Marks Daily Apple

1. 

   Diana Renata
   Member

   I grew up learning a bit about foraging. Meadow mushrooms, milkweed, dandelions and recenly fiddleheads and knotweed.

   These are normally what I'd call "large" meadow mushrooms.
   

   These are the giant ones I found today.
   

   Posted 4 months ago #
2. 

   FlyNavyWife
   Member

   Wow, those are some impressive mushrooms! Congrats on the weight loss too, btw. I remember finally getting back in the 120s... good feeling.

   Posted 4 months ago #
3. 

   Diana Renata
   Member

   Sure is! I haven't been in the 120's since... Jr High. :P

   Posted 4 months ago #
4. 

   Miriam
   Member

   Wow they are massive mushrooms (or unless you have tiny tiny hands!)

   Good news on your weight loss, must feel great finally to have the scales move.

   Posted 4 months ago #
5. 

   Sir Grandma
   Member

   knotweed -- not shortage of that around here, how do you eat it?

   Posted 4 months ago #
6. 

   Diana Renata
   Member

   You can use it any way you use rhubarb, but it can also be eaten as a sauted green.

   Posted 4 months ago #
7. 

   DiabetesCanKissMyButt
   Member

   Holy smokes- those are some big ass mushrooms!

   Congrats on getting to the 120's- how low will you go?

   Posted 4 months ago #
8. 

   Sir Grandma
   Member

   The leaves can be used as a cooked green? This is the invasive Japanese knot weed that overtakes everything? I could feed everyone on this site with what I have growing just outside.

   Posted 4 months ago #
9. 

   Diana Renata
   Member

   For cooked greens you want to pick the new tops of the plant. The top few inches. :)

   DCK- Thanks! I don't know how low I'll go. It all depends on how my tummy looks. I'm trying to get it to flatten out and get rid of that little spare tire. I'm not really worried about the number, but seeing it go down helps affirm that I'm on the right track. :)

   Posted 4 months ago #
10. 

    Diana Renata
    Member

    Holy crap, I'm on a cooking spree!

    I made 3 fried eggs for breakfast, and broke off a big chunk of mushroom to use as "bread." It tasted really good dunked in the yolk.

    For lunch I actually ate a chicken. Ok, not quite a whole chicken. I ate the rest of that roaster from the other day. More than half. I took veggies with me to work too but didn't eat them. They just weren't sounding good.

    No dinner yet. I've been stuffed from the chicken. I did snack on a bit of rgf cheese and some organic trail mix from Wegman's. Cranberry harvest. Yummm.

    So when I get back from the grocery store, I started some homemade vanilla extract. Vanilla bean in vodka. Done. Then I started some wild mushroom and onion soup, which is warming in the crockpot. I started some avocado ice cream too. An avocado, some heavy cream, erythritol sweetener, vanilla extract, walnuts and chunks of 85% chocolate.

    I've got my almond flour waiting to be used on pork chops too, but I haven't gotten to them just yet. Waiting to stir the ice cream again.

    Have I mentioned, I love to cook? LOL! I'm not even hungry and I've got a week's worth of food going on. :P

    Posted 4 months ago #
11. 

    FlyNavyWife
    Member

    I'm with you on the cooking love. Sounds like everything is amazing.

    Also, when that vanilla extract is ready to use (should be about January-February at the earliest)... if you're a coffee fan, you might try what I've done a couple times. Coffee (I drink decaf) with lots of coconut milk and a splash of vanilla. Stevia or sugar if you want. It's pretty yum.

    Posted 4 months ago #
12. 

    Sir Grandma
    Member

    4th of july at DR's she's cooking!

    I saw somewhere that adult Knotweed aren't particularly edible --- too bad.

    Posted 4 months ago #
13. 

    Diana Renata
    Member

    Ohhh, that coffee sounds divine. I've never put coconut milk in it. I will have to give that a try before February. ;)

    Full grown knotweed, no, but the young shoots and the tips of adult plants are.

    Posted 4 months ago #
14. 

    FlyNavyWife
    Member

    It's good cold too. yum...

    Posted 4 months ago #
15. 

    Diana Renata
    Member

    Like a frappaccino! :D

    Posted 4 months ago #
16. 

    FlyNavyWife
    Member

    but less nasty!

    Posted 4 months ago #
17. 

    Diana Renata
    Member

    OMG, it seems like forever since I posted in here. I told you I'm really bad at this stuff- lol.

    I don't even remember this weekend. It was a lot of fireworks and being outside. I stayed on track the whole weekend up until Sunday night. We all ended up getting ice cream. I ordered a small that ended up HUGE. I ate half and felt totally yucky until lunchtime today. No more ice cream. Ugh.

    Survival week starting off well. Not buying groceries but my dad gave me a gigantic ham. It's actually a leftover ham from the WHOLE pig he smoked last summer. It had been packaged and put in the freezer. I'm kinda skeptical on how good it would be. It's thawing in the fridge now. I pulled off a chunk and the meat seems edible, so I may be eating that a good portion of the week. It looks like I have a carcass in my fridge. It has singed hair and all- lol!

    Posted 4 months ago #
18. 

    FlyNavyWife
    Member

    I'm impressed with the idea of that chunk of pig in your fridge.

    Posted 4 months ago #
19. 

    Diana Renata
    Member

    Ohh... I should post a picture tomorrow. :D

    Until then, it's time for Zzzzzz...

    Posted 4 months ago #
20. 

    maranne
    Member

    Diana....sorry I refered to you as PRIMAL RENATA in my post..sorry about that...
    Hugs
    M x

    Posted 4 months ago #
21. 

    Diana Renata
    Member

    Oh, no problem. It still fits. ;)

    OMG, I'm totally in love with carrot fries! I have some carrot slices left in the fridge and rather than eating them raw, or steamed like I usually do, I opted to fry them like sweet potato fries. OMG, SO GOOD! I'm glad I have more chips left so I can have more tomorrow night.

    That pig tastes so good! I'm going to be eating this thing for two weeks.
    

    Day two of Survival Week went good, though I could really go for dessert but I want to save what's left of my fruit for later in the week. Talk about survival!

    Posted 4 months ago #
22. 

    SassaFrass88
    Member

    Hi Allison! No wait, with all those eating of mushrooms I thought you were 'Allison in Wonderland'! ;-)

    Now I am sooooo intrigued with what 'wild edible' things I can find! I live at the base of a major mountain range and am surrounded by farms, so I bet foraging would be a great fun activity for my family, thanks!

    Just added you to my Facebook.

    Gooooooooo Survival Week! :-D

    Posted 4 months ago #
23. 

    Diana Renata
    Member

    Well met!

    You'd be surprised how much out there is edible. Just google "edible weeds" and you'll find a bunch of stuff. Books are better, especially with color photos so that you don't accidentally pick the wrong thing.

    The kids would love going after dandelion flowers I'm sure, and they taste fantastic fried (traditionally battered.) Yellow wood sorrel was another childhood favorite- very tart! It looks like clover with tiny yellow flowers, and banana-shaped seed pods. Just pick and eat. :)

    Glad I could be of some inspiration! :D

    Posted 4 months ago #
24. 

    FlyNavyWife
    Member

    Those carrot fries sound so amazing. What type of oil do you use? Coconut oil or something else? If I try them and it turns out ok do you mind if I post it in my blog?

    Posted 4 months ago #
25. 

    Diana Renata
    Member

    I used beef tallow and they turned out fantastic. I bet they would be amazing with coconut oil, but I still haven't bought any yet. It's on my list.

    Sure, you can post them. :)

    Posted 4 months ago #
26. 

    FlyNavyWife
    Member

    Awesome. Thanks! I have some carrots just dying for something to be done with them, and a jar of coconut oil... not sure if i want to deep-fry them because that would use up all my oil... I'll see what I come up with. Maybe something with the coconut oil + carrot + cumin?

    Posted 4 months ago #
27. 

    Diana Renata
    Member

    I didn't want to use all my tallow either, so I just used enough oil to be able to "slosh" it around a little bit, I kept rolling and turning the chips and it seemed to work great.

    Oh, I'm a huge cumin fan. I bet that would be tasty. I just added a bit of salt when did them. Or you could make them dessert-like with nutmeg or cinnamon.

    Posted 4 months ago #
28. 

    SassaFrass88
    Member

    Cumin is my new favorite spice!

    Posted 4 months ago #
29. 

    Diana Renata
    Member

    Mine too!

    OMG, I'm so stuffed. Dinner was FANTASTIC. I really miss eating really good meats, so tonight's ostrich was a great treat. I've only got about 6 packages of exotic meat left. I'm still totally in love with the carrot fries. Too bad it's Survival Week. I'd make some more for dessert- sprinkle with cinnamon/nutmeg and top with whipped cream. *drool* I'll have to keep that in mind for next week.

    My workout this morning was a little lackluster. I didn't sleep well and woke up groggy. Ugh.

    I'm still in the mood for something a little sweet. I think I'll have some decaf chai with stevia. :)

    Posted 4 months ago #
30. 

    Miriam
    Member

    Or maybe cardamom or fennel seeds with the carrots? All suggestions sound great.

    I am also going to try your carrot fries tomorrow night for dinner, also have some parsnips and beetroot in the fridge that need to be used so maybe I’ll fry the whole lot together.

    Posted 4 months ago #

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