A Christmas Present

One of my ultimate favorite holiday songs!

Herb to Skin - Homemade Herbal Soap

I haven't talked about the garden for awhile.  The daylight will be getting a little longer now and I'll start to look forward to spring and getting back out into the dirt.  Meanwhile I'm looking to January and thinking about how I'm going to set up the downstairs nursery.  Soon it will be time to start some seedlings.  I'm thinking about what to plant and when. Last year I learned how to garden indoors and get a jump on the season.  The second year at the seedling planting, we've learned a few things, it should go better than last.

I met my friend Morgaine out in the our garden a few seasons ago and when she saw the all the herbs she asked me what I did with them.  At that time all I did was dry them.  She asked if I made my own essential oils and I said no, but there was an immediate,  loud, conversation in my brain.  Essential oils are expensive, I buy them, I did make some of my own cleaning products with them and use them on dried flowers, etc.  I would make them if I knew how.  Is it something I can learn?  Of course it is, I don't have a problem learning how to make anything I've tried. Yes, next year I will make oils. Does she know how to make oils? Last Christmas she made some wonderful herb soaps and body sprays. She gave us some of her sage soaps, lotion, and sprays right before we went to Baja.  I took it with us and every time I used it thereafter, I thought of our wonderful trip in Baja, a little aroma therapy working. Is it difficult? do I have to buy equipment? maybe she'll teach me how. How cool is that, I must do this!

So this year I planted a few more of the herbs: lemon basil, Thai basil, the big leaf green basil, two kinds of sage, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, parsley, lavender, and fennel. I call it herb hill.

Lemon Basil

Sage

Isabelle stood on herb hill this season.

I picked the herbs, dried some as usual, and this year I made oils.  I also picked some organic lavender in Sequim in July.  I couldn't grow enough here for oil The lavender oil takes quite a bit of flowers.  It was 16 tablespoons per steeping and I think it was strained and steeped four times.  The oils came out great, I used organic olive oil so I can also use them in cooking.  The sage and rosemary I picked the first hour of the full moon in September and steeped them until the next moon.  They are supposed to have the fullest potency then according to some old Farmer's Almanacs and a pretty good book I read this year about the lunar cycles, Lunar Calender, The Art of Timing.

Last night for the first time I found soap making.  It was easy and fun.  I bought the materials hoping to do that on a day off soon.  This time of year is very slow at work, it will be pretty quiet until January 3 when the holidays are over.  I usually end up taking a couple vacation days. I thought I'd just try a little this weekend and turns out it was so easy I ended up using all the soap base I purchased, eight pounds.  I do have some holiday gifts to give that I didn't count on.  That's pretty fun.

For one batch I used a goats milk base and added lavender and sage.  To the olive oil base I added rosemary and sage oils.  I also added some quinoa seeds and crushed sage for texture and skin softening.  The third batch is an avocado cucumber base which I added rosemary oil, citrus zest, and quinoa seeds.  The fourth soap is a Shea butter base with lavender oil and quinoa, lots of lavender oil. It smells wonderful.

Thanks for the inspiration Morgaine. You've helped me realize that I'm a kitchen witch too.

Christmas Limas - Festive Holiday Pie

The other half of the pot of Christmas Limas I cooked up this weekend became a Festive Holiday Tart.  I was looking through a holiday cookbook I purchased from VegNews Magazine this morning.  I thought since I paid for it, I should probably use it.  I found a recipe for something called a Festive Holiday Tart.  I had most of the ingredients in the kitchen.  It called for canned chickpeas so I used the rest of the Christmas Lima beans I had cooked.  It also called for some frozen spinach and I just happen to have some lovely collard greens and kale.  I lightly sauteed them together, just until they were wilted and bright green,  in a little sage oil and set aside.This is a very unusual pie.  It's very good, but I can't describe it to you by comparing it to anything I've tried before. I thought it would be something like a vegan mincemeat pie, but it's not like mincemeat either. It is truly unique.  It combines the some of the most prominent flavors of the holiday season, thyme, cranberries, fresh greens, and Christmas Limas.  It's a complete meal.

 

This is my version of the Festive Holiday Tart Recipe,

by Drenna Burton

I made a whole wheat, dairy free, pie crust and put it in the refrigerator to chill. 

1½ TB rosemary oil, divided

1 cup diced onion

¾ cup diced fennel bulb

5 cloves garlic, minced

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 cups cooked and drained Christmas Lima beans

     Save the drained sauce for making gravy later

¾ cup + 2 TB pecans, chopped and divided

2 TB fresh lemon juice

1 TB plus 1 teaspoons shoyu, divided

1¼ cup slightly sauteed collard greens and kale

    The original recipe calls for frozen spinach, that will work fine, if you didn't have the fresh greens

3½ TB dried cranberries

¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped

1½ TB dried thyme

1. Preheat oven to 400°  In a skillet over medium heat, heat 1 TB oil, add onion, fennel, garlic, salt, and pepper, and cook until onions begin to caramelize. Set Aside

2.  In a food processor, add Christmas Lima beans (reserve about ½ cup), ¾ cup pecans, lemon juice, and 1 TB shoyu, and pulse to lightly chop (do not purée).  Remove half of the chopped mixture from the food processor and transfer to a large bowl.

3.  Transfer sautéed onions to the remaining mixture in the food processor.  Purée until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Transfer purée to bowl with lightly chopped beans and pecan mixture.  Add greens, cranberries, parsley, thyme, and the reserved lima beans.  Stir to combine and transfer to the prepared pie shell, spreading evenly.

4. In a small bowl, combine remaining oil and shoyu, and brush on top of pie and crust.  Sprinkle with the remaining pecans.  Bake for about 35 minutes until lightly browned.

Christmas Limas - with Roasted Beets & Quinoa

My boss has some fun with us at Christmas, she does "a twelve days of Christmas" event as our Christmas gift.  It's lots of fun, it sure makes December a fun month at work. Donna and I receive a gift, go to lunch, take an hour at Starbucks, play a light hearted game together of dominoes or cards with the three of us and no phones for an hour, create something crafty and festive, or sometimes it's a scavenger hunt to find a gift.  The scavenger hunts are fun, she goes to quite a bit of work sometimes coming up with her clever clues.  It might catch on too, others in the building have fun watching us wander around the building hunting for the next clue.  Sometimes she involves them in the game.  My husband likes it too, he looks forward to finding out what we did each day.  She also gives most useful gifts.  One of our days' gifts this year was a basket with three different kinds of beans and spices.  I'll get at least eight to twelve meals out of those beans.

Of the three varieties of beans were "Christmas Lima." I'd not heard of these before and the description sound good, "A savory flavor with hints of chestnuts."   

Christmas Limas (Phaseolus Limensis) are related to the lima bean, similar to the giant Peruvian Lima but plumper. This is a large bean with a maroon pattern over a creamy background. The Christmas Lima may be referred to as a speckled lima or butter bean in addition to a calico bean.

I set them to soak Friday night and Saturday morning I cooked them with  filtered water, salt, a diced onion, and a couple carrots.  i wanted to cook them very simply so I could taste the flavor of the bean.  It's a very flavorful bean with a nice texture and doubles in size.

While they were simmering I searched for a recipe.  It didn't take long to find one and I was pleased to find I had all the ingredients handy. 

Christmas Lima Beans and Quinoa

Christmas Lima Beans and Quinoa

 Christmas Lima Beans, Roasted Beets, Quinoa, Avocado, Lemon Juice, sweet onion, honey, and white balsamic vinegar.  The recipe calls this a side dish, but for us it was a perfect winter maindish. 

 

My husband rolled this collard green like a tortilla and had a Christmas Lima burrito.