Purslane cucumber avocado yogurt gazpacho

As mentioned in my last post, my husband and I have a semi-wild, semi-cultivated space in our front yard that is covered in edible plants, both planted and wild. 

One of these plants that basically edges the entire length of the space is a favorite of mine--purslane! 

Purslane is one of the most nutritious wild plants that one can forage. It's a succulent native to North Africa and the Mediterranean, but has become either naturalized or invasive (depending on whom you talk to) in the southern United States. 

Purslane forms dense mats, becoming a succulent groundcover

Purslane has one of the highest concentrations of magnesium you can find in a plant, higher than spinach. It also has high levels of various anti-oxidants, calcium, sodium and Omega 3 fatty acids. It's actually one of the only terrestrial plants that has Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) fatty acid, most commonly found from animal sources. Generally vegan supplements use algae to provide this nutrient. However, purslane doesn't have enough of it to support your body's need all alone. It's just a fun fact!

Purslane also has high concentrations of oxalic acid, and so it shouldn't be eaten by those with liver or kidney disorders. 

I have a post all about purslane, including how to identify it, click here.

Personal story time

One of our many thriving basil plants 

Last Friday I had to undergo a total thyroidectomy. I am in recovery and doing extremely well. For example, I was given 7 days of double-dose  painkillers (omg!) but only ever took one pill at a time, and then only for 2 days. 

I've had to sponge bath since Friday though, and I am desperately looking forward to my first shower since the surgery. By the time this posts I expect I will finally have had one, I can shower again on Wednesday. My hair is a greasy mess, I can't seem to get it clean with a sponge bath. 

Anyway, I was told that I would need at least a week of cold, soft foods only, so the weekend before last I took some time to prepared a bunch of cold soups I could put in the freezer, and this gazpacho was one of them. Because I was freezing it, I didn't actually add the yogurt when I made it originally. Instead I mixed it in after defrosting. For this reason, my yogurt measurements might be a bit off. 

While mixing the soup, I was originally going to add cilantro, but tasting it as I was making it, I knew that was the wrong choice. I wondered out to the herb garden and decided that the freshness and subtle sweetness of Italian basil was required. 

Fortunately, the basil has been growing like mad this year. We have 6 very large, very full plants, despite making pesto every other weekend. 

Purslane, cucumber, yogurt & avocado gazpacho recipe

Serves 6-7 as a side or starter. Recipe can be halved

• 4-5 cups of roughly chopped purslane, about 1 large colander full
• 3 English cucumbers or 8 Persian cucumbers, roughly chopped
• 4 large avocados, just ripe or slightly underripe, skinned, seeded, and roughly chopped
• 1 medium lemon
• 8 medium fresh basil leaves
• 2 cups of water or unseasoned vegetable stock
• 1 clove of garlic, sliced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 5 cups of yogurt

Garlic lovers creamy wild garlic parmesan chicken. Foraging recipe.

I love garlic. Most people do, it's one of the most universally utilized spices in all global cuisines. Did you know that humanity is actually specially ADAPTED to love garlic? Most animals are repulsed by the smell and taste of Alliums (the genus that contains both garlic and onions); the pungency is actually a defense mechanism of the plant. And it's a good defense! Against anything except humans that is. Even in people, the smell illicits the same physical reaction as pain: it makes us cry. 

Garlic cultivation dates from at least 4,000 BC, coming out of Far East Asia, however it was almost certainly gathered/foraged much, much earlier, at least 2,000 and perhaps 4,000 years before that.

But why? Why would we eat a plant that illicits a pain response when we smell it?

Well, the entire plant is edible, relying on the smell/taste for defense, rather than poisons, thorns, etc. It's also one of the earliest spring greens to appear, and probably was initially sampled for this reason--little else was available. When our ancient ancestors found that the green part of the plants were non-poisonous, they probably would have sampled more, including the bulb. The bulbs of Alliums would have proven to be an essential resource for early hunter/gathers, as many are full of calories in the form of carbohydrates and sugars. 

Post-flowering garlic bulbils have all
the garlic flavor but don't
need to be peeled

Furthermore, after flowering, garlics and onions grow above-ground clusters of bulbils/bulbettes, which are also filled with essential carbs and sugars. Like nuts, berries and other fruit, these bubils are a source of calories and nutrients that are easy to harvest. In a hunter/gatherer society, calorie deficiencies are death. If you burn more calories to GATHER food than you gain, you will die. 

Which brings us to this recipe.

Right now wild garlic is producing the post-flower bulbils, which are perfect for the lazy garlic lover. 

Why dig when you can pick? Why chop when you can prepare whole? And, my favorite, why peel freaking garlic bulbs which I hate and takes so much time and frustration, when you can pick garlic bulbils. 

Garlic bulbils are the bomb because they have fantastic garlic flavor and don't have to be peeled! 

You're gonna need a lot more garlic

Lazy garlic-lovers creamy garlic parmesan chicken

Serves 4-8, total time about 40 minutes. 

2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs (or breasts)

2 cups chicken stock

1 1/2 cups garlic bulbils, flowers and stalks, unpeeled, clusters broken up

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

3 pats of butter

3 tbs. flour or almond flour

Salt & pepper

Olive oil

Parsley, optional

1. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large, flat-bottom pan. I used my favorite 5 quart sauté pan. 
2. Lightly dredge the chicken in flour or almond flour, and add to the hot oil. Fry both sides until browned, about 5 min per side. I used the browning time to break up and lightly chop the garlic. Remove the chicken from the pan, and set aside on paper towels. 
3. 
   Add the garlic and 1 pat of butter to the pan, with more oil if needed. Sauté, stirring constantly, and scraping up the bits of chicken in the pan, until garlic is fragrant, translucent and browned. Because these garlic are inside their skins, you can let them get brown or even a little blackened and they will taste like garlic you roasted in the oven -- fantastic!
4. Reduce heat to medium or medium-low. Pour in the chicken stock and heavy cream and stir completely. Add in the parmesan cheese and stir once more. 
5. Return the chicken to the pan, and settle as far into the broth/cheese mix as you can. 
6. Cover and cook over medium or medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, then flip the chicken and cook for another 8 minutes or so. Test for doneness. Stir in parsley, if using, and cook for one minute more. Remove and serve immediately. The sauce is also great on roasted veggies and potatoes.

Keto teriyaki steak rolls with curly "docksparagus" and garlic scapes

The long flower stalks of curly dock
can be cooked like asparagus

Curly dock, Rumex crispus, is one of the most versatile and abundant wild plants around. The broad, vitamin-rich leaves are the most-known part of the plant, and can be used like spinach or kale. 

As a biannual plant, curly dock produces only energy-gathering leaves over its first growing season. During the second season, the plant will shoot up a central stalk that will flower and eventually go to seed. 

These stalks are a very tasty and unique vegetable, similar in texture to asparagus, but with a sour/tart flavor, more pronounced than the leaves, but less than lemon or rhubarb. Due to the look and the texture, foragers sometimes call this part of the plant "docksparagus".

For dinner last weekend used  made teriyaki-marinated, steak-wrapped wild veggie bundles, topped with a teriyaki glaze, inspired by negimaki. I used docksparagus, wild garlic scapes, and some bell peppers for color and texture. The rolls were very easy and quick to put together, not counting marinade time, with a pretty early clean up as well. 

You can even do the bulk of the work (preparing the marinade) in advance, and store in the fridge.

They came out delicious, while still being healthy: low calorie, keto / low carb, full of nutrients, and dairy-free. 

Using the bulbils of wild garlic is super easy:
no peeling required!

I opted to use wild garlic bulbils (i've been calling them bulbettes al this time) heads instead of store-bought garlic here. I love using this garlic stage, it's so easy. The skins on the garlic bulbils are so incredibly thin you don't have to peel them for cooked applications, just mince everything -- bulbils, skins, flowers, stalks, flower stalks -- together and use in place of commercial garlic.  

Teriyaki steak rolls with wild plants 

Makes around 12 rolls 

2lbs sirloin, flank, top or bottom round, sliced to 1/8 thick

24 long, thin docksparagus stalks, remove tough or dried-out leaves

1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper, or 2 half peppers for variety 

Around 36 wild garlic scapes&

For the marinade / glaze

Beef stock 3/4 cup

Soy sauce 1/2 cup

Rice wine vinegar 1/2 cup

Garlic chili oil 1/4 cup, more or less for your spice level

Olive oil 1/4 cup

Sesame oil 2 tbs

Whole bulb garlic or equivalent wild garlic, minced 

2tbs fresh grated ginger

1 tsp white pepper 

1 tsp. corn starch or other thickener

1. Mix all marinade ingredients together in a large bowl or 9x12 baking pan. 
2. Add in the sliced beef and marinade at least one hour, or overnight. Marinade in the fridge if marinating longer than a couple of hours.
3. If you've marinaded in the fridge, remove and allow the beef to come to room temperature before cooking
4. Preheat the oven to 375.
5. Cut the docksparagus and garlic scapes into spears around 4inches long. Slice the bell peppers into long strips. 
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the sliced beef from the marinade and lay out on the parchment. Do not discard the marinade

   

   Next time I would only use garlic scapes inside the rolls, 
   no garlic heads with bulbils

   
   
7. Place a mix of veggies on each strip of beef. I used 2 bell pepper slices, 3-4 docksparagus spears and 3-4 garlic scape pieces.*
8. Roll the beef around the veggies and fasten with a toothpick. Repeat for all beef slices. Drizzle with marinade. 
   
   
   
9. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes, then flip each roll and roast for another 10 minutes. 
10. While the rolls are roasting, bring remaining marinade to a rolling boil over high heat. Boil for at least 2 minutes. 

    

    For real though, remove the toothpicks before serving. 
    Don't make the same mistakes I did

    
    
11. Mix 1 tsp. Corn starch in a small amount of water. Add to the boiling marinade and reduce heat to medium. Allow to thicken, stirring, and remove from heat. 
12. Remove the rolls from the oven, plate, REMOVE THE TOOTHPICKS and cover with the teriyaki glaze. Serve hot.

*Special note about the wild garlic. Right now north Texas wild garlic is in a variety of stages: garlic scape (one enclosed bulb at the top of the stalk), flowering and bulbils, the post-flowering mini-bulbettes at the top of the stalk. The bulbils are excellent in the marinade or in any other minced application, however, they are too thick to cook all the way through if you use them (as I did) inside the rolls. Next time I will definitely keep to the scapes inside the rolls and the bulbils only in the marinade, as they were just a bit undercooked inside the rolls.

Obligatory note on curly dock. Rumex crispus contains substantial amounts of oxalic acid. While there are many commercially grown plants that contain oxalic acid, curly dock may have a larger content. Oxalic acid should be only eaten by healthy people in moderation. (If I do a meal prep with curly dock, I will generally only eat the meals every other day, rather than every day.) People with kidney or liver issues -- especially a tendency for kidney stones -- should avoid oxalic acid, as should breast-feeding women, it can have a laxative effect that can be passed to the baby through the milk. 

Garlicy bastard cabbage flower buds and stalks - Italian style

Ok spring in Texas has been quite delayed this year due to reoccurring cold spells throughout the mid-to-late winter. December was comfortably mild, but January and February saw short but deep chills every week or two. As a result, we are about three weeks behind where we usually are in the foraging season. And it's been quite frustrating for me. 

Usually at this time I would have an abundance of pokeweed, wild garlics, cleavers, chickweed, dock, thistles. mustards, and more. Henbit and deadnettle, often found in February, are just now starting to peak.

The perfect stage for harvesting flower stalks and buds,
Make sure to break the stalk at a natural snapping point.

But if there is one good thing about the delayed season, it's that its forcing me to look outside of my comfort zone to find plants to forage. Bastard cabbage, Rapistrum rugosum, is a highly invasive mustard species which is found in abundance in Texas, though often sprayed and therefor not safe for consumption. 

While generally not highly regarded as a food source, I've found it to be utterly delicious when properly prepared. The secret is in the hairs all over the plant, which can be unpleasant in texture, but are softened by blanching. Blanching also brings out a mellow sweetness, and overall R. rugosum is perhaps my favorite wild mustard, with a flavor combining brocollini, sweet corn and asparagus with a very mild mustard spiciness. It's truly delicious. 

Though I've cooked extensively with the mature leaves of the bastard cabbage plant, this week was my first stab at using the tender young flower stalks and flower buds. Foraging author Sam Thayer describes this as his favorite part of the garlic mustard plant (Alliaria petiolata), also in the mustard family. I've tried garlic mustard that way, and was not impressed. But bastard cabbage was another story. 

From my husband, "This is one of the best wild plants we've tried." And I have to agree with him. 

Right now R. rugosum looks pretty much like the picture above, leaves are smallish, and generally the plants aren't flowering, though they have formed buds. You are going for the central and side stalks, with the very smallest leaves attached and the flower buds at the ends. You want to feel down the stalks until you find the area where it breaks off easily. If it doesn't break easily, and only bends, then that stalk is too mature and will be woody. Generally speaking, once most of the buds are in flower, they will be too tough and woody. 

Once the buds have flowered, the stalks are generally
tough and woody

Once picked, the buds and stalks strongly resemble rapini/broccoli rabe or broccolini/baby broccoli. Broccoli rabe is a favorite in Mediterranean and Italian cuisine, and broccolini is most often eaten in Japan and other Eastern countries. Both are usually given simple seasoning and then sautéed or stir-fried briefly, over very high heat. 

I decided to try a classic Italian preparation here, modified with the addition of a quick blanch, and ended up with an excellent, 3-ingredient side dish that took only around 10 minutes to prepare. 

Italian-style garlicy bastard cabbage flower buds and stalks

Serves 2-3 as a side dish

2 cups of bastard cabbage buds and stalks

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

3 tablespoons high-heat olive or avocado oil

Sea salt to taste

1. Bring enough water to cover the bastard cabbage buds to a rolling boil. Add in the bastard cabbage and blanch for around 2 minutes, or until the green color brightens. Drain and rinse with cold water. Shake the greens in the colander, leaving them a little damp.
2. In a large sauté pan or wok (preferred) bring the oil to high heat. Add the bastard cabbage to the pan, and sauté on high, moving the greens and the pan constantly for about 2 minutes, until the color becomes a very vivid green. 
3. Add the garlic to the pan and continue to sauté/stir-fry, moving constantly until the garlic is soft and very fragrant, about 3-4 more minutes. Remove from heat and serve immediately. 
4. 
   

This side dish is very diet restriction friendly. It's low in fat, carbohydrates and sugars, gluten-free, Keto diet-approved (mustard greens being very low in net carbs), vegetarian, vegan, and Paleo, depending on the oil you choose. 

For a very Texas meal, serve as a side to steak

Mushroom bacon with foraged wild oysters. Vegan, keto and oven-fried.

Super short but oh-so-delicious post for you today. 

Oyster. Mushroom. Bacon.

It's salty. It's savory. It's blackened, but not smoked.  It's both crisp and chewy. 

Oven roasting or grilling oyster mushrooms has long been my favorite way to prepare them fresh. They just get so super umami over high heat.

The middle of the caps are the most meaty in terms of texture, and really showcase the best mushroom flavor, but the most delectible bits are always the outer edges. Those edges, thin fleshed and naturally drier, get crispy brown or blackened, almost like deep fried. 

I came upon this decent-sized haul of winter oyster mushrooms yesterday, while hunting for pecans. The caps were enormous, 6 to 12 inches across, and very thick in the middle. In the summer, oysters at this level of maturity would be fully infested with bugs, but because this is the winter they were flawless  inside, very fresh, and exceedingly dense: full of moisture. 

That said, mature oyster mushrooms that have already dropped their spores tend to be a little less flavorful than when they are younger and still have in-rolled edges. 

With that in mind, I was thinking about ways to make the entire mushroom more like the crispy/oven fried bits, with less of the chewy/meatiness. I decided to salt them and let them sit and drain for a while, desiccating the mushrooms somewhat, so that the whole thing would crisp up and get caramelized. This added to the total prep time, but as I had plenty else to do -- and the mushrooms were just kinda sitting around--it worked out great. 

Keto, vegan oyster mushroom bacon

2 lbs oyster mushrooms, caps whole or nearly so
1/2 cup olive oil or high-heat oil of your choice
1 tbs. kosher salt
3 tbs. smoked paprika
2 tbs. garlic powder
1 tbs. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground celery seed

1. Rinse your mushrooms, cleaning off any debris, and lightly pat dry -- leaving them still slightly damp. 
2. Sprinkle the mushrooms with salt, paprika, garlic powder, celery seed and black pepper and set in a colander or on layers of paper towel to drain. The salt will help draw the moisture out of the mushrooms, encouraging them to really crisp up in the oven. Let sit for 40-60 minutes. 
3. When the mushrooms are ready (they should be about 3/4 the size they were before, with a lot of water having been drawn out of them, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 
4. Arrange the mushroom caps on a foil-coated baking sheet, they shouldn't touch or overlap each other. 
5. Drizzle with olive oil, flip and drizzle the other side as well. Brush both sides to coat. 
6. Bake at 400 for 30-60 mins, depending on the cap thickness. After that, check and see if your caps are crispy fried. If your caps are thick, you will need to flip them and keep them in for another 15-30 minutes. 
7. Enjoy however you would bacon!

These mushrooms are low-carb, low-fat, keto, vegan and vegetarian, and paleo. They can be served as a side dish, snack or main course. The only real thing to watch out for are high amounts of salt. 

Unrelated note, here are some of the things I foraged yesterday: 

Sautéed mushrooms with black trumpets. Keto, gluten-free, low carb, vegetaritan

A few weeks back, my husband made me some truly decadent sautéed mushrooms, using our FAVORITE wild mushroom: the black trumpet.

Black trumpets don't get the fame of chanterelles, porcini, morels or truffles, but there is nothing else on earth quite like their flavor. Black trumpets taste like the essence of the forrest, woodsy, earthy, and super rich. Even their smell is like putting your face down to the earth, and taking a deep inhale: you get a heady aroma of moss, dead leaves, black soil. . .
and just a hint of funk. Kind of like truffles, black trumpet aroma is weird-good, and promises amazing things to come.

The thing about black trumpets is that they are rather small and fragile, very thin-fleshed, so they don't make a very good meal on their own. The good news is their flavor is so intense that you can use these mushrooms almost as a spice, where just a little goes a long way. The secret is to dry them first.

Backyard weed Green Goddess dressing with Greek yogurt. Gluten free, keto, made with cleavers and henbit.

A healthier take on green goddess dressing. This swaps greek yogurt for mayonnaise, and add in some of the earliest, freshest, wild green herbs of spring. 

I don't know why it never occurred to me before, to make a dressing using edible weeds. It seems like such a simple, obvious idea; but then sometimes its harder to think of the simple stuff, right?

A green goddess dressing seemed like the perfect homage to spring. In name, anyway.

The original "green goddess" dressing dates from the early 1920s, and was named for a famous play, not because of it's use of natural, fresh spring ingredients. In fact, the original green goddess dressing is none too healthy, being mostly mayonnaise thinned out with a little vinegar, and given the barest green tint with a few herbs.

This version remedies that by removing the mayo, adding in greek yogurt, and kicking up the herbs to be the major ingredient, rather than just a flavoring. Plus, I used wild foraged herbs, ones that you can most likely find in your own backyard.

Henbit can easily take over an entire field, turning it to soft purple. I love it for it's abundant growth (great for sustainability) and for it's strong, herbal flavor. 

I chose to use cleavers, (Galium aparine) and henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) because they both have such strong, herbal flavors. There's also a TON of garlic in this dressing, so it packs a ton of flavor.  If you don't love garlic as much as I do, cut my amount by half.

Any strongly flavored wild herb would probably do well in this dressing, like creeping charlie, wood sorrel, lemon balm, bergamot/bee balm, speedwell or goldenrod (later in the year). Or if you like milder flavors you could try nettles or docks.

 Veggie burgers: it's what for din. . .I mean lunch. 

Both cleavers and henbit are invasive species from Eurasia, though they have become more or less naturalized here in North America; their status as invasive species makes them excellent for sustainablity.

I've been enjoying this dressing on EVERYTHING this week: salads, meat, and it's versatile enough to double as a dip (really good for cucumber slices and crudités).

I made it in tandem with these chickpea and curly dock burgers that I posted the other day and they've been a great, quick lunch to heat up as needed. 

Cleavers are one of the most robustly-flavored wild herbs you can gather. 

Green goddess dressing made with greek yogurt and backyard weeds

Makes about 3 cups, can be halved. Total time: >10 minutes.

3 cups of packed cleavers
2 cups of packed henbit
10.5 oz. plain, unsweetened, fat-free greek yogurt (2 individual-size servings)
4-5 bulbs of wild garlic, or 4-5 cloves of cultivated garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
juice of half a lemon
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper.

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Once boiling, add in your cleavers and boil for about 2 minutes, stirring regularly.  Add in your henbit and blanch for another minute. Drain.
2. Working in batches if needed, add your cooked greens and all other ingredients to a food processor. 
3. Dressing will keep in the fridge for 5 days. Remember to store in glass, not plastic or metal. 

Creamed wild greens with Greek yogurt: vegetarian, high-protein, low carb, low fat, gluten-free optional

Non-foragers, don't run away, although I made this dish with wild, foraged greens, you could easily make it with spinach or kale--and it would still be a healthier take on the creamed side dish.

Spring is officially ON in north Texas, and a lot of our freshest, tenderest wild greens are peeking out above the duff. But it can still be chilly, this year more than most, with temperatures in late February dipping into the 30s. And cold weather craves comfort food.

This dish makes great use of 3 invasive species: bastard cabbage (Rapistrum rugosum) a member of the mustard/cabbage family, curly dock (Rumex crispus), and this field garlic, I'm not sure which one it is, but if you get that garlic smell, it's an edible garlic.

If you don't have either of these wild greens, feel free to sub any mustard greens, lambsquarters, dandelion greens, sow thistle, spinach, kale, etc.

Bastard cabbage, Rapistrum rugosum.
All members of the cabbage/mustard family are edible,
if you can identify them properly.

Curly dock, Rumex crispus. An abundant, invasive wild edible,
available throughout North America.
I have a post on how to ID this plant, see below for more.

As yet unidentified wild garlic. It appears to be a hybrid with
invasive crow garlic, Allium vineale

One of the best things about this meal is that it can be on the table in under 20 minutes, and only uses one pot!!! So easy for cleanup as well. It makes a great side dish for grilled meat, or to help stretch out leftovers.

This dish is vegetarian, low in carbs, low in fat, low sugar, high in protein, and gluten-free optional.

Pickled wood ear mushroom relish and how to use it. From foraged wild mushrooms.

My pickled wood ear mushroom relish on grilled Polish sausage with 2 kinds of mustard, grilled peppers and caramelized onions. It tastes as good as it looks!

Wood ear mushrooms are generally regulated exclusively to Asian cuisine, where they are revered as both food and medicine. A Google search will reveal recipes for hot and sour soup, spicy Sichuan salad and the occasional stir-fry.

All great recipes (I've shared my version of hot and sour and Sichuan salad before), but I had to wonder: is there a way for this easy-to-identify wild mushroom to enter main-stream American cuisine?

Wood ear mushroom (also known as tree ear, jelly ear and Latin name: Auricularia auricula), faces a couple of huge challenges.

First, it looks like this:

Despite their unappetizing appearance, wood ear mushrooms have
no flavor, and absorb the taste of whatever you cook them with. 

And second, it has a weird, gelatinous, crunchy texture.

But taste? It doesn't taste bad, in fact, it doesn't really taste like anything. Which is what gave me the idea to pickle it and create a relish.

After all, a good relish is crunchy (wood ear: check) and absorbs the flavors of the vinegar and spices (wood ear: check). Why a relish over a traditional snack pickle? I'm not sure, except I was bored with just pickling things, and I also felt the thin flesh of the wood ear wouldn't hold up as well as a snack food.

The important thing is that they came out great!

Vegetarian garlicky cleavers walnut pesto. Keto foraging recipe, paleo and vegan optional.

This pesto is not only the best pesto I've ever made, it's the best pesto I've ever tasted, period. If you have cleavers, please try this pesto now. If you trust no other recipe on this site, trust this one. This garlicky cleavers pesto is something you need in your life.

This pesto is fast, simple and can go on absolutely ANYTHING, but of course, I enjoy it best simply tossed with some pasta. This wild herb pesto is a great condiment, it's super healthy because of the nutritious cleavers, and low-carb keto, as well as being vegetarian. If you omit the cheese, it's also Paleo and Vegan!

This recipe has some weird steps, that I came upon entirely by accident, but they worked out so well!

Cleavers are a very common backyard "weed" that's super easy to identify. If it's early to mid-spring, I guarantee that you can find some near you, perhaps in a local park. They have a great herbal flavor, vaguely like oregano, but mostly uniquely their own. Cleavers should be boiled before eating, and I prefer them pureed as well, to avoid textural issues.

Spicy Sichuan black bean pork and tofu with dandelion greens and stem "lo mein". Keto-friendly, low-carb.

So last week I won an Instagram contest for a hand-carved dandelion stamp from EnchangingStamps on Etsy by sharing my favorite dandelion recipe.  I shared how, not being a huge fan of bitter flavors, I liked mixing dandelion greens (which are superfoods), into spicy dishes, where the heat mitigates some of the bitterness. My all-time favorite is a pork and tofu dish, inspired by Sichuan Mapo. It's rich with chili oil, Sichuan peppercorns, black bean paste, and, of course, pork fat!

But I've never shared the recipe on my blog :( . . . In fact, I never shared ANY dandelion recipes on my blog! I think it's because there are so many great dandelion recipes out there, I haven't created any original ones myself.

But mixing spicy Asian flavors with bitter dandelions is something that I haven't seen anywhere else, so I'm making today the day I share it with you.

Foraging dandelion stem, gluten-free, keto, paleo "noodles" -- for free!

Hello! Do you ever pin something on Pinterest, 100% intending to try it, when the time is right/you have the materials/the plant you need is in season, but by the time you actually can try it, you've completely forgotten about it? I'm ashamed to say that dandelion stem "noodles" are one of those for me. 

I first saw the idea over over at Wild Food Girl, and it seemed totally interesting, but my dandelions were always short-stemmed, and growing sparsely. It didn't seem worth bending over and picking for hours for piddly little 4" noodles. 

But on Sunday, I encountered a field full of densely growing dandelion patches, where I could find 6-10 stalks in every square foot, and those stalks were long! Some were over 12". Fortunately, my mind remembered the post and I decided to experiment.

It's hard to tell in this picture, but many of the stems were a foot or so long!

And oh. my. goodness. What an experiment it was! These might be my new favorite way to eat dandelions. They become perfectly soft, almost exactly the texture of top-quality ramen noodles from your favorite restaurant. The flavor is mild and fresh, very slightly bitter, and tastes incredibly wholesome.  

And why pay for trendy, low calorie noodles, when you can get these for free? They've got nearly 0 calories, low carb, no sugar, no fat, and are gluten-free, keto and paleo!

Best of all, they extend the dandelion harvest even farther! I picked these from dandelion heads that had already gone to seed, long after the greens are good, and even after the flowers. Harvesting these stems extends dandelion season by a week or two; totally awesome, when you consider how nutritious dandelions are for you!

Dandelion stem "noodle" recipe:

Bring dandelion stems to boil in a pot of lightly salted water. Boil for about 7 minutes, or until tender. Drain, and serve as you would any other kind of noodle. Enjoy!

Pickled greenbriar tips foraging recipe. Fat free, gluten-free, vegan, paleo.

It's that time of the year again! Greenbriar   Is a really unique wild edible that you generally can only get in the early to mid spring, March through April around here in Texas, and April through June back where I used to live up north.

Greenbriar, genus name: Smilax, is an easy-to-identify vine, and only the young growing tips are edible, which is why you can harvest in the spring. 

Learn how to identify greenbriar here!

I was only able to get a few handfuls this early, but I'm sure I'll be pulling bags of greenbriar from the woods soon! Because I only had a small amount, I decided to make more of a snack, rather than a full meal. I thought pickling would work out well, and it did! They held their crispness well, and the flavor pairs perfectly with salty, sour, and dill.

Here's what I did, but feel free to try your own pickling recipe:

1. Blanch 2 cups of greenbriar tips in boiling water for 1 minute. Add them to a glass or glazed ceramic container (not metal or plastic)
2. Smack 1 tsp coriander seeds and 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns with the side of a knife a couple of times. Mince 2 cloves of garlic.
3. Bring 2 cups of white vinegar to a boil, add in peppercorns, coriander, garlic, 1 tsp. dried dill, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp powdered cumin, and 1/4 tsp sugar.
4. Boil for 5 minutes then pour in with the greenbriar. Seal and allow to come to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 24 hours. Store in the fridge and enjoy them within 2 weeks.

Check out all my greenbriar posts!