Elderflower Recipe Round-up

Summer is finally in full flow here in Orkney and with that comes the late flowering of our Elder trees which are covered in an abundance of blossom this year.

Now I am on the hunt for ways to use them whilst I can, as the berries never set due to our high winds in September.

So follows my round-up of recipes from around Pinterest to give a try...

These Elderflower Ice Pops from The Greedy Vegan

I love Lemon cake to begin with but adding Elderflowers sound gorgeous,

here is the recipe from Daisy and the Fox

Elderflower and Lime curd from A Recipe For Gluttony

A variation on Turkish Delight from River Cottage

Orange and Elderflower Liqueur from Things We Make

Elderflower Jelly from The Greedy Vegan

And of course My own bloggy offering for Elderflower Cordial :)

Dandelion and Rhubarb Mead Tutorial

I've been busy putting together another video for my youtube channel with this tutorial on how to make Dandelion and Rhubarb Mead, hope you enjoy it :)

Women's Daily Herbal Tea Recipe and Video Tutorial

I was needing to make up a fresh batch of  my everyday tea this week so thought I would quickly set up the camera and film a demo video, nothing polished but it shows just how easy creating your own blend can be.

This is my usual daily health mix with no added extras for any symptoms or illnesses I may be having, so hope you enjoy and find useful :)

           

A Halloween Witches Tea Party 2015

Come on in and welcome to my 2015 Halloween Witches Tea Party, although perhaps we should call it a wine and cake party instead if that's your thing!!

 There is goodies galore for you to enjoy,

sweet and savoury treats for all tastes catered for.

So light the candles, pour the wine and make yourself comfortable.

.

How about we start with some cake, everybody loves cake, especially chocolate cake.

Or perhaps cupcakes are more appealing?

Whoops!! Watch out for the residents!!

They do keep the flies away though.

That's better.

Delicious.

 Why didn't you say you had more of a savoury tooth? 

Here, have a spicy devilled eyeball, but watch out they pack a punch!!

Oh dear is it time to go already?

Well be sure to take a dead gingerbread man home in your goodie bag wont you?

I hope you enjoyed visiting my party and enjoyed your goodies. xx

P.S. you can visit my previous Halloween contributions in the form of 2 spooky stories here:

Part 1: A tale of curiosity  Part 2: lost in woods

And dont forget tovisit the other blogs involved in this years party hosted by the fabulous Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist

Bye for now XXX

Top Tips for Harvesting Dandelion Flowers

I've been harvesting dandelion flowers for various uses for several years now, and there are a few tricks I have learnt along the way, so whether you are collecting them for remedies, dying yarn, brewing wine or just to add to a salad, here are a few tips for you :)

Before You Pick Your Flower Petals

• Picking dandelions will stain your finger tips and nails and although this will be removed from your skin within a couple of washes, the nails can take a bit longer. One way of reducing this is to dig your nails into a bar of soap and wipe off the excess before going to harvest your dandelions.

• If you intend to use your dandelions for food, remedies, brewing etc avoid harvesting them from the roadside where they will have absorbed excess amounts of heavy metals from car fumes. Also avoid the main parts of your lawn unless you know they haven't been trampled on or peed on by pet dogs, and from the corners of garden walls where they may have been sprayed on by the local tom cat.

• If you are using your dandelions to dye yarn, fleece etc the above point is not important so use the possibly contaminated ones for this purpose.

• Choose a dry sunny day to harvest your flowers, the sun will encourage more flowers to open, and being dry before harvesting means less chance of spoiling your recipe, especially if infusing in oil for remedies. Also it is best to finish harvesting before mid afternoon as the flowers will begin to close up for the day making them harder to pick.

Harvesting Your Dandelion Flowers

It used to take me ages to harvest enough petals for a batch of wine, as I would pull a load of flower heads off before sitting down in the sun and one by one pick all the green backs off the petals to go in the compost, it took twice as long as the way I do it now, plus my hands would be a mess for days.

• First grab your dandelion flower head by the green part at the back tightly, pinch together all of the petals in the fingers in the other hand, then firmly pull out the yellow petals, if a few bits of green sneak in it wont matter. When you have done this a couple of times you can work really quickly filling your measuring jug.

• If there is any little bugs or flies on the flower head, just gently bend over the stalk and tap them out.

• When measuring your flower petals for a recipe, firmly press them down in your jug, but not so hard that the are tightly rammed in.

I hope you find these tips helpful :) 

So tell me what is your favorite use is for the humble dandelion?

Easy Dandelion Flower Wine Recipe

The Dandelion season is in full swing right now and the first big flush of flowers ends up fermented.

This year I am experienting with a new Mead recipe I've made but until it has been tested I will keep that one in my notebook.

Our usual recipe, and the one we used for the wine at our own Handfasting, comes from one of my favourite wild food books for uses in the kitchen.

Wild Food: A Complete Guide for Foragers 

Easy Dandelion Flower Wine Recipe - Makes 1 Gallon

2 pints of Dandelion Petals
1kg (2.2lb) White Sugar
2 Oranges
3 Level Teaspoons of Dried Yeast
Demijohn (carboy) and airlock

Method
Harvest and measure 2 pints of dandelion petals discarding the green backs of the flower heads.
Place the petals in a large container or pan with a tight fitting lid, then pour over 2 litres (1/2 gallon) of boiling water. Cover and leave to stand for 3 days.

After the petals have had their steeping time, strain through a sieve and add the liquid to your demijohn along with the jest and juice of the 2 oranges, a large funnel helps with this.

Add the yeast to a cup half filled with warm previously boiled water and a teaspoon of the sugar and stir, in a few minutes it will begin to froth, stir again and add to the demijohn.

In a jug place half the sugar and dissolve with boiling water, allow this to cool down till it it just warm before adding to the demijohn, repeat with the remaining sugar.

Give it all a swirl and your done. Add the airlock half filled with water, then a small cotton wool ball to the top of the airlock to keep flies out. Put away somewhere to forget about for the next few months. In around a year it should be ready for bottling.

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Post Christmas Comeback

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas with plenty of yummy food, and a great new year, whether you spend it quietly like us or go all out partying.

I think this will be the week we finally get back into some sort of routine around here. Hubby had a couple of days off last week and this will be the first full week since the middle of December, it's been great but the routine goes well and truly out the window.

I hope you all got something nice from Santa. John was a star this year getting me a compound bow as he knows it is one of my childhood dreams to learn archery.
I love it, happy happy happy Christmas morning for sure.

Laura asked me for the recipe for the Layered Squash, Barley and Spinach pie I showed a photo of. I was making it ahead to freeze uncooked for New year, yummy it is too, second time I have made it.

The recipe is one I got from an old BBC good food mag years ago but there is link for it on the web here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8639/layered-squash-barley-and-spinach-pie
the only changed I made are to use frozen spinach instead of fresh, and pine nuts instead of chestnuts.

Hope you all have a great start to the week xx

Is it too soon to use the C word?

I do realise there are still several weeks till the the big day, I'm also well aware that we are not even up to Halloween yet, but I can't get away from the fact that some preparations just can not wait.

One of the traditions in our house is the Christmas cakes being made in October, giving them plenty of time to mature before the end of December.
I used to hate Christmas cake, don't really like fruit cake generally actually, but since making my own the way I like it I love it, or rather I love my recipe :)

I now make two cakes one to be topped with marzipan and icing, the other to gave a glazed nut topping, mmmmm.
Good job I make two as last year I managed to drop one which proceed to roll along the ground grrr.

Also no need to make mincemeat this year as there is plenty left from last year, and I'm not bothering with Christmas pud.

Ahhhh the holiday season :)

(today's blogging soundtrack- rocky horror picture show) really festive, Ha.

The Great Dandelion Harvest of 2013

With a final break in the weather on Sundays it was time for the great dandelion harvest of 2013. 

I had already set away two demijons of dandelion wine last week as I do annually, but decided i couldnt let such a huge crop go to waste. Although I still have dandelion stain under my nails I was able to pick enough blossoms to create infused oil, dandilion tincture and some liqueur, before john went mad with the mower.

I haven't yet decided whether to turn the oil in to ointment or leave as a liquid when it is ready, but I will add it to my marigold tincture and comfrey ointment in the home remedies kit.

Making herbal remedies is one of the things I love doing, I am not sure why I haven't done many since moving here, time mostly I think, but I am now back on form.

Summer in a bottle

It would seem that summer has finally found it's way to Orkney today with Beautiful, huge cloudless blue skies and some actual heat. Of course a once around the garden this morning means being able to see just how much the weeds are taking over.

One good thing has come form the odd weather this year, and that is our Elder trees are absolutely covered in blossom, much later than the rest of the UK but certainly welcome. It has been cordial and wine making the past couple of weeks, with two batches of cordial bottled and frozen, and another being used as we speak.

This is our go to recipe from the River Cottage Preserves Book

Ingredients

• About 25 elderflower heads
• Finely grated zest of 3 unwaxed lemons and 1 orange, plus their juice (about 150ml in total)
• 1kg sugar

Inspect the elderflower heads carefully and remove any insects. Place the flower heads in a large bowl together with the orange and lemon zest.

Bring 1.5 litres water to the boil and pour over the elderflowers and citrus zest. Cover and leave overnight to infuse.

Strain the liquid through a scalded jelly bag or piece of muslin and pour into a saucepan. Add the sugar, the lemon and orange juice.

Heat gently to dissolve the sugar, then bring to a simmer and cook for a couple of minutes.

Use a funnel to pour the hot syrup into sterilised bottles. Seal the bottles with swing-top lids, sterilised screw-tops or corks.

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 Also this is the first year there has been enough to make Elderflower wine. I don't hold out much hope for berries, the early autumn winds usually trash any foliage on the trees, and certainly berries would be lost too, but you never know.

I have also been working on my contribution to the Mad tea party taking place this weekend, can't wait, its going to be fun :) If you need me then I will be hiding away somewhere with my laptop and a picnic enjoying visiting the other parties. But first, where is that list of 376 jobs I need to complete before I take a weekend off....?

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(This post contains affiliate links which help me run my blog and contribute to our family. For more info on affiliate links click here. 

Thank you for your support!)

Midnight cookies - a.k.a the dark moon chocolate kick

I know they are not much to look at BUT, I think I may have found the perfect recipe for when you just NEED chocolate and have none in the house and a cup of cocoa just ain't gonna cut it.

I introduce the Midnight Cookie. yummy cocoa-y crispy, and hits the chocolate spot.

 The recipe comes from this book mum got for me a while back, and perfect on a day like today, when I have a splitting headache, and the smell of last nights Dark moon/menstrual ritual incense and patchouli oil is making me want to heave.

If anyone else need a choccy hit here is the recipe:

4 1/2 OZ butter
6 OZ sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 1/2 OZ pl flour
1 1/4 OZ cocoa
1/2 tsp bicarb

mix it all together,
 spread flattened blobs on baking paper, bake at 180c for about 15-20 mins or till done. voila !
No need to thank me :)
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Autumn swaps and xmas cakes

Been a busy few weeks here, John getting the living room finished for me moving on to the decorating, the ceiling is painted now, but has taken me 4 coats of paint, now on to the walls :)
Also managed to find time to take part in an autumn themed swap on the forum I am a member of. For the swap I made an apple tea cosy, which I am rather please with as it is the first piece of complicated crochet I have done. From my swap partner I recieve this fab pin cushion and needle case, arn't they cute? The forum is fab, full of people who love making an growing things etc if anyone is interested the forum link is http://creativeliving.10.forumer.com/index.php?sid=d1a35df8e7a3898edaeff7254f35552e

I have also made my first christmas cake of the year, I am making several this year. This recipe is the one I have been making a few years now as I like it (no candied peel, uggh) and has pecans and brandy in yumm.

Also set away some hyacynths for christmas, something I have not attempted before, and found these lovely bulbs in a yummy colour, like sugared almonds. i have set away three in this cut glass bowl I found for 50p in the charity shop, and another two in hyacynth vases i found for 50p each.