Pictures of Food

It's no secret that I like to cook.  That's a good thing, because sometimes I have to make five meals a day.  Also, my kids train hard and need about 5,000 calories a day, mostly of GOOD food (with actual nutrients in it), and that isn't always easy.

Food experts say that first, you eat with your eyes.  Maybe that's why I always feel like taking a photo of my food - a way to preserve my accomplishment before it's been eaten.  They are bad photos because it's usually w/ my camera phone.  And I don't really cook "pretty" food - I'm just a plain, family cook.

But if I don't get something up on my blog, all 3 of my readers will wonder what happened, and my Klout score will fall below 50.  I think it's cool I have a Klout score that is a higher number than my age and I aim to keep it that way.

So....  here are a few photos of my culinary accomplishments and the reasons I took the pictures in the first place.

Eggs.  Eggs are a recently discovered condiment in my house.  This is a white bean and kale stew, and I've "gilded the lily" by topping it with a poached egg.  I've put poached eggs on salads, burgers, a plate of sauteed spring onions, a stack of grilled asparagus, into a bowl of tomato sauce.  Eggs just add that extra bit of luxuriousness (and protein!) and plus, when The Girls are in top form, I've got lots of them.

Tomatoes.  I sure wish I could successfully grow tomatoes because despite the fact that I don't much care for them raw, I cook with them all the time.  Below is a sheet pan full of halved romas dusted w/ a bit of salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

A few hours in the oven and they are like candy.  I can remember my mother saying this about vegetables and I always thought she was crazy.  Now I know what she meant, or I've become crazy too.

More eggs.  This just makes me happy because it's an egg from 50 feet from my house, and deer sausage from 50 miles from my house, compliments of Boy.

Grilling.  I love to grill.  I don't care what time of year it is, I grill many nights a week.  I will grill the bread, the dessert, even the salad sometimes.

Yum.  This was a pretty tasty snicky snack, pulled together by a little dish of wine jelly, infused with lemon and rosemary.  Went GREAT with the fish and the tangy chevre.  Should have made more of it.

More eggs.  Mother's day breakfast in bed.  Eggs Benedict.  No further words are necessary.

And finally, more eggs.  One of the challenges of my household is to balance the needs of my calorie-consuming kids with the needs of my aging body.  One of my favorite meals is to make a red sauce (with all those lovely cooked tomatoes!) that is full of all kinds of veggies and love.  The kids get the sauce on pasta, and I eat a bowl of it with a poached egg (or two) tossed in.  Yum.

Morning Survival

My kids are competitive swimmers.  And generally, once they reach a certain age, morning practices are an inevitability.

Aidan started doing them a couple of years ago and it was a big adjustment for both of us.  It took at least a month before 4:15am didn't feel completely brutal.

Middle schoolers have time to come home after practice, high schoolers do not, especially given the fact that we live so far out of town.  So, this year Aidan had to learn how to be ready for his entire day at 4:15.  Me too - it meant adding LUNCH to the morning routine.  And a second breakfast that could be eaten in the car.

Then, Bridget started doing morning practices, and that meant another breakfast, and another body to roust from the bed, and a second pool to get to by 5:00am.

Our general routine is that I get up at 4:15 and head upstairs to wake the kids.  Aidan wakes up pretty quickly, Bridget not so much.  Aidan knows immediately what he wants me to fix for first- and second-breakfast, Bridget not so much.  They are both guilty of rolling over and going back to sleep, which I don't have time for, and that makes Mama cranky.

We have from 4:15 - 4:40 to get up, dressed, pack one lunch, make 3 breakfasts, and get whatever they need for practice (water bottles, clean towels, shoes, equipment bag, etc.) and get out the door.  You can see why any deviation from The Schedule makes Mama cranky.

I start the breakfasts (could be cereal, toast, bagel, oatmeal, or egg sandwich), and then start texting the kids to see if they are up yet.

It is generally known that if I have to stop what I am doing, and head back up stairs and wake up sleeping children, that Mama gets Extra Cranky.

Sometimes, it doesn't go so well.  Like when Bridget decided to curl up in a ball on the dining room floor and cry herself back to sleep.

It's times like those that Mama has to take a deep breath and decide whether the right approach is cajoling, yelling, or letting everyone go back to bed.

One of my biggest saviors has been making breakfast sandwiches in advance and freezing them.  Yep, took me about 3 years to figure this one out, I am slow that way.

I brown a pound or so of deer sausage, and crack a dozen or so eggs.  Ray bought this cute little pan that is perfect for an egg & sausage patty.

I crank out a dozen or so of these patties, and also put an equal amount of english muffins under the broiler to toast.

I assemble them all with a slice of cheese and put them into a zip top baggie, suck out the air and freeze them.

About 1:10 in the microwave and it's a good start to their day.

I actually don't mind morning practices.  It makes the evenings less crazy, and we often are all home at a decent hour for dinner together, which I love.

Nutrition Overhaul

They say when you set a goal, one of the things you are supposed to do it be public about it.  It's harder to fail if you tell people about it instead of keeping it to yourself.

Well....  I want to lose some weight.  No surprise, it's New Year's Day, I'm approaching 50, I love to cook, eat and drink.  I don't exercise.  Duh!  No brainer, and I'm hardly unique.

But it's a little bit more complicated than that.  This isn't just a "smoothie for breakfast, salad for lunch, and avoid the pasta at dinner" kind of diet.  It's more along the lines of helping my body age more gracefully.  Transitioning my palate and cooking habits to the "less meat, more fiber" a woman of my *cough* advanced years should have.

And, it's even more complicated than THAT.  I have kids.  Very active kids.  Growing kids that train hard and have some pretty hefty nutritional requirements that don't necessarily jive with the requirements of the lady that does their cooking.

So.  I'm putting it out there to the Universe.

Yes, the challenge is to lose weight.  But more than that, the challenge is to make changes and learn something.  And not just me - the kids too.  If Aidan had his choice, he'd exist on tortillini, cream sauce and garlic bread.  Bridget would exist on mashed potatoes.  None of which is good for Ray and I.  If Ray had his choice, it would be something a little more exotic than the usual "kid-friendly" fare I mindlessly sling to the table each evening.  And if I had my way, there would be a lot more vegetables and nobody would grumble about it.

So.  Here we go.  A new Food Adventure for me where I attempt to keep everyone happy.  Dinners that give Ray and I plenty of flavor but also meet the caloric requirements of the kids.  More vegetables for everyone, new sources of protein like legumes and quinoa.  And acceptance of the notion that what once may have been considered a side dish now serves as an entire meal.

Change is hard.  I only hope that I can stand the grumbling of my table mates.

Summer in a Spoon

I first tasted this recipe at a neighbor's party.  I knew it was a winner when I saw my husband, who does not care for watermelon, gobbling it up and going for seconds.

I've made it several times since, always tweaking the recipe a bit, and every pot luck I bring it to gets the same response - people gobble it up and go back for more.  It's a large recipe, but it all gets eaten, every time!

It is so fresh, and refreshing!  A little bit of crunch, a tiny bit of heat, slightly tarty background, and sweetness up front.

It takes time to make it - there is lots of slicing and dicing!  A good opportunity to practice your knife skills, or teach them to any young cook's helpers hanging around.

Watermelon Gazpacho

Puree:
1/2 watermelon with about 6 cups cranberry juice

Small dice:
1/2 water melon
8 stalks celery
2 english cucumbers (peel & seed them)
1 each: red, orange and yellow bell peppers

Mince:
1 jalepeno
1 cup basil and mint (proprotion to your taste)
1 small red onion

Combine all intredients, salt to taste, chill and serve.

Notes:
Try to get cranberry juice, not cranberry juce "cocktail" which is mostly grape juice
De-seed the jalepenos if you don't like the heat
Make it several hours in advance, so it gets a good chill, and the flavors meld

Produce productivity

Things have been just bustin' out all over at Mansion Farms, where I have a share and get to pick up freshly harvested veggies every week.

I am learning a lot about locavorism.  What I am learning is that you have to put what is on hand to use now, or find a way to preserve it for later.  This week's haul included broccoli, radishes, beets, and lots of onions.

The broccoli was steamed and enjoyed with dinner.  That is a no-brainer.

However, owing to a busy week last week, I still hadn't done anything with last week's radishes, beets and onions and I had a lot on hand.

I spent about three or four hours on my feet in the kitchen, but this is what I accomplished:

• Topped all the beets - the freshest I washed and dried, to be sauteed later in the week
• The beets all got cleaned and roasted for an hour, then peeled
• Some of the beets went into a light vinaigrette, to be enjoyed with lunches this week
• Some of the beets were saved to be re-warmed for dinners
• The last of the beets, I pickled with a few of the red onions
• Some of the radishes were cleaned and saved to be eaten raw in salads
• Some of the radishes were cleaned and saved to be roasted - yummy, if you've never tried it
• Some of the radishes were pickled with garlic and fennel.  The jury is still out on this
• The onions were chopped and sauteed in butter and sherry
• Once the onions were cooled, they were spread onto pastry and two rustic tarts were made and frozen for later

Gorgeous and delicious onions!

Radishes ready for pickling

 Golden and regular beets - ready for pickling

Left:  pickled beets and red onions, right: pickled radishes

Two frozen onion tarts, ready for impromptu cocktail gatherings!

It seems like a lot of work, but I think it's worth it.  I'm learning more and more about food.  I believe our bodies were meant to eat things in cycles.  I believe in supporting small farmers.  I believe in not eating food that has traveled thousands of miles.

But I have to be a realist - for now, I don't live this creed every day of the week.  I hope to gradually get to the point where more and more of my food is grown by myself, or those that I know personally.  But for now, I do the best I can.

Grilled Artichokes

A few people have asked for this recipe, and I thought I would put it here.

Having grown up in California , where most artichokes are grown, I’ve been eating them all my life.  Having recently left California , I am astounded at how many people are intimidated by artichokes! 

 

Preparation is not hard, and good prep makes for a more edible result! Artichokes can be cut, steamed and marinated several hours before you are ready to grill.

 

 

Ingredients

• 4 artichokes – find the ones that are heaviest for their size. This means they’ve retained plenty of moisture in their trip from CA to your state!
• ½ cup olive oil
• Juice and zest of 2 lemons
• 2T salt
• 1t ground pepper
• 1/4c chopped herbs of choice

 

Preparation 

• Have ready a large pot with an inch or so of well-salted water. Put your lemon discards into this to acidulate the water which will keep the cut parts of your artichokes from turning brown as you work. 
• Strip off 2-3 layers of outer leaves 
• Using a sharp knife, slice of 1 inch of the top, and trim the end of the stem 
• Using kitchen shears, snip any prickly tips that remain on lower leaves 
• Slice the artichoke in ½ lengthwise 
• Using a basic kitchen teaspoon or melon baller, scoop out the “choke” or the fuzzy stuff in the middle. 
• Drop both halves into the water, making sure that the cut surfaces are well coated w/ the water to prevent browning while you prep the remaining artichokes.

 To cook: 

• Cover the pot and place on stove and bring to a simmer. 
• Simmer artichokes until they are barely fork tender at the stem – about 15 minutes, depending on size and freshness. Check frequently! 
• Remove from heat and allow to cool. 

 To marinate: 

• Place remaining ingredients (oil, lemon juice and zest, salt, pepper & herbs) in a zip top bag and mix well. 
• Add artichokes to bag, turning to make sure well coated. 
• Marinate for 1 hour or all day. 

  

To grill: 

• Handle artichokes carefully at this point. Since they are nearly completely cooked, they will be fragile. 
• Using tongs, place artichokes on a medium-high grill with the cut side facing up. 
• If there is any marinade left, spoon or drizzle this into the cavity of the artichoke. 
• Cook for approximately 5 minutes or until char marks appear on the leaves. 
• Carefully turn over (watch out! The excess marinade may cause flare up!), and grill on cut side for another 5 minutes.

 Serve immediately or at room temperature. Prepared like this, they generally need no dipping sauce.

The chickens are coming! The chickens are coming! The chickens are coming!

I have wanted chickens for AGES.  Several of my neighbors raise them and the eggs are to die for.

Plus, chickens are funny.  Really - just find  yourself a couple of chickens and sit and watch them for a while.

I found a really good and inexpensive coop design on Mother Earth News.  It uses a dog crate, which I have, and welded mesh fencing and hog rings, which I don't have.  I am looking forward to going to Tractor Supply to get them.

This isn't a big "structure" and it will be fairly easy to drag around the yard so the chickens and grass can do that mutually beneficial thang that they do so well.  Plus, it's "critter proof" so that foxes, etc. can't get into it.  No way to keep the snakes out, though.

I have been browsing chicken catalogs and websites for ages, trying to decide what kind of chickens I want.  Top of my list are Ameracaunas, which lay the blue tinted eggs.  They are so pretty!  We barely go through a dozen eggs here at our house, so theoretically, I don't need a whole lot of chickens.  A good layer will give you nearly an egg a day.

But the breeds!  There are SO MANY interesting breeds!  "SO MANY" being the operative words here....  I finally decided to order based on interesting looks, and not on production capacity.  Add in the fact that I am sure to lose some to inexperience and snakes (and maybe the dogs), and some will wind up being roosters, I have hedged my bets and ordered seven chicks.

These are some sketches of some of the breeds I selected.  I tell you, I canNOT WAIT to see these funny guys walking around my yard, and listen to their gentle, inquisitive clucking.

Except for the roosters.  I can wait for those.  Generally, they are aggressive and noisy.  If some of my fluffy little chickies grow up to be roosters, they are destined for the soup pot, so I can look forward to a new skill:  butchering chickens.

So, now I wait.  I wait until March 23rd, when I will get a call from the post office that they have a noisy box full of holes for me to come pick up.

Wish me luck!

Yes, it's another post about food!

A while back, when I went to my farm share, I got some really cute 8-ball zuchinni.  I just love these little guys and if I ever get any better at gardening, I want to try and grow them for myself.

Someday, when I don't have hungry athletes to feed, just ONE of these, stuffed with random yummy goodness, will be perfectly adequate for a meal for me.

Also at the farm that day were sweet potatoes.  It was a logical step to stuff the squash with that!  So, dice it finely, and sautee with the ubiquitous onion.  And a bit of chili flake, 'cuz you know, I cook in Texas.

Also, the insides of the squash went into the sautee, and then the whole mess got stuffed back into the squash, which had been lightly oiled and well seasoned.  Next, they are roasted in the oven for about 40 minutes.

Surely stuffed squash is a perfectly fine mean on it's own!  But nooooo!  I had to add garlic bread, grilled artichokes, and a bit of steak as well.  Bon appetit!

Okra

Something I've never had until moving to the south is okra.  Gardeners who grow it say it's one of the easiest things to grow around here.  Judging by the overflowing bushels of the stuff every week at Sandra's farm, I would guess that to be no lie!

The classic way to prepare okra is to deep fry it.  That's all well and good, but I searched for a healthier way to use it.  I tried roasting it in various iterations (with garlic, with cherry tomatoes....) and didn't really come up with a way to use it that my family would eat.

Until..... my neighbor shared a jar of pickled okra with me.  It's yummy!  And Bridget loves it!  Time to pickle my own okra, and teach Missy B in the process!

Into the bottom of each jar goes mustard seed, dill, crushed garlic, one fresh jalepeno and one dried red chili.

The pickling liquid is equal parts cider vinegar and water and a whole bunch of pickling salt.  Packing the okra in the jars was a bit of a challenge.  I don't like to use wide-mouth jars so that my canning rings are interchangeable amongst my smaller jelly jars.  But, by alternating big end and little end, and starting with the largest okra pods first, we got the jars stuffed tightly.

Ladle in the hot pickling liquid, and drop them in boiling water to process for 10 minutes and voila!  Pickles!  Bridget loves them in her lunch and I hope we've made enough to get through the winter.

In touch with my food. Literally.

One thing I've learned in trying to eat more local, less processed foods is how much I have to touch my food now.  Whether it's for preservation or just prep for dinner, there is a lot more involved when you quit opening up cans.

Take the purple hull peas.  I'd never had them before.  Farmer Sandra grows them and I was intrigued.  They're a pretty greenish purple and look like beans.

Except they are not.  The edible part lies within the hull and must be painstakingly removed.

Shellin' peas - it can either be relaxing or mind-numbingly boring.

The first time, I did them all by myself.  What began as relaxing soon became monotonous.  It took well over an hour.

I cooked them in sauteed onion and bacon and then boiled them for about 90 minutes.  Delicious!  The kids LOVED them!

So, I decided they were worth the effort and the next time I brought them home from the farm I made it a Family Project to shell the peas.  What began as relaxing soon turned into bickering, adolescent fits, and at least one nameless person leaving the room in tears.

But I digress.

The point is, it took no little while to get all those peas out of their hulls.  But they were worth the work.  Purple hull peas are not something you'd ever find in the grocery store, in a can, or in the frozen food section. They are wonderful and this is the only way you can enjoy them.  By touching every little dang pea.

A few weeks back, when I went to "my farm" to get my veggies, Farmer Sandra had harvested ALL the carrots.  They were not going to stand up to the heat, and needed to be used now or they'd be no good at all.

I pretty much filled my bag with carrots that week, intending to find a way to preserve them.

Homegrown carrots are neither as "pretty" or as large as you find in the grocery store.  But they have a much more robust flavor, and earthiness that all good root vegetables should have.  And a lot more charm in their appearance.

Problem is, before preserving, all of these carrots needed to be vigorously scrubbed.  I'm a scrubber, not a peeler.  I think peeling is wasteful in both taste and mass and nutritional value.  Scrubbing hundreds of little carrots took no little while.

The next challenge is to preserve them in a way that I think enhances their flavor and makes eating them a pleasure rather than a chore.

As usual, I scanned a lot of recipes and decided to go a bit exotic.  Star anise, cinnamon, clove all seemed to be good compliments to their earthy flavor, and some lemon (juice and peel) to brighten the overall effect and contract all that earthiness.

They sure look pretty, but I need to give them a few weeks in the jars before trying them.  I'll let you know how they taste.

All this prep work gives new meaning to "handmade food."

Saturday morning farm visits

This year, I bought a share in a small local farm.  I am a big fan of locavorism, and while I am far from perfect, I do what I can.  I believe it is good for our bodies, good for our planet, and good for the dying breed of small growers.

My farmer's name is Sandra, and I found her on Local Harvest, a great website that connects consumers with local producers of all manner of food and goods.  I was very lucky to have hit the Local Harvest website shortly after she put up her profile, as she only sold 10 shares on her farm this year.

Sandra's farm is called Mansion Farms and it is out in Roanoke, the next town over from me.  Let's see if she's reading.....  Sandra, why do you call your place Mansion Farms?  You can leave a comment. ;-)

So.  Every Saturday morning I make the quick drive out to Sandra's place to pick up my share of the produce she has harvested that week.  Being a terrible novice gardener myself, I am learning a lot just from chatting with her for a few minutes every week.  Maybe someday it will all sink in enough that I can grow some of this stuff successfully myself, but for now I am glad that Sandra is doing it for me.

There is different stuff available every week, and the fun challenge is figuring out how not to let it go to waste. I try to incorporate everything I pick up that week into our meals, and if there is a lot of stuff, I try to preserve it.  It has all been a great learning experience.

Sandra has lots of stuff going on besides her 1/2 acre vegetable garden.  She keeps a flock of chickens and sells the eggs.  I know you've heard me say over and over and over - there is nothing like a farm fresh egg.  Once you try one, you will never buy those weak facsimiles from the grocery store again.

She has goats and sheep and is working on expanding her herd to use for meat.  She also keeps turkeys.  An endangered breed called Midget White.  One of these little guys will be my holiday bird this year.

Sandra also trains and rescues "Livestock Guardian Dogs."  You send these lovable guys out in the pasture with your goats, turkeys, sheep, etc. and they keep the predators at bay.  The turkeys have even figured out to run to the dogs when they sense a threat, such as a large bird overhead, etc.

It's a pleasant errand to run every Saturday.  I enjoy hearing Sandra's plans for expansion, learning what can and can't grow in different times of our growing season, and learning how to cook new foods such as okra, and purple hull peas.

As I've said before - Nature can't be wrong.  I think it will be worth it to listen to her rhythms and dance her dance.

The All Food All The Time Blog

I know.  You are just waiting anxiously to find out what I did with all that farm fresh produce!  And how were those pickles after all?  And what about the jelly?

And I just left you hanging.  I am sorry.  I've been busy eating.

The word Ray used to describe this creation was "fantasmagoric" I think.  Aidan's friend who was here for dinner said "Omigawd, Aidan, can I move in here?"   High praise, indeed.  Fresh ingredients, simply prepared - nothing more.

More of those vegetables were grilled an thrown into a yummy risotto that Ray made.  Leftovers of that will be my lunch today.

The pickles are delicious.  The bread and butter chips taste exactly like they are supposed to.  The dill that Ray made have a wonderful crunch and are just sour enough.

"But what about the blackberry jelly?" you ask....  Trial and error.  Super Confident Me did not do a test batch.  Super Confident Me cooked and processed about 30 jars in one marathon session.  Super Confident Me was horribly deflated to discover none of it jelled to Super Confident Me's satisfaction.

Ugh.

Deflated Me had to open up every jar.  Deflated Me had to clean and re-sterilize everything.  Deflated Me had to hubble bubble toil and trouble over the burning fire and bubbling cauldron for another afternoon.

Happy Me got jelly.  Happy Me made some cute labels of the cute berry pickers for the lids of the jelly.

Now I am back to Super Confident Me and saw the wild mustang grapes growing by the side of the road.  Super Confident Me went and picked a bunch.

Super Confident Me's kitchen looked like a murder scene as I rendered all the lovely, tart juice.

Super Confident Me has a couple of pitchers of juice which will make maybe about ten pints or so of jelly.  Should I do a test batch?  What do you think?

But dang.  I have to go to the boring old tire store.  The story of the wild mustang grape jelly will have to wait for another day.

Oh, the suspense!  What will you do!?

Meet your meat

I met my Thanksgiving dinner over the weekend.  One of these scrawny little guys will be the centerpiece of my Thanksgiving table come November.

They don't look like much (yet), but hopefully by November will look more like this:

The breed is a "Midget White" and it's one of many endangered breeds that are being revived by small growers throughout the country.

Mine is being grown at "my" farm over in Roanoke - just a few miles from my house.  I say "my" farm, because this year I bought a share in the farm and every Saturday I get to fill a bag with the week's harvest.

I'm looking forward to watching my turkey grow and learn interesting tidbits from Farmer Sandra about keeping poultry. 

And slaughtering poultry.

Yes, let's just put that out there.  Slaughter.  Turkeys really don't just magically appear frozen, featherless and shrinkwrapped with the giblets (read: guts) in a little wax bag.

Hungry yet?