Dandelions are in full bloom now, due to our recent warm weather. When my sister reported to me that my 3-year-old great nephew picked dandelion bouquets on Easter for his mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, it reminded me of the hundreds of dandelion bouquets I had gathered as a child and the fun making dandelion crowns, chains and holding them under our chins to determine if we liked butter! Below is my grandmother’s recipe for dandelion salad. Visit this website for the nutritional value of dandelion greens and for fun things to do with this plentiful plant: http://www.activekidsclub.com/art-crafts/dandelion-secrets.html
Dandelion Salad
• 4 c. chopped dandelion leaves
• 3 hard-cooked eggs
• 3 slices bacon
1. Wash and chop dandelion leaves.
2. Fry bacon, crip then crumble.
3. Remove bacon from drippings.
Dressing:
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/4 c. vinegar
• 2 c. milk or water
1. Mix together flour and salt; add egg, vinegar and water.
2. Stir until blended.
3. Add to bacon drippings in pan and cook until thickened.
4. Cool slightly.
5. Pour dressing over dandelion leaves and mix lightly.
6. Garnish with sliced or chopped hard-boiled eggs and crisp bacon pieces.
7. Serve immediately.
Makes 6 servings.
A wonderful old decorative cover by cover artist, Bertha Stuart
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That dandelion salad looks and sounds delicious. Of course anything with bacon is good. Yum. Delightful post to honor this noble weed. Rosemary
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful post! The book looks so intriguing! I remember a book by the same title written by an author (or sisters?) from Marquette, Michigan; could it be the same, do you know? Thanks for coming to visit so I come and find you and sign on to follow your blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks for following my blog. Your post takes me back to my childhood. I too used to pick handfulls of dandelions. I would proudly take then in for my mother only to be told that they would make me wet the bed!! I presume this old wives tale comes from the fact that dandelions are a mild diuretic.
ReplyDeleteSusie
Yes, Coralie! Carroll Watson Rankin is the pen name of American author Caroline Clement Watson Rankin, who was born in 1864 in Marquette, Michigan, and raised her four children there. Her first writing assignment came at the age of 16, when she was hired as a reporter for the Daily Mining Journal. She kept the job until her marriage to Ernest Rankin in 1886. Her free lance stories were published by Century, Harper's Monthly, Youth's Companion, St. Nicholas, Leslie's, Lippincott's, Metropolitan and other widely circulated periodicals. Her best known novel is Dandelion Cottage, published in 1904 by Henry Holt and Company. She first wrote the story serially for her own children. Considered a regional classic in the midwest, it tells of four young girls who negotiate the use of a derelict cottage as a playhouse by pulling dandelions for the owner, prosperous Mr. Black. The real life model for Mr. Black is generally acknowledged to be Marquette businessman and philanthropist, Peter White. The original Dandelion Cottage is located at 440 East Arch and is privately owned. The Marquette County History Museum still publishes Dandelion Cottage. Other of her novels for youth include The Girls of Gardenville (1906), The Anti Foster Pet Association (1907), The Adopting of Rosa Marie (1908), Castaways of Pete's Patch (1911), The Cinder Pond (1915), Girls of Highland Hall (1921), Gipsy Nan (1926), Finders Keepers (1930), Wolf Rock (1933) and Stump Village (1935).
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