Cleavers Cold Infusion

 

A new "first time" for us was to make a cold infusion with cleavers.  It is a bonus weed that we get this time of year when we weed the flower beds and the vegetable garden.  Heck, I see it growing in the asparagus, so I'll be pulling more of it this weekend (in between rainfalls).  If you harvest wild medicinal weeds/plants, I would love your feedback on this.  I believe I dehydrated it many years ago, but it's best when harvested fresh.  I have only one friend who also harvests this, but sadly, she does not live very close to me.

Rain returns starting tonight, and on and off all weekend.  Woke up to 49°F, and again we have not planted the vegetable garden yet. Still on time, but slightly late if we can get it done soon.  However, we were unable to obtain organic sweet potato starts, so no sweet potatoes will be planted (as of now).  Also, our potatoes, radishes, greens, should have been in the ground weeks ago.  Gardener struggles are normal.

Update on the honey I am infusing.  The color is looking just like the honey we purchased last year, so I'm hopeful it will taste just as good.

Crochet work has slowed down for a bit.  I have wandered upstairs for poly-fil for the project in hand, and thankfully I did not donate it to any cause yet.  While I was looking at what yarn I do have left, I visualized a few baby blankets. 

Cleavers Cold Infusion  ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart 

New Breakfast Tried ~ Butternut Apple and Kale Hash with Sausage

 

The photo is my husband's breakfast packed up the day prior.  I have to say, it would be absolutely fantastic with eggs over easy made fresh, but I do have to send breakfast on-the-go for him during the work week days.

Oh my goodness, it was delicious!  Time consuming to make, but healthy and very good.  It's a keeper recipe, with some tips to make it easier.

First, remember I ground up some of our dehydrated sage a while back?  I put it in a spice jar for easy use for making homemade chicken or turkey sausage?  Well, I'm not doing that anymore.

I discovered that the delicious sage flavor goes stale after weeks of sitting in a spice jar.  It's just not the same as crushing the full leaves dehydrated.  I'll just have to take the time to crush them for really good flavor.  

Tips:  Most butternut squash is about 3 pounds or so.  Unless I grow it myself, and have a dry year, I have never seen a "small" or 1 1/2 pound butternut squash. 

I bought a 3# one, diced it up, and saved half to freeze.  Next time I will make sure that the dicing part is done on a day with less work, and have that prep work already done.  Butternut is too hard of a squash to dice up small in my box cutter.

Tip:  I cooked 1# of organic ground turkey and 1# of ground chicken, with sausage spices on a earlier day, froze half and kept half for this breakfast. 

You could also wash and dice up the greens the day before too.  I used kale in our breakfast.

I cooked my husband's eggs the day before, and sent it with him to work to re-heat.  It re-heated well for him and he loved it.  Freshly cooked is wonderful, but this was fantastic.   

You could use any breakfast sausage, but we love to rotate ours with chicken/turkey for a lower fat breakfast.  Also, I can chose to leave out the brown sugar when I make it myself too.  Who knows what kind of sugar they use in the breakfast sausage bought in stores.  

Anyway, sharing a I-tried-it-so-you-don't-have-to breakfast recipe. 

Recipe is online with Real Food Dietitians - Butternut Squash and Apple Hash with Sausage.

Have fun, and don't make too many dirty dishes, ha ha!

New Breakfast Tried ~ Butternut Apple and Kale Hash with Sausage  ©  May 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart