Foraging Friday

Lately I've been looking into the foraging scene and blogs like Eat The Weeds, learning how to live off the land.  It might sound weird or gross at first, but talk about the ultimate freebies.  Wild edible plants in your own backyard... Sounds good to me!  Organic and healthy is even better, right?

Plant identification can be tricky and it is important to pay very close attention to what you eat.  Some plants are poisonous, obviously, and can also look similar to edible plants.  BEFORE YOU EAT ANYTHING WILD, BE 200% SURE YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS!!!  Err on the side of caution.

I'm not here to teach anyone about foraging, just sharing my experience. Go to a professional to learn, please.

Dandelions are one of these edible plants. Every part is edible -- leaves, flower, stem, and roots -- all used for different things. Today I decided to cook some dandelion leaves.

Lily is my foraging partner.  She likes to pick up whatever we're around. 

These are the parts of the dandelion, minus the roots I did not get.

Lily decided she wanted to help.

And wanted to try them raw.

"Oooooh, Dandelions!"

This is the broken stem of another dandelion plant.  Notice the white sap?  Most plants with white sap are lethal, so make sure you know which ones are not before munching down!  Dandelions are an exception :)  The white sap makes them bitter though.

This is why we boil our dandelion greens!!  I boiled mine for about 5 minutes, changed the water, and boiled them again for another 5ish.  They could have used a bit more in my opinion, but the boiling helps get rid of the bitterness.

Sideways picture... my bad.

And the finished product!! 

How did it taste?  Well, it actually tasted pretty good.  It could have used some seasonings, but because it was my first try I wanted the full natural-taste experience.  

Dandelions have long been used for medicinal purposes, and the roots for magical purposes.  If I am not mistaken, a dandelion root can make a nice tea :)

I can't wait to try some more!

Gluten Free -- Way To Be?

I personally have no physical problem with gluten, though I do a lot of people that are unable to eat it due to allergies.  It takes some getting used to, but eating gluten free isn't all that bad.

Lately I've been munching down on some KinniKritters chocolate animal cookies.  They had a weird texture at first, but now that I've started eating them regularly I love them!

I am not 100% certain about the "gluten free" craze that people without the allergy have, but it seems to work for me.

These KinniKritters are dairy free, nut free, and gluten free but "may contain traces of egg."  Talk about awesome!  For all that they lack, they really do make a wonderful snack.  If you're worried about calories (and I personally am not) they are 90 calories per serving, and each serving is 20 grams, or 8 cookies.

To find out more, you can check out Kinnikinnick.com.  I just finished my box, so I better go buy some more!

Fun Way to Beat That Baby-Fat

Alright, so when I became pregnant I weighed about 105lbs, was 9 months pregnant and weighed 140lbs, and now am down to a little over 110lbs.  I'm doing pretty well, but still have a lot of squish in the middle.  I can't go to a gym and it's been too cold to walk around outside with Lily in her pouch or sling.  However am I to get those 10,000 recommended steps a day?!

Well, I had a "DUH!" moment when I realized I still had a Ps2 and Dance Dance Revolution. It took me hours to find all the pieces and set it up to my grandmother's dinosaur TV.  Well, I never did set it up to it, I used my own smaller TV, but it worked.  Before I knew it I had a work-out I could enjoy!  I ended up getting 5,000 steps on DDR alone before I realized I am rusty!  I knew I was going to need to work up to the 10K, but 5K is a great start!

Dance Dance Revolution has a workout mode where you can input how many calories you want to burn or how long you want to dance for. There are also so many different versions of DDR it's hard NOT to find songs you like. It's great cardio and awesome for the legs (and tushy :) so I find it worth the trouble.

There are DDR games for Wii or X-Box 360 with Kinect, and even Ps3, but if you don't have any of those and this sounds fun then I am sure you can find inexpensive used Ps2's or X-Boxes, DDR copies, and the DDR pads needed to play.

Lily also liked to watch.  The bright colors on the screen caught her attention and she laughed at her mommy doing funny things.  

I remember when we were younger my brother, sister, and I would often take turns playing and trying to get high scores.  We did it for HOURS.  I wonder how many steps we got then?

I know Swagbucks has different games and game consoles as rewards periodically, so you may even be able to grab some things for free if you look!  Personally, I've been an E-Bay fanatic.  Listia also has some great free deals on games as well.  Check it all out if you want!