"National Pecan Day", how to celebrate it gluten-free

Wednesday, April 14th is “National Pecan Day!” In celebrating pecans we should first understand their greatness. Pecans are incredibly versatile whether they are eaten fresh as a snack, or toasted and put into a salad, spiced and candied, or in desserts.  It's good to know that pecans are naturally gluten-free and can usually can be found year round. Pecans play a huge role not only in flavor but in health benefits as well.



 I found it interesting that pecans were the only native tree nut in America, and have been a tasty favorite for centuries. Not only are pecans delicious, but they are very nutrient dense.


New research, published in the August 2006 issue of Nutrition Research, shows that adding just a handful of pecans to your diet each day may help inhibit unwanted oxidation of blood lipids, thus helping prevent coronary heart disease. The researchers suggest that this positive effect was in part due to the pecans’ significant content of vitamin E – a natural antioxidant.

In addition, landmark research published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry (June 2004) found that pecans rank highest among all nuts and are among the top category of foods to contain the highest antioxidant capacity, meaning pecans may decrease the risk of cancer, coronary heart disease, and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s.


Pecans also play a role in lowering cholesterol. Research conducted by Dr. Ronald Eitenmiller at the University of Georgia has also confirmed that pecans contain plant sterols, which are known for their cholesterol-lowering ability. The results showed the pecan-enriched diet lowered total cholesterol by 11.3 percent and LDL “bad” cholesterol levels by 16.5 percent.


A review of pecan and other nut research, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (September 2003), suggests that nuts like pecans may aid in weight loss and maintenance. The review cited studies indicating that nut consumption may increase metabolic rates and enhance satiety. When used in conjunction with a healthy low-fat diet, nuts also offer increased flavor, palatability and texture that can lead to greater dietary compliance, according to the review.


A one-ounce serving of pecans (approximately 20 halves) contains 196 calories, 20.4 grams total fat (1.8 saturated fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 0 grams sodium, 2.7 grams dietary fiber and over 19 vitamins and minerals including vitamin A, vitamin E, calcium, folic acid, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, several B vitamins and zinc. Pecans are also a good source of oleic acid, vitamin B1, thiamin, magnesium and protein. One ounce of pecans provides 10 percent of the recommended Daily Value for fiber. Pecans are also a natural, high-quality source of protein that contains very few carbohydrates and no cholesterol. Pecans are also naturally sodium-free, making them an excellent choice for those on a salt- or sodium-restricted diet.


Pecan meal or flour, are great naturally gluten-free ingredients to bake with. Check your sources first though to ensure that they are processed and manufactured in a dedicated facility.  You can find sources of where to purchase pecan meal on-line.  True Foods Market 

What is nut flour and nut meal?
 Nut flour  = Nut flours are ground from the cake that remains after oils are pressed from nuts. They're great for breading fish or chicken, and they add a rich flavor to baked goods. Nut flour lacks the gluten that baked goods need to rise, so in those recipes substitute no more than 1/4 of the flour with nut flour. Nut flours go stale quickly, so store them in the refrigerator or freezer, and use them up quickly. Substitutes: nut meal (gives baked goods a coarser texture)

 
 
 

Nut meal = ground nuts Notes: Nut meals are ground from whole nuts, and are grittier and oilier than nut flours, which are ground from the cake that remains after the oils are pressed from nuts. To make your own nut meals, grind toasted nuts in a nut mill until the meal has the consistency of cornmeal. Store nut meals in the refrigerator or freezer, and use them soon after you buy or make them. Substitutes: nut meal (gives baked goods a finer texture)




To make your own pecan meal = ground pecans:


Grind toasted pecans in a nut mill until the meal has the consistency of cornmeal. You can also use a food processor fitted with a steel blade to do this, but it's hard to keep the nut meal from turning into nut butter. It helps to freeze the nuts before grinding, to use the pulse setting on the processor, and to add any sugar in the recipe to the nuts to help absorb the oils. Store nut meals in the refrigerator or freezer, and use them soon after you buy or make them. (1/4 pound of whole nuts yields about 1 cup nut meal.)

Pecan Tassies

Recipe from a prior post in December 2009.


Dough


1 –3 oz cream cheese – soften
½ cup butter
1 cup flour
¼ cup powder sugar
Mix well and chill while mixing filling


Filling


1 egg
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
dash salt
about 2/3 cup pecans


Beat together all ingredients except pecans.
When ready to bake; press dough against the bottom and sides of a small muffin pan. Sprinkle pecans in bottom and place filling on top. (Not over half full).


Bake in slow oven - 325 degrees for 25 mins. Or until filling is set and dough light brown.
*Note: Double this and use 1- 8 oz. Pack cream cheese. Dough can be made a day ahead.


You can find shelled pecans at any major local grocery stores, at the local Farmer’s Market (in season), Costco, Sam’s Club and Smart and Final.

Source for nutritional information on pecans was through the NPSA, National Pecans Shellers Association.

Gluten-Free sour cream coffee cake for "National Coffee Cake Day"

As a writer for the Examiner.com we get these monthly updates with up and coming news and all of the National celbrations for the month.  That being said, I thought I would acquire new inspiration for cooking, baking and recipes in general.  So far this week I have been able to complete three out of the seven days.  Not sure if it is me, my computer, my camera, or my lack of computer skills, not to mention, my lack of enthusiasm this week.  So bare with me as I struggle through this time.

"National Coffee Cake Day" is normally celebrated on April 7th.  I actually baked the coffee cake on Wednesday, the 7th of April, but was unable to get to my blog until today. the 9th.  There just does not seem to be enough time in a day.

The gluten-free sour cream coffee cake I made was a recipe handed down to me by my dear friend Amy Radbill at the Davis Food Co-op.  It is pfairly easy to bake and it tastes absolutely delicious.  The nice thing about this recipe is that you can take this flour recipe or Amy's cake flour recipe and use it on ANY coffee cake recipe that you have.  All you do is trade out the regualr flour for this mix, and add a little xanthan gum and WA-LA!  You have wonderful coffee cake to go along with your delciously fragrant pot of coffee!!  Now one of the things that amy and I always laugh about is the fact that so many folks want to make cakes super healthy, and let's be honest, a cake is cake.  It is not meant to be super healthy, and on the same token you should not be eating cake all of the time.  But cake should not be heavy or dense, nor crumbly, it should be light and fluffy.  The nice thing about this recipe is that the lightness and fluffiness can be accomplished with either of the following flour mix recipes.  

Bette Hagman’s Featherlight Rice Flour Mix:



1 part white or brown rice flour
1 part tapioca flour
1 part cornstarch
Potato flour (not starch), 1 tsp. for each cup the other flours

*For exchange purposes 1 cup of wheat flour = 1 cup of featherlight mix.
*If you would like to purchase baking flour pre-mixed, Authentic Foods sells Bette Hagman’s Featherlight Rice Flour Mix, but it is much less expensive to mix your own.

Add all ingredients and mix thoroughly with a whisk.

Amy's Cake Flour

For 3 cups:

1 cup white or brown rice flour
1 cup cornstarch or arrowroot
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch
1 tablespoon potato flour
For 9 cups:
3 cups rice flour
3 cups cornstarch or arrowroot
2 cups potato starch
1 cup tapioca starch
3 tablespoons potato flour

Add all ingredients and mix thoroughly with a whisk.
*For exchange purposes 1 cup of wheat flour = 1 cup of Amy's cake flour in ANY cake recipe.



Sour Cream Crumb Cake

Crumb cake is a great morning sweet with coffee or tea.  This recipe was adapted from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion; a book filled with recipes just waiting for gluten-free adaptations.  Nothing in the ingredient list has been changed except for the flour and the xanthan gum. 


For the Crumb
Dry Ingredients only:
2 1/2 cups featherlight rice flour mix
1 1/4 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

 Wet Ingredients only:
2 sticks butter (or butter subsitute), melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract

Thoroughly combine the dry ingredients.  Add the extracts to the melted butter.  Stir the butter into the dry ingredients until all of the dry ingredients are moist, and the mixture breaks into large clumps.  Set this crumb mixture aside.

For the cake
Dry Ingredients only:
2 cups featherlight rice flour mix
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon baking powder

Wet Ingredients only:1 stick of butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream (or yogurt or substitute for sour cream or yogurt)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour a 9" X 13" pan.

Thoroughly combine the dry ingredients, and set them aside.  In a seperate bowl, cream together butter and sugar for about 3 to 5 minutes until it is fluffy.  Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla and the sour cream.  Stir in dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until the mixtures are well combined.

The batter will be thick; scoop it into the prepared pan, then wet your hands thoroughly, and pat the batter out to the edges of the pan.  When the batter is evenly spread, sprinkle the entire surface thickly with the crumb mixture.  Be sure NOT to break the crumbs up too small!!

Bake the cake for about 30 to 35 minutes.  it may still seem a little soft, but the cake tester should come out clean when the center is poked.

King Arthur Flour Gluten-Free Pancake Mix

As many of you know, King Arthur Flour, which has been around for 200 years, is now offering a gluten-free line of baking products. This is exciting for avid bakers around the globe. King Arthur has been touted for their excellent baking flours due to for its consistent baking performance and lack of chemical additives, high quality baking ingredients, and baking equipment.

I will say that I was very skeptical of their gluten-free pancake mix. Not because I had my doubts about King Arthur, but mainly because not all gluten-free flour mixes are created equal. Many times you will try a new gluten-free mix with great anticipation only to fond that is a complete flop. Flops in the gluten-free baking community are not rare, but are very expensive. So when you happen upon a great gluten-free mix, you hang on to it. I believe that this will be one such gluten-free mix. The mix is easy to prepare, with only three additional ingredients required, and no whipping of any ingredients. The batter if allowed to rest for a while (10 to 20 minutes) thickens up on its own and produces light, fluffy pancakes with the exact same texture of non-gluten-free pancakes. They smell and taste just like the ones that we may remember prior to diagnosis. I was quite pleased with the performance of this new gluten-free pancake mix; they puffed up properly, but were not too dense, and they flipped easily.  No oohey-gooey sticky mess.  Not to mention, that they browned quite nicely as well. There was no gritty texture, and no funky after taste.

While the box says it only yields 16 - 4 inch pancakes. I found that it yielded far more than that. My suggestion to consumers is to only make half of the box, split the recipe in two; thereby yielding a smaller batch, saving additional gluten-free pancake mix for another day, and cutting the expense in half. My only suggestion to King Arthur Flour is that they make their gluten-free pancake mix in a package that allowed for multiple uses.

King Arthur also has a wide assortment of other gluten-free baking ingredients to assist you in all of your gluten-free baking needs. Check here for a complete listing. Their passion is sharing the joy of baking and inspiring bakers worldwide.

King Arthur Flours are now available on-line and coming soon to a store near you. If you don't see King Arthur gluten-free mixes where you shop, please ask the store manager to add them. Click here for a convenient letter to send or give to the stores where you would like to see them. Please also visit their website and sign-up for a free e-newsletter, and catalogue. They frequently offer weekly sales, coupons, and often free shipping.  Take 15% off mixes when you buy 5 or more baking mixes. 

Check this blog Buen Provecho Sin Gluten, Enjoy Your Gluten-Free Food for a weekly review with photos on each of the 9 King Arthur Gluten-Free Flour Mixes. 

*King Arthur Flour sent me free samples of their new gluten-free line upon my request to try them and review them.



 For more information:

Sacramento Gluten Free Food Examiner on King Arthur Gluten-Free Flours

Sacramento Gluten Free Food Examiner

King Arthur’s Baker’s Companion Cookbook

King Arthur’s Catalogue

King Arthur’s Gluten Free Flours

Gluten-Free Recipes from King Arthur Flour

Baking Banter Blog

Info on Baking Gluten-Free

National Fresh Tomato Day

The Heirloom Tomato Cookbook

April 6th, 2010 was "National Fresh Tomato Day", so I thought I would talk about some of their health benefits and give out some fantstic recipes as well.  Sacramento is known as "The Big Tomato" since it is almost always knee deep in tomatoes, but not usually until late June, July, and August.  Now with organic hot houses cropping up, we can have excellent, organic tomatoes year round.  The organic hot house tomatoes can be a bit pricier, but the flavor, texture and health benefits far outweigh the cost.  Another thing to keep in mind is that when you purchase local tomatoes, they can be vine ripened instead of picked green and tend to be friendlier to the earth since they are not shipped from half way around the world.

Tomatoes are low in calories and are packed with nutrition, especially when they are fully ripe. For example, red tomatoes contain up to four times the amount of beta-carotene as green tomatoes. Tomatoes provide an excellent source of vitamins C and K, carotenes (especially lycopene), and biotin. They are also a very good source of vitamin B6, niacin, folic acid, fiber, and pantothenic acid. Studies have shown that the red carotene (lycopene) is extremely protective against breast, lung, colon, prostate, and skin cancers. Studies also found that tomatoes lower the risk of heart disease, cataracts, and macular degeneration. The way lycopene works, is it helps to prevent those diseases and others by neutralizing harmful oxygen free radicals before they can do any damage to cellular structures.  The vitamins A, C, and E in tomatoes also act as antioxidants, neutralizing the damage of free radicals and providing anti-aging benefits.


The research findings on the health benefits of eating tomatoes have greatly increased and they are receiving a lot of attention as a health food. Tomatoes are not only low in calories, but they are low in sugar, sodium, and fat and are an excellent source of many essential vitamins and minerals.  Among those vitamins and minerals are:

• vitamins A, C, E, K, and B complex

• potassium
• manganese
• copper
• iron
• chromium
• beta-carotene
• fiber
• tryptophan

The lycopene in tomatoes acts as a powerful antioxidant that helps to protect the body from free radical damage.
 
Tomatoes are rich in vitamin K, a vitamin important to bone health. The fiber in tomatoes aids healthy digestion, helps to improve constipation, lower cholesterol, and aids in weight loss. Tomatoes also contain lutein which is needed for healthy eyes and may help prevent macular degeneration and to improve vision. Research suggests the liquid around the seeds of the tomato has anti-clotting properties much like aspirin, thereby reducing the risk of blood clots and stroke.



Tomatoes are very low in calories, with one medium-sized tomato containing only 22 calories. Since the tomato is low in glycemic load and low on the glycemic Index, tomatoes do not cause spikes in insulin in the body and help to keep blood sugar balanced.

So as you can see there are a ton of reasons to eat fresh, organic tomatoes.  here are a few ways to add them into your repetoire.  Happy Tomato Day!


Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil



INGREDIENTS


• 2 cartons ripe grape tomatoes, quartered
• 8 oz. Perlini, fresh mozzerella

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1/8 cup Italian flat leaf parsley, minced
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 1/2 oz. 3 Cheese Blend, shredded (Fontina, Asiago, Parmesan)

• 1 gluten-free baguette French bread  (Iused the Natural Food Works baguette)
• 1/4 cup olive oil


METHOD
Chop the tomatoes in quarters. Put tomatoes, Perlini fresh mozzerella, garlic, 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, vinegar in a bowl and mix. Add the chopped basil and Italian flat leaf parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Slice the baguette on a diagonal about 1/2 inch thick slices. Brush both sides of each slice with olive oil using a pastry brush. Place on panini grill and grill until golden and crispy. Take a sharp knife and score each slice 3 times. Rub some garlic in the slices and drizzle half a teaspoon of olive oil on each slice. This is the more traditional method of making bruschetta.

Align the bread on a serving platter. Either place the tomato topping in a bowl separately with a spoon for people to serve themselves over the bread, or place some topping on each slice of bread and serve. If you top each slice with the tomatoes, do it right before serving or the bread may get soggy.  You can also place all of the topped bread slices in an oven to broil for a few minutes to allow the cheese to melt (does make gluten-free bread much soggier, but pleassant to eat with a fork and knife).

Makes 24 small slices. Serves 6-10 as an appetizer. Or 3-4 for lunch

Breadless Bruschetta

4 medium organic vine ripened tomatoes, sliced

2 to 3 fresh Mozzerella balls, medium or large sized, sliced

sweet basil leaves, large, 1 for each slice of tomato

balsamic vinegar, lightly drizzled 

extra virgin olive oil, lightly drizzled

sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

Slice tomatoes, and fresh mozzerella into 1/4 inch slices.  Salt and pepper each side, and then stack with sweet basil leaf in the middle.  Place all stacks on a platter and them lightly drizzle with balsamic vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil.

This breadless bruschetta was made with Whole foods Fresh Mozzerella Vegetarian Farmstead Cheese - Ovoline.  It was absolutely delicious and you could not tell the difference with it being vegeatrian cheese.  it was smooth and melted in your mouth.

Sources:

Murray , Michael N.D.. The Encyclopedia Of Healing Foods.

New York: Atria Books, 2005.

Centers For Disease Control And Prevention-5 A Day.

National Agricultural Library-USDA. usda.gov.

Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia

Dandelions and their health benefits

Monday, April 5th, 2010 was "National Dandelion Day".  As lovely as the flowers are, the dandelion gets a bad rap as an obnoxious and insidious weed.  But ancient curanderas, or healers, and herbalist knew that dandelions had many, many healing qualities.  Recipes on how to cook dandelions follow below. 

My father used to harvest dandelion greens in our own yard and would have my mother add them to soups, casseroles, but mainly fresh in salads.  They are very tasty and have a plethora of health benefits to boot.  But as a child, I thought my dad was a bit crazy picking weeds from our backyard to eat.  My mom would call him a cabra, or goat because he loved to eat fresh greens.  I know better now and greatly appreciate my father's attempts to feed me healthy foods.  But aside from the wonderful flavor and textureof the dandelion greens, and flowers, I love the fact that dandelions have so much to offer our bodies.

 The health benefits touted on dandelions include relief from liver disorders, diabetes, urinary disorders, acne, jaundice, cancer and anemia. It also helps in maintaining bone health, skin care and weight loss. There are many varieties of dandelion, but the common dandelion is scientifically known as Taraxacum Officinale. Dandelion plants have very high vitamin and mineral content. These include high levels of vitamin A, as well as decent amounts of various B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin D, iron, magnesium, manganese, silicon and zinc, calcium and detoxifiers which explains its use in medicines. 

Apart from using dandelions to make flower necklaces, table top decorations, or to make wishes on when they have gone to seed, there are many benefits and uses for them.

The health benefits of dandelion include the following:


• Bone Health: Dandelion is rich in calcium, which is essential for growth and strength of bones, and is rich is anti oxidants like vitamin-C and Luteolin, which protect bones from age related damages due to free radicals, such as weakening and loss in density.

• Liver Disorders: Dandelion can help liver in many ways. While its anti oxidants such as vitamin-C and Luteolin keeps it functioning in full gear and protect it from aging, other compounds in it help treating hemorrhage in liver, maintaining proper flow of bile etc. It also stimulates liver and promotes digestion.

• Diabetes: Dandelion juice can help diabetic patients by stimulating production of insulin from pancreas and thus help keeping low the blood sugar level. Since it diuretic in nature, it makes the diabetic patients urinate frequently which too helps remove the extra sugar from the body. Moreover, diabetics are prone to renal problems. The diuretic properties of dandelion can help removing the sugar deposition in the kidneys through urine. Moreover, dandelion juice is slightly bitter to taste, which also effectively lowers sugar level in the blood, as all bitter substances do.

• Urinary Disorders: Dandelion is highly diuretic in nature. In fact, its French name literally means “urinate in bed”. Thereby it helps clean deposits of toxic substances in the kidneys and the urinary system. Moreover, its disinfectant properties inhibit microbial growth in the urinary system.

• Skin Care: Dandelion sap, also known as dandelion milk, is useful in treating skin diseases which are caused due to microbial and fungal infection, as this sap is highly alkaline and have germicidal, insecticidal and fungicidal properties. Care should be taken while using this sap as to avoid its contact with eyes. This sap can be used on itches, ringworm, eczema etc. without risk.

• Acne: Dandelion juice is a good detoxifier, diuretic, stimulant and anti oxidant. These four properties make it a good treatment for acne. Before we know how it treats acne, we must know what causes it. Acne is caused mainly during teens, when the body undergoes many physiological and hormonal changes. The hormones, which bring about changes in the body, if do not maintain proper ratio among themselves or are not regulated properly, tend to deposit as toxic substances in the body which tend to come out with sweat through the sweat glands or sebaceous glands on the skin. Now, during these changes, these glands secret more oils which, mixed with dead skin, block the pores and the secretion is obstructed. Due to this, these toxic substances cannot escape and result in acne. This is further worsened by the microbial infections on the effected places. Dandelion juice, being a stimulant, diuretic and detoxifier in nature, can help regulate proper secretion of hormones, increases sweating and widens up the pores facilitating removal of toxics through sweat and also through urine, as it is diuretic too. Its sap, if externally applied on acne, can inhibit microbial infection.

• Weight Loss: Our urine contains up to 4% of fats. So, more we urinate, more water and fats are lost from the body. Dandelion, being diuretic in nature, promotes urinating and thereby helping lose weight without side effects.

• Cancer: Dandelion is high in anti oxidants such as vitamin-C and Luteolin which reduce the free radicals (very much responsible for causing cancer) in the body, thereby reducing the risk of cancer. It also detoxifies the body, which also helps protect from cancer.

• Jaundice: Jaundice is primarily a disorder of the liver in which it starts over producing bile, which ultimately gets into the blood stream damaging the whole metabolism. The excess of bile is also reflected through color of the skin, eyes etc. The treatment of jaundice includes three main steps. First, checking production of bile; second, removal of excess bile from the body and third, fighting the viral infection. Dandelion is very helpful in all of these. It promotes liver health and regulates bile production. Being diuretic in nature, it promotes urination through which the excess bile is removed. Finally, being anti oxidant and disinfectant in nature due to presence of vitamin-C and Luteolin, it fights viral infection too. It is more beneficial if taken with sugarcane juice, since it replaces the sugar in the body which is very much lowered due to action of bile, causing extreme fatigue and weakness.

• Gall Bladder Disorders: Dandelion is very beneficial for gall bladder and liver, as it improves their functioning, protects them from ill effects of oxidants and infections and regulates secretions from them.

• Anemia: Dandelion has pretty good iron, vitamin and protein content. While iron is the integral part of hemoglobin in the blood, vitamins (particularly vitamin-B) and protein are essential for formation of red blood cells and certain other components of the blood. This way dandelion can help anemic people.

• High Blood Pressure: Urinating is an effective way of lowering blood pressure. In fact, most of the modern drugs for lowering blood pressure are based on this phenomenon. Dandelion juice, being diuretic in nature, increases urinating, both in quantity and frequency and thus helps lower high blood pressure. The fiber in dandelion is also helpful in reducing cholesterol and thereby assists lowering of blood pressure, since cholesterol is one of the factors which make blood pressure high. Then there is potassium, which is in plenty in dandelion juice and is very effective in lowering blood pressure by replacing sodium.

• Anti-Inflammatory: Tests of dandelion root's possible anti-inflammatory properties have been promising in preliminary studies with animals, according to the National Institutes of Health. As of 2009, no human trials had been conducted; and there was not enough evidence to reach a conclusion.

• Other Benefits: Dandelion can also be used as a vegetable and is a good source of fiber. It promotes digestion. In old days it was also used to treat scurvy, due to presence of vitamin-C in it. It also has healing effects on dyspepsia, infections in the stomach, intestines and urinary system.

Dandelions can be used in many dishes raw or cooked.  The flower can be dried and put into salads, soups, and teas.  The fresh greens can be used in salads, soups, casseroles, stir-fries, or sauteed.

Sauteed Dandelion Greens with Carmelized Onions and Garlic

1 to 2 bunches of dandelion greens, chopped into big chunks
1 onion, sliced
4 cloves of garlic (or more), minced
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

Place olive oil in heated saute pan, and add in
onion slices.  Cook until onions have almost carmelized (about 10 to 20 minutes) and add in minced garlic.  Saite for another 5 minutes on low to medium heat.  Add in chopped greens and stir-fry gently, lifting the onions and garlic from the bottom of the pan to the top.  Season with salt and pepper and cook until lightly wilted (the greens should have a fair amount of crunch left in them).

Fried Dandies
Recipe adapted to gluten-free from the blog -
Fat of the Land


36-48 large** dandelion blossoms

1 cup featherlight flour

1 cup ice water

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

Remove as much of the dandelion stem and greenery as possible without damaging the blossom itself. Heat oil in a skillet on medium high. Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Add ice water and stir. Blend in egg. Use tongs to submerge dandelion blossoms in batter and drop in hot oil. Fry in shifts. Serve with gluten-free beer.



** The biggest and best dandelions can be found in abandoned lots and field margins—places that see neither mowing nor herbicides. When allowed to grow freely, dandelions can reach impressive size, with blossoms a few inches across.