foraging

I love to look for wild edibles...but I need to increase my knowledge so I have more variety! Our CSA offered a fabulous walk & talk with a visiting expert on the subject 2 summers ago, but of course I had to go and have a baby and miss the whole thing. Bother!
Recently I have been enjoying blogs like The 3 Foragers. They are also from New England, so what they find is similar to what is in my local area.
So this week during school vacation I will focus on what spring has to offer here in the way of FREE food!

I began in our yard, right next to the house...





















The top 2 pics are chickweed, very easy to identify once you know how. I have no idea what the bottom left plant is called, but I have been picking and eating it for literally as long as I can remember; I used to call it "sour grass" as a kid as it is very sour, reminscient of SweetTarts candy to me! Does anyone out there know its name?? Bottom right is obviously dandelions. All of the plant can be used, but I started with just the greens, best when young without a thick rib down the middle.

Not quite as wild, but often overlooked...

Rhubarb doesn't need
any attention to do its
thing. Just let it grow
and pick when the stems
are pink/red. Though it's
a vegetable, rhubarb is
usually treated like a
fruit and used in desserts.
It is also quite tart and
needs sweetening. Just
remember that only the
stems are edible.

There are many varieties
of violets, but the delicate
ones growing in yards and
roadsides and in forests are
easy to identify and pick. The little flowers add some nice
color to salad, and can make a lovely embellishment for desserts!

Now maybe there are some of you out there more expert than me on the subject. I've got a few books on my Amazon wishlist, but have yet to purchase anything.





















I've heard that some varieties of sedum (top left) are quite tasty, albeit peppery. And what is this groundcover on the right? Or how about the lower left that carpets the forests in the area? Or the weed on the lower right that is EVERYWHERE around these parts? Even if they're not edible, I'm surrounded by them and would love to know the names of some of these plants.

After washing the greens
in a big bowl of water, I
stuffed them all into the
food processor with a bit
of salt and chopped them
up. Then added the rest of
my usual tofu quiche
ingredients.

I cooked up some onion
and bac-un strips and
mixed everything together.
Normally I probably use
about 1 cup of greens, but
I had at least 2 cups of
packed greens and I used
them all.

The result was VERY green,
and a bit strong, but Nate &
I loved it. The only person
who didn't finish his was
Ryan. I served it alongside
some potato & carrot home-
fries, with a touch of ketchup.

avoid the lunch "Q", bring a bento!

Q was tricky indeed. I could not find quince at any of the local markets. And as it turned out, even my alphabet tater tots that I was going to cheat with didn't have a real "Q" because the holes in the middle of the letters are too small to accommodate the entire cross. Nevertheless, a P turned sideways looked very convincing...

Ryan's "Q" lunch: Q potatoes w/ketchup; tofu quiche; quinoa vegetable paella.

I keep trying to like quinoa. My friend Melissa of The Papaya Chronicles blogged about her new favourite quinoa recipe recently here, which is her version of this one from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. So I made it...and my husband taste-tested. He said it was okay, that he'd eat more later, but it wasn't fantastic.
FWIW I added some salt,
and cooked the onion &
garlic in olive oil instead
water, just to give it a
little more flavour. Ryan
thought it was so-so,
hence the small portion
in his bento. I froze a bunch to try after I'm done rawing. The recipe makes a TON.

I was worried that this
wouldn't be enough food
for him, but then I
realized that his snack
was pretty hearty today.
His class has been studying
Greece for the past few
weeks (not sure why),
and today they were going
to be trying a few Greek foods: yogurt w/honey, feta cheese, and olives. So I sent along a soy yogurt w/maple syrup, and some crumbled firm tofu. He came home full enough, speaking Greek to everyone and showing off pages of words he'd written all in Greek.

So in preparation for the Q lunch (I couldn't shake an image of Q from Star Trek: TNG making the lunch for me with the flick of a finger, then making it quack or something ridiculous), I made the tofu quiche for dinner the night before, along with lots of onigiri. In order to avoid supreme food jealousy on my part, I created some raw sushi...

Here it is: avocado nigiri; kappa maki; avocado maki; marinated portobello maki.

I created the rice alter-
native with the remaining
cauliflower I had on hand,
with vinegar to give it that
sushi rice tang.

Raw Sushi "Rice" #1

1 cup cauliflower
1/2 cup raw cashews
2 tsp. cider vinegar

Put all ingredients into a
food processor and blend
until granular.



And my raw food for the entire day:
7am- smoothie: 1 banana, 1/2 a nectarine, a dozen frozen blueberries, liquid DHA, water.
9am- fruit salad: pineapple, peach, plum, orange, grape.
12pm- bowl of snap peas; 2 pickles; 1/2 an avocado.
1pm- small bowl of raisins, dates, & sliced almonds.
3:30pm- leftover fruit salad.
5pm- raw sushi: nori, cauliflower, cashews, cider vinegar, cucumber, avocado, marinated portobello mushrooms, scallion, shoyu; 1 orange.

boys brunch bento

Ryan's lunch: Top tier - Terra Exotic Harvest Sea Salt chips; cantaloupe; damson plum (pit removed); pitted kalamata olives; mini apple cherry muffin. Bottom tier - mini asparagus mushroom tofu quiche; steamed broccoli florets; leftover macaroni casserole.

Nate's snack: mini
banana blueberry
muffin; Terra Exotic
Harvest Sea Salt
chips.

We've been fortunate
to have so much local
melon so late this year
due to the slow start this spring. The farm food is still pouring in, and I can't wait for all the autumn goodies. Maia's breakfast of cantaloupe and lentil vegetable soup was almost all local, with the exception of the red lentils...and that kettle corn she got a hold of...not sure where that corn is sourced, LOL.

The following is the mini quiche recipe. I usually make crustless quiches, because I just don't feel the need for any extra bread products. But feel free to add a crust to the base if you prefer. Also, experiment with other ingredients...if you don't have asparagus on hand, try small chopped broccoli florets, and don't forget to dice the stems too! Or if you don't like mushrooms, add some extra onion or leeks.

Asparagus Mushroom Tofu Quiche

1 lb. firm tofu
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 T. nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 small onion or 1/2 medium onion, diced
12 spears asparagus, washed, trimmed, and cut into 1/2-1" lengths
12 button mushrooms, washed and sliced (or an equivalent assorment of other mushrooms)
1 T. olive oil
1 T. margarine
spray olive oil

In a food processor, break up tofu, then add salt, soy sauce, garlic powder, nutritional yeast & turmeric. Blend until smooth.

In a saute pan, heat olive oil and margarine over med-low heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until onion begins to soften. Add aspargus and cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove onion and aspargus to a separate bowl.

Add mushrooms to saute pan, adding a little extra margarine if pan is too dry. Cook until mushrooms have softened. Remove from heat (drain any extra cooking liquid if necessary).

Mix onion & asparagus back with the mushrooms. Then stir together with the tofu mixture.
Spray a non-stick muffin tin with olive oil (or wipe lightly with a small wad of waxed paper dipped in margarine or olive oil). (If you'd rather make one large quiche, prepare a glass or ceramic pie or quiche plate. ) Spoon mixture evenly into muffin tin.

Bake in a 375F degree oven for about 35 minutes.
Allow to cool for a while before trying to remove the individual quiches.
You could also line the muffin tin with silicon baking cups instead, so they'll be ready to pop right into a bento or lunch box.
Makes 10-12 mini quiches, or 1 regular quiche.