A rose is a rose, but what about dandelions?!

I love life and I love the balance and beauty of nature. Zooming in to see the intricate details of subtle beauty, as well as the panoramic vistas of the natural world. My introductory "Make-It project" will be a simple dandelion, in its moment of peak bloom. An oft over-looked simple beauty, dandelions were the first flowers I gathered for my mother and the first flowers my children gathered for me, so it has it's own special sentimentality for me.
Often mistaken as a weed, this flower also formed a source of food among the Italian family members I grew up around, as we cooked the new tender greens as a vegetable, or in a salad. We connect through its staple as a spring food among the peasant ancestry from which my famly descended. We connect to our roots through this simple and amazing flower.

To pick dandelions for consumption, we always chose new greens from "undistrubed" areas of the yard or fields. Before the greens get flowers, they are tender and although slightly bitter, become much tougher and more bitter once they have a flower stalk, so we don't use them like that. Steam them (as greens, until tender) and brown some garlic in oil and toss the cooked greens with the oil and add some salt. (the salt takes away the bitterness, but don't overdo it). In a salad, it tasts less bitter than endive. Sharing food ideas helps people to connect the world round, even when the food is discovered right under your own noses!

P.S. I don't know if any of you have ever played these games, but we had games for our dandelions, too. First, there is the "Santa Claus" flower that it becomes, and making a wish before you blow it goes into the wind and it is your hopes that the wishes will come back fulfilled. Second there was the game of putting the dandelion flower under someone's chin and if you see yellow strongly reflected, it was proof that you like butter! Third, if you hold the stem, and snap the flower off with your thumb, the saying that went with it was "Mommy had a baby and her had popped off." It may seem macabre, but no moreso than Ring Around the Rosie (originally: Ring Around the Rosary, a child's game to understand the number of deaths related to the Black Plague).

About the Author: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cultivatingmygarden/

Simple Spaghetti Basil Sauce With Meatballs or Seafood

A simple basil sauce, adding meatballs before serving.

One of the biggest questions about how to come up with this recipe is determining the amount to make, considering that whenever possible, we make enough to have left-overs the next day for lunch! Or to serve as a side dish with something else the next night for dinner. This feeds 4 people well, with enough left over to work into another meal.

Simple Basil Sauce (can be used like this or by adding meat/seafood)

5-8 cloves of garlic peeled
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or a little less if olive oil)
3 cans tomato sauce (29 oz cans)
2 TBLSP basil (dried or fresh)
2 tspn oregano (dried or fresh)
1/4 tspn black pepper
1/4 tspn garlic salt (or garlic powder)
pinch of salt (to taste)
OPTIONAL: May also add a couple of bay leaves, a pinch of rosemary, a pinch of thyme

1. Brown peeled garlic cloves in oil, until a golden brown on all sides. Mash with fork once after browning to expose more surface of garlic to oil, and continue to brown again. DO NOT BURN!
2. Add tomato sauce all at once and stir well. Add basil, oregano, black pepper, garlic salt and salt.
3. Bring to medium boil, stir well and lower heat to low-medium to simmer. Keep covered except while stirring, occasionally (every 10-15 minutes).
4. Cook about an hour, until oil rises to the top of the sauce and IS DARK. If it is still golden, the tomato sauce is NOT cooked yet. When it is cooked enough, it does not taste acidic.
NOTE: It is important that you do not scorch the sauce because it will ruin the taste throughout the pot. It is also important for you to completely stir the sauce, making sure it does not stick on the bottom of the pot.
5. Add the meatballs (see recipe below) and continue to cook 10-20 minutes to allow the meatballs to absorb the sauce flavor. Serve over spaghetti
NOTE: About 1-1 1/2 lbs of spaghetti to go with this amount of sauce. Set 1/3 of the sauce aside to add to the top while serving (especially for left-overs the next day because the spaghetti will absorb its sauce over time). Mix the rest of the sauce in with the spaghetti.
NOTE: SAUCE AMOUNTS vary with the tastes of the individuals and the extra sauce is there to accomodate these differences.
NOTE: If you drain the pasta and run a little cold water on them, they will absorb less of the sauce and your dish will have extra sauce. Hot pasta with sauce immediately added to it after draining will absorb all the sauce you give it.

Meatballs

2 lbs ground beef (I prefer ground chuck but humburger or ground sirloin can be substituted)
1 med-lg egg
1/2 cup Progresso Breadcrumbs (Italian style)
2 tspns garlic salt (or garlic powder)
2 tspns of black pepper
OPTIONAL: Add minced fresh mushrooms and/or minced green onion to meat mixture-to taste ~1/4 cup total added to meat to keep meatballs intact.
OPTIONAL: a small amount of milk (~2 TBSP) may be used in place of the egg.

1. Mix egg and breadcrumbs with ground meat. Make sure it is thoroughly blended, but do not handle the meat any longer than you need to mix it.
2. Pull meat into your hand, bringing your fingers down to your palm and removing the meat that squeezes out. Use this as your measuring method as you "match" about the same amount of meat in your hand for each meatball. They do not HAVE to be exact, but they cook much better if they are roughly the same size. 
3. Place meatballs on a cookie sheet or other oven pan, close together but NOT touching. Cover with foil and place in pre-heated oven set to 350°F for about 40 minutes. (a little longer for bigger meatballs, a little shorter for smaller meatballs). Cut one meatball to make sure that it is cooked through before adding to sauce, ready to serve.
4. Drain and add to sauce. Let the meatballs cook about 10-20 minutes longer to absorb the sauce flavor.

ALTERNATIVES: Basil Sauce Base --used to make Seafood Sauce

CLAMS:
You may make the basil sauce as described above, but instead of adding meatballs, you may INSTEAD add 2 cans baby clams (10 oz each). You would open and drain the juice of the clams into the sauce while it is cooking right after adding it to the garlic oil. DO NOT ADD the clams until the sauce is DONE cooking. The clams do not have to be in the sauce more than 5 minutes to be cooked. Overcooking the clams makes them rubbery! Seafood flavored sauce is BEST over Angelhair spaghetti because the sauce is thinner and holds on better to the thinner spaghetti.
OPTIONS: We have used fresh clams by dropping them into boiling water. Once open, pull the clams out of the shell and scoop together and add to sauce once the basil sauce is cooked. 5 minutes is all you need to completely cook the clams. Overcooking makes them rubbery.

ANCHOVIES:
Even if you do not like the taste of anchovies on your pizza, the taste of anchovies added to your sauce is mild and very tasty. For anchovies, we typically use one can of anchovies to one can of sauce. The anchovies are added to the already cooked basil sauce and cooks for another 15 minutes. During that time, the anchovies completely dissolve into the sauce and this mild sauce is ready to eat. One pound of spaghetti will go with one can of sauce/one can of anchovies. Inexpensive and easy to make.