All the Meat We Could Possibly Eat

A few years ago I was taking a Health & Fitness class to fulfill my school's physical education requirement. And also it seemed more interesting than track. But anyhow! Our instructor was not only an avid exerciser (is that even a word?), but was passionate about eating right. And not just low calorie, but eating right. He emphasized whole foods, cutting down on processed products, and eating ethical meat. He showed us a documentary on factory farmed pigs, and I've never been able to eat pork with quite the same gusto. But when you shop at Giant Food or Safeway, pork that isn't factory farmed is incredibly hard to find. So imagine my delight last week, as we walked past a stall at the farmer's market that sold pork! And imagine our further delight when we found out they offered a "meat CSA"!

For those who don't know, CSA stands for Community-Supported Agriculture. Traditionally, participants in a CSA buy a share of a farmer's crop. Their purchase allows the farmer to cover operating costs, and in return the patrons receive boxes of fresh produce on a weekly basis. It is a win-win situation. Small farms can stay in operation, consumers get to buy local and support local businesses, and the focus is put back onto eating seasonally.

So for this meat CSA, we purchased a share of... well, of their animals I suppose. Our money goes toward feed for the animals and payroll for the humans, and in return we get a box of locally raised, pasture fed meat once a month. Some is fresh, some frozen, and every month we get a variety of cuts of meat from chicken, beef, pork, and lamb. This Saturday was our first pick-up date, so off we went to get out 12 pounds of meat!

The reusable tote bag, full of meat:

North Mountain Pastures' logo:

The meat!

So we have, in order, pork ribs, beef short ribs, pork chops, and lamb shanks. I figured the fresh whole chicken was fairly prominent and didn't need a closeup.

So now the challenge is to find recipes that use these cuts of meat. Luckily, we have this phenomenal tool known as the internet, and I believe it may be of some help in this situation. So far I've located a recipe for stovetop pork ribs, and I have actually roasted a whole chicken before, so that shouldn't be a problem. I have never cooked lamb, so this will be an interesting experiment, but hey- that was part of the reason I wanted to sign up for this- the challenge!

Does anyone have any particular recipes they recommend for these cuts? And are people interested in reading what I do with them? If so, I'll do a collective post, so you won't get spammed with food posts.

We're not eating any of this tonight, as we have plans to go out for oysters. But tomorrow, that chicken is going in the oven, and it is going to be delicious!

Well that worked out well.

Clearly I was all on top of blogging about my search for the real me, as can be seen by the more-than-two-year gap between posts. Let's start over, shall we? To catch up:

-27 years old
-Living with Charming Assistant in lovely apartment
-Graduating in 1 month
-Have begun the dreaded job search

I'm trying to be more creative in my everyday life, which translates into me taking up knitting and starting various craft projects. Recently Charming Assistant and I decided to experiment with infusing vodka. We decided to start simple, and so began our test with blackberries, the most delicious of the berry families. Yes, strawberries, that includes you too. Maybe you should have been a bit tarter, and you could have had this distinction.

Step 1! Insert blackberries into vodka, like so:






Step 2! Let infuse for one week in refrigerator, then strain and transfer to bottle:





Step 3! Make pretty cocktails, and drink them!







We ended up making the cocktails with the blackberry vodka, the blackberries soaked in vodka, seltzer, and fresh lemon. Everybody liked them, but Charming Assistant and I agreed that they could have been sweeter. Next time I think we'll use a bit more of the vodka, and do half seltzer, half lemonade. But overall, a pretty good first experiment!

Until next time (which will hopefully be before 2014...)

Adventures in Cooking!

I'm trying to take this whole "cooking" thing somewhat seriously since I'm tired of eating junky food all the time. So far I've made Steak Tips in Peppered Mushroom Gravy and Bacon Fettuccine Alfredo, both of which were delicious and remarkably easy. I was silly and forgot to get a picture of the fettuccine when it had finished cooking, but I have pictoral evidence that the steak tips occurred!

Steak Tips in Peppered Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients
2 cups uncooked egg noodles
Cooking spray
1 pound top sirloin steak, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots (I used spring onions instead)
1 (8 ounce) pacakge presliced baby bella mushrooms
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 fresh thyme springs
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (optional)

1. Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain
2. While noodles cook, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add steak; sauté 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove from pan; cover.
3. Melt butter in pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes. Add garlic, sauté 30 seconds. Stir in soy sauce. Sprinkle flour over mushroom mixture; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add broth, stirring constantly. Add pepper, salt, and thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thickened. Return beef to pan; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Discard thyme sprigs. Garnish with thyme leaves, if desired. Yield: 4 servings.

The recipe went really well, especially because I took time to prep everything I could before I began cooking. Chopped all that needed chopping, set all my ingredients out for when I needed them, etc etc. That prep helped alot when I was adding ingredients in one after the other, since I wouldn't have had time to chop in between stirring. Go me! I served our dinner in the nice pasta bowls my eldest sister got me for Christmas one year, and took a picture:



Didn't it turn out beautifully? My Charming Assistant (otherwise known as my boyfriend) and I agreed that it was delicious, and definitely a keeper.

I had to work over the weekend, so I told Charming Assistant that he should look through Cooking Light, pick a recipe that appealed to him, and if he went and bought the ingredients, I would cook dinner. Looking back, I should have guessed that he would choose the dish with bacon in it.

Fettuccine Alfredo with Bacon

Ingredients
1 (9 ounce) package refrigerated fresh fettuccine
2 slices applewood-smoked bacon, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
2/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid.
2. While pasta cooks, cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat 4 minutes or until crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove bacon from pan, reserving drippings. Add garlic to drippings in pan; saute 1 minute, stirring constantly. Sprinkle flour over garlic; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly; cook 2 minutes or until bubbly and slightly thick, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low. Gradually add cheese, stirring until cheese melts. Stir in salt and reserved 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Add hot pasta to pan; toss well to combine. Sprinkle with bacon, parsley, and pepper. Yield: 4 servings.

This dish also was a success, though I made a few foolish mistakes. First, I forgot to take a picture, so I can't make your mouth water at the sight of the finished product. Secondly, Charming Assistant misunderstood the "freshly grated Parmigiano" ingredient and purchased powdered Parmesan cheese from the grocery store. The dish still turned out well enough, but if we make it again I'll be insisting on the good stuff. But Cooking Light was very correct - you don't need to add a ton of bacon to a dish in order to get the flavor. Two pieces sprinkled in with the pasta, plus using the drippings as part of the sauce really infused the meal with delicious bacony essence.

I'm planning on cooking Roast Chicken with Balsamic Peppers tonight, I'll let you know how it goes! However, the next cooking post will probably be a few days from now. Not only do I want to post a few recipes at a time, but I don't want this to become just a cooking blog. Expect the next post to be on a wildly different topic.

Until next time!

Like a spirit quest, but not

When I was younger I always knew who I was. Even as I constantly redefined and reinvented myself, I always knew who I was, who I was trying to become. Over the past several years I've lost my way. This blog is an attempt to rediscover myself, and move towards the person that I want to be 'when I grow up.' A proper start date would have been the 1st of the year, but I missed that deadline. Since once of my goals is to not let small setbacks prevent progress, I've decided to proceed, even though the 14th of January doesn't really have the same impact as New Years Day.

Topics that I'll talk about will include improving my overall health, completing my Bachelors of Science, and finding ways to express my creativity. They'll each be tagged appropriately, and if applicable I'll include photographs or extracts of work.

I'm 25 years old and I'm finally ready to grow up.