green food

Okay, nettle lovers. You know who you are and I know you've been wanting those pancakes. So easy, so green, so rich in vitamins and minerals...nettle pancakes. Use your favorite pancake recipe: Mine lately is 1 cup mixed barley and spelt flour, 1 t baking powder, a pinch of sugar and salt mixed together. 1 egg beaten with 1 cup buttermilk and 1 T melted butter. Mix wet and dry gently. Have your nettles already prepared by steaming them and chopping the leaves finely. Mix the nettles into the batter. I like to pack as much green as I possibly can using batter to hold them together.

You can serve them savory with goat cheese sauce (fresh goat cheese melted with a little milk) or sweet with yogurt, syrup, butter, applesauce. At my house, pancakes are never round. They are bears or ducks or today, goats with beard and horn. Good thing my kids don't know I can't draw when they ask me to make these things. My goat actually looked pretty good, beard and all.

And yes, you gotta go pick them! It's almost too late here in northern California, but there are some that aren't too flowery yet. You can wear gloves if you want or you can get into a meditative state like my friend Greenlight and approach each plant with an awareness of the direction of the spikes and pick with great awareness. A wonderful exercise if you have the time!