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 :)

           

Four Winds Herbal Tea Video Tutorial

Today I am sharing a video I created to show to make a herbal tea called Four Winds Tea which is great for trapped wind and bloatedness.

 It comes From a book by James Wong and can be found here: http://goo.gl/ltXpfo on amazon. I hope you enjoy the video and the Tea.

        

Favourite Halloween Food Roundup

Much of today I'm going to be cooking up a storm making some of the goodies for the Halloween Witches tea party taking place this weekend, so whilst I wittle down the options of the treats to do I wanted to show some of my favourite recipe ideas my Autumn/Halloween Food Pinterest board.

(Source: delish.com)

First up is a fab layered pumpkin cake which John has specially requested I make this year, so I can add that onto today's to-do list. 

(Source: marthastewart.com)

This recipe for shrunken heads in cider punch has been on my pin board for ages, next year we would love to host a halloween party so maybe a time to try this out.

(Source: punchbowl.com)

Cupcakes are definitly on the list for the tea party, and these look fab :)

(Source: pastryaffair.com)

Or maybe flip them over and make Cauldron cakes? Now that's tempting !

(Source: howdoesshe.com)

Now here is a recipe I have tried and they are good, the only change I made was switching out the corn syrup for golden syrup as that is what we can get in the UK.

(Source: partytipz.com)

Now these are seriously easy but seriously look fab yet gross too !!!

(Source: epicureanmom.com)

I had planned on making cheesecake, so this would be a good option.

(Source: sunset.com)

And we have quite a glut of eggs right now since the oldest of this years' hatchlings have come into lay recently, so think I'm going to do this too :)

So does anyone else have some fab halloween food ideas I can try this year?

A Recipe For the Perfect Onion Chutney/Marmalade

Just a quick pop in whilst I remember to share my favourite recipe for using up onions at harvest time or when they are on offer to buy.

I have been using this recipe from the Rivercottage preserves book for years now and you just cant beat it. It can be used for both red and white onions, although I admit I have only used it for red as I use my white onions too quickly to need to preserve them.

I made a couple of adjustments to the recipe this time, which is not unusual for me, I just used a good glug of olive oil rather than 100ml, and as I didn't have any redcurrant jelly I used some cranberry I had in the cupboard.

Onion Marmalade / Chutney Recipe

100ml olive oil
2kg onions, peeled and finely sliced 
200g demerara sugar
150g redcurrant jelly
300ml cider vinegar
50ml balsamic vinegar
1 rounded tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat and add the onions. Reduce the heat cover the pan and cook over a low heat stirring occasionally, for 30-40 minutes until the onions are collapsed and starting to colour.

Add the sugar and redcurrant jelly. Increase the heat and continue to cook, stirring more frequently, for about 30 minutes until the mixture turns a dark, nutty brown and most of the moisture has been driven off.

Take off the heat and allow to cool for a couple of minutes before adding the vinegars to avoid them evaporating. Return to the heat and cook rapidly for another 10 minutes or so, until the mixture becomes gooey and a spoon drawn across the bottom of the pan leaves a clear track across the base for a couple of seconds.

Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper. Spoon into warm, sterilised jars and seal with vinegar proof lids.

Note: I used a labels printable which can be found here

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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#100happydays Round-up 26th-2nd April

Photoshoot at the Ring of Brodgar 26th March

Poppy cat hunting in the garden 27th March

Mrs Blackbird watching me, watching her 28th March

First bunch of daffodils from the garden picked by John 30th March

It may be cold out but it is sunny and the fire is warm 2nd April

Well I didn't manage to remember to take a pic everyday so I have thrown in a couple of extras from the week. 

First a male pheasant who has been hanging around lately.

A little wren stopped by in the garden for a few days.

And this Redwing followed John home up the drive.

It has been a busy week for birds in our garden :)

The Most Unhealthy Lunch I Will Eat All Year

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Now lets just pretend that the photo above is a lovely shot of me cooking pancakes by the stove on this shrove tuesday.

Yep its pancake day (don't forget your pancakes on jif lemon day), John isn't keen on crepes (strange man) so this is a seasonal lunch time treat I love to indulge in, but I got half way through lunch before it occurred to me to take a photo. Yes I am a baaad blogger.

Truth be told it's probably a good idea I didn't photo my hob, it needs a damn good scrub, but with a semi-good reason which I will come to in a moment.

It would seem i am coming back to my roots as far as pancake toppings go, I remember having lemon or sugar, usually sugar on them as a child. As I became an adult and could buy what the hell I like to go on them I moved into the sickly sweet indulgences of golden syrup (tin only) or even white chocolate spread.

I went off the chocolate spread idea a couple of years back but still like the odd golden syrup butter fried pancake, but funnily enough I noticed today I preferred the less sweet lemon and sugar. Funny how things turn out.

Anyway I mentioned my toxic dump of a kitchen, well I haven't been too well of late.It turns out I have Trigeminal Neuralgia, yep I hadn't heard of it till a couple of weeks ago either, but believe me I had felt it.
It's awful, or it was till the meds kicked it, so painful I would rather give birth on my own, in a storm, in the wilderness, with nothing but a tarp over me and a penknife; and trust me I have had two troublesome births.

All being well this episode wont last more than a few months, too much to do this year (bloomin body lettin me down grrr).

So back to the original subject, what's your favorite crepe topping?

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.

Far Too Much Alcohol Getting Used around Here

Wow it's been really busy around here recently and far too much alcohol is getting used in the making liqueurs and tinctures for the home apothecary.

we make a lot of home brewed drinks even the cottage, dandelion wine is a favourite, and I especially like  home made fruit liqueurs

this is a bottle of blackcurrant I made last year, so far this year I've made rhubarb schnapps and blackberry vodka to add to the collection.

Remedy harvesting season is also in full flow lots of nettles to be harvested for John's nettle tea, also all the dandelions for ointment and tincture. But my favourite has to be the ribwort plantain harvest. Such a useful plant which no one would look twice at just considering it a weed, but I love it, it's just brilliant for aches and pains.