Food for You-Know-Who

I woke up early on Saturday to run to the farmer's market. I didn't get anything too exciting, mostly the same old stuff since that's what's in season. I did find some really beautiful purple lettuce though so I bought that instead of the standard green. This was partially because it was so pretty, but also because usually the more colorful food is the better it is for you. Anyway, I went home, put everything away, and started to clean the lettuce. As I was in the kitchen doing this my husband woke up and got out of bed. His first words to me were:

Robbie: Looking at the lettuce: "That looks like something Voldemort would eat."

Me: "I've never known Voldemort to eat anything besides unicorn blood. I don't really think he's a salad kind of guy."

Robbie: "Well if he did eat salad he would use that lettuce."

Well, good morning to you too. I think this might be his way of telling me he prefers the normal green lettuce.

Voldemort's Salad

Anyway, I also bought broccoli, green beans, white sweet potatoes, eggs, cauliflower, and some really cute tiny Brussels sprouts. Oh, and some apples. I used to eat a lot of apples, but cut back since they're pretty high in sugar. I started eating berries instead. Well, I really can't pretend berries are in season anymore so I'm back to apples. These are honey crisp and they are delicious. 

In addition, I think I might be getting into the whole red wine thing. We've had a few bottles of Cote du Rhone that I've really enjoyed. I have no idea if that's a good red wine, or like the white zin of the red wine world, but I guess I don't really care.

Mozzarella Stuffed Sausage Meatballs

This meal is another one inspired by a Rachael Ray recipe. I know a lot of people find her annoying, but I really like a lot of her food. She is creative in a "I might actually be able to pull that off" kind of way, as opposed to a Michelin star kind of way.

Anyway, this meal has three components. The meatballs, the sauce, and the broccolini.

For the meatballs you need fresh sausage and bocconcini (bite-sized) sized fresh mozzarella. You can use whatever kind of sausage you like, I used the hot Italian pork sausage I picked up at the market last Saturday. To make the meatballs I just take 3 links and remove them from their casings. I split each link into three parts and put a bocconcino in the middle then molded the meat around it to form a meatball. I browned the meatballs in a pan with some olive oil then put them into a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes to cook through.

For the sauce I just saute and clove of chopped garlic in a little olive oil, then add a can of crushed tomatoes. I season it with salt pepper, red pepper flake, and fresh oregano and let it simmer until the rest of the food is done. It's the easiest tomato sauce ever. I had sauce leftover and I just put it in the fridge, I'll have to find a way to use it next week.

If anyone hasn't tried broccolini, I hightly recommend it. The taste is kind of a cross between broccoli and asparagus and it's very easy to cook. I heated up some fat in a pan (about one tablespoon each of bacon fat and butter) then added a clove of chopped garlic and the broccolini with the ends trimmed off. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and red pepper flake, turned the stalks around to make sure they were all coated with fat, and then put them in the oven with the meatballs. When everything was plated I finished it with a bit of fresh basil.

Look at that cheesy goodness.

Overall it was a delicious and satisfying meal. You don't need spaghetti to enjoy some meatballs!

Primal Mexican

I love me some Mexican food (or Tex Mex or whatever they try to pass of as Mexican here) but it's hard to find many primal friendly options. Too many corn chips, flour tortillas, beans and rice! Not to mention my favorite fast Mexican place, Chipotle, cooks everything in soybean oil. No thanks.

So instead of making tacos, I've started to make lettuce wraps with all my normal taco fillings. This isn't exactly a revolutionary idea, but it's something I've enjoyed more than I thought I would. On Sunday night we had some yummy chicken lettuce wraps.

I know this picture is terrible. 

I poached some chicken thighs in chicken stock then shredded them with two forks. I think mixed in some spices (salt, pepper, cayenne, cumin, paprika, chili powder) to make the taco meat. I also halved some cherry tomatoes and mixed them with diced avocado, cilantro, grated garlic and lemon juice to make a kind of guacamole salad. The only other thing I added was a shredded Mexican cheese blend. I served my wraps with regular green leaf lettuce, but butter lettuce works better. I just used what I had though. Overall, I don't miss the tortilla much. The fillings are the best part of tacos anyway, especially any fillings that involve avocado.

Food Therapy

I had a bad week last week. I just felt weird and sad for really no good reason. I usually don't mind my job but for some reason going to work everyday was just painful. I usually like to cook but I just couldn't find the energy to do it for some reason. As a result I ate terribly. I was too lazy to make myself a salad in the morning so I even bought chicken fingers from the office cafeteria twice in one week. I was eating poorly because I felt bad but eating bad just made me feel worse, physically and mentally. I felt bad for my lack of "will power" and because I was eating so much industrially produced food that I knew was bad for me and the environment. I just kept on the downward spiral.

Until I finally actually cooked something on Saturday night. It was just a simple dinner of pork chops with carrots and green beans, but it made me feel so much better. It made me feel a little bit more in control and it reminded me why I like to cook in the first place. I enjoyed the meal, both preparing it and eating it. I think it helped me get out of this short little bout of apathy, which is wonderful. Being apathetic is no fun at all.

I think I also feel better because I spent some time outside this weekend. It's easy to forget just how important it is to get out in the sun for a few minutes everyday. Since the time changed this weekend I don't think I'll be in my office pretty much all hours of daylight, but I'm considering buying a sun lamp to help get me through this winter. 

Farmer's Market Haul

Yesterday morning I had a chance to go to the market again so I went back to the one in my neighborhood. It was a bit chilly (in the 30s brrr) but the market was still going strong. I got broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, a green pepper, eggs, and hot Italian sausage from Smith Meadows Farm.

I'm very happy they still have tomatoes at the market. I might cry when the day comes where I can't get fresh tomatoes anymore.

Also, I got my husband to watch Food Inc. with me yesterday and I think he's starting to understand why I don't just want to buy all our groceries at the Giant store down the street. I really think that everyone should have to watch this movie at some point.

Here is an interesting article

about local food and the current state of agriculture in the United States. I have to say, I agree with pretty much everything the author has to say.

Local Food: No Elitist Plot

More cauliflower magic

I still had half a head of cauliflower left over from the farmer's market a week ago so I decided to make a cauliflower mash to go along with a Spanish inspired chicken and sausage stew. This meal was inspired by this Spanish Chicken Stew with Manchego Polenta by Rachael Ray. I used to make it with polenta before I quit corn, and needed something delicious and creamy to serve the stew on. Enter: mashed cheesy cauliflower. Overall I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. I also used chicken thighs this time, I usually use breasts or tenderloins. I've always been kind of afraid of dark meat but I figured it was time to get over it. If I want to start buying pastured chickens I need to figure out how to eat all the different parts of the bird, not just the familiar white meat. The thigh meat was good. Really, it just tasted like chicken. I don't know what I was so afraid of.

Anyway, here is my version of the recipe:
For the stew:
3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 smoked sausage (I used kielbasa, this would be much better with chorizo though)
1/2 C shredded or chopped carrots
3 cloves garlic
Salt, pepper, cilantro, chili powder, cayenne pepper, paprika, cumin, and red pepper flake to taste
1/4 C red wine
1 can of diced tomatoes (the fire-roasted kind would work well if you have them

For the cauliflower:
1/2 head of cauliflower
1/4 C heavy cream
2 TBS Butter
1/2 C shredded cheese
Salt and pepper

First I put the cauliflower in a pot with water to steam. Then I brown cut the sausage and chicken into bite size pieces and brown them in some olive oil. When they are sufficiently browned I season them with all the spices and then add the garlic (diced) and the carrots. After the garlic and carrots have had a chance to cook down a little, about 5 minutes, I add the wine to deglaze the pan. Next I add the tomatoes then leave the stew to simmer by itself for a while.

While the stew is simmering I drain the cauliflower and put it into the food processor with the butter. After pulsing a few times, I added the cream and seasonings and pulsed again until it was smooth. I then added the cheese and pulsed a few more times to get it all mixed in. I seriously love my food processor, all of this was so easy.

I served the stew over top of the cauliflower and ate it all mixed together.

It wasn't beautiful, but it was delicious. It would have been better with some cilantro on top, but the cilantro in my garden isn't ready yet. Hopefully it will be next time.