Creeping Charlie Butternut Squash

Creeping Charlie, also known as Ground Ivy, is a strong spring herb in the mint family as well as a common weed. It goes well with a bland canvas like butternut squash.  Since butternuts are good savers and can last without degradation in a cool dark place from fall until spring, the two foods can meet, even if there were no grocery stores.  You might wonder, what does it taste like?  Imagine adding rosemary and sage to squash and you have the answer.

Creeping Charlie Butternut Squash

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, skinned, seeds removed and cubed
2 T olive oil
2 T diced fresh Creeping Charlie (ground ivy)
1/2 t salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Spread the cubed squash out onto the sheet pan in a single layer. Toss the squash with oil, herb and salt.

Roast until the squash is tender, but not squishy, for about 30-35 minutes. Toss after 15 minutes in the oven so more sides have a chance to crisp.  The more caramelized, the better in my opinion.

After cooking

Wild Garlic Chives and Ground Ivy Drop Biscuits

These two wild herbs go really well together.  Wild garlic chives taste like the onion chives that you get at the store only a bit stronger.  Ground ivy (a.k.a. Creeping Charlie), which is in the mint family, tastes like a cross between sage and rosemary.  Currently you will find them blooming with pretty purple/blue flowers. You can eat the flowers, too.  My husband actually prefers this herb over rosemary.  The biscuits are really easy to make and have a gourmet appeal with the attractive greens interspersed.  They are tender on the inside and crusty on the outside.  They are great with soups and stews!

Wild Garlic Chives and Ground Ivy Drop Biscuits

Ingredients:

1/4 cup chopped garlic chives
3 T chopped ground ivy leaves and flowers
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease baking sheet. Cut greens.

Mix greens and dry ingredients together in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients together.

Add wet to dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined.  Do not over mix.

Run a spring release ice cream scoop under hot water for half a minute.  Shake off extra water.  Scoop dough into the ice cream scoop and release on baking sheet.  Repeat until all the dough is used.  It should make 8 - 9 large biscuits.

Bake 14 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with soup or stew.

Canning Goose

If you have never tried goose, it is a very tasty bird! To me, it tastes like the dark meat of chicken. It is very tender, and the skin is thicker. The wings are longer and have practically no meat at all on them.  I prefer goose legs to turkey as there is more meat, and they are not nearly so stringy. I like canning goose after it is baked rather than canning raw. Once baked, you dice it to the size you prefer and it stays that shape after canning. Being that it is a more oily meat, it makes great barbecue for sandwiches!

Canned Goose Meat

Ingredients:

2 geese, thawed

Favorite Seasoning (I used garlic salt, ground sassafras leaves and ground ivy)

Broth or water
4 quart jars

(optional for dog food from leftover skin and organ meat)
4 pint jars
8 tablespoons of dried beans (any variety)
4 tablespoons of vegetables (not onions)

Directions:

Clean and season each goose.  Place in large pan.  Also add organ meat and neck to bottom of pan. Cover with aluminum foil. Remove aluminum foil one hour before cooking is complete. Bake your geese at 325 for four to five hours until done. Be sure and check fluid released from the bird as it cooks.  It may run over and you will need to remove some mid-way.  Allow to cool enough to touch.

Meanwhile, if you choose bone broth, when you start the geese, begin your broth.  By the time the geese are cool enough to handle, the broth will be ready.  I collect bones and odds and ends of vegetables in my freezer just for this. Let it simmer on your stove while the birds cook.

Have two bowls and four quart jars available when removing the meat from the bones. One bowl is for the bones, the other is for the skin and organ meat.  You can use the diced skin and organ meat to can dog food if you prefer.  Otherwise, save it with the bones to make future broth. 

Remove the meat, dice and place in quart size jars. When you have filled your four quarts, add the broth to one inch headspace. Wipe rims with a paper towel that has water and vinegar on it. You will want to remove the oil from the rims for the best seal. Add tops. Place in pressure canner.

If you want to use the leftover diced skin and organ meat to can dog food, now is a good time.  Place the leftovers equally into four pint jars.  Add two teaspoons of dry beans (any variety) to each.  Add another tablespoon of any additional vegetables that you have.  I like to add small pumpkin or potato cubes. Add water or broth to one inch headspace. Wipe rims and add tops.  Place in canner with your quarts. My dogs love home canned dog food!

Pressure can quarts for 90 minutes at 10 lbs pressure. If using all pints, pressure can for 75 minutes. If mixed sizes, pressure can for the largest size. It will not harm the pints to go longer. Remove from canner and allow to cool overnight.  Wash cans and rings in soapy water before putting away.

Freeze the bones for the next round of bone broth!

Za'atar Seasoning Made with Wild Staghorn Sumac

 

Staghorn Sumac, Rhus typhina, is commonly found in the Mid-South.  It is a picturesque tree that produces fuzzy, bright red berries in a pyramidal cluster.  The tree grows fast, is drought tolerant and does not generally have pest and disease problems.  It may appear as a shrub.  You can often find these trees along woodland edges.  You will most often find several trees together as it self-propagates from root suckers.  The species has pinnately compound leaves with serrated edges. It shares a genus with Poison Sumac, Rhus vernix, but the Staghorn berries are not poisonous and do not resemble the Poison Sumac variety (white berries).  Fall, particularly early September, is the best time to collect these berries.  There is also a non-fuzzy related variety, Smooth Sumac, Rhus glabra, that can be used, but I have yet to find one in Tennessee.

Sumac is often used to make a lemonade-like drink.  The outside of the berries have a citric taste to them and when soaked in water, creates a resemblance to lemonade.  The berries are also often used to create a popular middle eastern spice called Za'atar.  The citric taste to the berries is the primary attraction to this fruit so you do not want to wash it or pick it just after a rain.

I picked my Staghorn Sumac berries in September and I have let them dry for the last month.  They are fairly easy to remove from the branch.  If I had to describe the texture I would call them fluffy. 

They grind well in a small coffee bean grinder. 

You can use the ground sumac as an herb without adding anything additional if you would like.  I made a traditional Za'atar mixture and a wild herb variety with commonly found plants in the area that I dehydrated when they were in season.  I like the results both equally.  The traditional variety has roasted sesame seeds which really stands out while the wild herb variety has a fresh greener flavor.  Both have a nice citrus bite that would be great on meat, fish or vegetables.

Traditional on left and Wild Herb Za'atar on right

Traditional Za'atar Mix

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried ground Staghorn Sumac
3 tablespoons thyme
2 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
3 tablespoons marjoram
3 tablespoons oregano
2 teaspoons course sea salt

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl. Store in a cool dark location.



Wild Herb Za'atar Mix


Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried ground Staghorn Sumac
2 tablespoons dried ground Perilla
2 tablespoons dried ground Ground Ivy
2 tablespoons Filé (ground Sassafras leaves)
2 tablespoons dried ground white Clover flowers
2 teaspoons course sea salt

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl. Store in a cool dark location.


Enjoy both varieties as a seasoning on meat, fish or vegetables.  It can also be mixed with oil to make a dipping sauce.

Redneck Kudzu Pasta!

There are just some days that throwing together a pasta dinner is totally the best option for your family.  I wanted something easy today.  I have been visiting a sick family member all day and did not have the time to slave over the stove.  I suppose I could have purchased a bag of spinach at Publix for around $4, but I preferred to pick some Kudzu from the adjacent field for free (which is what I did).  Just so you know, Kudzu is super nutritious which I have explained in previous posts.  You can use it as a spinach substitute.  However, you should know that the leaves are sturdier and have a water resistant quality which while it helps to keep its shape in long boils, it also can make it chewier.  Thus, to use it, you have to either dehydrate and crumble it or cut it into small pieces.

I know some people balk at using cream of something soups, but it can be a life saver in some situations.  I would love to be all Pinteresty and make it from scratch, but that is not going to happen any time soon.  I am actually picking Kudzu so I give myself a break!

Kudzu Pasta

Ingredients:

3 - 4 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey (great for leftovers)
12-15 Kudzu leaves chopped into small pieces
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 soup can of milk
1 pint of chicken or turkey broth (2 cups)
1 teaspoon of powdered ground ivy leaves or your favorite green seasoning
garlic salt to taste
1-2 boxes spaghetti (depending on size of family, one is too small and two makes leftovers for our family of 5)


Directions:

Heat the meat and Kudzu leaves until leaves soften. 

Add soup, milk, broth and seasoning.  Simmer for 10-20 minutes. 

Meanwhile, prepare noodles according to package.

Serve sauce over noodles.  Add cheese over the top if you prefer.  Enjoy!

May Foraging Finds!

May is a great month for foraging in Middle Tennessee!  Everything has come to life.  There are lots of flowers and the beginning of many berries and fruits.  Mulberries are nearly ready, crab apples are now small on the trees, and wild grapes have formed their shape.  It's a perfect time to pick out where your wild blackberries are growing because there are currently white blooms on the bushes.

Ground Ivy is growing profusely! Strong herb in the mint family.

Edible Lawn Daisy!

White Clover Flower, great for salads or dried for tea or making flour.

Pineapple Weed, smells like pineapple and makes a wonderful tea or cheesecake!

Curly Dock, leaves are a great potherb, seeds will eventually turn red and can be used for flour.

Red Clover, tastier than white clover but more elusive!

Tulip Poplar tree, you can drink the sweet nectar in the tulip "cups".

Honeysuckle is in full bloom.  You can make Honeysuckle Jelly and Syrup with the flower.

Milkweed.  It has multiple edible parts but I prefer the unopened flower buds which should show up anytime.  They taste like asparagus and you can dehydrate them! Make sure the back of the leaves are fuzzy and the stem is hollow to be sure you have the right plant.

Thistle.  Use gloves.  The best part is the center of the leaves after the prickly parts are cut away.  Very tasty but a real pain to get!

Plantain, popping up everywhere!

My favorite find this month!  Lamb's Quarters, Chenopodium album (pronounced with a hard k sound as in key-no-po-dee-um), a wonderful wild edible often described as better than spinach!  I had given up hope finding it in Middle Tennessee and here it is in the middle of a soccer field. Go figure.

Yellow Water Iris, aka Flag Iris, Iris pseudacorus, while not edible does have an important function.  It cleans the water (though this plant is considered a noxious foreign interloper).  See the watercress in the picture?  Upper left. Watercress is starting to bloom with little white flowers.  You can still pick it, but it has lost that traditional "watercress" look.

Dehydrating Ground Ivy To Be Used As Herb

Ground Ivy, Glechoma hederacea, is an aromatic creeping perennial in the mint family Lamiaceae. It is also known as gill-over-the-ground, creeping charlie, field balm, catsfoot, alehoof, tunhoof, and run-away-robin.  Chances are you have it in your back yard.  It has a strong flavor described as a cross between sage and rosemary.  It can easily be dried and used in cooking.  It is particularly good with pork dishes.  My husband, who is not a fan or sage and rosemary, says that he prefers this herb to both of those.  However, some people will have a strong aversion to it.  It's a love/hate kind of plant.

Start by locating the plant in an area that is free of pesticides and not used by pets.  It is one of the very first plants to arrive in spring.  My ground ivy showed up in my herb bed and because I liked it, it never left! Clip as much as you like or pull out by the roots.  It comes back.

Wash and then tie the cut ends together with twine.  

Hang in an out of the way area to dry for about two weeks.  Attics and garages are great.
 

Dried Ground Ivy

Once crispy, remove the string and use your fingers to slide the leaves off of the stem into a bowl.  

Stems with leaves removed.  Toss or compost.

Grind the leaves.  I use a small coffee grinder.

 

Now it is ready to be used!  It will keep as long as any other herb.  Because it is so easy to acquire, you could replace it every year.  I actually prefer the dried version over fresh.  There is a subtle muted change in the flavor.
  

Ground ground ivy!  It looks a lot like oregano.

Here's what you can do with it!  Baked turkey seasoned with olive oil, ground ivy and garlic salt!

Spring Edible Plants in Middle Tennessee!

We did some exploring this weekend.  Here are some of the great plants from Maury County, Tennessee, all blooming in mid April! 

Spiny annual sow thistle, Sonchus asper, edible like greens, better when young and trim the spines off.

Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum, produces a tropical flavored fruit which can only be eaten when overripe, yellow and slightly wrinkled or will be toxic.  Do not eat the seeds.

Field Yarrow, Achillia millefolium, an amazing healing herb with along history of use. 
Dried yarrow is good at stopping blood flow from a wound especially mixed with powdered cayenne.

Ground Ivy, aka Creeping Charlie, Glechoma hederacea, is in the mint family.  It can be used as a seasoning.  It tastes like a cross between sage and rosemary.  It grows everywhere!

Trillium, leaves are edible like spinach.  Some say the leaves taste like raw sunflower seeds.  It takes a long time for this plant to grow, so if there are few of them, avoid eating.  Removing the leaves kills the plant.  Roots have medicinal value.

The young leaves of trillium are said to taste like raw sunflower seeds - See more at: http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2013/12/dan-crane-edible-adirondacks.html#sthash.59zpJUCl.dpuf

The young leaves of trillium are said to taste like raw sunflower seeds - See more at: http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2013/12/dan-crane-edible-adirondacks.html#sthash.59zpJUCl.dpuf

Curly Dock, Rumex crispus, leaves are edible like spinach and will produce many red seeds that can be dried and ground for a flour substitute or addition.  

Chickweed, Stellaria media, great in salads and pestos and can easily be dehydrated for winter use.  It has a crunchy, fresh green taste.

Wild Garlic and Ground Ivy Tourtière (Holiday Pork Pie)

Wild Garlic and Ground Ivy Tourtière (Holiday Pork Pie)

Ground Ivy, Glechoma hederacea, also known as Creeping Charlie or Gill Over the Ground, is one of the first edible weeds of the season, first showing up in Middle Tennessee in February.  It is pervasive and the bane of many a lawn care company.  It is a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae), though it does not have a mint flavor.  The flavor is a mild cross between sage and rosemary.  My husband, not a fan of sage or rosemary, says it is far superior to those familiar herbs.  To get the full flavor, gather a handful and dice up and take a whiff. It is certainly a complimentary flavor in this dish.

Ground Ivy found at the woods at our local Franklin, Tennessee Recreation Center

Ground Ivy has a kidney shaped leaf with scalloped edges and a square stem (like all mints).  It has a purplish to blue flower that arrives in March.  It creeps along the ground as it grows and plants roots along the way which makes it difficult to eradicate. It thrives in shady and moist areas.  If you have it in your garden, it repels cabbage worms, cucumber beetles, and tomato hornworms.

Here’s fine rosemary, sage and thyme.  

Come, buy my Ground Ivy.

Here’s featherfew, gilly flowers and rue.

Come buy my knotted marjoram, too!

Roxburghe Ballads (1740-1804)

It has historically been used as a tea, as cooking greens and in place of hops for beer making prior to the 16th century.  Additionally it has a long herbal remedy history treating a variety of ailments including ringing in the ears, sinusitis, kidney disorders, indigestion, constipation, sciatica, tuberculosis and coughs. In large quantities it has been noted to be toxic to horses but no such reaction has been recorded in humans. Alternatively, it has also been recorded as being used as an addition to feed for livestock supposedly for good health and for increasing milk production.  Common sense requires anything remotely approaching excessive use is unwise.

Ground Ivy contains iron, potassium and vitamin C.  It also has tannins which give it a slight bitterness.  Laboratory and animal studies indicate that ground ivy may be useful for anti-inflammatory and antibiotic qualities.

This recipe also uses another early edible weed, wild garlic.  I discuss wild garlic and wild onion here.  Wild garlic is often confused with wild onion.  Actually it is more prevalent than wild onion and many who believe they are using wild onion are actually using wild garlic.  The way to tell the difference is wild garlic's stem is round and hollow, while wild onion is flat and solid.  Both are edible.  The main rule is that if it looks like and smells like wild onion/garlic, it is.  If it does not have a telling scent than do not eat it. It has been my experience that wild garlic shows up earlier in the spring than wild onion.

Wild Garlic at the Rec Center

Tourtière has traditionally been a French Canadian holiday pork pie. It is a comfort food with a unique blend of spices.  If you feel intimidated by the use of cloves and cinnamon in a pork pie, do not.  It produces a wonderful result. While I am not French nor Canadian, I love this dish!

Wild Garlic and Ground Ivy Tourtière (Holiday Pork Pie)

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground pork
1 med. onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground ivy, minced
1 teaspoon wild garlic bulbs, finely minced (about one large handful when picked)
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into six pieces each
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups chicken or turkey stock

Pastry for a double crust pie
1 egg white for glaze

Directions:

Wash and cut vegetables.

Wild Garlic

Wild Garlic Bulbs From Above Garlic

Chopped Ground Ivy

Combine all ingredients except pastry and egg white. Blend thoroughly. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Cook until mixture is tender and moist, but not wet. Remove potato and mash with a fork. Return to meat mixture and mix well. Check seasoning.

Mixture Simmering for 30 Minutes

Remove Potatoes, Mash and Return to Mixture

Roll dough and line a deep 9 inch pie pan or cast iron frying pan with 1/2 of the pastry. Add the filling. Brush edges of crust with egg glaze. Roll out top crust and arrange on top. Seal, make vent holes to allow steam to escape and brush with egg glaze. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until crust is browned.

Filling in the Pastry

Pie Before Cooking

Hot Out of the Oven!

Stolen by my son before I could eat it!

Recipe all together:

Wild Garlic and Ground Ivy Tourtière (Holiday Pork Pie)

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground pork
1 med. onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground ivy, minced
1 teaspoon wild garlic bulbs, finely minced (about one large handful when picked)
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into six pieces each
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups chicken or turkey stock

Pastry for a double crust pie
1 egg white for glaze

Directions:

Wash and cut vegetables.

Combine all ingredients except pastry and egg white. Blend thoroughly. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Cook until mixture is tender and moist, but not wet. Remove potato and mash with a fork. Return to meat mixture and mix well. Check seasoning.

Roll dough and line a deep 9 inch pie pan or cast iron frying pan with 1/2 of the pastry. Add the filling. Brush edges of crust with egg glaze. Roll out top crust and arrange on top. Seal, make vent holes to allow steam to escape and brush with egg glaze. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until crust is browned.