dandelion bread

oh, the lawn these days. i've only mown it once yet, but now that the days are warming up considerably it's full steam ahead. i was evaluating it yesterday, knowing i'd have to haul out that abominable mower shortly. but there was something i wanted to do before all those pretty yellow blooms got chopped up with the grass. yes, i'm talking about those fluffy yellow 'weeds', that so many folks spend hours eradicating from their perfectly manicured lawns (neighbours, i'm looking at you). at our house we are a much more relaxed bunch, and the dandelions flourish mostly freely between mowings. but really i should get to the point of this post - did you know dandelions can do more than wave their sunny faces at you?

you can eat their young, tender greens in salad. you can make wine, cordial and other convections with their flowers. but did you also know you can make dandelion bread? i have been following this recipe from fat of the land for several years, trying to make the bread at least once each spring. the result is a wonderfully sweet (but not overly so) quick bread that i have a hard time not gobbling down in one sitting, slathered in butter.

i mixed up the recipe a bit this go around - using half whole wheat flour, plus some generous sprinkles of both hemp seeds and a ground flax/chia mix i throw in everything around here. i also used coconut oil instead of canola, and unsweetened almond milk as that is what i had on hand. it seemed to work out well, although did not rise as much as the original. taste was definitely not compromised though!

so if you've got some fluffy, sunny 'lions brightening up your space, i encourage you to pick some of the petals before breaking out the weed whacker. a bread full of sunshine is just the thing to enjoy on these longer spring evenings.