Weed or Not? Dandelion Jelly and Bruschetta.

It was my day off today.  I slept until 8:30, which is sleeping in for me.  I had no plans.  But somehow, as I was lying in bed, I remembered that I have heard of people cooking with dandelions.  I also remembered that dandelions are very healthy.  And I also remembered seeing an abundance of dandelions growing along the edges of the apple orchards when I went for a run yesterday.  So this led to me looking through recipe and mouthwatering recipe for braised dandelion greens, dandelion bruschetta, dandelion pesto, and finally, dandelion jelly.  These recipes were enough to force me out of the warm depths of my bed to go on a dandelion hunt.  I donned my rubber boots, for it was lightly drizzling outside, grabbed a couple buckets, stopped my the kitchen where I work for some advice from one of the chefs, and then started the short walk to the apple orchards.  I have never felt more natural, organic, peaceful, and 'at one with the earth' before.  By the way, because of my sarcastic nature and my opposition to anything so called cheesy, I never use the phrase 'at one with the earth' without a heavily sarcastic tone.  But I did feel very relaxed and calm.
After filling one plastic bucket with dandelion greens and one with the sunny flowers, I walked back, making a quick stop at the organic foods store near my flat to pick up an orange and a lemon for my jelly.  Now it was time to begin.  I am not including the recipes for the jelly or the bruschetta here because neither one turned out ideal, but I still plan to play around with them, so if I figure out the perfect way, I'll be sure to let you know.  So for now, this post is just a story of my day.

A cup of my favorite tea was the best companion...

 First I started with the flowers.  To make the jelly, you must remove all the petals, but be careful not to include any of the green parts, as they are very bitter.  It took a bit for me to get the hang of it and to figure out the best way to do that.  It was rather relaxing, though, to stand at my kitchen counter, watch the rain fall on the cherry trees below, and hear nothing but my thoughts and the rain...oh and the pounding of the workers on the roof next door to me.

 I boiled about a liter of water and then added the petals and slices of orange and lemon.

After this cooked for about 10 minutes, I took it from the heat, strained it through a towel, and cooled it in the sink with cold water.

Then I returned it to the heat and added a bit of vanilla and the sugar and pectin mix that you can buy here in Germany.  This is where I believe I messed up with the jelly.  I added enough to make it the correct sweetness, but I guess it was not enough to make it jell properly.  So now my jelly looks wonderful, but is more like a thick syrup. But it tastes pretty darn delicious!  Maybe I'll have to try it on pancakes!  I did still pour it into four jars and seal them by putting the lid on immediately and then putting them upside down to cool.

Here are a couple abnormal dandelions... The bottom one has one stem, but 9 flowers!

After I had finished with the jelly, cleaned the kitchen, and done all the dishes, I was more than a little hungry for lunch.  So I washed all of the greens and trimmed off the stems.  Then I steamed them for a couple minutes to soften them a bit.  I cooked one small onion and a bit of garlic in a pan with some olive oil until they were a bit brown and then added the greens.  I seasoned them with a bit of salt and pepper and squeezed a bit of lemon juice over the top.  I tasted it at this point and they were still quite bitter, so I sprinkled in a tiny bit of sugar and a small drizzle of red wine vinegar.  This truly improved the flavor.  I had gotten some whole wheat bread from the freezer, so I toasted up a few thin slices of it.  Then I chopped some fresh tomato and put this on the toast with a crumble of parmesan cheese.  Finally I added the cooked greens.  They turned out very yummy, but very difficult to eat.  The green were still quite tough, so I think when I try it next time, I will cut them up a bit more and maybe steam them longer.  I ended up having to take huge bites because I could not bite through the greens!  But the flavor was top notch so I will be trying it again.  I imagine a goat cheese would taste wonderful with the dandelion greens also.  All in all, a successful day...

Liechtenstein: the Real-Life Fairyland.

Again it has been pretty long since I've posted anything, but instead of apologizing and feeling bad like I have previously, I'm just going to say that I've been having to much fun in the real world to bother with the virtual one.  But now I have something to share and the time to do so...
Well, my story starts a couple months back when I had a friend tell me that he was in Liechtenstein, and like you may be thinking, I went, "Wow, where is that again?"  So I pulled up Google maps and discovered that it is not horribly far from where I am living.  Here's a map that shows it's location in case you're wondering:

After realizing the country's close proximity to me, I started looking into how long it would take to get there. It was just an idea in the back of my head, though, until I mentioned it to a friend and coworker of mine.  He thought it was a brilliant idea and started looking more seriously at trains.  He found that it would be 45 euro roundtrip for each of us, which is a little bit pricey for us a daytrip.  Then I realized that it might be cheaper to rent a car for a day.  So we looked at car companies and found that you can rent a Smart car for a day for only 70 euro, so when we split that it, was much cheaper.  Also the first 300 kilometers are free, so we decided to not just stop at Liechtenstein but to continue on to St. Gallen, Switzerland and Konstance, Germany.

So we decided to just go for it and picked April 21st (last Saturday) for our mini adventure.  Even though the weather report for all of the Bodensee region was for rain, we ended up having brilliantly beautiful sunshine that hit all of the snowy peaks of the Alps.  We set out at about 9 a.m. and returned at about 730 p.m. with several stops along the way.  

Liechtenstein is the second richest country per capita in the world, so it turned out to be a country that had a very dream-like feel to it.  The birds were singing, the sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, and all seemed right with the world.  Because of the country's excess of wealth, all of the streets, houses, and gardens were impeccably well kept.  Most of the cars that drove past were Audi's, BMW's, Mercedes, and Jaguar, with the occasional 'normal' car.  It seems nothing bad every happens there...  

I've included some of the best photos from our trip so maybe you can enjoy a bit of our trip too.

Bocksberg, Austria - I hiked this mountain a couple of weeks ago.

Austria

The Austria-Liechtenstein border

First picture in Liechtenstein

Like I said, sun shining, birds singing, flowers blooming, etc.

View from the front of a church, Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein Castle - You cannot tour it, as the prince still lives there.

Vaduz, Liechtenstein

Snow blowing off the mountains

On the red carpet in St. Gallen, Switzerland

St. Gallen, Switzerland

The Bodensee, Konstance, Germany

Michi and I before we left.  Oh, and they were out of Smart cars, so we got a Ford Fiesta.

It turned out to be loads of fun, and we had no problems whatsoever.  Now I can officially say I have been to another country!

Something to think over.

I just want to quickly share with you all something I jut read, literally about two minute ago. It is so profound and heartbreaking, that it makes me want to spring into action.
The following paragraph is from Phillip Yancey's book, What's So Amazing About Grace. This story came from a friend of his who worked in Chicago.

A prostitute cam to see me in wretched atraits, homeless, sick, unable to buy food for her two-year-old daughter. Through sobs and tears, she told me she had been renting out her daughter - two years old! - to men interested in kinky sex. She made more renting out her daughter for an hour than she could earn on her own in a night. She had to do it, she said, to support her own drug habit. I could hardly bear hearing her sordid story. For one thing, it made me legally liable - I'm required to report cases of child abuse. I had no idea what to day to this woman.
At last, I asked if she ever thought of going to church for help. I will never forget the look of pure, naive shock that crossed her face. "Church!" she cried. "Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. They'd just make me feel worse."

So what are we going to do? Pray for people like this? Hand them a Bible? What if instead, when we saw people who are alone, hungry, cold, sick, or suffering, we stopped and took time from our day to buy them food or socks or a blanket or maybe just talk to them and show that we care? Just a thought... Now what will we do?

Let's Just Graze All Day.

...And I am a foodaholic.  It is official.  I am hooked on food.  Sometimes I dream about it at night...or during the day...or not just sometimes but all the time.  Because I work around food, I often am sparked with new ideas for recipes, sauces, desserts, etc. while I am working, and then I have to try them as soon as I get done with work.  Therefore people call me crazy because I even spend my free time cooking or baking.  Ok, I am getting a bit off track.  My point is that I really, truly love food and I am very thankful that I have some self-control or I would easily be well over 600 pounds.

Anyways, for the last week I have been confined to my apartment because of some nasty virus that picked my as it's victim.  I didn't eat much for the first few days, but as soon as my fever was gone, I became quite hungry, and since I had nothing else to do, I took to looking at recipes and pictures of mouth-watering dishes on Pinterest.  And as soon as I was able to do more than stumble to the kitchen for some toast and a banana, I started using what small amounts of food I had in my kitchen in an attempt to re-create the wonderful world that I saw on my laptop.  I made some tasty Oowy Gooey 1 Minute Vegan Chocolate Cake, 5 Minute Microwave Cornbread, (note the common theme: easy, fast, and oh, easy), pasta with tomato sauce, and some killer oatmeal.  Oh feel free to follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/littlebird32/.

To sum up, now that I am feeling up to more time and labor intensive cooking tasks, I decided to buy some fresh, organic spinach from a little health food store in my neighborhood.  I washed the crisp, dark green leaves and mixed a strawberry vinaigrette of strawberry jam, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and some spices.  I topped off my salad with some slivered almonds.  Let's just put it this way: it was fantastic.

Before I made my salad, though, I decided that I needed to make some granola.  I normally make granola bars, since they are easier to grab when I run out the door for work at a painfully early hour of the morning.  During my state of delirium in bed (maybe I'm exaggerating just the tiniest bit), I found I was suddenly craving a good, solid, crunchy, nut-filled granola.  And since it turned out pretty darn good, I'm just going to share the recipe with you.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  I wanted something with lots of big nuts to add a strong texture, so I left the almonds and hazelnuts pretty big.  The banana adds a good kick of sweetness and just a smallest hint of banana without being overwhelming.  I threw in sunflower seeds, coconut, and the chopped hazelnuts just because I wanted to used up the small amounts I had.  So you could easily leave them out or substitute other nuts and seeds in their place.  Feel free to be creative!  Oh and I never measure when I'm making granola, so the amounts are a bit estimated.

Crunch-Crunch-Yum Granola

1 ripe banana

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp honey

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

4 Tbsp bran

1 Tbsp ground flaxseed

1 Tbsp sunflower seeds

2 Tbsp finely chopped hazelnuts

1 Tbsp unsweetened coconut

1-2 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup almonds, halved

1/4 cup whole hazelnuts

1.  Preheat oven to 200 C (about 380 F).

2.  Mash banana until smooth in large bowl.  Add all other wet ingredients and mix well.

3.  Add all dry ingredients and mix well.

4.  Pour granola on large baking sheet covered with baking paper or Silpat and spread out evenly.

5.  Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from oven and stir.

6.  Return to oven and bake for another 5 minutes, but watch it as it can burn easily.

7.  Enjoy with milk or yogurt and fruit.

Ok, that's all for now, my friends!  Adieu! 

Here's to you...

This one's for you, Daniel, so you had better read this...

So I am still getting used to this no-Facebook thing, but thus far, I am truly liking it.  Already a few times a day, I have thought to myself, "Oh maybe I should make ___ my Facebook status!"  Then I remember I no longer have a Facebook to update my status on, so therefore I must share my thoughts with real people in the real world.  It has been very enlightening so far and has actually shown me a bit of my own character...

In other news, I am currently stretching after the run that begins my 9 months of training for my marathon.  It just happens to be a simply beautiful day here in Germany and has warmed up a bit so I was able to shed some of the layers I have been forced to run with for the last few weeks.  The sunshine was a huge bonus because after a very short night (especially for a sleep-lover like myself), I was feeling slightly worn out after work.  But still I laced up my trusty Nike running shoes and hit the streets.  Fortunately, it was not very long before I was feeling fantastic and enjoying the view (after a tough uphill run) of the sun-drenched  Bodensee and the Alps beyond.  Now I am enjoying the wonderful feeling of stretching out my tired limbs and am actually looking forward to my day of cross-training tomorrow!

One other semi-major change in my life will happen in 2 short days, on February 22nd.  As many of you know, that is the first day of Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday.  Many people give up something, such as sweets, bread, music, etc. as a sacrifice to remember Jesus' ultimate sacrifice of death for us all (meaning EVERYONE, no just Christians, Jews, etc.).  I have never given anything up for Lent before, but when one of my friends told me what they were doing, I considered it.  They told me about an organization called Blood: Water Mission.  This organization is helping to provide clean water to people in Africa.  So their idea is to give up all drinks except water and save all the money you would have spent on coffee, wine, tea, beer, and any other drinks besides water, for forty days.  Then at the end of the forty days, you donate all the money you saved to Africa for clean water, and you also get to enjoy a hot cup of Joe (or hot drink of your choice) on Easter morning.  I think it is pretty brilliant because it is a good sacrifice for me and gives to a very good cause.  I'd love it you would think about it, and if you want more info, go to www.bloodwatermission.com/40days.

The last thing that I must share for the benefit of a friend of mine named Daniel Paul.  This 26 year old man is from Manitoba, Canada, and insisted that I inform you all of a new nickname of mine: Robin's Egg Blue.  Embarrassing as it is to admit, I actually responded to it the other day... Depressing.

Well I have a lovely little bowl of raspberries with milk awaiting me, so I will sign off...  Adieu.

A New Day is Here.

It has been a disappointing amount of time since I last posted, but I hope that I am now turning a new leaf today.  After reading many articles, I have decided to deactivate my Facebook account.  I read one article in particular in the International Herald Tribune (which is the international version of the New York Times), about a group formed in Ireland called Europe Versus Facebook.  It was formed by a young Irish man who asked Facebook to send him a hard copy of all of the personal information they had stored about him.  He received a package containing about 1500 pages.  In addition to this rather creepy information storing, I have also realized that while I sit on Facebook and scroll mindlessly through my news feed which consists of an overwhelming combination of annoying gossip, unnecessary complaining, and self-centered gloating, I am missing out on the real world and my life is passing me by.  We will never get this time back again, so why do we waste it by living in a virtual world?

Since I have given up my virtual world, I have decided to jump back into the real world with both feet by signing up for the Amica Seattle Marathon, which will take place November 25, 2012.  At the moment, with 9 months until race day, just thinking about running for roughly 5 hours and covering 26.2 miles, makes me start to break out into a cold sweat and my stomach suddenly turns over and fills with butterflies.  That's why, I am trying to take the training process one day at a time.  My training will officially start on Monday with the first day of an 8 week half marathon training plan from Shape magazine.  I used this same plan a year and a half ago when I ran my first half marathon.  I will start with this plan, run a half marathon in April, here in Germany, and then begin with my official training for the full marathon.  

Before I start my training, I decided to brush up on my history of the first marathon, which, according to legend, took place in 490 BC.   Pheidippides, an ancient Greek soldier ran the 42.195 kilometers from the Battle of Marathon to Athens to carry the good news that they had won the battle against the Persians.  Upon arriving, he shouted "Νενικήκαμεν" (Nenikékamen, 'We have won.'), collapsed, and died.   I truly hope that this will not be my fate, but it is good to know the race's history.

Other than the excitements mentioned above, my life has been going on in a rather 'normal' way.  Cooking, baking, working, running, sleeping, eating, etc. I have been trying many new granola bar recipes lately, hoping to stumble upon some fabulous, extremely healthy, flavor explosion in the shape of a granola bar or breakfast muffin that I can eat along side my morning coffee... One of my friends and coworkers also has a passion for making healthy, low-fat granola, muffins, breakfast bars, and other such foods, so we often share ideas and recipes back and forth.  She recently sent me the link for truly wonderful, no-bake, all-natural energy balls.  They are really easy to whip up in a hurry, and simply delish!  I reduced the honey a bit and also tried them once with a bit of baking cocoa for when I was craving some chocolate.  Both ways were hits, in my humble opinion!  Here's the link:  http://www.recipeforcrazy.com/2011/11/natural-snack.html

Well, now I am semi-caught up on my much belated blogging, so enjoy!  Adieu! 

So far, so good! Plus a soup recipe!

I just want to give a quick update on my first attempt at sourdough bread from scratch!  I have never made a sourdough bread before, so I am really hoping this works!  Last Friday I mixed up the flour and milk for a milk sour starter.  It needs to sit for a total of 7 - 9 days, with a few mixings in between.  To give you an idea of what has happened in the last few days, here is a picture of the starter.  When I first mixed it, it was very runny and rather like thin pancake batter.  Now, though, it is much thicker, and you can see the bubbles pushing up to the surface.

Yesterday, I needed bread so I decided to try a Whole-Wheat Italian French bread.  That sounds like a contradiction, but it is just a bread from Italy but made in the shape and size of traditional French bread.  It turned out pretty good but not explosion-of-flavors-in-my-mouth amazing.  The reason I am sharing about it, though, is because I tried an old way of 'signing' bread.  You basically just cut out a letter or shape (I used a 'G') out of paper or cardboard and lay it on the top of the loaf right before it goes in the oven and then sift flour over the whole loaf.  Remove the letter and you will have non-floured initial on your bread!  Here's mine:

Finally I wanted to share a wonderful soup recipe!  I just made it up yesterday, because I had some leftover carrots that I was not sure what to do with.  The measurements are not super exact, as I did not measure anything.  So here goes!  It is a lovely appetizer, very healthy, and so simple. Also can be vegan if preferred! Enjoy!

Creamy Orange-Carrot Soup

2 medium - large carrots, peeled and cut into thin slices (the smaller the pieces, the faster it cooks)

1 medium orange

1 cup low-fat milk or coconut milk (coconut milk makes a slightly more exotic flavor and is vegan friendly)

1 tsp. salt or to taste

Fresh ground pepper to taste

Garlic salt to taste 

1/2 + rosemary 

1.  Boil about 2 or 2 1/2 cups water (enough to just cover carrots).  Meanwhile, use vegetable peeler to peel just the orange part off of the orange (use a bit less than the whole peel if using regular milk) and cut orange in half.  When water boils, add carrots and orange peel.

2.  Let them boil on medium heat until carrots are quite soft.

3.  Remove from heat and use a stick blender (or pour into regular blender) and blend until totally smooth.  Return to heat and add the milk.  Also squeeze in the juice from one half of the orange and stir.

4.  Add all seasonings, stir, and taste.  Add more seasonings if necessary or desired.

Servings: 2

Tastes wonderful with bread.  

I hope that you all enjoy this recipe as I am very excited about it.  It literally made me want to lick my bowl when I finished it!

It's just sour!

Ok, I've been cracking open my new bread cookbook from my sister, and in the process, I've learned a lot about more complex breads.  I have baked bread much of my life, but I never really learned about using starters such as sourdough and porridge.  For those of you who don't know, a starter is just a bit of the dough that you mix up ahead of time and let it sit to develop a deeper flavor.  For sourdoughs, you often let it sit for a week or more, to get the sour flavor that everyone loves.
So today, I'm officially starting my first sourdough.  I am attempting an Italian whole-grain bread this time.  I just mixed up some flour and milk for a milk sour starter.  I have to let it sit for 3 or 4 days, mix it down, let it sit for 2 or 3 days, mix it down, and finally let it sit for another 1 or 2 days.  Long process, but I have high hopes for the end result!  I think it will be a good exercise  in patience though!
As the process goes along, I'll try to keep you posted on the results!

Sourdough Bread...what nice texture!

As I am still in need of bread for my meals tomorrow, I need to pick another recipe that does not require quite so much time...  I'm looking at a French whole-wheat one that sounds quite lovely!

Just a day, just an ordinary day...

You know those days when the weather is just awful?  As in a day like today... It is raining... And blowing like nothing else... And it is cold.
Well that's how it is today and fortunately it is my day off.
I have a personal policy for my days off.  I must relax.
It sounds simple and rather obvious, but I have discovered that my natural instinct to put off my laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, etc. until my one day off a week.  Then instead of regaining my energy by slowing down, I work extra hard and end up more tired than I was before.

  

So today, my laundry is done, my apartment is clean (enough at least), my groceries are purchased, and I can just... relax.
For today that translates into my spoiling myself by whipping up a killer guacamole (recipe follows), cutting up some fruit (mango, kiwi, and orange), making a hot pot of Earl Grey tea and reading a lovely book.  Later I may or may not be planning on pulling some leftover Christmas cookies out of the freezer...

My book of choice today, happens to be Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables.  I had read the first few chapters at the beginning of December, but had forsaken it when I downloaded The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie.  It is a mystery, of course, and I got hooked by it and could not put it down until I discovered who committed the murder.  Now that I finished it, I am returning to figure out what happens to young Emily Starr.
To sum up this rather random and unorganized post, I'll just say that I am quite thankful for my warm apartment (even though the windows are a bit drafty) and for good food... Cannot complain, as life is good and God is my great King...

Robin's Tasty Guacamole

1 large avocado, medium soft

1 small onion

2 cloves garlic

1 small tomato

1/2 lime, juiced

1 1/2 tsp. salt (more or less depending on taste preference)

fresh ground pepper, to taste

1 or 2 dashes of cayenne pepper

1)  Cut avocado in half with peel on, and remove pit.  Cut each half into cubes while still in the peel and then scrape the pieces into a medium bowl.  Use a spoon or fork to mash until it reaches desired texture.  I like mine with a few chunks, so I stop mashing it before it becomes totally smooth.  

2)  Dice onion into small pieces and add to avocado.  Mince garlic next and also add to avocado.  

3)  Slice tomato and remove seeds and all middle parts until you just have rings.  Then cut into small pieces and add to bowl with avocado, onion, and garlic.

4)  Add lime juice, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper and mix well.

5)  Chill for 20 - 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend and intensify.

6)  I like to serve mine with thin, toasted ciabatta slices, as they have a nice flavor that goes well with the guacamole and make a more complete meal for vegetarians.

7)  If you wish to store it, save the avocado pit and put it back in the guacamole to help it from become brown as quickly.

Makes about 1 1/2 to 2 cups guacamole.