WHB #188 - homemade vegetal stock cube

ciao and welcome to this week's herbal blogging
we are hosted by Graziana in Erbe in Cucina (Cooking with Herbs)
thank's Graziana for hosting.

this herbal idea is kalyn's,
and now kept by haalo.
thank's both of you :)if you would like to join, please read the rules
to know the order of hosting please read here

this was the view from my window this morning...at 5.15am :)

today I got up very early beacause we had a lot of driving to do,

to get in the mountains, where todays trekking was made.

we were in Lombardia, Val Camonica....beautiful places!!

home places of Monica, she is the one kneeling beside me. she's from Sanico.

Here we are in front of one of the small lakes "Laghi di Scala."

Simo, Luca and Elena in the back

me and Monica in front. we had a lovely time, even though a 2400mt it was so cold I almost

froze my fingers off! When the wind starts to blow and the clouds gathers in the sky, it is cold I tell you!

but we don't just walk...we eat a lot too :)))

and this is some of the things you find trekking in the mountains

pane and salame!!


please, note what knives some people brings along! :))

Homemade vegetale stock cube

this is an old recipe, but very valid. I use the vegetable stock for everything..even when cooking meat.

this stock cube is simply and healthy, you use the vegetables you like.

due to the salt the conservation time is over 6months, if you but it in the freezer it will conservate..

for ever. it doesn't get hard in the freezer, beacuse of the salt in it.

it can be some harder if you use tomates, they tend to harden the stock cube.

this is approximate weights, usually I don't weight the vegetables, just the salt.

me having problem when eating salt, put very little.

you can put as much as 300gr/2kg of vegetables

423gr of onion

430gr of pumpkin (gives the lovely colour, but can be done without)

417gr of zucchini

255gr of sellery

283gr of carrots

36gr of fresh herbs(salvia, marjoran, parsly, thyme p. ex)

150gr of coarse salt

some extravergin olive oil

clean the vegetables, and the herbs. chop all and put it in your pressure cooker.

add the salt and some olive oil.

close the lid and put to cook. when it whisles, lower the heat and let cook for 40 min

(for ca 2kg of vegetables)

don't add any water, the vegetables allready contains what is needed.

when cooked, open and you will find a messy soup...that is right!

with your immersion mixer now, mix until it is all smooth.

pour in clean jars and close lid well. you can put the jars upside down and store

like you do with jams and marmellates.

this is also a very appreciated gift...your homemade vegetable stock cube :)

brigidaa_te:

of course, if you prefer you can make it only with sellery, onion and carrots. :)have a nice week

WHB #187 - bulghur and quinoa salad

ciao and welcome to this week's herbal blogging
we are in the kitchen of katie - Eat this
thank's katie for hosting.


this herbal idea is kalyn's,
and now kept by haalo.
thank's both of you :)if you would like to join, please read the rules
to know the order of hosting please read here


I feel a little guilty, I started this blog...
immagining me filling it with my ideas, thoughts and recipes...



but, my guiding job is taking all my time and my energy,
so I reduce myself posting just one recipe a week..
for the herbal blogging I loke so much :)
and there is sooooo many other interessting round-ups in the bloggosphere ...


yesterday evening I was invited to a Mediaval dinner...it was very fun!
we eat from plates made of bread, using cutlery in wood..
we were intertinted by knights, jugglers, lady dancing to medival music...and of course
there were the "fire breathers"...they didn't "eat" the fire,
they blow on it and made huge flames
all around in the old streets of this antic village - Affi ( Affius in latin)
were people dressed medieval and doing crafts in medieval way.
it was very interessting, especially the guy that coloured cotton...
he showed me from what he got some of his colours,....
f.ex...did you know that from dried barch of the pomegranate, you will get a beautiful orange colour?
that from dried junipers berries..you get brown colour...not blue or black as I though...
and this...this is fantastic!
from dried cochineal ...you get a incredible redishpurple colour.???
read also here...I found out last evening :)))




this recipe is very easy...and that is good sometimes :)






blughur and quinoa salad

serves 3 (mother and 2 teenager doughters :)))


125gr of bulghur and quinoa
1 piece of leek
1 onion
1 zucchina (zucchini)
1 yellow pepper
4-5 sundried tomatoes
vegetal stock cube (will try to post my home made stock cube a.s.a.p.)
some sellery leaves
extravergin olive oil
red wine
grated peel of a grapefruit (optional)

cook the bulghur and the quinoa as requested.
mine were precooked and took about 8-9min to finish.
sip and let cool.

clean and cut all the vegetables in small pieces.
put in a pan with some olive oil, add the vegetable cube and pour over thered wine
mixing all the time on high heat let finish cooking, the vegetables schould remain
"cruncy".
mix with the bulghur and quinoa, spread over the grated peel and serve.

for not vegetarians add:
150gr of veal or beef carpaccio
cut in slices and let fry for a couple of minutes in some olive oil
mix into the salad and serve.

brigidaa_te:
mu doughters said that the grapefruit peel gave a to bitter touch...
me? I liked it!!! :)))

WHB# 186 - elder flower and lemon jam with gin

ciaooo and welcome to this week's herbal blogging
this week we are hosted by Haalo
thank's Haalo for hosting!



this herbal idea is kalyn's,
and now kept by haalo.
thank's both of you :)
if you would like to join, please read the rules
to know the order of hosting please read here

I would like to show you some of this beautiful place were I live.
I'm very fortunate beacuse, I also found a job made just for me :))
guiding!
usally I take around germans, they are a very trekking people.
some of them asks me if I don't get bored doing the same trekking paths
every week.
how can I???
the weather is never the same, the colour of the lake neather...
look..
this is from today...
here we are almost at the end of the Garda Lake....near Torbole
to reach Torbole, from Tempesta...you have do to 3 stairs...
alltogether...411steps! :)))
everybody just love's it! :)))


here you can see, some of the south part of the lake..


this is Torbole, with MOnte Brione in the middle




and this is Riva


today the weather was perfect, a little cloudy, some sunshine..
even a little rain.
I leave my guests in Torbole, and they come back on their
own...with bus or boat.
usually they also participate on the other two trekkings I do, if they are still
here...if not...the allways promise to come back.
I of course, stay here...and wait for them! :))))



this jam is very easy to make.
please, remember to use flowers that have grown far away from roads.
don't trust country roads, maybe they are not used frequently but it doesn't
matter, plants growing along all roads, absorb everything.
actually, in Italy they use hazelnuts trees to absorb electricity from high voltage
structures.
they plant hazelnuts trees under and around these construction, if there is
people living nearby.
in the Padova sorroundings they plant black mustard, when fields has been
infected or poisoned.
the black mustard abosrbs and then they collect and burn the plants,




ELDER FLOWER AND LEMON JAM WITH GIN

8elder flowers
5 lemons
500gr of caster sugar
50-100ml of gin (dipends how strong you like it :)


in a big glass jar make layers of flowers, lemon slices and sugar.
close the lid and let stay outside in the sun for a couple of days, until
the sugar melts (it depends how sunny your place are)



then just put everything in a pot and cook softly.
at this point you can, chop the flowers and lemon and then put back in the
jam or take it out and just leave the sirup.
after cooking an hour or so, take the pot of the fire and add the gin.
try, taste, adjust and add if necessary.
pour in jars, close lid and let cool upside down.
conserve in a cool, dark and dry place.

brigidaa_te:
in the photo you can see the elderberries...still green
don't eat them, they make you feel sick.
only the mature black one's are edible.
with them...you can make...elderberry wine or elderberry jelly
but that is an other story :))))


see you next week :)