Streusel flavored butter

One of my favorite things on a bisquit is honey and butter. Even more so is honey butter itself . When my husband and I were first dating we both loved watching cooking channels and trying to duplicate the things they cooked. One of those items was an herb butter that I recreated and it was fabulous. After that my mind ran with the idea of flavored butters and it's such a delight to make. Some of my favorites are my Streusel flavored one I perfected for on top of desserts or on bisquit. My other favorite one is a spicy roasted garlic one that I melt on top of popcorn. Also, my roasted garlic and cracked peppercorn one. So I'm going to share the streusel on with you now and the other ones later.


Streusel flavored butter:

Make a homemade butter from heavy whipping cream or let a cube of butter soften at room temperature until completely soft.

Add two tablespoons of brown sugar

1/4 -1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

A dash of vanilla extract

Mash all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Get out a piece of wax paper and spoon butter mixture onto it.

Roll the butter up into a big block

Keep wax paper together and place in fridge until solid

Or/

Use your butter dish lid

Scoop soft butter into lid and smooth in

Place in fridge

Once it's solid

Remove from fridge and carefully use butter knife to extract the butter out of lid. Then put into the butter dish rightfully and leVe out to keep it softened for a couple days on counter while you enjoy.

Harvesting Cattails.

Since I was a little girl, I've been raised picking Cattails every single spring. June 1st always has a mark on my calender so I don't forget. Every year the cattails vary by a week or two on when you can harvest them, so it's always good to start early on checking them. The harvest window is really narrow between ready to too late. 

When harvesting cattails, you want the cattails that are completely closed in their leaves but have a plump, green cattail inside. You don't want cattails that have opened and have started to turn brown. 

Once you pick the cattails a foot or so below the tops, shuck them like you would corn on the cob. You will have a thick, green cattail. 

Under the edible cattail part, you will notice it changes to a softer green more velvety stem. Leave about an inch of that and cut. That will be your handle. When you cook them, you'll need a frying pan and some butter. Place them in the pan and put in about a tablespoon of butter. Cover with a lid and cook on medium until they turn a bright green color. Usually about 5-7 minutes. When you eat them, there is a long stick, similar to a toothpick that runs down the entire center. Use your teeth the grab the flesh of the cattail and pull the meat off the stick. Eat it similar to corn on the cob. When harvesting, estimate about 5 per person. The taste is very similar to broccoli.

Faux Wendy's Frosty

If there is one thing I look most to "in the form of snacks and drinks" this IS IT!!!

I look forward to these all year long. My absolute favorite..

Its not very often I can talk myself into a frosty from Wendys...So this is the identical healthy version.

Start saving all your ripe bananas now...When they get ripe, break them into halves or thirds and throw them all into a ziplock bag and freeze. When you get more ripe bananas, do the same and add them to the same bag...

recipe

About 2 or three handfuls of frozen banana pieces

(Ground chia seed) (Use a coffee grinder) (2 tablespoons)

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup of milk

1 tablespoon of raw cocoa....

(They said u can substitute the bananas for icecubes, but ive never tried it)

blend all in the blender

B

Faux Tuna Fish Sandwich

For a year or so after the Japanese Fukushima radiation leak, I stopped eating seafood. I missed it terribly, but the news articles of it showing up on the west coast terrifies me. I had to think of the safety of my family and kids. Even though it sucked terribly and I missed seafood I came up with alternatives to fight those cravings in the mean time. One of my biggest cravings were tuna fish Sammies (or so they are called in our house.) I found this recipe in some of my searches and I was so surprised with the taste I ate it every single day for a week.




One can of drained garbanzo beans (save the juice in a cup).....then add a couple scoops of mayonnaise, salt and pepper...Blend in your blended until slighty chunky (like tuna fish)...if it is having a difficult time blending add a little of the cans juice to it.....then..I mixed in diced up pickles, onions and celery...(you can do your own toppings however you like)..I toasted my bread the dark brown I love...add it to it and mmmmmmmmm!!! My kids loved it, I loved it, tasted just like tuna fish ...my husband was reluctant to try it, but actually enjoyed it after a lot of convincing to just try it....

Sourdough Lunch

I love making this for lunch in the summer when my garden is bountiful....I toast a slice of sourdough bread and top it with a slice of tomato..Then top the tomato with slices of mozzarella cheese...for the sauce..I use a small handful of oregano (no stems), a small handful of rosemary (no stems) about 2 or 3 cloves of fresh garlic cloves, enough olive oil to give a good sauce thickness, salt and course pepper....puree and top over the cheese...... 

Lavender blueberry pancakes

This is how finely chopped you should cut your lavender flowers....you can see the size difference from the tiny dried flowers in the back and the finely chopped in the middle

 The final product

 The blueberries will mostly shrink and pop while cooking, its alright if they are sticking out and not completely smothered in batter

1 cup of flour
Couple pinches of pink Himalayan salt (or salt)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
Mix dry ingredients together well

Chop 1 teaspoon dried culinary lavender flowers
Chop until it is powdery and ground

Add to dry ingredients

In a different bowl
Beat 1 egg
Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter

Mix together and add to dry ingredients, mix all together well

Then add approx. 1 cup frozen blueberries and mix well with spoon until your batter turns a faint blue tone.

Lightly oil your skillet and preheat skillet to med. temperature

When it is hot, add your batter and cook until dark golden and flip for a dark golden tone on opposite side..

No butter or syrup...

Just dust the tops liberally with powdered organic sugar (if it isn't organic, the cornstarch will be gmo)