Foraging ~ Purple Dead Nettle ~ Pesto and Tea Making ~ Dandelions

 Any foragers here?  I have a few reference books, but zero information in them in regards to if Purple Dead Nettle and Henbit both have the same nutrition/medicinal benefits to the body.  Anyone? I know, it's crazy question, and there are not many homesteading blogs still blogging anymore these days.

Spring rain is great for a lot of things, but it is always the reason we get stuff planted so late.  The gardens are soaking wet, and this is what most of the vegetable gardens look like.  Not kidding.  They are too big to cover for winter.  We use a lot of space.  They are full of purple dead nettle and chickweed.

The last few warmer days should start to dry up the gardens for us.

I have added spring chickweed to salads and other meals in the past, but according to my blog (and other notes), we have not yet tasted purple dead nettle.

Foraging was pretty easy (just look at the above photo, ha ha!).

I did a lot of reading, and yes, I have a few foraging books (not all of them have pesto recipes).  I used to follow a blogger that posted all about their meals being foraged, based on the seasons.  However, like many bloggers, they stopped blogging several years ago.

I try to not add my parmesan cheese until we are ready to eat it, so if I am freezing the pesto for future meals, I leave that out until the day of preparing meals with it.  It's just my preference.

Pesto is our number one recipe for this medicinal/healthy Spring "weed."  If you want to try it, you can research the recipes available online or check foraging books from your library.

I like to dehydrate some more purple dead nettle for tea.  

You can find more recipes online with dead nettle and even chickweed.  There are even classes online to (you have to pay a fee) to learn to forage too.  We had local classes a few years back, but those are hard to come by anymore.

Dandelions are up now too.  I see some dandelion flower bread, or other foraged meal. 

I actually have a cookbook for dandelions.  Yes, I have made dandelion jelly, but the work vs. the flavor are not that amazing to us, so we only made it once.  There is more flavor (in my opinion), with wild violet jelly and Queen Anne's lace jelly (on my blog too).

Happy foraging!

Foraging ~ Purple Dead Nettle ~ Pesto and Tea Making ~ Dandelions ©  April 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

35 weeks until Christmas

Not much going on in the way of Christmas countdown, other than trying new recipes lately.  I am borrowing books from the library to do this fun research too (other than one recipe).

I picked up one more advent gift, and it was a very good price.  A hand towel and hot pad set.  Yes, it's store made and not handmade, but it was perfect for an advent gift (useful and inexpensive).  I'm working on the next gift, and it will be handmade.

I am still trying to locate stores that offer paper bags.  I have plans to use them to wrap the advent gifts, but it's hard to find paper bags anymore.  I even visited one Wal-mart to find that brown craft paper on a roll.  Nope. Nothing.  I'll keep looking when I am out and about.  

New Recipes Tried and my very first fruit cake!

Butterscotch Shortbread.  I was very much intrigued to try this recipe, simply for the "butterscotch" in the title.  I made the recipe.  It sliced very nicely too.

The recipe for the short bread was in this borrowed library book.  The recipe was very easy to make, but when I pressed it down into the pan, the mixture started to stick to my utensil (I even tried the back of the measuring cup, parchment paper, and even slightly wet hands and they all stuck), and started to lift the mixture back up.  I got it all pressed down (or so I thought), and in the end it was delicious.  However, the dough makes a very, very brittle short bread, and after one bite, the piece falls to pieces in your hands.  Delicious flavor, but the dough is missing something to bind it better.  That was a bummer.  It could just be it needed pressed down more, but again, that was an issue.  We both said not worth keeping the recipe.

On to the next recipe . . .

My first fruit cake!

It has been on my try-it list since Christmas of last year, and it was about time to get it off the list.  The only reason I wanted to try it, is because the recipe was hand written by one of my Aunts, and the note on it states the recipe came from a friend of my Grandmother.

You'd be surprised at what ingredients you can buy in Amish bulk stores, so thanks to finding ingredients, I got to work.

I'm freezing half of it, but everything I am reading says it will only last up to 3 months in the freezer.  Any thoughts?  Am I the only nut baking fruit cake, ha ha!?  I don't know how people mailed this stuff.  It's like a brick with all those dates and pecans in it.  It is very good.  Once I have the recipe shared with all of my family members, I'll be back to write it out to share here as well.  My Aunt wrote, that if you were going to make a fruit cake, that this is the one to make.  One of my cousins also let me know that my Aunt used to make this very bread every Christmas.

35 Weeks until Christmas ©  April 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart