Waste not...

There have been some cold nights and some warm days. The sap is still running on some of our maple trees. More than likely this is probably very grade B sap.

A little while ago I took a walk though the sugarbush. Some of the trees have completely shut down. Some of the buckets have colonies of spiders and flies. A good observational experiment for the little guy;). But some of the buckets were overflowing with sap. Some of the sap had become a little milky;which means that it has started to ferment. So I collected what I had. It turned out that there was still about 10 gallons of sap.

So this is what I am thinking...I am going to boil that ten gallons down to about about 1 quart. In past years we have used this kinda-gone-past sap for making a pretty potent ale. This year I was thinking about making a maple mead.

Think I'll use the recipe from this site.

Here comes the Sunflower...and a recipe.

Oh the beautiful Sunflower! Big and Bright. In the summer I love to watch the goldfinches swoop through the yard and land on the sunflowers. Bees convene on their big heads.

Why do I wax poetic about sunflowers in February? Well, as much as there are plenty of things about this season that keep me in the moment; long walks on cold days, chickadees calling from the boughs of the field pine in the yard. Sunflowers mean warmth. Sunflowers also mean food. Sunflower seeds are good for you. Last year I harvested the seeds from the sunflowers in our garden. I hung them up to dry for a few days in our shed. I reserved some of the hardiest looking seeds to plant again this year. I planted mammoth grey stripe. The rest were given to a small gerbil we call Munchy who resides in Evan's bedroom. This year I plan to plant quite a few more sunflowers. My hope is that we will be able to provide some of the food for the fowl we plan to bring to our homestead this year.

I don't have the technology to shuck every seed for our own food. I don't have a press for oil either. But I know that as a local food source for seed and oil that it will not be too hard to find soon. There are farms in the Northern Kingdom of Vermont that are experimenting with growing sunflowers. A few years back we were driving past beautiful fields of this workhorses of the flower world. Some of those farms are growing them for fuel for their farm. Last summer I met a woman who grows sunflowers for fuel and food right here in Maine. It is mostly for her own consumption. On ocassion I have also been able to purchase Maine grown sunflower oil.

We have been trying to find a substitute for peanut butter. We had been buying organic peanut butter. But it has just become too costly for our palette. We also would like to find something more local but until we do we have been making sunflower butter with the hope that someday soon we will be able to buy local sunflower seeds.

Sunflower Butter

All measurements are approximate.

A cup or so of sunflower seeds
A couple of tablespoons of sunflower oil
Salt to taste

Put sunflower seeds in a skillet and toast the seeds. Shake pan occasionally. When seeds begin to brown and make a popping sound, take them off the heat.

Grind seeds. I use a grain mill but a food processor or blender will work too. I have ground this find and roughly. It is a matter of preference.

I put all the seeds in a widemouth canning pint jar.

Add oil one tablespoon at a time. Stirring after each tablespoon until you have the consistency you would like. You may want a little more oil.

Add salt to taste.

Enjoy!

Connected

Well, I am finally connected to the internet at home! To Celebrate the revival of this blog I have some big plans for the following week. Some giveaways, some show and tell of all we have been doing since our old computer crashed, and some new recipes we have introduced to our table.

To kick off this celebration I would like to share this recipe for what I would like to call a winter salad.

Winter Salad

half a head of cabbage sliced thinly, as for a slaw
4-6 leaves of Kale sliced in a similar fashion as the slaw
2 carrots shredded
a couple of tablespoons of sesame or flax seed.

optional additions could be diced bell pepper, raisins, celery

Dressing

3 tablespoons of honey
3 tablespoons of sunflower or olive oil
3 tablespoons of rice or apple cider vinegar
dash of salt and pepper
optional red pepper flakes


Place all the vegetables in a large bowl. Whisk all the dressing ingredients together. Pour over vegetables along with seeds. Mix well.

Enjoy!

A simple remedy

So Mark and Evan went fishing the other day. There is a nice little fishing hole around the corner. This is Evan's first year fishing and it is something they enjoy. The anticipation and disappointment that Evan feels about fishing is tempered by Mark's wise statement, " They call it fishing, not catching."

Well the last time they went out Mark caught something...poison ivy.

Jewel weed is a wild herb that usually grows where ever there is poison ivy. I have often used it if I get the rash common from too much time in the raspberry patch. You can pick the herb and crush it and rub it on the rash. Mark can attest to the immediate relief it provides to the rash:)

The rash was still bothering him this morning and it looks as though it may have spread. So I thought that something with a little more staying power might be called for; I made a jewel weed salve.

This makes about 4-6 ounces of Salve. All measurements are approximate.

Jewel weed salve

2 cups of fresh jewel weed.

1 cup olive oil

1 ounce of bees wax

a double boiler

a rubber spatula

small strainer

clean 1/2 pint jar.

Fill the bottom portion of the double boiler with water. In the top portion of the double boiler put fresh jewel weed and olive oil. Bring water to boil. Heat the oil and weed together. Stirring occasionally for about 15-20 minutes. I stopped once the weed looked like I had cooked all the life essence out of it. Strain weed from oil. I tried to press as much of the oil out of the weed. Return the oil back to the top part of the double boiler. I use the rubber spatula to make sure that I return as much as I can back to the pot. Bring water back to a boil and add the bees wax. When wax has melted pour into a clean 1/2 pint jar. Don't forget to label the jar!

Soon after it was made I saw Mark outside scratching the affected area. I brought it out to him and he had long lasting relief from it. It can be a little goopy but very affective! Tonight he will take an oatmeal bath to dry out the affected areas.

Who needs an ocean of calamine lotion?

End of Febuary, must be time to eat shredded zucchini

There is a really good supply of frozen rhubarb in my freezer; one nearly empty quart bag of blueberries; plenty of strawberries I plan to make some fruit leather with; and an abundance of shredded zucchini.

Each summer I find overly large zukes in the garden and at the farmstand for a steal.Sometimes they are abandoned like babies on my door step. Each summer I shred these zukes. It is a laborious task. Often while at this task I ponder why I preserve the zuke this way. Those large zukes would make good chicken feed. The growing piggie would enjoy them too. So why do I do this?

Once we are no longer eating from the garden we start eating the veggies we have preserved the summer before. The corn and tomatoes always seem to go first. One of these years I will figure out the proper amount of corn and tomatoes to put up. There is the broccoli, peas and beans a worthy replacement for the greens we crave. Inevitably, those frozen quarts of zucchini get tossed about until they sit lonely at the bottom of a nearly empty freezer; hidden under bread butts saved for making bread crumbs and containers of soup put aside for Mark's lunch for work.

When I was shredding those zukes I thought about the muffins, soups and sweet quick breads that they will be. Tonight, however, it is the only vegetable available until I can get some local greens at our healthfood store. Yes, the end of the veg is nigh! Oh, sure, there are plenty of pickles but out of all the free veg gleaned from my farm job last summer, all the veg I harvested from my garden, out of all the food preserved in my freezer and canned; all that remains is the lowly shredded zuke. Granted it was not nearly as much as what I have done in past years because of our move; but, oh boy, it SEEMED like a lot. What is a resourceful homesteader to do?

Zuke patties!

All measurements are approximate.

1 quart of shredded zucchini, defrosted and left in a strainer till it is dry-ish

3 tablespoons parmesan cheese

2 cloves garlic minced and sauteed in olive oil until soft

about 1/2 cup bread crumbs, I also threw in a little wheat germ

1 egg

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl adjust amount of bread crumb until you have a firm texture. Form into small patties. I used a couple of teaspoon to shape. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Drop patties into pan and brown on both sides.

These would be good served with a chutney or mustard.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Season

The fruit is ripe and being picked. Yesterday Tristan started his first day and his first job. When asked how he like it. He said," Oh it is hard work. But I will like the money." When asked to elaborate on what was hard, he said it was the picking of the berries because he is bent over the whole time. However, he did like the weeding.BWaahhahhah.....good...I am an evil mom;)

Anyway, I am hoping to freeze a dozen quarts of berries, make some wine, jam and a strawberry rhubarb pie. But I've been seeing some recipes for fruit leathers and thought I would give it a try.

Here is my own local recipe

1 quart of strawberries, remove stems and rinse.

1/4 cup local raw honey

most recipes call for lemon juice but lemons don't grow in Maine so I thought I would just add a small dash of homemade apple cider vinegar. The lemon juice is just for keeping color.

Anyhoo, most recipes call for heating up all the ingredients. I just mashed it all together with a potato masher. I spread some parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Spread evenly on the paper and place in an oven on lowest setting. I made this at night and left in the oven over night.

By morning it was ready.

With all the busy-ness we will have this summer, I was thinking that I could make a bunch of leather and freeze it. So that as we spend time driving back and forth, we can have a simple healthy snack.

Yum! Drive by Recipe

Roasted Chick Peas

A couple of cans or a couple of cups of cooked chickpeas

A liberal amount of Olive oil

Equally liberal amount of nutritional yeast

Chopped onion

Put all in a Roasting Pan and bake at 400 for about 20-30 minutes or until you taste one and it feels just right.

Might I also suggest toasted toasted pumkin seeds for garnish:)

Snow Day!

The phone call came here at 5:15 am. Snow day. Hubby was still 2 hours away. He received a second call on the cell phone at the room he rents in Farmington. He was home by 9:30. With a surprise in tow! (Sorry for the cell phone pic). Hubby has the use of a tuba at the school he teaches at. Every evening we skype and wee one asks hubby to play the tuba. Today, wee one was able to play the tuba. He even got a toot(or is that an oom-pah?) out of it.

The snow had not started to fall till later in the morning; which was plenty of time to take care of a some last minute storm preparations.

The ladies watched on. These are a lovely new ladies.5 semi-retired Romney/Corriedales. We will be sending their fleeces to a mill next summer which we will have processed into roving and yarn that we plan to sell.

The rest of the day was spent stoking the woodstove, knitting, practicing tuba, napping and a little afternoon Sherlock Holmes (my own personal vice:).

For dinner we had simple fare.

Home made tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches with homemade oatmeal raisin bread, and pickled carrots.

We sing an adulterated grace before dining every evening.

Evening has come the board is spread,

Thanks be to the earth who giveth Bread.

Praise the earth for food,

Om.

While our voices joined together to share the meal a smaller voice replaced food for snowmen.

Homemade Tomato Soup ( a home preserved treat:)

1 quart chicken stock

1 quart tomato puree

1 quart tomato diced

1 onion chopped

5 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon dried dill

1 table spoon dried parsley

Nutritional yeast

Black pepper to taste.

Sautee onions, garlic parsley and dill in olive oil until onions are translucent. Add stock, tomato product. Cover and bring to a boil. Remove cover to reduce soup to desired consistency. Add nutritional yeast and black pepper to taste.

Hope you enjoyed your own snow day!

Eating the Food

Hubby is bringing home dinner tonight. Sadly, dinner is burritos. What makes burritos sad? Well, our friend Chuck has a burrito shop in Farmington. It has been a life dream of his to have a small business. His menu is simple; burritos or quesadillas, your choices of fillings. I am very partial to the chicken burritos. He has a funky little shop, a great groove to the place, every thing is a "green" as can be managed for food service but there is some serious green missing in the till. So, he is closing the shop before he has too big a hole to dig out of. So sadly, this will be the last burritos from his shop that hubby will bring home.

In the meanwhile, I have a soup simmering on the stove. Tomorrow will be a rainy day and this soup will be our dinner tomorrow night. Which kinda had me thinkin'...

Katie over at Two Frog Home has a personal challenge she has given herself. She will be eating only from food storage, with the only food purchases made consisting of perishables. We were able to manage something similar last year. There were many weeks when we only bought eggs, milk, butter and cheese. We will try to accomplish this again this year.We don't have a pig to fill the freezer this year but the Farmer's Market convenes once a month so we will buy our meat there once a month. Food storage management involves eating the food and replenishing it. After all what is the point of putting up all this food if we are not going to eat it?

So, this is what I am thinking....At the beginning of each week I will post our grocery list. This is more in order to keep me honest. Writing a grocery list and sticking to it helps to keep the grocery budget down. It involves planning as opposed shopping on a whim. At the end of the week I will post our menu for the week. I will follow this challenge from November 1st until March 31. It is my hope to share recipes with you. I also hope that you, kind reader, feel free to share recipes in the comments section.

The soup on the stove is a Thai squash soup. I baked 2 buttercup squash in the oven for an hour. Scooped out the innards into my handy dandy food mill, added 1 quart of chicken stock (from preserving sanity) added one can of coconut milk and about a tablespoon of curry paste, salt to taste and about a cup of unsweetened coconut toasted. I will serve this with a brown rice pilaf of ginger, raisins, apples and kale.

So what's for suppa?

What's for supper?

Ugh isn't it the eternal question? Next to, " What is the meaning of life?" comes " What's for supper?" 

I could write a post about menu planning and frugal cooking and sometimes I have it together enough to do that.

But sometimes I am not that organized.

So what is a hungry homesteader to do?

The answer is simple elegant fare that sits right outside in the front yard. 

One of my favorite quick meals to make is poached eggs on veggies.

Tonight the recipe looks like this:

1 cup beet greens chopped

6 scallions

2 tablespoons minced basil

a handful of shelling peas ( cause that is all that was ripe) shelled

3 carrots chopped

a bunch of broccoli florets

one left over chicken drum stick from dinner last night chopped small

olive oil 

6 eggs from our gracious ladies

Sautee veggies until almost done. Break eggs over veggies and cover. When eggs are poached, serve.

Serve with some homemade bread and a glass of milk. 

I like this recipe because I can use whatever veggies are on hand. A perfect seasonal dinner!

And that is what is for supper!

Spring Chicken Soup

The teen woke with a upset stomach today. A lighter shade of pale ( or is that green?).

He is feeling better but his illness means a change in menu planning.  Homemade pizza might not go down as well as some chicken soup. So I decided a little chicken soup from the garden, freezer and pantry.

Spring Chicken Soup

1 chicken.  I made stock according to Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. Cover the chicken with  water and some apple cider vinegar to draw out the minerals from the marrow and bones.

1/2 cup of scallions from the garden

1/2 cup of sorrel from the garden. Minced

1 cup corn from the freezer

1 quart jar of carrots from the pantry

5 cloves of garlic minced

1 cup of jerusalem artichokes chopped

1 cup green beans from freezer

3 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Bone the chicken,  add to stock with artichokes. Drain carrots but put liquid in the soup.  Sautee sorrel, scallions, garlic and carrots. When chokes are tender add remaining ingredients and sauteed veggies. Slat and pepper to taste. simmer for a about 5 minutes.

I served these with a multi-grain homemade cracker.

Good Ideas!

I've found a few good ideas that I would like to share with you.  

First, we've planned on building a greenhouse but this little greenhouse might make a nice temporary structure that we could make in a weekend until we are able to make our dream greenhouse.

I will be starting seed soon and I think that I will be making my own starter mix.

And then I dream of starting my seed under something  as smart as this nifty set up( at least until I built my own greenhouse)

I received some yummy Noro Kuryeon yarn for my birthday and plan to knit this entrelac scarf when I finish Hubby's Sweater . I am nearly done with it and will have pictures of pride to share this week.

And Finally it is Saint David's Day; patron saint of Wales.  Hubby made Cawl Cunnin today. Oh yum, yum.  For dessert we had Welsh Cookies.

Souper!

I am a Souper. I make soup. A lot of soup. There are so many great reasons to praise the glories of soup! A budget stretcher! An excellent use of left overs. A quick meal at the end of a long day! A complete meal in one bowl ( or two if you want the seconds)! A balm when one has a cold. A warm welcome after feeding the animals and hauling in firewood. A time stretcher. If the the soup is already made then all I have to do is heat it up thus providing more time to knit around the woodstove. Soup is the best in improvisational cooking. In my opinion there is nothing else that can beat soup in the winter.

One of the benefits of a well stocked pantry is there is always a soup in the cupboard. Keeping a supply of lentils, split peas, kidney beans, bean soup mix, rice and barley will give any soup a filling body. Most of the veggies that we put in our soup comes from our own garden or food preservation efforts. Potatoes, corn, carrots, spinach, winter squash, green beans, garlic and onion, cleriac, apple all add to the rainbow of veggies we should eat every day. Dried herbs from the garden; basil, thyme, oregano, marjaram, dill, sage, parsley, give the soup the flavor and zest. Nutritional yeast will add B vitamins and dulse flakes will give an extra boost of iron.

The key to a good soup begins with the stock. A good veggie stock can be made from carrot, celery, onion and apple, a bundle of herbs wrapped in cheese cloth and salt. Sally Fallon in the book Nourish Traditions recommends adding a little vinegar to meat stocks to help draw out the minerals from the soup cartilage and marrow.

Over the weekend Hubby was feeding the animals when he noticed that a couple of our roosters were sparing. We have been harvesting the chickens on a need to eat basis. So we harvested the 2 roosters. I portioned out the boneless breast and the four legs for the freezer.

I took what was left over and cooked it with carrots, onion and apple. I brought to a boil and simmered for an hour extracting evry little of goodness out of it all. This made a rich stock. Because it is easier to just skin the chickens in the butchering process there was little fat that needed to be skimmed off the top. I added the remainder of a jar of puree tomato and apple sauce. I put jar of carrots; water and all, that I preserved last summer. I quarter turn the carrots, while processing, cold pack and pressure can. Spinach from the freezer, corn from the freezer, peas from the freezer, a lot of garlic, the zest of a leftover half of lemon and its juice, mushrooms, potatoes and dill. I sauteed the spinach,dill mushrooms,garlic and onion together. Put the potatoes in and cook for a while. Then add the rest of the veggies.

I served this with some homemade oatmeal and molasses bread.

The next soup on the menu is a curried squash...yum yum.

The perfect food

I think that a good recipe is one where the result can stand alone;  each bite is full of yummy, nutritional goodness.  Soup falls into this category, as can a savory pancake.  A good recipe is one that is basic in ingredients and but can be improvised depending on what you have in the house. In our house a good recipe is one where we can sneak in green food for he toddler under the guise of familiar appearance. A good recipe is one that can last more than one meal.

I received Laurel's Kitchen for Christmas  ( Thankyou BIL Peter). Under the chapter of Heartier Dishes are Potato Poppers:

"1/2 onion 

1 stalk celery diced

1/2 tablespoon oil

11/4 cup mashed potato

1 cup brown rice

1/4 cup tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup whole grain bread crumbs

1/4 cup parmesan

Preheat oven to 350

Saute' onion and celery in oil

Combine all ingredients and form into 1 and 1/2 inch balls.

Place on greased baking sheet ad bake on top rack of oven for 20 minutes, until delicately browned.  Makes 12 balls."

I did not have celery but I did have spinach. I added minced garlic and mushroom to the mixture. I doubled the recipe. This did not hurt the consistency at all. I used homemade tomato paste.  This is a great way to use of left overs of rice or mash potato.  The balls held together really well.

I think next time, instead of using all bread crumbs, I might add wheat germ, nutritional yeast or flax meal for added nutrition. I think you could also spice these up ala hint of Mexico by cooking down some salsa to a thick consistency; instead of tomato paste. Substitute cheddar of jack for the parmesan.

I served this with some Caribbean Black beans and a salad. ( I  know, I know greens are not seasonal now but I just craved some fresh greens).

Replenishment soup, 3 posts in one day..Oh my!

Living on a gram of cortico steroids for three days so that I get my jaunty walk back depletes the body.  Calcium is stripped, electrolytes are out of whack.  I am puffy, crabby, restless.

 Last time I was on steroids eight years ago I was on them for 10 days of oral meds.  On the last day, I woke at 5am cleaned out the pantry  labeled, wiped down the shelves and made an 2 crust apple pie by 7am.  Insane.  It goes against my judgement.  When you are sick, you rest. At that time I said no more.  I needed to find a better way. I sought acupuncture, diet changes, knitting as a way to relax, connected to nature, herbal remedies.

But still, M.S. happens.  What I crave most is a bowlful of healthy food.

Replenishment soup:

2 leeks ( the last from the garden) chopped

2 cups carrots chopped ( from garden)

1 celeriac root chopped ( from farmers market)

1 cup dry dill ( to help with stomach unease from steroids)

5 clove garlic chopped ( to help build immunity, steroids suppress immunity)

1 cup chopped tomato ( they were last from the garden ripening on the counter)

1/4 olive oil ...add all this to stew pot and sautee until veggies are just tender

Add 1 quart home canned tomato puree ( vitamin c)

1  1/2 pint of homemade tomato paste(vitamin c)

2 cups soaked garbanzo beans

1  1/2 quart frozen garden corn

add 1/4 cup dulse seaweed flakes ( this is a great source of iron)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast ( great source of B vitamins for a body under stress)

2 quarts of water

 simmer on stove for about 45 minutes to an hour until the beans are cooked soft. 

add 1 quart home grown frozen spinach ( source of calcium and vitamin c)

If there is room in the pot 1 cup barley simmer for about another 20 minute or until barley is cooked. 

serve with bread your hubby made today  and a nice cuppa blueberry tea with raw honey.

I like that everything that goes into the soup was local, part of our food storage, or from our own garden. 

Slainte!

It's a green thing.

     Food is central to my life on the homestead these days.  I grow it. I harvest it.  I preserve it.  I feed my family.  It is important to me that we try to incorporate as many local foods that we can into our diet. By no means are we successful in many areas.  But we try.  There are many reasons that we try to eat local.  First, 1500 mile ceasar salads just don't taste good.   Sure they may look pretty; with their waxed cucumbers, perfectly red,round cherry tomatoes, colorful leafy greens. But is it real?  Produce picked before its time, so it can be ripe for your shopping cart, just cannot compare to the taste of a tomato at the farmers market or garden.  

     The second reason we eat local is because we live in a great state with a strong agricultural tradition.  If we want our economy in this state to remain vital then we need to keep more of our dollars in this state. The region of the state that I live in is struggling.  It is the oldest county in the state, with few major employers.  So if I am giving my dollars to the farmstand down the road I am keeping my dollars in my community where it can pay a farm worker, be spent at the hardware store, get passed on to feed store.

    Another reason we eat local is because we like to know the source of our food.  We like the relationships we have built  with farmers.  There is the farmer and his young apprentice at Snakeroot Farm.  When buying seedlings from him in the spring, he will always dispense some useful information about the plant and its propagation.  When buying the milk from the farmer down the road we find out how his daughter is doing in college.  She wants to be a large animal veternarian.  One farmer that we get hay from  has alpaca and goats.  She is a wealth of information in the care of our own goat. And she has nice fiber!  Eating local builds community.

     One challenge of eating local is learning how to cook with the seasons.  Spring greens, parsnips,jerusalem artichokes and eggs in the spring. Berries, greens, zucchini, tomato in the summer. Squash, potatoes, kale, apples in the fall.  Winter, food put by.  Believe it or not,  but winter is not that hard.  Winter is the time I make soup. So when I am canning or freezing food  this time of year I think about what foods will go well in soups.  I cut my carrots the way I would if I were to put them in a soup.  Then can them.  When I go to make the soup  I just have to pour the whole jar in the pot.  Potatoes can be cooked in a variety of ways. Dry beans figure prominently.  Our freezer is full of pork and chickens we grew.  We grow some greens under cover so during a January thaw we will have fresh greens.  And we  do get some eggs from our girls in the winter.  I have a king's wealth of berries in the freezer.  I dry many herbs for herbal teas. Soon I will be picking apples and cranberries.

     Eating local stretches the creative cooking skills.  This time of year I look forward to cooler temperatures, in another month.  Baked apple stuffs and soups will be on the menu soon.  But it is still warm.  Yesterday was nearly ninety degrees.  It was a busy day of canning salsa , stacking wood. Among the cooking challenges of eating local I also have a toddler to feed.  The little guy has an aversion to eating anything green.  So I am always looking for ways to sneak green foods into his  diet.  I am not always successful.  He now opens any melted cheese sandwich to make sure that I haven't placed finely minced , placed carefully  in the middle  to avoid being seen spinach.  But the succession crop of spinach is in and it looks really great. Taste better. So yesterday I decided to make a spinach pancakes.  He saw them cooking on the griddle. Joyous exclamations of, " pampake! pampake!" filled the kitchen.   Placed in front of him, one bite.  That's all she wrote....

Every one else at the table woofed them down though.   I served them with mashed root veggies and a salad.  Here is the recipe, hope you enjoy them!

Spinach Pancakes

2 eggs

cup and half of milk

4 tablespoons cheddar cheese

2 table spoons olive oil

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt.

cup and half of flour.  can use half wheat and half white

tablespoon dillweed

about two cups of finely chopped spinach

 Mix wet ingredients, add dry mix well and then add spinach.  Cook as you would pancakes.

I'm still working out a topping.  I think a tomato chutney would be nice or applesauce? What do you think?