Taraxacum aristum (iii) (Photo credit: Nuytsia@Tas)
I was taught from childhood that dandelions were weeds – but those fuzzy seeds were sure fun to blow on and watch them float all over the neighborhood!
Then, I was told that they are edible. Great. But I didn’t want to eat any.
Much later, my husband and I bought our own home and we began the traditional home owner’s war against dandelions every summer as they took root in our lawn and flowerbeds.
Somewhere along life’s journey I gained weight, went on a diet, lost the weight, and then got on a healthy eating kick. I read that dandelions are not only edible, they are super nutritious. This made me sit up and take notice of these little and sometimes not so little weeds. I began to think of them as plants, useful plants at that. I decided to purposely grow them in my garden this year. I didn’t need to buy seeds, though there are seed companies out there that sell them.
Not much else has come up in the garden as of yet but the dandelions have. I went out and picked a handful of fresh leaves yesterday morning. I made a smoothie with them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smoothie recipe using dandelions in it. So, here is my recipe. Sorry, I don’t use exact measures.
1 handful of dandelion leaves, washed
20-25 spirulina tablets, ground in a coffee grinder
1-2 cups of fresh or frozen berries
1/3 c. maple syrup
1 t. vanilla extract
a dash of almond milk (just because I had about 2 oz. left that needed to be used up)
enough purified water to fill the blender container
I pulsed everything until it was pureed. Blended on medium for a few seconds. Poured it in glasses and served it to my family. My son said it tasted like a popsicle and he was right about that. Yum!
