Spring Edibles

Good Morning! Well it's a beautiful morning here in the Ozarks!  The sun is shining, it's the perfect temperature, the birds are singing and the roosters crowing. 

Soooo, yes I have not made my weekly posts like promised. Life just got in the way again!  But really I'm not complaining.  I have a new job to help bring in a little extra $ so we can get things going on the homestead here.  We are in good shape but just not as far along as we'd like to be.  But on to the good stuff......

This meal I made a couple months ago but these things are still growing strong now.  Wild onions and chickweed. 

This is chickweed.  It hasn't flowered yet but has tiny white flowers when it does.  This is a weed to most people and grows pretty much year round here.  It is a tasty green and also used to make teas and healing salves. Once you get this on identified it is easy to find.  Search the images and look at lots of pictures then go hunting. :)  It grows close to the ground but can get tall in some areas.



http://plantscience.psu.edu/research/centers/turf/extension/plant-id/grasses/wild-onion-1/wild-onion-2/view

This is wild onion.  It comes up mostly in open fields in the spring.  It looks just like green onions from the store although usually a little smaller.  This picture I got from Penn state website as I forgot to take a picture of our onions. But they all look the same :) 

Now that you have wildcrafted your veggies lets get to the meal.  (Wildcrafting means harvesting wild growing plants for use)

Burritoes with homemade tortillas

So I made pinto beans on the wood stove on a cool day.  The wood stove and dutch oven (cast iron pot the beans are in Thanks mom!) work much like a slow cooker which is how I would have done them before our move. 
 I soak about 2 cups or so of beans over night or sprout them.  To sprout them soak overnight drain off water and set in a sunny spot with a loose cover.  The next couple days just wet them down once a day draining off extra water until you see little sprouts coming from the beans.  Sprouted beans are healthier and cook faster.  But like most sometimes I don't remember to do that before I want to have a meal with them.
 Cover the soaked beans with water and bring to a boil. Simmer until done.  Or dump them in the slow cooker with water and turn on. Low or high. Low takes 6-8 hour. 
When my beans are about half done or close to done I add:
about a tablespoon or so of...
Cumin
Smoked Paprika
Oregano
Garlic Powder
Then a teaspoon of Cayenne.  or more if you want it more spicy. 
Chopped onion (not the wild) is also a good addition.

Next

Tortillas

3 Cups Flour (can be wheat or white or mix, I usually use wheat but use white to roll them out)
2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
4- 6 Tablespoons Oil (use olive, a veggie oil, butter, coconut, or mix just what flavor you want? I usually use butter)
1 1/4 Cup warm water

Mix your dry ingredients.  Cut in the oil. Stir in water.  When it's hard to stir knead in any remaining flour.  Sprinkle your counter with flour and tear off a lime size ball of flour and roll out the thinner the better but you don't want it breaking in the middle either.  Get a skillet hot and place tortilla in it. Cook a min or two per side until it starts to look dry and brown slightly.  If you want larger tortillas use bigger piece of dough or smaller for smaller tortillas.  Just make sure you have a skillet large enough for the tortilla to lay flat.
As you can see in the picture above I don't get them perfectly round but these taste sooo good.  They keep a couple days if you have extra. 
Recipe above makes about 8-12 tortillas.   We rarely have extras :) 

Make your burritoes with all your favorite toppings.  Don't forget the Chickweed and wild onions.  We usually brown a little meat to go with ours and I use the same seasoning that I so in the beans on the meat. 
  This is a very yummy and cheap meal for us.  I never pay more than $1 per pound for the pinto beans.  So in all this meal cost me about $7 for my family of 4. 
$1 worth of beans (although I had left overs of beans)
$2 worth of Flour and tortilla ingredients
$1 Worth of Spices
$3 Worth of Salsa. (my family likes salsa, after the garden gets going I'll make my own but for now we buy it and it costs a bit)
Free Veggies! 
 Of course cost will go up with more ingredients but this is what we spent..  I'm estimating all cost biased on what my local store charges for groceries.  I did base it on the name brand stuff that is more expensive than what I actually buy because I figure that is what most will have so you can pull this off a bit cheaper if you look for deals.  But really Under $10 to feed a family is a great deal!!!

Have a good dinner!  Enjoy!