flour and used over and over again.  One day I will make some lined baskets for myself.

It may seem like this is a long recipe, but most of the time is spent waiting for the 3 risings to finish. Plan a day to do this or schedule your day around the risings. You will have plenty of time in-between risings to do other things around the house or a short trip for an errand.

You may also add some fresh, finely minced rosemary in the kneading step or roll in some sliced black kalamata olives to the dough. I have used both and it makes a wonderful, flavorful and aromatic loaf.

Italian Style Peasant Bread or Sandwich Rolls

PRINTABLE RECIPE 

Makes 12 rolls or 3 loaves

• 4 ½ teaspoons of Active Dry Yeast (2 packages)
• 2 ½ cups water at 110°
• 2 pounds 3 ounces of unbleached white bread flour (about 6 ½ cups)
• 1 teaspoon salt dissolved in 1 tablespoon of warm water
• Cornmeal for the pizza stone, if using. You won’t need this for the sheet pan. I just rub a little oil on the pan first.

Stir the yeast in the water.  Let stand 5-10 minutes.

Weigh out your flour or measure if you don’t have a scale. It is important to weigh it if you have one because flour can absorb the moisture in the air which can make a difference in your final product. 

Using a Kitchenaid mixer will make this process really easy, but if you don’t have one you will get a good workout for your arms.  Make a batter of the water and yeast, using 4 cups of the weighed out flour.  Beat with the dough hook if using the kitchenaid, for about 10 minutes. If mixing by hand, make sure the batter pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl. It should be sticky/tacky.

Add the salted water (make sure to use the salt, this give the characteristic crust you see on old world breads). Add the remaining flour and knead for 5 minutes in the kitchenaid. If you knead by hand, allow about 15 minutes.

 

Place the dough on a wood cutting board and cover with a large stainless steel bowl or large soup pot.  Let rise for 1 to 2 hours, if it is warm in your home, it will probably double in 1 hour.  After the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, cover with the metal bowl and let it rise for another 1 ½ hours.

Punch down again, and mold into 2 or 3 round loaves or make 10 to 12 sandwich loaves. If making sandwich loaves, mold the dough into a long narrow loaf and cut in half, then each in half again, and so on until you have 12 even size pieces.  Shape these into elongated rolls, and pinch the bottom together like a sea. Place the loaves on the well floured muslin or flour sack towel, allowing enough room between each one so they will have room to rise, about 2 inches between each.  Let rise for one more hour. 

Preheat your oven to 450° at least 30 minutes before the rolls or loaves are ready to be baked. If using a pizza stone make sure to put that in the oven when you set it. Add the pan of water to the lower rack about 15 minutes before you bake the bread so that it will be hot.  This procedure gives the bread the crunchy crust you will love.

When the loaves have risen to double their original size, place them BOTTOM SIDE UP on the sheet pan or pizza stone (be careful with the stone, your oven will be scorching hot).  You will see lots of flour on the dough when you turn it over, don’t dust this off, you want that.

If using the baking sheet, place the pan on the center rack, over the pan of water. Check to make sure the water level is adequate. You don’t want that pan to burn dry. Check it halfway through the baking time just to make sure.

Bake the rolls or bread loaves for 18 to 25 minutes.  The rolls will only take about 18-20 minutes since they are smaller. You won’t be able to bake all the rolls at once; I was able to get 6 on the sheet pan I used. If you have made bread loaves you can bake two at a time and maybe three if your pan or pizza stone is large enough. Otherwise bake in two batches.  

The bread is ready when you can hear a hollow sound when you tap the bottoms of the loaves or rolls.  They should be a rich, golden brown.  

Remove the bread to a wire rack and allow to cool. As the bread cools you will hear the crust cracking and popping, it will have a super crunchy crust that you will love.  This bread is chewy on the inside and rich in flavor; perfect for your Italian style sandwiches.  

Plan a picnic or summer evening outdoor dinner after you make this bread, and bring out the red checked tablecloth, an old wine bottle candle holder, and put on Luciano Pavarotti and sing O Sole Mio with the one you love!

 "Diverti"

Caramelized Summer Squash Arugula Salad with Warm Chive Vinaigrette

If you have read my post on my garden blog you will know that we have been picking summer squash since the end of May.  Each morning, and often each afternoon I check the plants to see which ones are ready to harvest. This morning I picked over a dozen patty pan and yellow crookneck; the chives are flourishing so I thought they would be a perfect addition to my salad.

Known as summer squash, they come in a variety of shapes and colors. You may know them as zucchini, yellow squash, yellow crookneck, patty pan, scallop and one of my favorite zucchini type is a striped cocozelle.

I interchange these summer squash in my recipes depending on what I have picked that day. I often use yellow crookneck and patty pan (or scallop) in my zucchini bread and muffin recipes. When picked small the squash seeds are soft and tender, and the entire squash can be grated just as zucchini for your bread recipes.

Here is a super simple way to prepare a flavorful salad to serve on a warm summer evening. Add some grilled chicken or fish and dinner is quick, healthy and easy.

Caramelized Summer Squash Arugula Salad with Warm Chive Vinaigrette
PRINTABLE RECIPE 
Serves 1

2 small summer squash. (I used yellow crookneck and a patty pan)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 cups fresh Arugula
1 tablespoon Feta Cheese
Sea salt (optional)

Slice summer squash lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices. Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add one tablespoon of olive oil.  Place the squash in the hot pan, sprinkle with salt and allow to caramelize; this takes about 2-3 minutes per side. You may need to do this in two batches depending on the size of your squash and your pan.  When you have a nice color on the squash, remove from pan and set aside while you prepare the vinaigrette.

Warm Chive Vinaigrette 
Serves 1

2 tablespoons fresh chopped Chives (reserve one for garnish)
2 teaspoons Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar
2 teaspoons Olive Oil
1 small Garlic Clove, minced (about 1/4 teaspoon)
Pinch of Sea Salt and Black Pepper

In the same skillet you used for cooking the summer squash, whisk the olive oil with the vinegar.  Stir in the minced garlic, 1 tablespoon chives and season with sea salt and pepper. Heat just until warm.

Place the Arugula on a salad plate and top with the caramelized squash, drizzle with the vinaigrette, top with Feta Cheese and the reserved chopped Chives.

Minty Honey Tangerine Quinoa Salad

We eat Quinoa at least once a week and this is one of my husband’s favorite salads.  It has a wonderful crunch and goes well with Ahi Tuna steaks that have been grilled over a charcoal fire, first coated with Veri Veri Teriyaki Sauce.

Minty Honey Tangerine Quinoa Salad
Makes 8-10 generous servings
PRINTABLE RECIPE 

Salad

¾ cups uncooked Red Quinoa, rinsed well, drained

¾ cups uncooked White Quinoa, rinsed well, drained

1 ½ cups Celery, diced (about 2 stalks)

¾ cup unsweetened dried Cranberries, plus 1 cup boiling water to soak

 2 small Scallions with tops, sliced

1 cup Carrots, peeled and diced (about 2 medium)

¾ cup Whole Raw Almonds

6 small Tangerines, peeled, seeded, sectioned with pith removed

½ cup fresh Chives, chopped

½ cup fresh Orange Scented Mint, chopped

1 Teaspoon Olive Oil

DRESSING

3 Tablespoon Olive Oil

3 Tablespoon Honey

1 teaspoon Dried Red Pepper Flakes

Tangerine juice (from fruit)

3 Tablespoon Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar

1 teaspoon Sea Salt and dash of Pepper to taste

Mix the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl using a fork or whisk until well blended.

 

Salad Preparation:

Cook Quinoa:  mix the red and white quinoa together, rinse several times in cool water, drain,  and follow package directions for cooking or use a rice cooker; add 3 cups of water to 1 ½ cups of dry quinoa.  Rice cooker will automatically shut off when quinoa is cooked. This has never failed for me and is the only way I cook quinoa.

Place dried cranberries in a heat resistant bowl and pour the boiling water over the berries. Allow to soak and plump up for about 10 minutes.

Place the cooked quinoa in a large 3 or 4 quart bowl.  Fluff with a fork and let cool while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Place the whole, raw, almonds in a skillet over medium heat, add 1 teaspoon of olive oil, and toss to coat.  Stir the almonds until lightly toasted; about 3-4 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool.  Once nuts have cooled, rough chop them, I like to leave these in good size chunks for the crunch when mixed with the salad.

Dice the carrots, scallions and celery into a small dice, about a ¼ inch dice.  Chop the, chives and mint.  Peel, seed and remove as much pith from the tangerine’s as you have patience for.  Cut into small chucks; about three per section.  Save any juice that remains to add to the dressing.

Drain the cranberries in a mesh strainer, pressing just a bit to remove the moisture. Give the berries a rough chop to make a bit smaller.

Toss the quinoa with all the about ingredients and add the dressing. Mix until blended.  This is great at room temperature but is equally as good cold. 

Nutritional Information provided by NutriMirror

Wild Rice and White Bean Salad

Wild White Bean Salad

Last week I was shopping at a local health food store that has a nice selection of healthy salads in their delicatessen.  After having a sample, I ordered a wild rice salad that they called Wild White Bean Salad. It had giant white beans in it that were at least an inch and a half across; I have never seen a bean this large before.

I chose to purchase the smallest container that they had available, the employee weighed it out and gave it to me; I tossed it in my cart without looking at the price.

When I got home I couldn't believe how much I had paid for it, $4.20 for 0.42 lb or $9.99 a lb., which amounted to about 1/2 cup of salad.

 At least it was good and my reason for buying it was so that I could figure out how to make it. The ingredients were listed on the label which made that part easy, I just had to play around with the vinaigrette to get the flavors right. I didn't 't have any large white beans so I used cannellini beans.***

Here is what I came up with:

Wild White Bean Salad

Printable Recipe 

• 1 cup Red Bell Pepper, diced
• 3/4 cup Celery, diced
• 3 tablespoons Fresh Parsley, chopped
• 1 cup Cannellini beans (160 gr) rinsed and drained
• 3 cups cooked Wild Rice (490 gr cooked)**

Combine above ingredients together and toss with vinaigrette (recipe follows). Refrigerate for several hours to allow the flavors to meld and the rice to absorb the vinaigrette.
** 1 cup dry makes approximately 3 cups cooked wild rice.

Vinaigrette

• 2 teaspoons Dijon Mustard
• 3 tablespoons Honey
• 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 4 tablespoons Good Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt
• Pepper to taste

Blend together until emulsified using a small whisk or fork.

Recipe makes 5.2 servings or 1 cup each. This is a very generous serving but very low in calories and high in nutrition. you could easily serve 1/2 cup on a bed of spinach or arugula for a nice spring salad. Toss a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the greens then top with the bean salad.

Nutritional Data provided by NutriMirror

Wild Rice, Minnesota's State Grain, is almost as old as history itself. This highly nutritious grain is not actually rice, but an annual water-grass seed, "zizania aquatica".  Found mostly in the upper freshwater lakes of Canada, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

Wild rice towers over other rices when it comes to amounts of protein, minerals, B vitamins, folic acid, and carbohydrates. While the protein content of 1/2 cup of cooked wild rice measures 3.3 grams, that same quantity of long grain brown rice contains only 2 grams. The bonus is that the wild rice, though high in carbohydrates at 17.5 grams, has only 83 calories for 1/2 cup cooked. 

Using the same 1/2 cup measurement of cooked rice grains, the folic acid content soars over brown rice with 21.3 mcg for wild rice and 3.9 mcg for brown rice. According to the University of California Berkeley Wellness Encyclopedia of Food and Nutrition, 1/2 cup dry wild rice provides 95 mcg or 48% of the RDA (200 mcg) of folic acid for men and 53% for women.

***Since making this I have had a few people tell me that the bean may be a large Lima Bean called Gigandes beans. Leave it to the Peruvian's to find us yet another wonderful bean!  Sounds like I need to head to my local Vallarta Supermarket and find these beans!

Pickled Red Onions

I pulled a bunch of red onions from the garden on Saturday and I remembered a recipe I wanted to make that you can find  HERE.  They are very easy to make and would be a perfect accompaniment to a light spring luncheon menu.  I love how the brine turned a lovely shade of pink from the red onions.  Nature holds so many mystic surprises for us.

 Make the brine

Place sliced onions in colander in sink and pour boiling water over them

Add the onions to the brine... Wait a bit.....

Enjoy!!

Make sure to stop by NutriMirror for more recipe ideas and to meet up with a great group of healthy eaters!

Peas with Nasturtium Blossoms and Mache Lettuce

 Peas with Nasturtium Blossoms and Mache Lettuce came about while picking peas and mache lettuce just before lunch today.  I also decided to pick some Nasturtium flowers to go on my table.  When I got back in the house I was thinking about how to prepare the peas and started to add garlic and olive oil to the pan, here is the results of my lunch.  It turned out quite delightful, I must say and it was so pretty and so very healthy. I mean how much more fresh can you get.   The produce was picked and cooked within 15 minutes.

Peppers will wait for another day

 

Mache fresh from the garden

Peas with Nasturtium Blossoms and Mache Lettuce 

One serving

1 clove Garlic, sliced in fine slivers

1 teaspoon Olive Oil

1 tablespoon fresh Dill, torn from stems

1/3 cup shelled peas

1-2 cups Mache lettuce

6 to 8 Nasturtium blossoms

In a medium skillet, heat olive oil.  Add garlic, dill and peas, sauté for 2 minutes. Toss in the Mache lettuce, sauté just until wilted.  Add Nasturtium blossoms and stir for about 10 seconds. Sprinkle with a bit of sea salt and  serve immediately.  

Garnish with fresh Nasturtium petals and Dill

Nasturtiums are a native of Peru, brought by Spanish conquistadors to  Spain early in the sixteenth century. This bright yellow, orange or red flower traveled to England at the end of the sixteenth century as a decorative plant.

The flower gets it's name from the Latin nasusm (nose) and tortus (twisted) because their smell makes the nose wrinkle or twist. The botanical name Tropaelum is from the green tropiaon (a trophy). In ancient Greece, shields and helmets of defeated enemy were fixed onto tree trunks. It was thought that the nasturtium leaves resembled shields, with the flowers resembling helmets.

Nutritional information does not include the Nasturtium blossoms, but they are packed with vitamin C and Iron.

 

Nutritional analysis provided by NutriMirror

Orange Blueberry Smoothie and My Acme Juicer

I spent the early part of the morning juicing Valencia oranges from our trees.

I love my Acme Juicer! I remember back in 1973 when I bought a used Acme juicer from an old women that used it to make juice for her husband.  He had had cancer and had passed away a few years before. She said it was the best juicer I would ever own.  She even gave me a few books on juicing.  I paid her a mere $25.00 for it then.  I used that juicer for years until one day I decided to sell it at a garage sale.  I don't know what possessed me to do that, but I did.

Now, we live in a home that has 13 citrus trees. It took me a while to find another used Acme juicer for a reasonable price; I finally found this one on EBay and paid around $50.00 for it; that was about 7 years ago.  When it arrived it was not very clean but with some soap and water and a few Q-tips and toothpicks I was able to clean it up and it now looks like new. This one also came with the citrus juice attachment that my other one did not have. I am not sure if they even had that attachment available in the 70's.

 It only took me about 15 minutes to juice all these Valencia's.  This juicer also has two sections for the pulp, the first one for the seeds that allows the smaller parts of pulp to rest in the second reservoir. I always put the pulp back in the juice since I don't want to waste the extra fiber and nutrients. I happen to like pulp in my juice.

 I was able to get about 4 quarts from this batch of oranges. Still lots more on the tree that need to be picked and juiced.  I think we will have plenty for the hot summer months.  I don't want to wait that long for a smoothie so I made one this afternoon and enjoyed the warm afternoon sun on the patio. We had quite a bit of rain the last few days and it was cool out but still warm enough to enjoy the smoothie.

Here is the recipe:

Orange Blueberry Smoothie for One

1 cup fresh squeezed Orange Juice, make it California orange juice if you can!
1/2 cup Low-Fat Plain Yogurt
1/4 cup Blueberries, frozen
1/2 of a frozen small Banana
2 teaspoons Flax seed meal
Lavender sprig (optional)

Place everything in a blender and whirl until smooth.  Add a nice long lavender flower for a stir stick, if you have it.

Each time I use this juicer it brings back memories of the orange groves in our area during the early 60's and 70's.  You could drive just about anywhere and find bags of oranges set out alongside the driveways of the homes with groves.  You would pull up, put a dollar or two depending on what the owner wanted for a large grocery bag full, in a jar. Generally it would be a dollar! Now this was for a huge bag, probably about the amount of oranges that I juiced today.  That would put your quart of fresh squeezed orange juice at about 25 cents.  Our area was first planted in 1893 with 50,000 fruit trees.  In the early 1900's grove owners formed the Citrus Union. The citrus was marketed under the Sunkist brand.

 

Nutritional analysis provided by NutriMirror