No Spray Zone

We've had interesting weather this year, to say the least. I don't consider it normal for the tulips to bloom in March in Kansas, but what can you do. . .

This year, we picked/are picking dandelion greens. Great-grandmas everywhere would be proud. The arguments against dandelions as food have become long and loud with recent generations.

"Are you crazy???"
"But aren't they bitter?"
"They're weeds, pitch 'em!"
"Are you sure that's safe to eat?"

So in answer to the multitude of questions and arguments, yes, I'm clearly crazy, but that's another post. Dandelions are known to be a bitter herb, but that's actually a GOOD thing. Our ancestors understood the importance of bitters to cleanse the body of toxins and transition it from heavy winter foods to the fresh spring and summer foods. Yes, in the day of the perfect lawn, dandelions are considered "weeds" or unwanted trespassers, but they are oh so useful, and if you don't spray chemicals on your lawn and garden, they are absolutely safe! If you do spray your yard, you can and should pick these useful weeds up at a premium at your local health food store.

There are ways to reduce the bitterness of dandelions:
1. Pick them very young, before the plant has a chance to flower
2. Wilt or blanch them and allow some of the bitterness to drain out
3. Serve them with just a hint of sweet to offset the bitterness that's left

Shame on me for not taking more pictures, but here's what we did with our bumper dandelion crop this spring:

Wilted Dandelion Salad with Sunchokes and Bacon
(served 8)

3-4 cups fresh, young dandelion greens
4 slices bacon
1/2 lb sunchokes (jerusalem artichokes)
sprig chives or green onions
3 Tbsp vinegar (we used a combo of apple cider and balsamic)
1 Tbsp brown sugar or honey
dash of garlic salt
edible spring flowers (opt garnish - we used redbud and violet blossoms)

Thoroughly wash dandelion greens and set aside in colander to drain. Snip chives into 1/2" lengths. Cut bacon into small pieces and cook until crisp. Reserve 2 Tbsp of the oil. Thoroughly wash sunchokes and slice into bite size pieces. Whisk reserved oil, brown sugar, and vinegar together with garlic salt and black pepper to taste, add mixture to bacon pan along with sunchokes. Warm the sunchokes and liquid, then pour hot liquid over dandelion greens. gently stir greens to wilt them evenly. Toss wilted greens with bacon bits and chives. Serve with edible spring flowers as garnish.

Remarkably, the kids devoured this dish. I'll definitely be making it again this spring.

Dandelions are so full of nutrients, that we'd like to be able to take advantage of them all year long. I started planning for that today while I was out weeding the garden beds. Every dandelion plant that hadn't bloomed yet, was pulled and set aside for the kitchen. The plants that had bloomed went in the compost pile. There were plenty of both!

Once I brought my treasure inside, I thoroughly washed the dandelion greens and let them plump up on cold water while I made dinner. The nice, plump greens were rinsed one more time then cut into two inch long pieces, blanched for about 45 seconds, and plunged into ice water. Once cooled, I squeezed most of the moisture out of the greens and formed them into tight, handball sized balls and put them in the freezer to solidify. Later, I'll move the dandelion balls into a freezer bag. As we make soups and stews this coming year, we'll throw a ball or two of dandelion greens into the pot for a splash of color and nutrition. Thanks to my best buddy HeatherAnne for the green balls idea. She taught me to do it with kale and other garden greens when we started gardening together, and it's just perfect for the dandelions too.

And remember, kids.... Don't spray your yard! Don't throw those things out! Eat your spring greens! And cheers to our useful backyard friend, the dandelion!

A Curry A Day

My Bestie is in Hawaii, hopefully having a glorious time in the sunshine. When her husband asked us if we could get all of the kids together this weekend for a play date (and so he could have some adult conversation), of course the answer was a resounding, "Yes!"

So today rolled around, and I honestly hadn't given a lot of thought to what we were going to do, or to eat. Also, suddenly, each of our kids had a friend coming over. All around dinner time. With 5 teenagers already in the house, that's a LOT of mouths. I poked around the house to see what we have handy, and I have to say, I wasn't encouraged. Moments like these almost always call for one of my favorite and most versatile meals - curry.

We had a beautiful pork roast from the pig my parents gave us for Christmas. Kira was able to scrounge some greens and a quart of tomatoes from the deep freeze, and I always have bulk Indian spices in the house. Here's what we came up with:

Pork Scrounge Curry
(serves 8-12)
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 cloves
8 black peppercorns
2 1/2 -3 lb pork roast, cubed
1 tsp ground turmeric
3 tsp chili powder
3 tsp crushed coriander seeds
2 inch piece of cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 bag frozen stew veggies
2 c frozen greens (collards, kale, spinach, or cruciferous greens)
1 qt water or tomato juice
1 qt frozen or canned chopped tomatoes
4 cup cooked lentils
steamed brown rice

Heat oil in large pan. Lower heat and add cloves, peppercorns, baby onions, and celery (from frozen stew veggies. Fry for about 5 minutes or until the baby onions are lightly browned and celery has softened. Add the cubed pork, turmeric, chili powder, coriander seeds, and garlic salt, and stir fry for about 5 minutes or until meat is seared on all sides.

Pour in water or tomato juice, greens, and remaining frozen veggies. Cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes while your lentils and rice are cooking.

Lightly mash the cooked lentils to release some of the starch. Stir mashed lentils into the curry, and cook on medium until the curry reduces and thickens. The final consistency should be stew-like.

Serve over steamed rice.

On Becoming...

I am not the person I was a year ago. I look at me a year ago and don't recognize that person. Of course, looks barely scratch the surface, but they are an indicator of the journey. That's me, on the left.

In 2011, Chris and I let go of a business that wasn't moving our family forward, and took a chance on another business that could, if we would just grow with it. I really hoped that the saying "no pain, no gain" would apply, because it was VERY painful emotionally and financially.

My husband and I challenged each other to develop better health habits. He lost 35 pounds. I lost 45! We had (and needed) a lot of help. We found Herbalife and fell in love with the products, which led us to the business opportunity. We fell in love with the coaches and with the business itself, and jumped in with both feet.

One of the most important things I fell in love with was the philosophy: Train, train, train... 1% better EVERY DAY... BECOME your DREAM! Chris and I started working on ourselves, and will continue for the rest of our lives. We train with the best leaders in our business, we build relationships with mentors, we choose what we watch on TV and read in books carefully. We YouTube the leaders we want to emulate, and we tell ourselves every day the important things we should remember about who we are:

• I am a good Mom
• I am a good Wife
• I love my children
• My family cares about me and our home
• My children want to do what's right
• I am generous
• I am beautiful
• I am healthy
• I have great wealth. . .
  

2 pages of positive statements to combat the negative messages we subconsciously give ourselves (everyone does it) throughout the day. The changes are unbelievable!

Chris and I have drastically improved how we communicate with each other and the kids. Together we have all improved the state of our home. We've improved ourselves, inside and out.

For the first time in years, we weren't scrambling to pay the utilities and feed the family at the end of the year. Despite closing one business and investing in another, we made it through the end of 2011 without worrying how much longer we could put off the creditors. Again, we had a LOT of help, but we DID it! Learning to accept help without giving up or deciding that we were permanent failures was a huge growth step in our journey this year.

I know that we are just beginning on our journey, but what better time to start than now? So much can change in a year if you want it, believe it's there for you, and really go for it! Here's to a new year of Becoming...