Elderberry Syrup

It is that time of year again when it is time to have a jar of homemade elderberry syrup in the fridge to help keep those winter sickies away.

I use Rosemary Gladstar's Elderberry Syrup recipe.  Super simple.

• 1 cup fresh or 1/2 cup dried elderberries
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup honey

1. Heat the berries and water to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 30-45 minuets.

2. Mash the berries, strain, and add 1 cup of honey. I add a half cup of the purple liquid to a measuring cup, then pour in honey until the total volume is 1 1/2 cups. Then stir to mix well, and add to the rest of the reserved liquid.

3. Bottle and store, refrigerated. for 2-3 months.

4. Enjoy a tablespoon daily to keep the immune system strong, use more often when afflicted with the flu.

 Assembled utensils.

 Simmering elderberries.

Mashing the elderberries through a fine sieve. 

I squeeze the berries through a jam bag to get all the juice out.

Really, really squeeze it out.

 Half cup of purple liquid.

 Honey added to 1 1/2 cups.

Stir it until it is a syrup.

 With the rest of the liquid added.

 Storage jar. 

This won't last us 2 months because not only do we take a tablespoon a day, but we also will have it on our waffles and pancakes. Its really good. 

What Happens to Jack O Lanterns at Our House

Roasted Pumpkin with rosemary, apple and white onion.

Pumpkins Soup with pancetta.

 And last but not least Pumpkin Muffins

Yum! Yes all Gluten and Dairy Free!

Wisley Gardens/ Rousseau Art

The Boy Child and I went to RHS Wisley Gardens this week for a homeschool outing.  

We joined the Gardens tour for the first hour and took some lovely pictures and learned some history of the gardens.  

This picture (above) is, we were told, the most photographed of the gardens.

It is a picture the the Laboratory building, and the canal.

The first glass house that the gardens had is now the canal.

We are standing in the potters shed at the end of the canal taking the picture.

Three pictures of the beautiful Autumn colors.

This Chinese style Pavilion was the winning feature at a garden show and was moved into the gardens in one whole piece.  The three tall trees behind the pavilion are Metasequoia.  These trees were thought to be extinct until a small stand of them was discovered in China in 1944.  These three trees are grown from seeds of that stand, after WWII.  In the foreground of the second and third pictures is Gunner, a wild rhubarb.  The leaves have been pruned and placed around the base of the plants to protect them from the winter frosts and snow.  (If you look back at the RHS Wisley Gardens post the fifth picture down with the Boy Child behind a huge leaf is live Gunner).

This tree is a Liquid Amber Maple and was the Boy Child's favorite plant for this visit.

At the Chinese Pavilion, just turn around and there it is in it's stunning fall glory.

Here is a stunning area of Bamboo in different varieties. It was planted after a horrendous storm in the 1980's blew many of the trees in this area down.  The quick growing bamboo was planted to create a canopy to shade the plant growing lower that depended on the shaded environment the trees had provided.

A panorama view from the top of the hillside rock gardens.

Cat snoozing in the Alpine Garden display.

Alpine Crevice Garden.  This display made me a bit homesick.

 

From here we found a place out of the nippy breeze to eat lunch.

We then sat through a short lecture on Henri Rousseau.  The children looked at some of his paintings.  The focus was one a piece titled Surpris!  They discussed it, taliking about layering and clues to what the picture was about, and how each individual may have his/her own opinion.

We then walked over to the Glass House where we walked about the Tropical areas and sketched leaves and plants and flowers for a collage we would come back and make.

A few pictures inside the Tropical Glass House.

There was a display of welded metal creatures throughout the exhibit.

And here is the final result of our wanderings and sketches.

Beautiful for the scant 20 minutes he had to create this master piece.  He had so many more ideas to incorporate.

Good little Biscuits

Conversation today with Girl Child
"Mama, I want to experiment in the kitchen with flour, milk and egg, Okay?"
"Ummm...  I think now is not a good time." 
"It's okay, I have everything ready I just need a bowl and a glass to measure the milk."

At this point I realize that I am not going to get the 25 minutes of browsing Pintrest that I was hoping for.

*Sigh* 
I walk into the kitchen and indeed she as everything she needs, except the bowl and glass measure cup that are above the stove out of her reach.  She is at the sink scrubbing our cast-iron skillet, that she has brought over from the stove.
"I'm not using soap on your good black pan Mama."  Indeed she isn't.
I inquire how she hopes to cook her experiment. 
"Let's fry them, do we have oil?"  Yes, yes we have some.
She measures the gluten free mix into the bowl, put's it aside, poured out some coconut milk, cracked an egg into it, asked me to pour a little oil into her milk mix "Oh! and vanilla too! Please"
She mixes the liquid into the flour mix, it is very thick.  "Can we add some more milk?" 
I help pour some more in, "Perfect!  Can we add some sugar too?"
Down comes the sugar canister and about 2 big table spoons go in and Mix Mix Mix.

While she was mixing, I poured about an inch of oil into the pan to heat.  I also took out baking soda and a lid and set them near by in case of distraction.

When the oil is hot Hot HOT! I drop big dollops of batter into the oil, sputtering.  This is the only part of the experiment I wouldn't let her do.

As I am turning these doughy globs in the hot oil, Girl Child is getting cinnamon and sugar out and pouring it into a bowl. She says she wants to roll them in this when they are done in the oil....

So the finished product... something that tastes so close to an apple fritter I am in heaven... Lovely Lovely.

Trying for some comfort food...

I was craving tuna casserole and German chocolate frosting.

Being Gluten Free (gf) and Dairy Free (cf) makes both of 

these items a bit difficult to make.  I have had my eye on a 

couple of recipes for a while that would help me make them. 

Here are photos of the finished products.

Delicious on both accounts... 

We did add peas to the casserole, but they aren't preferred by all so I left them out of the bake.