Fresh Chamomile Tea

When my husband came home with our Abundant Harvest box this week, I never thought it would be such a learning experience for me.  As soon as I walked by it and smelled the sweet scent, I was taken back to my childhood in an instant.  Have you ever had that happen to you?  I couldn't remember the exact time, but that scent was so familiar, and one that I had not enjoyed for so long.  It was chamomile. 

I immediately grabbed my very helpful abundant harvest newsletter, which usually contains tips and recipes for unfamiliar produce.  (I am constantly surprised by how many unfamiliar produce items I encounter.)  All it gave was a small snippet about the stress relieving powers of chamomile, and a recipe for chamomile tea.  I was intrigued, because I have never enjoyed store bought chamomile tea.  It has an unpleasant flavor and smell, and really doesn't deliver what it says it will.  From my box: "DID YOU KNOW? An single cup of  (trademarked brand) tea has been known to have the same effect as sitting for 45 minutes in a mountain meadow on a sunny day with your shoes off."  Really?  As a mother of 5 I rarely get a chance to sit in a sunny meadow with my shoes off for an uninterrupted 45 minutes.  As that would probably rank in my top 3 things to do with my spare time, I had high hopes for my boxed chamomile tea.  However, it was more like taking medicine~ just drink it as fast as possible in hopes that it will at least deliver on the stress relieving properties and not leave as strange an aftertaste as I think it probably will.  Disappointed again.  Not that I expect a cup of tea to take away all of the stress from my day, that is what the word of God is for.  Still, it would be nice to know that they are somewhat accountable to what they say on the package.  I know, I know:  too high of standards.  Well, I did a little digging and found out that chamomile does in fact have many uses.  It may not deliver in the very small proportions(and probably somewhat altered states) you find at the grocery store, but it does, historically, have a record of doing a lot of good. 

If you google chamomile, you will find all sorts of wonderful things that it can be used for.  I will not try to cover all of the medicinal purposes here, but I would encourage you to look into it, it is well worth your time! Just a little teaser for you: chamomile is used medicinally to treat sore stomach, irritable bowel syndrome, and as a gentle sleep aid. It is also used as a mild laxative and is anti-inflammatory and bactericidal.  Source  If you do get your hands on some fresh chamomile, it would be well worth looking into all of the other things you could do with it, besides tea.   Although I have to say that the tea I made with the fresh flowers was exceptional, and something that I am going to start doing a lot more often.  Here is the tea recipe that I used, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Things You'll Need:

*chamomile flowers

*a tea pot

*water

*strainer

*a tea cup

Pick the amount of flowers you will need to make your tea and wash thoroughly.  Discard the stems, only use the actual flowers.  (You will need approximately 1 TBS flowers for ever cup of tea.)

Bring the water to a boil.  After the water is boiling, add the flowers and turn off the heat.  Let steep for about 15 minutes.

When your tea is finished, strain the flowers out with a mesh strainer and add honey or lemon if desired.  Enjoy with a good book.  (TIP: wrap the flowers you have strained into some cloth and use on burns, bruises, or insect bites)  Source   I've also learned that chamomile can make a mean, muscle relaxing, stress relieving bath.  I'm excited to try that next! 

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Asparagus Risotto

Photo Credit

This warm and creamy traditional Italian side dish was made from a mix of fresh asparagus from my Abundant Harvest box and arborio rice.  I must admit that, while my husband and I love risotto of all kinds, my children are not crazy about this dish.  They love rice in general, just not "the slippery kind".  What can I say~ I have little boys. =)

• 1 lb. fresh asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 3 cups homemade chicken broth*
• 2 cups water*
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1/2 onion, diced (or shallots)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• Butter or Olive Oil for sautéing
• Celtic Sea Salt and Pepper, to taste*

*As to the chicken broth and water, you may use all chicken broth, as I did, just make sure to not add any salt.  The flavor will be very, very rich (which we prefer) if you do not cut it with the water.

1.  In a saucepan combine the chicken broth and water and heat on med-high until simmering.  Reduce heat to low and keep warm.
2. In a large skillet cook the asparagus in about 3 TBS butter until tender-crisp.  Remove the asparagus and keep warm.
3. In the same skillet sauté the onion and garlic for about 3 minutes in your choice of fat.  Add the rice and cook another 2 minutes.  Add in the wine, deglazing the pan with it until most-to-all of the liquid has evaporated. 

4. Increase the heat to a med-high and add in 1 cup of the broth-water mixture.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid has been absorbed.  Continue stirring and adding 1 cup of the liquid at a time, allowing each cup to be absorbed before adding the next.  This should take between 25 and 30 minutes, until the rice is tender and the texture is creamy.
5. Stir in the asparagus, cream, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese and simmer another 2 or 3 minutes.  Serve immediately. 

I paired this with grilled chicken and a salad for dinner, although it is more than filling to enjoy as a meal of its own!  

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Abundant Harvest Organics

If you live in Central or Southern California and don't know of and/or don't use Abundant Harvest, I have to tell you what you're missing! On their website Abundant Harvest describes themselves as "an alliance of small family farmers in Central California dedicated to growing superior organic produce and getting it to you in the simpliest manner possible...". Everything is grown locally and they only deliver locally~ which means that all the produce you receive is as fresh as possible. Deliveries in my area are on saturdays and everything we receive was still in the ground the Thursday prior. Two days old! Can you imagine going to the grocery store and picking up fresh and ripe produce that wasn't harvested 5 weeks prior and shot with any number of chemicals? This is what Abundant Harvest offers.

Their prices are so reasonable as well. For a small box (which provides just the right amount for my husband, myself, and our 3 small boys) the price is $19.80 a week. There is also a large box available which runs $33.80 per week. In today's small box we were given: potatoes, clip top carrots, oak leaf lettuce, asparagus, vidalia onions, grapefruit, naval oranges, and mandarin oranges. Those receiving a large box were also given: artichokes, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, cabbage and tomatoes. I love getting our box Saturday mornings~ it's like a little present waiting for me. The variety has also forced us to try new veggies. For instance, I had never cooked with a beet or a parsnip (I had to google parsnip for a picture of it so I could identify it that week). But I soon found a recipe for roasted beets, sweet potatoes and onions that is out of this world, and I learned that parsnips are amazing to add into mashed potatoes. There's also a little newsletter in each box that gives pointers on how to store and cook specific items from that week. (click here to see if Abundant Harvest delivers to your area)

And that's not all Abundant Harvest offers. Along with the produce there is a long list of "add-ons" that can be added on to your weekly box. The add-ons range from raw milk to grass-fed beef and free range organic chickens to coffee and composts. Here is an example of their weekly add-ons. We have been buying our raw milk from Organic Pastures through Abundant Harvest and are now adding on all of our boneless, skinless chicken breasts and pastured eggs. It's wonderful to be able to support all of these local farms!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet and Food Renegade

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Simple Things

It really is the simple stuff in life that makes me happy. We got some wonderful fresh organic potatoes in our Abundant Harvest box, so I had to make mashed potatoes and it is just not right to make mashed potatoes without some sort of buttery vegetable. Why not carrots? We got some of those in our box too. It is not often that I am pleased with EVERY ingredient in my meal, and this is no exception... however, it is pretty close. Other than the Costco EVOO, this is a very nourishing meal. Free range, organic chicken, organic produce, pasture butter, raw milk, Celtic Grey Sea Salt... it doesn't get much better! The best part about all of these ingredients though, is the taste. When I started to research organic and whole foods, I assumed that I would be sacrificing flavor or quality. Not so! I have been pleasantly surprised with just how much more delicious foods are when they are in their natural state. We are so used to the SAD diet that we assume that it is optimal, I mean, why on earth would we be eating this way if not?? It is amazing to me that not only is it terrible for you, but it is just terrible in general. I could never go back to the way I was eating 2 years ago! Fresh, organic carrots caramelized in rich pasture butter sprinkled with fine ground Celtic Sea Salt... there is not another taste in this world to compare that to. Very simple, yet VERY satisfying!

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Lemons

We got a beautiful bunch of lemons in our Abundant Harvest order this week. I love lemons. and will eat them raw with a little bit of celtic sea salt, but I was happy to learn from my newslettter that there are many more uses for lemons that I was not aware of! Here are a few:

*If your lettuce has become limp and you want to revive it, squeeze a halved lemon into a bowl of cold water and add the lettuce. Refrigerate the bowl of lettuce for an hour and then dry your lettuce. It should be crisp and ready for a salad!
*Adding a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice to boiling water before adding eggs will make them easier to peel after they are hard boiled.
*Warm or hot water with fresh lemon juice will help flush out your digestive system.
*Warm lemon juice will soothe a sore throat.
*Lemon juice can be used to remove berry stains from your skin, or pine tar from your hands when mixed with a little table salt.
*One cup of milk plus one TBS of lemon juice is a great substitute for buttermilk.
*Run 1/4 cup of lemon juice through your dishwasher on the normal cycle to remove mineral deposits or odors. (This really works, and makes your house smell fresh and lemony as the cycle is running!)
*A quarter cup of lemon juice mixed with water in a spray bottle will remove grease from your countertop, stove, etc.

Other helpful hints: Store lemons in the refrigerator. If you need just a little juice, poke a hole in your lemon and squeeze out the amount you need. The rest will stay fresher longer.

Now I'm off to search for some lemon recipes!

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