Happy Birthday Sherlock Holmes - herb recipes

Today is Sherlock Holmes’ Birthday.  Everyone who has read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories has noticed that Holmes appreciated good food and drink. Holmes and Watson were often sitting down to a meal prepared by their excellent landlady Mrs. Hudson or dining in a country inn or joining Holmes' brother, the large and reclusive Mycroft, for a meal at the Diogenes Club.

I have been an avid reader of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation since I was about 12.  And I love adaptations that stick to the personalities of the characters, so I love both the Robert Downey Jr. version and the new PBS version.  As a result of reading these Victorian novels so early in life, there is really no tangled writing style I cannot translate - which came to good use in my museum career.  Now my focus is on herbs and tea and Holmes again seems an appropriate fit in my life.

I own several Holmes theme cookbooks, although the detective himself probably never cooked a meal himself, he did eat, and the books and stories are liberally peppered with descriptions of dishes and situations.  If you enjoy the idea of British Victorian cooking then any of the cookbooks will introduce you.  Here is a list of the ones I know about (I found it interesting that the first batch came out around the Bicentennial and the second batch or reprinting came out when Jeremy Brett became extremely popular as the Great Detective.)

 The Sherlock Holmes Cookbook or, Mrs. Hudson's Stoveside Companion formed upon principles of economy and adapted to the use of private families by Sean Wright and John Farrell - Published in 1976, the book features a sensible approach to preparing British food from the Victorian era, while connecting actual menus to specific stories. The title tells you they are adhering to those descriptive titles cookbooks seemed to have at the turn of the last century and the recipes included are just as authentic.

Dining with Sherlock Holmes: A Baker Street Cookbook by Julia Carlson Rosenblatt and Frederic H. Sonnenschmidt  - First printed in 1976 and reprinted again in 1990.  Recipes are divided into different eating occasions in Holmes life, such as “Breakfast at Baker Street,” “On the Chase,” and “The Horrors of a Country Inn," which breaks out meals by the name of the Inns where Watson and Sherlock dined.

 The Sherlock Holmes Victorian Cookbook: The Favorite Recipes of the Great Detective and Dr. Watson by William Bonnell - Published in 1977, this book is laid out by type of dish – soups, salads, meats, etc, Story quotes appear at the top of each recipe. Rather than support a notion that Holmes was interested in food, the quotes reinforce how focused he was on the case at hand.

The Sherlock Holmes Cookbook by Charles A. Mills – printed in 1990 pulls together recipes mentioned in the various stories.

Cooking for Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: British Recipes for Two Persons by William S. Dorn – this self published book from 2004, was nicely researched and contained typical hearty fare and is divided by type of food like Bread, desserts, soups, etc.

For the purists, here is a very good Victorian Recipe that can be found in The Sherlock Holmes Victorian Cookbook, which for authenticity is my favorite.  The credited source for the dish is “Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management” (1861), which I think I have mentioned in posts before.  This one appealed to me because WGN was at ½ Acre Brewery in Lincoln Park yesterday and got me thinking about food and beer!

 Asparagus Soup with Pale Ale
Serves 4-6

2lb lean beef, diced
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp butter
5 cups beef stock
1 cup pale ale or beer
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried marjoram
½ tsp dried mint
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
2 bunches asparagus stalks
1 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Dust the beef with the flour. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, and cook the meat until it browns on all sides. Add the stock, ale, and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 30 minutes.

Add the marjoram, mint, and spinach. Bring to a boil again, then reduce the heat. Cut the top 3 inches from the asparagus stalks, and chop them into bite-sized pieces (the remainder of the stalks can be saved for vegetable stock). Add the asparagus tops to the soup and simmer until they are tender (4-5 minutes). Stir in the sugar. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

For those who want an herb or tea related recipe to celebrate Sherlock’s Birthday, might I suggest these two:

From Cooking for Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson  here is Mrs. Hudson’s SODA BREAD.  This is great for a quick ham sandwich or with jam and a cup of tea for breakfast.  Originally suggested to the author by a reference in The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet, it makes two loaves of soda bread.

Mrs. Hudson’s Soda Bread

(makes 2 loaves)

4 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 tsp. Rosemary, broken

1 tsp. Thyme

2 1/2 cups of low fat buttermilk

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 450F.  Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda together in a medium-size

Bowl.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients in the bowl. Gradually add the buttermilk while gently and quickly mixing the dough.  Shape the dough into two circular loaves; if the dough is too moist to shape, add a little more flour.  Place each loaf on a greased, 8 inch pie plate.  With a knife cut a deep cross on the top of each loaf. Bake the loaves for 15 minutes at 450F. Reduce the oven temperature to 400F.  Bake for another 25 minutes (If the crust appears to become too brown, cover each loaf with some aluminum foil.) If the bread is not lightly brown or does not sound hollow when tapped, bake longer.  Cool the bread loaves on a wire rack.

My second recipe is adapted from Dining with Sherlock Holmes.  It is a sweet English biscuit recipe I dressed up with a few lemon herbs to accent its gentle lemon flavor. This is perfect with a nice cup of Earl Grey.

Mrs. Hudson’s Biscuits

About 70 biscuits

INGREDIENTS

½ cup butter
1 cup icing sugar
2 tsp. vanilla sugar

     or 2 tsp sugar with 2-3 drops of vanilla extract
1 egg
1 pinch of salt
juice and grated peel of 1/2 lemon

2 tsp. lemon balm, dried

1 cup flour
7 Tbls. corn starch
1 tsp. baking powder
butter to grease pan

Glaze
¾ cup icing sugar

2 Tbls. lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:

Whip the butter until it is fluffy, then slowly add the powdered sugar; Add the vanilla sugar, egg, salt, lemon juice and peel and lemon balm; Add the flour, baking powder and corn starch slowly and mix well; Grease a baking tray with butter; Fill a pastry bag with the dough and press small biscuits onto the baking tray; Bake in a preheated 400F oven for 10-15 minutes. Make the glaze by mixing the icing sugar and lemon juice. Brush biscuits with it, and let it dry.

Do not forget Winter is the best time to have soup and our soup mixes are on sale for 25% off in the Etsy Store until the end of the month.  Just use the code JANSALE25 when you check out!

Winter Skin Remedies

Recently I was researching a few new recipes to try out for a program called Winter Skin Recovery, that  I will be presenting at the Wauconda Area Public Library in February.   They wanted a Bath and Beauty program with an emphasis on dry skin formulas since it will be happening in the middle of dry skin season.  I wanted to include a few new recipes so I have been experimenting and researching and now that the heat is on and my skin is drying out it is a useful experiment. 

One of the recipes I am testing is a cleanser using Lavender and Rose.  Rose if very softening and Lavender is a gentle antiseptic so as a skin cleanser they are a good combination.  Since this is not made with soap, it eliminates the drying effect soap can have.  You actually make the blend and leave it dry, adding liquid just before you use it.  That gives you a 3 to 6 month shelf life and the ability to keep from wasting it.

Here is the recipe for you to try too!  Let me know if you enjoy it.

Lavender and Rose Cleanser

½ cup white clay, finely ground

1/3 cup ground oatmeal or oat flour

1 Tbls. Powdered lavender flowers

1 Tbls. Powdered rose petals

5 drops lavender essential oil

2 drop rose geranium essential oil

Mix dry ingredients, add essential oils and mix carefully and completely.  Store in a zip seal bag or tightly lidded jar.

Directions for use: Place 2 teaspoons of powdered cleanser into a small bowl or the palm of your hand and add 2 tsp. of water, milk or cream.  Stir to blend until a spreadable paste forms.  Allow this paste to thicken for 1 minute.  Using a soft cloth, cleansing pad or your fingers, apply entire mixture to cover face, throat and upper chest (avoiding eye areas) and massage in a circular motion for 1 minute.  Rinse.

You can also use this as a face mask by spreading it on cleansed skin and letting it dry for 20 minutes before removing.

Although this is a bath theme post, I just wanted to remind everyone that there is a SOUP MIX sale going on in our Etsy Store.  Use the code JANSALE25 to get 25% off all out Soup Mixes.

Herb Calendar for 2012

I am not an artist.  The only drawings I ever did with any skill were the recreations of stone tools for my catalog sheets and site reports back 30 years ago when I was an archaeologist.  I was never able to transfer that skill in drawing to anything else.

Herbal calendars with pictures and herb info are always popular with me and I have kept every one I have received, hoping someday to transfer my own information into somthing similar with all my herb photos.  I actually took steps to accomplish that toward fall of 2011 and found it was a bit more work than my limited computer and art skill can produce at this time, but now I have the information and steps and 12 months to do one for next year...  It's doable, I think.  Just as soon as I learn to use Print Shop.

However, I was just steered by an online friend to this lovely FREE herb calendar for 2012 created by Alice Cantrell and her daughter Anna.  The blog it is on is also a good read too!  Here is the link:
http://www.alicecantrell.com/blog/2011/11/2012-calendar.html

You can download this free PDF and print it and Alice has even given permission for you to use it as a gift for others and shows how you can dress it up to be one.

The calendar items were drawn by her 14 year old daughter who then digitally colored them.  And at the end is some nice straight forward information on each herb.  The best thing (in my opinion) is she included - and I think those were hand drawn - the moon phases on each month.  Since I am now tuned into the patterns of nature in herb gardening, like moon phases and day length as it effects my plants, this was a small but very useful addition to a calendar.  I plan to keep a copy out in the herb shed.

This would be the perfect gift for that January Birthday in your life or for yourself just to enjoy these great drawings.  I am putting mine up in the cubical at work to bring in a bit of greenery!  With wonderful people like Alice out there, maybe I don't need to make a calendar after all!

Please enjoy this little gift from Alice for your new year!

If you like soups in winter, please take advantage of our SOUP SALE.  We are taking 25% off soup purchases in our Etsy store.  Just use the coupon code: JANSALE25 when you check out to get the discount on all our soup mixes.

Using Rose Hips in Winter

Everyone tends to go with the old remedy of increased vitamin C as a way to stave off seasonal illnesses and colds.  I believe in this as well, but what you may not know is that citrus is nice but Rose hips are the largest source of Vitamin C by volume and are simple and easy to use in your seasonal cures.

Roses, traditional non-hybrid roses, develop a seed pod just at the base of the flower.  These red balls are known as "hips" and yes the seeds are in them.  Rose Hips make a wonderful tea.  They are high in Vitamin C, also contain vitamins A, B, D, K, E, and flavinoids (antioxidants), and prevent bladder infections, ease headaches and dizziness. 

I usually wait until frost before I harvest my rose hips, so with frost not coming until 11/11/11 this year, I am still out cutting hips in December.  I find the best way to let them dry is on the plant, rather than indoors on a screen. To many times they mold which made me decide to let mother nature do her thing and gather the dried hips instead.

Once you gather the hips you need to crush them. And sift out the prickly bits that exist inside with the seeds.  I find they irritate my skin and they float to the top of my tea so I prefer to remove them.  You can buy sifted rose hips if you do not wish to do this rather labor intensive job yourself.

Many of the medicinal herbs listed here I grow only for personal consumption because I do not try to diagnose or treat illnesses for anyone but myself.  However, these are tried recipes and certain can assist you with seasonal ailments when taken in moderation and in consultation with a professional.

Basic Rose Hip Tea

Pour 1 cup of boiling water

Rosy Bite Tea Leaves

over 2 heaping teaspoons of chopped rose hips

You can use rose hips with or without their seeds. Steep the herbal tea, covered, for 15 minutes and strain. Sweeten the refreshing, slightly sour tea with honey, if desired. Drink the tea lukewarm at bedtime for maximum effectiveness. The tea can be also be added to soups and stews to boost their tartness and vitamin C content.

I use rose hips in two of my favorite iced tea and hot tea blends.  With rose petals, hibiscus and sage I make a rose hip tea called Rose Blush that is good hot or cold and when mixed with honey and a bit of whiskey is great for seasonal ailments.  The other I call Rosy Bite because the tart nature of the rose hips is blended with Hibiscus.

Rose Hip Wine Helps Circulation

Rose hip wine stimulates the appetite and increases blood flow. Steep 3 ounces of dried rose hips in 1 quart of strong, dry red wine for 2 weeks. Filter the wine. Drink 2 small glasses per day. Who can beat that prescription!

Medicinal Tea Mixture for Cold Prevention & Relief

1 1/2 ounces rose hips

3/4 ounce marshmallow root

3/4 ounce mullein flowers and leaves

This tea stimulates the immune system. When you have a cold or flu, the tea loosens bronchial mucus and makes coughs more productive. For a cup of tea, use 1 cup of water and 2 teaspoons of the tea blend.

Herbal Tea Mixture for Abdominal Cramps and Mild Diarrhea

1 ounce rose hips

3/4 ounce peppermint leaves

3/4 ounce lemon balm leaves

3/4 ounce blackberry leaves

This tea regulates bile flow and relieves intestinal cramping and mild diarrhea. It is also a first-aid remedy for queasiness and nausea. Use 1 cup of water to 2 teaspoons of the tea blend.

Medicinal Tea to Relieve Gout & Kidney Gravel

1 1/2 ounces rose hips

3/4 ounce nettle leaves

3/4 ounce goldenrod leaves

3/4 ounce horsetail leaves

This tea flushes gravel from the kidneys, combats chronic urinary-tract infections and helps eliminate uric acid assisting gout patients. For each cup of tea use 1 cup of boiling water and 2 teaspoons of the tea mixture. Strain and enjoy!

Herbs on the Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas!

I hope your Holiday is filled with all that you desire, from family to food to peace and quiet!

This year with the herb business expanding and my role with organizing an office move time slipped through my fingers and I ended up not getting my decoration out.  We are also traveling to Wisconsin for the holiday so in the end since I would not be home to enjoy it, I decided against putting up the tree. 

So in celebration of Christmas Day I created this virtual selection of herb related ornaments that I could have put on my tree, if I’d actually gotten it out of storage!

I start with scent.  Here are the spice and applesauce balls I made at the Palos Park Library for my November program.  These smell heavenly and are so easy to make.

Not sure if I shared the recipe to make these here before but here it is:

Apple Spice Balls

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 ½ cups ground spices

  (1/2 cup each cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves)

2 tsp. orris root powder

Gradually stir the spices into cold applesauce until thick enough to roll into balls without being sticky.  If crumbly, add a bit of water.  Roll dough into small balls and lay on wax paper to air dry.  Allow to dry for 1 to 2 weeks.  Wrap in netting and tie with ribbon.  To create ornaments, push a skewer through the center, and when partly dry, remove skewer and thread with ribbon, then continue to dry.

I also crafted a scented ornament using mulling spices.  The warmth of the bulbs on the tree lifts the scent out of the ornament and it is pretty to look at too filled with cinnamon, star anise, orange and lemon peel, lemon balm and cloves. 

A friend said she dries Queen Anne’s Lace during the summer, spray paints it gold, sometimes add a bit of glitter, then sets them on the tree branches.  

In the past I have made popcorn and cranberry garlands, especially when I worked at Kline Creek Farm with the hubby.  I remember coming home with red fingers and it wasn’t only from the cranberries.

A pomander ball, made by pressing cloves into the skin of a fresh orange is always a seasonal scented delight.  They were very popular in the Victorian era and were something I remember my grandmother teaching me to make back when I was in first grade.

Pine cones are my favorite thing to use in decorations.  This year I started working on a ball ornament that incorporated many pine cones of various shapes and sizes.  I don't think it has the final look I want yet though??

I love the attractive natural look of them.  I have decorated them with just ribbon.

Dusted them with powdered sugar or glitter to give a snow effect and painted them gold and silver too. 

I like pine cones so much that 40% of the glass ornaments I have for my Christmas tree are shaped or colored like pine cones.

Hope you have enjoyed the vitual tree and however you decorate, I hope you have a blessed and peaceful holiday season.  Please enjoy your holiday and if you are traveling, be safe!

Hanukkah Herbal Dishes

I know that my focus this year has been almost entirely on my own religious background with the Advent Calendar and the Herbal Gift Series, however Christmas is not the only holiday in December and I thought I would share a couple recipes I found in a book called the Jewish Holidays Cookbook by Jill Bloomfield.  There are many great traditional recipes in the book but these two were ones my grandmother liked to make at holiday time.  She was not Jewish, but she did have a number of freinds at the Senior Center who were and as a result we learned to enjoy these dishes as if they came from our Finnish heritage.

Matzo Balls

Although these are seen to be like a dumpling, they really are not that dense.  To keep them light and fluffy pack them loosely; you want them to float when they cook. Matzo balls almost double in size when they cook, so be sure not to make yours too big.  I like Matzo balls as an alternative to noodles in chicken soup.  They are different and actually more simple to make than noodles anyway!

Serves 6

Ingredients

3 eggs
1 cup matzo meal
4 Tbls. vegetable oil
2 quarts plus 2 Tbls. chicken broth
½ cup cold water
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. white pepper
½ tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. parsley

Directions

1.    Separate 2 eggs and put the egg whites in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Set the yolks aside because you will add them later. Whisk the egg whites until they are light and fluffy.

2.    Crack the last egg and combine with the yolks you set aside. Using a fork, beat together. Gently fold the yolks into your fluffy egg whites.

3.    Add matzo meal, vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons of chicken broth, water, salt, white pepper, and garlic powder, and parsley again folding it carefully into your mixture.

4.    Place bowl in refrigerator for 1 hour, until the mixture is chilled and firm to the touch.

5.    Place 2 quarts chicken broth in a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

6.    Remove matzo mixture from the refrigerator. Using your hands, scoop out a small bit of mixture and gently roll it in your hands to form a ball, about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. (Rinse your hands with cold water if the dough is sticking to your fingers.)

7.    Using a slotted spoon, place matzo balls into the chicken stock 1 at a time. Reduce heat so mixture is at a low simmer. Cover pot and allow matzo balls to cook gently for about 45 minutes until they are cooked enough.

8.    Serve your matzo balls in the broth they were cooked in, or as a substitute for the noodles in chicken noodle soup.

Ponchik

Polish ponchik are fried doughnuts stuffed with jelly; Eastern European Jews brought these with them as they moved to Israel. This quick and easy recipe allows anyone to celebrate Hanukkah with homemade jelly doughnuts.  And what holiday cannot be enhanced by donuts!

Serves 5

Ingredients

1 (10 count) package of pre-made refrigerated biscuits
24 oz canola oil (for frying)
¼ cup raspberry jelly or jam (or feel free to use your favorite flavor, I like apple butter and grape too!)
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons Backyard Patch Cinnful Dessert Blend (or just cinnamon)

Directions

1.    Separate biscuits and flatten into a circle about 4 inches in diameter.

2.    Place about a teaspoon of jelly or jam in the center of each biscuit. Bring the edges up the the middle to form a ball. Pinch it closed at the top to seal in the filling.

3.    When all 10 ponchik are ready, pour the oil in a saucepan and bring to 350 degrees F. While waiting for the oil to reach temperature, pour sugar and cinnamon onto a plate.

4.    When oil is ready, use a slotted spoon to lower ponchik into oil. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side, until the dough is cooked through and golden brown.

5.    Remove from oil with slotted spoon and place on plate with cinnamon sugar. Gently roll the ponchik to coat. Be careful, ponchik will be hot.

Happy  Hanukkah!   

Rescuing the Carpets with an Herbal Carpet Cleaner

Stubborn Carpet Stains & How to Remove Them

Getting your house ready for company?  Some of the items below may happen before the party and some may be part of your party clean up.  Either way these fixes may help you revive a carpet.  (They are not all chemical free so take that with a grain of salt!) Modern carpeting is designed to resist stains, so you can usually remove them if you use the right method. Refer to these tips, and remember: the sooner you get to a stain, the easier it will be to remove.

Herbal Carpet Cleaner

¾ cup water

3 Tbls. dish soap

½ tsp. ammonia

½ tsp. Thyme or Lemon Herbal vinegar

Combine all ingredients together and place in a foam bottle.  To use, squirt the foam onto the carpet and work in with brush.  Then blot out of carpet with a damp then a dry paper towel.  The trick with this recipe is not to place the liquid on the carpet, only foam.

A list of stains and the removal technique:

1. Chewing gum

Freeze with ice cubes in a plastic bag; then scrape off with a butter knife and blot with trichloroethylene (dry-cleaning fluid, available at drug and hardware stores).

2. Animal Urine

Immediately blot up excess with paper towels; soak with club soda; blot again; scrub with Herbal Carpet Cleaner (above).

3. Coffee, Beer, Milk

Blot up excess with paper towels, scrub with Herbal Carpet Cleaner (above); cover with paper towels and weigh down for 2 to 3 hours.

4. Fruit Juices, Soft Drinks

Blot up excess; sponge with a solution of 1 teaspoon of powdered laundry detergent and 1 teaspoon of white vinegar dissolved in 1 quart (1 liter) of warm water.

5. Blood

If fresh, blot up with cold water (not hot). If dried, cover with equal parts cold water and meat tenderizer. Let stand for 30 minutes. Sponge off with cold water.

6. Grease, Oil, Lipstick, Butter

Blot up excess with paper towels; sponge with dry-cleaning fluid; work from edges to center.

7. Shoe Polish, Ink, Dry Paint

Dab with paint remover; if that fails, use dry-cleaning fluid.

8. Wax

Scrape off as much as possible; then place a brown paper bag over the area and run a warm iron over it. The bag will act as a blotter and absorb the wax.

We do have a few herbal vinegars left from this season.  Check out our Etsy vinegar listings.