I hate lawn mowers, I really do. In our garden we’ve replaced as much of the grass as possible with useful plants like clover, plantain, dandelion and moss. Of course everyone around us sets out on their dandelion beheading vendetta every Saturday afternoon though.

Health benefits of violets

My hatred for perfectly manicured grass aside, common lawn flowers like violets are not only edible, but medicinal for the body. The leaves and flowers can be prepared a variety of ways. European violets are used for coughs and bronchitis, while their relative the pansy was used as an expectorant, diuretic and to calm inflammation. Violets are one of the featured plants in one of my new favorite books and are used in skincare preparations to calm eczema, psoriasis and acne.

The leaves can be used in salad or to make tea and contain more vitamin C than oranges and more vitamin A than spinach. Even more impressive, violet was used for decades as a natural cancer treatment, primarily by the Native Americans. Current studies confirm violets benefits for an overactive immune system (source)

How to Use Violet Syrup

This violet syrup is delicious over ice cream, stirred into custard or on pancakes and sweet breads. Be careful not to overdue it though, as traditional herbalists used to use violet syrup as a children’s laxative! I’m assuming you would need to down a decent amount though before you had issues with violet’s laxative effects.

Choosing your sugar

Violet syrup is really a two step process. When the flowers are first infused into the water, it turns a deep blue, slightly green color. However, once it’s combined with the lemon juice a chemical reaction takes place and the color changes. If you’re using regular, refined white sugar then it turns a deep violet purple color. I used a slightly less refined evaporated cane crystal that turned my violet syrup a deep ruby red.

I never use white sugar and prefer to sweeten my ice cream, superfood vanilla lattes, and raspberry chocolate mousse with natural sweeteners like raw honey and maple syrup. For this recipe however I did use a mostly refined organic cane sugar. The heavier flavors of honey and coconut sugar drown out the delicate floral taste of the violets. To get the best flavor and purple color you really need the completely white conventional sugar, but I was willing to only compromise so far. Organic evaporated cane juice is as far as I’m willing to go.

What plants do you have growing in your yard? Let us know in the comments below!

The post How to Make Violet Syrup and Violet’s Health Benefits appeared first on The Herbal Spoon.

I’ve never been one to shy away from my vegetables, but getting my son and especially the husband on board is a little trickier. This sauce is the perfect blend of tangy and creamy and goes great with veggies of all kinds. You may find that the veggies start to disappear when they’re covered in this delicious, easy bechamel sauce.

A few months ago I’d never even heard of béchamel sauce, but now it goes on every piece of fish and as many veggies as I can manage. I had checked the Nourishing Traditions cookbook out from my local library and discovered a section dedicated solely to buttery delicious sauces. I made a few tweaks to the original recipe of course, since I have a knack for never following recipes precisely.

Superfood your veggies

Not only does this sauce taste amazing though, but it helps to increase the nutritional value of your vegetables. It’s made with lots of butter that help your body absorb significantly more of the vitamins and micronutrients found in vegetables. It doesn’t make sense to eat vegetables if you’re not getting that much nutrition out of them.

I found it very interesting that in the past, béchamel, hollandaise and other sauces full of healthy fats were almost always used when veggies were served. Someone lent me a cookbook from the 1930’s and I’ve loved discovering all of the old, traditional recipes. There are tons of sugary desserts, but there are also plenty of nutritionally dense sauces for all of the meats and veggies. Since I had to return Nourishing Traditions to the library, I dug out the cookbook from the 1930’s and used the béchamel sauce in it as a template for this one.

The secret sauce to an easy bechamel

The original recipes call for straining out and discarding the onions after they’ve cooked, but I thought that was a waste of good flavor. As long as you have a powerful blender, you’ll still get a super smooth sauce. I use my Vitamix at least once a day and it gives this easy béchamel sauce a very creamy consistency.

Don’t be afraid to make this with the wine. The majority of the alcohol will cook out during the simmering stage and yield a phenomenal sweet and rich flavor. Chicken or vegetable broth can be substituted though if you want to skip the wine.

The post An Easy Béchamel Sauce for Healthier Vegetables appeared first on The Herbal Spoon.

I love the health benefits and warming taste of a good homemade chicken broth recipe, but it can be too time consuming. I like to batch cook it to use in meals like my hearty sausage kale soup, but I also don’t have a lot of freezer space for storage. Thankfully I’ve found a solution that saves time, costs almost nothing to make, and doesn’t take up much room.

Chicken Broth Homemade

Homemade chicken broth tastes so much better, but it can have its setbacks. I have a frozen container of chicken broth sitting on my counter right now. I only need about half of it, but of course I have to defrost the whole thing. The question is, what to do with the extra??

Then there’s the issue of whether to use glass or plastic to freeze chicken broth. Glass can break and needs to be defrosted for hours before the broth slips out. Plastic has chemicals I’d rather avoid, but at least I can run the container under warm water.

Concentrated Chicken Broth Cubes

I’ve had this problem so many times, but I’ve finally found a solution! I’ve been freezing concentrated chicken broth in ice cube trays. Once frozen they easily pop out for storage in a freezer safe, plastic bag. You could even use a glass container to store them if you wanted.

When I need broth I can just drop a cube or two into hot water, soup or whatever. Because this is concentrated, I don’t need 2-4 frozen quarts of broth. There an easy and fast way to make a comforting bowl of cold and flu busting chicken soup when sickness hits.

Chicken Broth Ingredients

I save my vegetable peels when I cook in a container in the freezer, then when it’s time to make broth, I just dump them all in. This gives it flavor without wasting anything. This typically includes carrots, celery, garlic, onion, and even radish and beet tops. If you aren’t using scraps, don’t worry about peeling the veggies.

Almost every week I purchase a whole chicken since it’s cheaper, and I’ll use it in several recipes. I get the most bang for my buck this way. When we’ve picked the chicken clean, I use what’s left (gristle, fat, bones) to make a nutritious broth.

Easy Chicken Broth Recipe

How to Make Chicken Broth in the Instant Pot

This method only takes 1 hour and is perfect for busy days!

1. Add all of the ingredients, except veggie scraps, to the instant pot.
2. Add enough veggies or veggie scraps until the instant pot is halfway full. Pour water over the ingredients to 1 inch below the maximum fill line.
3. Secure the lid and set the timer to 60 minutes on high pressure.
4. Strain the broth so there are no solid pieces. I use a large colander over a bowl, then strain a second time with a fine mesh sieve.

How to Make Concentrated Chicken Broth Cubes

You will need:

• Large pot
• Ice cube tray (silicone trays work best) – what I use
• Measuring cup (preferably glass) – what I use
• Freezer safe container or plastic bag

1. Place the broth in a pot on the stove and boil uncovered until it has reduced to 2 cups.
2. Let the broth cool, then pour into ice cube trays and freeze.
3. Pop the broth cubes out once solid and store in a container in the freezer, I prefer to use a plastic bag.
4. Each ice cube is equivalent to about 1 cup or 8 ounces of chicken broth.

Tip: I needed to use a butter knife to get the cubes out of my plastic ice tray.

What are the Health Benefits of Chicken Broth?

Sure it tastes yummy, and it’s soothing when sickness hit, but there’s so much more to humble chicken broth. When cooked down the bones yield beneficial collagen and gelatin. This helps to strengthen hair, skin and nails and also improves digestion. Gelatin is also good for joint health and repair. The chicken gives the broth essential amino acids and the vegetables add vitamins and cancer fighting anti-oxidants.

Can You Use Water Instead of Chicken Broth in Recipes?

A lot of recipes, especially soups, call for chicken broth. While you don’t have to add it in most cases, it really ups the flavor and nutritional value. Since I always have broth cubes in my freezer now, it’s so easy to just throw a few into a recipe.

Is Chicken Broth and Chicken Stock the Same?

You say potato I say potato, or err broth. The terms chicken broth and chicken stock are often used interchangeably, but there is a slight difference. Chicken broth is usually made with meat and vegetables, while chicken stock is made from the bones. This recipe mostly uses the bones, but the cartilage and meat scraps are thrown in with it too for even more nutrition.

How do you use chicken broth in recipes? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to share this post!

The post How to Make the Easiest Chicken Broth Cubes appeared first on The Herbal Spoon.