The Potpourri: Quesadillas, Grass-Fed Beef, Farm Fresh Eggs

So some more catching up to do, I suppose. I'll start with a pretty straightforward meal we made a few nights ago: a Jack Cheese and Peach Quesadilla. I followed this, for the most part, verbatim (excluding only the cilantro because it's just not my favorite). I also used chicken tenderloins grilled with a salt, pepper, and chili powder seasoning as opposed to the rotisserie chicken suggested in the recipe. I grilled the chicken first, then kept the bit of chicken drippings warm so that it could be used to grill the tortillas and give them a bit of seasoning.

Sides included roasted potatoes (just quartered white new potatoes patted dry and tossed with roughly quartered onions; seasoned with salt, pepper, a touch of cayenne pepper, and chili powder; roasted in the oven at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes, tossing halfway through roasting time) and fresh tomato salad (tomatoes purchased from the produce stand, including Cherokee purple, a pink tomato, and a striped tomato, tossed with some olive oil, white wine vinegar, cumin, salt, and pepper).

See that green stuff? Yeah, picante habanero sauce, baby. Tabasco doesn't cut it for me anymore. Pretty sure the hubby blacked out for a few minutes after consuming one potato doused in the sauce.

Now, onto the more complicated recipes. I've become extremely involved in reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma," a book that has dramatically changed the way I think about food. I don't want to give a book report here, but it's an eye-opening, educational book. It is not a diet book but, instead, a book urging its readers to step away from the Western diet. In essence (at least to me), it is a non-diet book, a guide to quit a diet, in fact, that is obscenely affecting our lives. The Western diet, in a nutshell, is the quintessential American diet, one underlined by fast food and convenience instead of Slow Food (a movement quintessential to Italians who, despite their consumption of wine and what we consider fattier foods, are healthier because of the very way they eat and view food, or their relationship to food). The horrors of what we choose to ingest are positively overwhelming and, as a result, I have not touched any fast food nor any sodas in the weeks I have been reading Michael Pollan's diatribe. (In fact, I've lost more than 6 pounds by taking to heart Pollan's lessons, combined with running.) Overall, I am trying to make a conscious effort to become more, well, conscious of what it is I am eating. I can point to countless paragraphs in "The Omnivore's Dilemma" that just make sense (all of it, actually), but I will spare you: all I can say is, if you want to change your eating habits, go buy or check this book out from the library. For my part, our household grocery shopping habits are changing, and I am starting to lean more on a local produce stand, the farmer's market, and local meats. I want to know what it is I am eating, where it came from, its origins, something that is at the very heart of Pollan's book. You just can't do that at the grocery store. So, starting with baby steps, our meals have evolved (thought not completely as you will see) to have an origin that is local, not one whose only story is a barcode and a distribution origin of god knows where.

To start, I made a homemade lasagna Monday evening. This comprised a spaghetti sauce I made from scratch using tomatoes that were grown by the hubby's great-uncle. The sauce was simple: I just poached about 13-14 whole tomatoes in boiling water for about a minute to loosen the skins, peeled off the skins, squeezed out most of the seeds, and gave them a rough chop. I sauteed some peppers and onions (both of which came from the local produce stand just down from my house) in olive oil (sadly, I have not learned to make olive oil yet), added the tomatoes, seasoned, and tossed in some tomato paste (something, again, that came with a barcode from the grocery store; but I will learn how to make it from scratch one day).

Next up: the all-important meat. This is where I came to respect Pollan's book because he does not make a case for vegetarianism (something I tried for three years and failed at rather miserably). Instead, he makes a case for becoming a better, healthier meat eater: by learning where you get your meat and ensuring that meat came from, well, happy cows, chickens, pigs, etc. Happy cows are not the product of industrialization, a process that feeds corn and grain and, yes, animal byproduct to fatten a cow more quickly than nature ever intended. That, my friends, is a food chain that is full of petrochemicals, of pesticides, of toxins that us humans consume as well. No, happy cows are grass-fed cows because that is what nature intended. (Or, as Alton Brown pointed out in a recent episode of "Good Eats," you never see cows grazing in a cornfield, do you? That's because it's NOT NATURAL!)

So off my soapbox....where was I? The meat. We made a trip about a week ago to a local cafe called Mikie's 7th that serves sandwiches using the grass-fed beef raised on a local farm called Shadowchase Farms. We picked up a few pounds of their pre-packaged, frozen beef after a delicious burger (seriously, grass-fed just tastes better, and is actually leaner in fat; more expensive, yes, but look at it this way: if you spend more, you're more likely to ration out the meat, thus eating less meat in the long run). So, the next part in the lasagna was the use of that beef, which I just seasoned with a bit (and I mean just a dash) of salt and pepper and browned over medium heat. I then added the homemade spaghetti sauce and used some extra tomato paste to thicken up the sauce as needed.

I boiled some lasagna noodles (again, something that came with a barcode, but I'm determined to cut out that middleman and learn to make my own pasta the next go-round), and started layering the meat sauce, noodles, and mozzarella cheese (okay, I don't know how good I would be at making mozzarella, but I tried to use the least-processed cheese I could find at the grocery store). I baked it all off at about 325 degrees until the cheese was a golden brown.

Lasagna, starring grass-fed beef.

Okay, I may turn this into a novel by the end of this, but next up was the classic "Breakfast for Dinner." Last night, after reading a particular passage in "The Omnivore's Dilemma" about the production of eggs that end up on the grocery store shelf, I promptly trashed half a dozen eggs that were purchased from Kroger because I could not possibly put in my mouth something obtained from so hideous a means (and yes, you could argue that those poor chickens lived their squalid lives in vain to give me eggs that I just threw away, and trust me, I had that internal dilemma, but I couldn't bring myself to eat them). I vowed to go get some fresh eggs that had a transparent story (that is, the lady at the produce stand could tell me from where the eggs came [the farm]). I started at the farmer's market, but they were fresh out of eggs. Instead, I came home from the farmer's market with some local cherry tomatoes, garlic bulbs, fresh farm butter, and cheese curds (yeah, I have no idea what to do with those, but they're quite tasty). I relied on the produce stand for my fruit for dinner and the fresh brown eggs.

So, the menu: French toast (using 7-grain sourdough bread purchased at a local bakery; and yes, that is another ingredient I am determined to learn to make from scratch), bacon (sadly, this was the stuff bought in the grocery store, and this time around, I couldn't bring myself to throw it out; next time, no bacon unless it's local), scrambled eggs and fresh fruit.

I started by making the French toast batter: three farm fresh eggs whisked with about 1 tablespoon of milk, cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg, and a dash of salt. I dunked the sliced sourdough into the batter and let it sit for a few minutes to absorb. Meanwhile, I sauteed the bacon until a slight golden brown and removed to drain on a paper towel. I poured out most of the bacon grease, saving just a bit for use in a few minutes. I preheated a grill for the French toast and whisked together another three eggs with a bit of milk, salt and pepper and poured them (over medium-low heat) into the skillet with the touch of bacon grease, stirring occasionally. I then grilled up the French toast and plated it all, serving it with the farm fresh butter, and voila!

There will be much more to come in later days as I get a better grasp on realizing the origins of our food and how to incorporate that into our meals. It's definitely a challenge to make a conscious effort to quit the Western diet, but I have to say: I've never felt better and more conscious of what it is I am eating, something to which we should all pay more attention before our healthcare costs and overall health skyrocket beyond control. Seriously, pay attention to what you eat; care about where it originates. It's worth your time.

Catching up. Again.

Damn, I'm way behind again. This month has passed too quickly.
So, instead of bogging this blog down with all of the dinners we've made the past, well, almost month, I'm going to hit the highlights. Which, for the most part, will be the entrees. If you want tips on the sides (which were pretty basic across the board), just send me a quick note.

So, first up: Chicken and Guacamole Tostadas.

Nothing too revolutionary here, but I'm getting drawn more and more to the simple yet flavorful. It's a basic principle in my favorite cuisine, Italian, but it can easily be implemented in any recipe. For this recipe, the simple guacamole was the standout. I like guacamole, but I'm not known to pig out on it. But this....this I could have eaten in bulk, with or without tortillas or tostadas. I did make a few basic changes to this recipe. First I cooked some split chicken breasts seasoned with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika because I am not the biggest fan of the rotisserie chicken in the grocery store. I'm not totally against it, so if that's all you have time to do, go for it. Secondly I omitted the cilantro, because I am one of "those people" who just do not like that herb. To me, it tastes like dish soap. Again, go for it if it's up your alley.

Next: Crunchy Lemonade Drumsticks.

This is perhaps the oddest mix of ingredients I've used in a while, but the results were tasty. I particularly liked this recipe because it had the texture of fried chicken without the unhealthy side effects of frying (instead, it's baked). If you're like me, you'll start making this recipe and, halfway through, will really start to think, "What the hell? This is going to be interesting." But stick it out to the end--it's worth it. I'm a big proponent of Panko, and while you don't necessarily think of an Asian-inspired ingredient meshing with the old standby of country-style chicken, it works. It works very well. My only issue was in the baking. In the original batch, I went with what was recommended in the recipe (baking the chicken on top of a rack placed on top of a baking sheet). It kind of worked, meaning one side turned out perfectly golden. The other side, even with the use of copious amounts of cooking spray, stuck to the rack and required the use of a pair of tongs to pull off and reassemble the skin. Which is not ideal. The second time around (which was the next day using a new batch of drumsticks and thighs) I decided to omit the use of a rack over the baking sheet and instead used a parchment-lined baking sheet. This worked only a tiny bit better. I was still pulling skin off of the sheet when I went to flip the meat. So, next time I make this, I may just be using a glass casserole dish, non-lined. We'll see how that goes.

Finally, Roasted Pepper Pasta.

The salad wanted center stage. But the pasta is in the background.

Again, this is a relatively simple recipe. I highly recommend roasting the peppers as instructed, as well as the garlic. Sure, you can buy both already processed and bottled in the grocery store, but where's the fun in that? (Plus, god y'all, I've gotten sucked into Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, which has burrowed itself into my brain and is starting to affect all of my food choices and has made me question the "efficiency" of buying what is in the grocery store; I'm contemplating a completely separate blog to discuss this book. But I digress for now...) Go pick up some peppers from your local produce stand or farmer's market along with some garlic and roast it as suggested in the recipe. Seriously it only takes 8 minutes. Worth it.

Seriously, just roast the peppers and garlic. Don't cop out and use the jarred stuff. Be connected to what you eat!

Anyway, I omitted the almonds in this one (I had plenty of crunch from the roasted peppers) and also opted not to rinse the rigatoni after boiling because, I don't know, I always thought it was a sin to rinse off pasta and all of the good starches that keep the sauces sticking to the pasta. That's just me. You do what floats your boat. Overall, we found this a very light but flavorful pasta--definitely worth keeping in the recipe "index."

Oh, and just kidding about that pasta being the final recipe in this post. I'm going to throw in a dessert, something we rarely eat now (except for fresh fruit). I decided to make a granita, a very light, Italian-style dessert.

The first time in years we have used our martini glasses. Though doesn't "Mad Men" make it look ridiculously cool?

I used 2 c. of pomegranate juice (you can use whatever juice you like) in which I dissolved 1/3 c. sugar over medium heat (the mixture does not need to be boiled, just stirred frequently until the sugar is dissolved). Remove from heat and add 1/4 c. lime juice (this will produce a pleasant tartness and a very cool sheen effect). Pour the mixture into a glass casserole dish. Set in the freezer for about 5 hours total; every hour or hour and a half, pull the granita out of the freezer and run a fork through the mixture to break up the granita so it does not set into an ice block. I served these in chilled martini glasses. Simple, easy, and flavorful.

As mentioned, I plan to do a post about The Omnivore's Dilemma as soon as I can get my head wrapped around everything it teaches. It's a lot to digest, a lot to absorb. But I think for the better.

Double Feature: Eggplant and Pork

I'm running the risk of getting behind on posting again, so I'm going to knock two entrees out at one time.

First up: Filled Eggplant with Polenta
For a while now, I have been religiously reading Frances Mayes' books that focus on her time living in Tuscany (she's probably most noted for authoring "Under the Tuscan Sun" on which the movie starring Diane Lane was based). I used to find her writing engaging and something to which I could relate, not because I could shell out my life savings to just up and buy a villa in Tuscany in desperate need of repair, but because I am in love with all foods Italian. Especially, as I've come to find, the rustic food of Tuscans, something I hope to experience first-hand in just two short years. Her previous books were laced with Italian recipes, the result of her time spent with Tuscans and learning to cook with them. So, when I picked up her latest tome, "Every Day in Tuscany," I was looking forward to settling back in after several years with her authentic recipes. To make a long story short, I was disappointed by the almost condescending tone of Mayes' latest and managed to sift through the fluff to find the recipes. One stuck out, a filled eggplant, because we've been incorporating more and more eggplant into our diet since it is readily available in our big-chain grocery store.

This is a relatively simple recipe, a key to my fascination with Tuscan cuisine: making simple ingredients taste amazing by doing very little. To start, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Then:

1. Cut one or two eggplants (depending on your serving size; one half easily feeds one person) in two lengthwise.
2. Being careful not to rip the skin (I found buying an extra eggplant worked well here because I could have a practice run, something I needed because I ripped the hell out of the first half), scoop out the seeds and the white part. I will tell you now that eggplant is not easily scooped--the "white part" is very stubborn and does not scoop as easily as, say, cantaloupe. After my trial run of ripped skin, I found it best to hold the eggplant half in my hand firmly, scoop out the majority of the seeds, then proceed to the fleshier part, almost mentally dividing the half into fourths and working on each section as gingerly as was possible. It's okay if there is some white flesh left--you'll be baking the eggplant, so you won't run the risk of consuming raw eggplant, something that should be avoided as the veggie contains toxins in its raw stage. Though it won't kill you, it's not the best thing to consume raw eggplant.
3. Chop the white part of the eggplant and set aside.
4. In a saute pan, heat 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat.
5. Add one large onion, chopped, and saute until softened (approximately four minutes).
6. Add 4-5 garlic cloves, minced, and continue to saute for another two minutes (be careful not to overcook the garlic). 
7. Add the chopped eggplant, five chopped tomatoes (or a mixture of canned diced tomatoes, drained, and fresh tomatoes), 2 Tbsp. tomato paste, and salt and pepper to taste.
8. Cook the eggplant mixture for about 10 minutes.
9. Place the eggplant shells on a foil-lined baking sheet that has been lightly coated with extra-virgin olive oil.
10. Fill the shells with the eggplant mixture and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (I avoid the green-canned stuff and opt for the Parmesan wedge and grate what I need).
11. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

I served this with polenta (yes, of the tube variety, which you should be able to find in the grocery store; I always buy the plain, or original, flavor) topped with pancetta. Start by cooking the pancetta in a saute pan over medium heat until crispy (it will end up being the texture of crispy bacon). Remove the pancetta, crumble and set aside. Saute the polenta in the pancetta drippings (again over medium heat) until a golden brown on both sides. Another side: just your basic salad.

Next up: Greek-Style Pork Chops
So, just go here. I didn't make many adjustments on this other than a bit more salt to season the pork. I also cut some pitas to serve with the meal, brushed them with extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkled with salt, and grilled lightly after pulling the pork off the grill (just because I find grilled pita is much tastier than pitas served right out of the bag). Also, when you pull the pork out of the marinade, be sure to get the bits of garlic off of the meat or you'll most likely burn it when the pork is on the grill.

Blackened Salmon with Roasted Pineapple Salsa

I'm increasingly trying to cut the umbilical cord, so to speak, with cookbooks. I'm becoming a firm believer in using recipes as a blueprint, moving and experimenting from that foundation and incorporating what we like or removing what we don't need or immediately have on hand. For whatever reason (because I do know people who are intimidated by the culinary world of seafood), I feel more at ease using seafood for a meal created completely from my design. To me, seafood can be used in the most diverse ways: added to a tomato sauce base, fixed into little patties to be sauteed a golden brown, or simply dressed with some lemon juice and salt. The possibilities are endless (although I am mindful of the short supply and quality of seafood now available thanks to human greed and an unnecessary oil dependence, an event that is so unsettling and maddening; I made a conscious effort to buy salmon for this recipe that was farm-raised).

I knew I wanted a blackened salmon for this meal (one of the simplest recipes in my repertoire: rub Louisiana blackened seasoning, which can be found in any supermarket, on both sides of fresh salmon; saute over medium heat until the salmon can be easily flaked with a fork). I also wanted a salsa to accompany the salmon;  I decided to start with some roasted jalapenos. I have used roasted jalapenos before in other meals and found myself craving the little peppers more than the protein on my plate. So, I picked up about six jalapenos (because I really, really like peppers), sliced them in two, and ran a spoon down the middle to remove most of the seeds and the membrane (where the heat is mainly located). I then sliced them relatively thin and tossed in about 2 c. of cubed, fresh pineapple. I tossed in about 2 Tbsp. of honey to bring out the sweetness of the pineapple and mitigate some of the heat of the peppers and added the juice of a lime (do not for the love of all that is holy use that crappy lime juice in a squeeze bottle; that's really just an affront to cooking). I roasted the salsa mixture in the oven on 425 degrees for about 20 minutes, stirring the mixture halfway through roasting time.  I then poured the mixture into a bowl and added a bit more honey and lime juice to taste.

Now, for the sake of honesty, I took a bite of the salsa on its own. And immediately every pore in my body opened up because, yes, it's a very spicy salsa. I was worried it would be almost inedible, not to me (because my tolerance and love of heat in food is growing exponentially), but to the hubby. And yes, he took a bite when dinner was served, and I saw him struggling to fight back the urge to spit the salsa back onto the plate. But, I found that, when eaten in conjunction with the salmon, the salsa cooled significantly. I'm not sure if the husband really agreed, but he did finish his side of salsa (I like to think it was because the salsa was a good, slow burn kind of heat, not because I kept calling him a pussy). So, moral of the story? Adjust the number of jalapenos you use unless you really want to sweat it out.

Sides here included a Spaghetti Salad (another cooling agent, especially with the use of cucumbers) and corn on the cob.

Dessert was one of my favorites, something so unbelievably simple. Ready? Just slice some fresh strawberries, sprinkle with about 1 to 1.5 Tbsp. of sugar and drizzle with balsamic vinegar. The tartness/sweetness is perfectly balanced and could be used on any combination of fresh fruit.

Welcome Back with Pasta

Have you missed me? Of course you have, what a silly thing to ask. I realize it's been more than a month since I've posted any new recipes, but I've been immersed in the world of work and roller derby, the latter of which has quickly become more of a lifestyle than a mere sports hobby. During my month away, I haven't stopped cooking (it's too much of a passion to quit)--I've just stopped posting for the time being, despite my best intentions to do otherwise. There are recipes and pictures of a month's worth of new recipes sitting on my camera, waiting to be uploaded, but I'm not sure where to start. It just seems simpler to start with tonight's meal and move from there, maybe flipping back through pictures from the past month to see if there is anything that should absolutely be posted.

Tonight's meal was pasta with a quick-roasted tomato sauce (although I hesitate to use the word "sauce" for this recipe, meaning that, if you're looking for a thick, tomato-based sauce, you'll need to look elsewhere). We have started trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into our repertoire, mainly because we tend to consume way too much meat and, for both of our active lifestyles (the hubby is a hardcore triathlon-er), it's just a healthier option as both of us tend to succumb to the (very bad) habit of thinking, "I worked out really hard, so I'll eat whatever I want" (although I'm definitely more susceptible to this line of thought than the husband). Having said that, this was a very basic, simple pasta recipe. My only suggestion is to add more salt to the pasta and a tad more crushed red pepper if you crave a little heat with your meals (with only 1/8 tsp. listed, the heat index is barely there). Also, don't be deterred by the use of a Dutch oven--although I practically covet mine, it's really not necessary for this recipe. In fact, I plan to use just a regular saucepan next time around.

The side to this was just a basic iceberg salad using almost every vegetable I could find in our refrigerator: cucumbers, tomatoes, yellow squash, carrots and broccoli.

I rarely make dessert because, well, we would just get in trouble weight-wise if I baked every night. But today, I was really craving a citrus-based dessert. Me, I love my citrus--give me a choice between a lemon wedge sprinkled with sugar and a slice of the most decadent chocolate cake you can find, and I will inevitably choose the lemon. Today's cookies, what I've dubbed the Double Lemon Sugar Cookie (yeah, I'll work on originality later), is inspired by a cookie that I fell in love with, one from a local bakery. The inspiration, a Vegan Lemon-Lime Sugar Cookie, is amazing--soft, somehow refreshing, incredibly moist (I have yet to figure out how a vegan cookie can achieve such a consistency--if you have a great vegan sugar cookie recipe, send it my way!), and deliciously citrusy. So today's goal was to almost replicate that taste, although I knew I could not achieve it from a vegan standpoint. Instead, I found this basic Lemon Sugar Cookie recipe, which I drizzled with a simple glaze (1.5 c. confectioner's sugar whisked with enough fresh lemon juice to create a smooth consistency) while the cookies were still warm. And yeah, total goodness. Although, to be quite honest, it wasn't quite citrusy enough for my palate, a problem I believe can be solved next time around by adding more lemon zest and lemon juice to the cookie dough. I would also like to add lime juice/zest to the mix for the next go-round (I've found a double whammy of lime and lemon, with even a base of orange zest, really ups the citrus ante). But overall, this was a great place to start.

Spanish-Style Spaghetti

When I'm on my own for dinner, I usually resort to a casserole or spaghetti. It's quick, usually pretty flavorful, and makes a large quantity that can be used for leftovers. This Spanish-Style Spaghetti looked pretty appealing, so I thought I would give it a shot. I also had my reasons for trying to find a quick recipe that incorporated saffron, a spice that I have had sitting in my pantry for about two months without any use. The verdict? Just so-so. It actually had a very pizza-like taste to it, just on pasta. Decent, and very filling, but I doubt I will use this as another go-to for a weeknight meal. I did sub in black olives for the green ones recommended in the recipe, just because I prefer the black olives. Surprisingly, the crushed red peppers got lost in this recipe and did not provide much of a heat profile.

(Also, I cannot get a decent shot of spaghetti without it looking like the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Deal with it.)

Carne Asada Chicken Tacos

So....there is no way I can go back to the boxed tacos mixes now that I've found a quality carne asada recipe. I started with this recipe for the pickled onions (which, by the way, don't try them on their own; they taste amazing on the tacos, though) and moving to this recipe for the carne asada marinade. Go for the mojo sauce in the Tyler Florence recipe and marinade chicken or flank steak for at least three hours. I took three skinless chicken breasts and sliced them horizontally, pounding out each half to make for a quicker grill time. After marinating, I brushed off any residual garlic from the meat to avoid burning any garlic (a taste that will overwhelm anything you cook) and placed the chicken on a preheated grill pan.

The marinade is really just as simple as those boxed taco mixes, but the flavor is much fresher and much, much better. Just try it. Garnishes included the pickled onions, chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese and diced avocado.

Sides included some mashed black beans that were heated up with a splash of chicken broth and chopped green chiles. And (you'll be seeing a lot of this): fresh corn. I really cannot get enough of fresh corn when in season, so it will probably grace our dinner plates more than once a week until the hubby starts begging me to find something else to serve with the entree.