Earthly Eating

• Salsa Verde with Nasturtiums
Makes: About 2 1/2 cups

1 1/2 cups packed Italian Parsley Leaves
1 1/2 cups loosely packed nasturtium leaves
1/4 cup loosely packed marjoram or oregano leaves, or a mixture or both
One 1-inch slice country bread, crusts removed
About 1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup mince sweet onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbs. white wine vinegar
1 tbs. capers
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

In a mortar, pour parsley, nasturtium and marjoram or oregano leaves with a pestle, or chop leaves in a food processor. Soak the bread in a little water for10 minutes, then squeeze most of the liquid from it. Add the bread to the mortar or food processor and mix it with the herbs.

Add the olive oil to the herbs as if making a mayonnaise, a few drops at a time, blending or pulsing to incorporate. It may take only about 1/3 cup, it should be a sauce consistency, not too thick though. If it gets too thick you can add some water to thin it out.

When the olive oil has been added, blend in the onion garlic, vinegar and capers. Season to sauce with salt and pepper.

Let stand at least 30 minutes before using. Adjust the seasoning and serve at room temperature. The olive oil will not emulsify completely, a little will remain on top of the sauce. Stir the leftovers in a tightly covered glass container in the fridge for up to one week.

• Making the Nasturtium Vinegar
Makes: 1 pint

About 1 to 1 1/2 cups loosely packed nasturtium flowers (plus other herbs, if desired)
1 pint while wine, rice wine or apple cider vinegar

Harvest your flowers and herbs on a sunny morning, rinse them if necessary and pat them dry. Bruise them slightly to release their flavor. Fill a clean jar about half to three-quarters full of the flowers and herbs, then cover them with vinegar. Use a plastic rather than metal lids because the vinegar’s acid will eventually leach out and corrode the metal. Label the jars.

Place the jar in a cool, dark place. If you begin steeping the herbs in the vinegar in the morning, you will have a mildly flavored vinegar you can use by the evening. The longer the vinegar stands, up to 4 weeks, the more flavor will come through when you go to use them. Eventually, however the flowers and the herbs will deteriorate and the flavor will not be as bright. To avoid this, sample the vinegar on 10 days to 2 weeks after you mix it, and continue to taste it every few days thereafter.

When the vinegar has reached its full flavor, strain out the flowers and herbs. Strain the mixture again through the coffee filter to achieve crystal clear vinegar. Using a funnel, pour the vinegar into smaller bottles and label. Store the vinegar in a cool, dark place and use within a year.
____________________________________________________________
Earthly Eating Recipe

Balsamic Cranberry Drizzle
Makes: 1 1/2 cups

In a saucepan combine 3 cups cranberry juice and 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes until mixture is reduced to 1 1/3 cups. In a bowl toss together 1/2 cup cranberries and 2 tbs. sugar; add the juice mixture. Simmer for 5 minutes more until the cranberries begin to pop. Remove from heat. Cool and our into jars, and cover. Refrigerate up to 2 weeks.

Happy Eating!

• Agrimony: For those who conceal mental anguish behind a “brave face.”

• Aspen: For those troubled by vague fears, apprehension, and anxiety.

• Beech: For those who are critical and intolerant of others.

• Centaury: For those who are unable to say “no” and are easily imposed upon.

• Cerato: For those who are unable to make decisions without advice from others.

• Cherry Plum: For those fearful of losing control of thoughts and actions.

• Chestnut Bud: For those who repeatedly make the same mistakes and are unable to learn from past experience.

• Chicory: For those who are possessive and always know just what is “right” for others.

• Clematis: For those who are dreamy, absentminded with an inability to concentrate.

• Crab Apple: For those who have a poor physical self-image and are overcome by feelings of shame and uncleanliness.

• Elm: Fort those who are temporarily overwhelmed and burdened by their responsibilities.

• Gentian: For those pessimist who tends to make “mountains out of molehills.”

• Gorse: For feelings of hopelessness and despair.

• Heather: For those who seek the company of any who will listen to their troubles and are over-talkative.

• Holly: For those who are jealous, suspicious, and vengeful.

• Honeysuckle: For those who dwell in the past, of what was and could have been.

• Hornbeam: For those who feel fatigue and tiredness and just need to be restrengthened.

• Impatiens: For those who are impatient and fast paced.

• Larch: For those who lack self-confidence and anticipate their own failure.

• Mimulus: For the fear of known things, such as heights, the dark, being alone, etc.

• Mustard: For melancholia, gloom, and deep despair which comes and goes.

• Oak: For workaholics who can always be depended upon to complete a task even at the expense of themselves, and those close to them.

• Olive: For mental and physical exhaustion as a result of having gone through an illness or personal ordeal.

• Pine: For prefectionist who are often dissatisfied with their own accomplishments.

• Red Chestnut: For those who worry excessively over the health and safety of friends and family, often anticipating that the worst may happen to them.

• Rock Rose: For panic, hysteria, or feelings of terror and fright; also for nightmares.

• Rock Water: For an overly-ridged, strict adherence to a particular belief or life-style.

• Scleranthus: For those caught between choices unable to decide between one thing and another.

• Star of Bethlehem: For traumas from which an individual is not fully recovered for example, accidents, surgery, or personal loss.

• Sweet Chestnut: For those who have reached the limits of their endurance.

• Vervain: For those with strong opinions, who feel they are always right and who often attempt to convert others to their way of thinking.

• Vine: For those “born leaders” who are strong willed, confident, and self-assured, but if taken to the extreme, can be over bearing, domineering and tyrannical.

• Walnut: For those experiencing periods of transition and change.

• Water Violet: For private people who, as a result, have difficulty developing close relationships.

• White Chestnut: For persistent, unwanted thoughts, mental chatter, and associated sleeplessness.

• Wild Oat: For those who are dissatisfied with their current career and would like to do something else with their life, but cannot decide what direction to take or career to choose.

• Wild Rose: For those who have become indifferent and apathetic toward life and are resigned to their circumstances.

• Willow: For those who have become resentful and bitter at having been treated unfairly.
__________________________________________________
Earthly Eating Recipe:

4. Garnish each serving with a dollop of whipped cream, if desired, and a tsp. of pomegranate syrup.

Happy Eating!