Market & CSA Share

It’s been really, really wet here for the last several weeks. Farmers are having a hard time with some crops, so our CSA has been a bit slow to start. That said, we got a nice share this week that included green beans, red cabbage, and carrots! We’ll be having sweet  & sour cabbage and carrots, with chicken.

We hit the Farmer’s Market this week, and are so excited to get cooking. We met some new farmers with great chickens, eggs, and produce. What we got:

-A whole chicken, a pound of backs, and a pound of necks from Davis Creek Farms (who, incidentally, is the front cover story for Nelson County Life Magazine!). The whole was $3.40/lb, and will be used to for several meals, starting with roast chicken. Then we’ll strip the carcass and grind the meat up with spices and pickles to make lunch spread. The bones will be used with the necks and backs, which were $1/lb, to make roasted chicken stock (we’re roasting the parts the same time as the whole, to save energy).  It’s incredibly difficult to beat $1/lb for stock parts, and this chicken wins hands-down with no chemicals or hormones, 100% pastured, and freshly slaughtered (never frozen).

-Local honey

-Local peanuts, locally roasted.

-Strawberry & Thai basil jam from Jam According to Daniel, who uses local fruit and no pectin.

-Collards, carrots, beets, baby squash, new red potatoes, and a few other things I am forgetting form other sundry farms we know and love. I’ll be linking more of them as I get their websites! All the produce we got was better-than-organic. We also renewed relationships with farmers we hadn’t seen since last year, and met some new farmers we hope to get to know better. This is about community, which is also about food security and health.

Aside from milk, which we’re getting from Trickling Springs, we shouldn’t need to buy anything at the store this week. And, we will start “putting up” fruits and veggies in the next few weeks, as well.

The excess rain has meant we’ve not seen garlicscapes this year, and the potatoes are getting dug super early so they don’t rot. It’s also meant some of the fruit isn’t as tasty, since it’s lots of water and little sunlight. But, it’s still better than “conventional” food. This week, we spent about $65 on groceries, and we’ll spend less than $10 for sundries throughout the week. We feel that’s a pretty darn good deal for the quality of food we’re getting.

I’ll be posting pictures and a menu later this week, so stop by and check out what we’re doing with all this amazing food.

Healthy Eating Tip of the Day/Week/Whatever & What I’m Doing

One of my biggest “tricks” to staying healthy is to eat a really diverse diet. Science has proven that people who eat a wide variety of foods are generally much healthier than those who eat a limited diet for a few reasons: 1)  it provides a wider variety of vitamins, minerals, and micro-nutrients,  2) your metabolism is kept off balance, so your body works harder and burns more calories, and 3) your body, especially your tastebuds, feel more satisfied, so you eat less overall.

If you’re having a hard time getting in some diversity because of time, just make some small changes. Take a new fruit for lunch, or toss a different vegetable on the grill tonight.  Add some sharp cheese and red pepper to your salad.  Looking for bigger changes? Consider trying some different cuisines, like Indian, or switch to a vegetarian meal once or twice a week.

I want to add even more diversity to my diet, and get some more raw fruits and veggies in. I do fairly well with my daily veggie intake since I love them, but there are days like today when I’ll be working from 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM, and eating a salad in the car is a recipe for disaster. So, next week (I’ve already been grocery shopping this week), I’ll be adding savory smoothies to the “superfood” smoothies I’m already doing. While the fruity ones keep my sweet tooth at bay, I don’t always want sweet.  I’d love to hear your recipes, and I’ll be sharing mine here as I experiment.

I also think these will work out well for me when it gets really hot out. I tend to not eat in the heat, and a savory smoothie might just be the perfect way for me to get in the foods I need!

Umami

I am a bit in love with miso. It adds this incredible depth of flavor, sometimes known as “umami”, and when paired with mushrooms it’s absolutely amazing. Above, I’ve roasted chicken in a miso-based sauce, with lots of shitakes. The roasted brussel sprouts are zested with lemon, a fresh, nutty compliment to the chicken pasta dish.

Healthy Alternatives

We all love comfort food, especially when it’s cold outside. Mashed potatoes, fried chicken, hearty soups…they’re good for the soul, so to speak. They’re not so good for the waistline, cholesterol count, or antioxidants, though. The answer isn’t to give up your favorites, it’s to change how they fit into your life.

Fried chicken is time-consuming and fatty. This version, made with Panko bread crumbs, is much healthier and a snap to make. Marinade boneless, skinless thighs or breasts in your favorite marinade overnight in a covered bowl or bag. A fun one is a southern sweet-tea brine, but you can do Italian dressing, honey mustard…whatever. Dry chicken, then coat with flour (seasoned if you like, and I use whole wheat), an egg wash (whites or egg beaters will do just fine), and press into panko crumbs to coat. Bake at 400 until done (it’ll depend on the cut of chicke, but about 25-35 minutes). Voila!

Chili, the ultimate winter soup. Anyone from MI knows that deer season, and winter in general, means lots of the spicy stuff.  The good news is that there’s already a lot to love about chili. It’s often got beans for fiber, and protein and tomatoes for lycopene. But, all that meat can put a strain on the fat meter if you’re using 80/20 ground beef. Since it’s deer season, replace it with venison. If you don’t have a hunter in the family, look up a local farm and get some grass-fed ground beef. It’s got about half the calories of store-bought. Or, turn it into a chicken chili, as I did above. This is my “Black and White Chicken Chili,” so named for the black and canellini beans I use.  A homemade veggie stock gives a warm, rich base for the zesty peppers (I use green, red, and chilis in adobo sauce!), spicy onions, creamy beans, and tender chicken.

Meatloaf is a childhood memory. For some of us, it’s even a good one. It reminds me of home and big family meals. It also is often just plain unhealthy. Fortunately, it’s an easy leap from unhealthy to tasty and good for the body. The big step is to make sure you use lean meat, like grassfed beef, 90/10 from the store, or venison. Use egg whites instead of whole eggs as a binder, toss in oats and TVP for the bulking agents, then add tomatoes, zucchini, and other fun veggies. You want the tomatoes and zucchini to keep it moist. I usually toss in black beans, spinach, and some other goodies! Cover with fresh or canned crushed tomatoes and bake, then serve with smashed golden or sweet potatoes and it’s a good-for-the-hips meal that is better than the old stand-by.

Another All Local Feast

I didn’t get photos of the venison (gifted to us by my nephews Josh and Willie), and the photographs of the rest aren’t spectacular due to technical difficulties (meaning I’d screwed up the settings on my camera and couldn’t figure out how to reset them); but, the food was amazing.

The menu was a fresh baby greens salad, wilted orange-glazed kale, olive-oil roasted sunchokes, and broiled venison with a coffee dry rub.

Tonight will be venison with cauliflower-potato puree and veggies. All local. Yum!

Frugal and Foodie

Thanksgiving is over, and it’s time to hop back on the frugal food wagon! As many of you know, there are now four adults to feed in the house. We share our gorgeous, huge new home with another  couple that we’ve known for years, and are keeping the budget down by also sharing food. Here’s the next two week’s dinners (some of it in pictures).

November 30th – December 6th

Monday: Venison Sausage and green lentil soup, with homemade bread. One of our favorite soups for winter meets my brother’s venison stash. We were given some ridiculous amount of venison this year (which is fantastic, since we love the stuff), including these fantastic sausages. They were tender and spicy, giving a deep, warm flavor to the soup. As I’ve mentioned before, lentils are a great source of lean protein, are high in fiber, and a very frugal-but-satisfying dinner. We used homemade stock for the broth, and then paired the soup with some of UC’s homemade ciabatta bread. The total cost for the four of us was less than $2.00. If we’d had to buy the sausage, it would have been about $4-5 total.

Tuesday- Creole catfish, with apple & onion hash, mixed vegetables, and salad. This is a bit of a splurge meal. I love apple & onion hash, and since we have apples coming out our ears, this was the perfect time to make this great side dish.

Wednesday-Thai Salmon patties and hot-and-sour sauce, with miso-peanut noodles (whole-wheat), and a veggie. Canned salmon is another great source of tasty, lean protein at a good price, and mixed with TVP it’s an even better price. I’ll whip up some miso-peanut sauce (with a touch of lime), and grab a veggie out of the freezer to round things out.

Thursday- Mexican pinto beans and brown rice. I’ll be using some of our (huge) store of dried beans for these. Coupled with the brown rice this is a great, spicy dinner with lots of vitamins, protein, and fiber. There will be a salad on the side for  more greens.

Friday: Shape-It-Up Meatloaf with whipped sweet potatoes and a vegetable. My most-requested recipe, currently, is this meatloaf. Low in fat and calories, high in flavor and nutrition. Made with lean meat, oats, TVP, spinach, black beans, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and spices, this meatloaf has converted even the most hard-core meat eaters! This looks better baked, and tastes better than it looks period; but:

Saturday-Salmon, mushroom, and vegetable polenta. We love creamy polenta in the winter. It’s hearty, and when you toss in loads of vegetables, canned salmon, and some smoked black sea salt it’s also tasty and healthy. We’ll be using some of the wild mushrooms we collected this year:

Sunday-Venison Chili with cheddar & sour cream cornbread. My special chili gets a twist with venison (thanks, Dan!). Pinto, white, and black beans (soaked and cooked) will make this stew fun and flavorful.

December 7th – 13th

Monday-Salmon and blue cheese pasta. We’ll be making homemade, whole-wheat pasta if all goes well, then topping it with salmon and vegetables in light blue-cheese, parmesan, and lemon sauce. It’ll look like this, but with the addition of salmon:

 

Tuesday-Spanish braised chicken thighs with brown rice and salad. This one-pot meal is reminiscent of paella! Deep, rich Spanish flavors, lots of chicken and vegetables, all cooked with brown rice in a wonderful sauce.

Wednesday-Sweet & Sour Tofu. Our favorite tofu from Twin Oaks Commune will sit amid peppers, broccoli, and other vegetables in this Asian dish.

Thursday-Venison Roast with root vegetables and salad. The leftover root vegetables will be used to make the stew you’ll see later on in the menu.

Friday-Whole wheat pizza night. UC is making whole-wheat crust, our friend Adam is making the sauce, and we’ll all top our pizzas with our favorites. Mine will be light on the cheese, heavy on the roasted broccoli, onions, and TVP. UC’s will be heavy on the cheese and pepperoni.

Saturday- Roasted root vegetable stew. This is another great winter soup. Roasted root vegetables are pureed into a creamy soup, served topped with parmesan cheese and olive oil:

Sunday-Kufta on pita, with the fixin’s and cucumber salad. This Middle Eastern vegetarian dish combines lentils and bulgar for a complete, lean protein:

Right now, we’re spending about $100/week to feed 4 adults.

What’s your meal plan this week?

Back at it!

The move is done, and overall went well; so, I am back to cooking. And blogging.

Above: Chicken zirva, a recipe from Chef Channon Mondoux’s new book “Celebration at the Sarayi.” This is a current favorite of ours, with it’s deep flavors and heartiness. It’s a perfect winter dish when made with dried fruits. Below: the final product. This Turkish-Ottoman recipe is a unique and flavorful way to introduce people to Turkish cuisine.

One of the fun parts of my job is getting to taste new things. Last week, we headed to Horton Winery with our friends Dave and MJ for their 20th anniversary event, which included a cellar tasting and tour. They have some lovely whites, and are known for their Viogner.

The larget vineyard in VA, Horton makes over 50 wines, and they were almost all available for tasting. Needless to say, I didn’t go through them all. Having been told by reliable sources (read: Dave and MJ) that their whites were far better than their reds, I opted to stick mostly to those. Their Viogner was nice, and their sparkling Viogner was quite good. Their chocolate dessert wine was good, as was their blackberry.

Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to use their dessert wines in a chocolate cake soon, because I think the raspberry would be an amazing addition.

Featured!

One of my holiday recipes is being featured on AC’s Food & Wine page!

Holiday Cheese Tortes, by Shawn Sisson.  This is the same recipe I donated to the Bike Stop event earlier this year. I am excited!

Two Week Menu Plan

Sunday I got out of bed all by my lonesome, so to speak, and reveled in a perfect morning. The other half was off on an overnight lab-work trip (which I’d been supposed to go on, but had to back out due to work, unfortunately), and I had the morning to myself.  One of the tasks of the day was to start a grocery list and food plan for the upcoming weeks, which UC would help with when he got home. To do that, I felt, I needed more than my usual light breakfast. Since I work out fairly early each morning, my breakfast is usually protein & some fiber, and I eat a heavier snack when I get home. Sunday,I had the freedom to indulge!

In the picture: 0% Fat Fage Greek Yogurt (I prefer TJ brand, but we don’t have one close by), topped with fresh melon, blackberries & strawberries we put up earlier this year in the freezer, chopped walnuts, and a 1/2 tsp. local honey. Eggs, scrambled with leftover seared broccoli (the nutty flavor is deep and rich), mushrooms (mushrooms, in addition to being tasty, have recently been shown to decrease the risk of breast cancer by up to 35%), garden-fresh green pepper, tomato, basil, and thyme. Sided with clementines and a cup of Yoga detoxifying tea. YUM!

Eating breakfast, I started the menu plan, which was finished last night with UC. As we get ready to move, we’re concentrating on making some meals that leave excellent freezable leftovers. The idea is to get things we can heat up quickly in the microwave the week before and the week after the move, so we can avoid eating out (and eating unhealthy foods, too). So, you’ll see some heavier fare here pretty regularly for the next couple of weeks.

DINNERS

Week 1

Monday: Shrimp Enchilada bake with salad and crusty bread. This recipe is from this month’s Shape magazine, and is an experiment. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Tuesday: Pork piccata with golden acorn squash, salad, and broccoli. UC loves my pork piccata, which I make with a slightly lighter sauce than some restaurants. It’s important to use flat leaf, also called “Italian”, parsley in this recipe. Actually, I never use curly-leaf parsley other than for garnish, and rarely even then. It just doesn’t have enough flavor. Aldi had great broccoli this week!

Wednesday: Baked whole chicken with baked sweet potatoes and long beans. I’ll slide some lemon and rosemary under the chicken’s skin, rub it with a mixture of herbs (lemon thyme, sage, oregano, black smoked sea salt, pepper, and paprika) and stuff it with a quinoa and grape stuffing. The potatoes take about the same time to bake in foil, and the long beans will be seared (they’re from our garden this year).

Thursday: Rustic Cabbage soup with crusty bread. UC will be cooking this night, as I have an evening activity.  He makes wonderful cabbage soup that’s replete with butter beans and chunks of vegges. We serve it with a hunk of crusty bread (his ciabatta, in this case) to make a wonderfu meal on cold days.

Friday: Leftovers. I’ll be gone all day, and late into the evening working. So, it’s a great time to clean out the refrigerator. Some leftovers will be packed by me for lunch and dinner, some will be eaten by UC for his dinner, and the rest will be packed and frozen for the move.

Saturday: We’re out of town this day to deal with move stuff, so we’ll be eating out from necessity.

Sunday: Pumpkin Bisque with grilled cheese on artisan bread.  ‘Tis the season for pumpkin, one of my favorite things! Since we’ll be coming home late, we needed a fast dinner. We’ve got an amazing bisque recipe from a fabulous restaurant, L’etoile in Charlottesville, at the market last year. The restaurant uses a lot of local products, and the food is amazing. We’ll be serving this up and freezing some for the move. The grilled cheese will be on some of Thadd’s bread, with an-as-yet-undetermined cheese, and smokey chipotle mustard I’ll be whipping up.

Week 2

Monday: Roasted turkey, stuffed with apple, chicken sausage, & cornbread stuffing. Served with whipped sweet potatoes and seasonal veggie. Turkey is a good price right now, and while I’d love to buy our turkey locally, we just can’t spend $70 a bird or more. This is one of the few things we haven’t tried to work into our budget, but hope to possibly next year. With the move so close, it’s just not reasonable this year. What we will be doing is roasting the turkey and eating on it for a day or two. The remaining meat will be ground and frozen, to be pulled out after the move and mixed with mayo, pickles, and a few other things to make a wonderful sandwich spread. The bones will be made into stock, which will also be frozen for later use. I’ll make the cornbread for the stuffing this week, break it up and let it dry out, then store it in a plastic bag until next week. It’s fantastic with local tart apples and a good quality chicken sausage!

Tuesday:  Tofu & Chickpea Indian Curry over Brown Scented Rice. This is one of my specialties.  I don’t do it often for just the two of us because there’s no way to not make a mountain of it, but it freezes fairly well so long as you freeze the tofu separately, which we’ll be doing. My curries are spicy, but in slow-heat, forhead-sweating kind of way. The brown rice is scented with star anise, cardamom, coriander, and saffron. The curry itself has tofu, chickpeas, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, green peppers, onions, ginger, bananas (no, that’s not a typo), and some other veggies (whatever I find that looks fresh and tasty). This is a wet curry, made with yogurt and coconut milk, so it’s perfect over rice.  It’s topped with chopped peanuts,  green pepper, and raisin.

Wednesday: Veggie Lasagna, Shawn-Style, served with salad and garlic bread. There’s a trick to this lasagna that I just can’t give up yet. It’s one of my most asked-for recipes, and even meat eaters dive in for seconds (and thirds, and fourths, if I let them). It’s also got about half the calories of regular veggie lasagna! And nope, there’s no tofu or soy involved.  This will be served with a huge green salad and crusty, homemade garlic bread. I’ll be making two pans so we have enough to freeze.

Thursday: Zirva, with brown rice and seasonal veggie. Zirva is chicken roasted with plums and apricots, and it’s incredible. The recipe is from my mentor, Chef Channon, in her book “Celebration at the Sarayi,” which takes a look at 1500′s Turkish Ottoman Empire cooking. The recipes in this book are just mouthwater (hint: you can buy the interactive book at her website!).

Friday: We’re eating out for the second time in two weeks, which is pretty unusual for us. But, we’re trying to spend time with friends before we leave (yes, we’ll see them again, but not nearly as often), and this is a chance to meet our friend Dave’s mom!  Dave’s creativity is inspiring, and his commitment to environmentally-friendly landscape design is pretty fantastic, so we want to see where he gets it from! Dave and his wife, Mindy, have invited us to the Bavarian Chef for dinner with his mom. This restaurant is it’s very own experience. Go hungry, that’s all I am saying.

Saturday: Venison and Wild Mushsroom straganoof, served over spaghetti squash “noodles.” Another specialty of mine. The trick is in the fresh-ground nutmeg. The venison is from my nephew (my older nepher, though I suspect I’ll be getting some from my younger nephew in November, since he just got his first deer. Congratulations, Josh!!!). The Chicken-of-the-Woods mushrooms were collected and frozen earlier this year, and hopefully I can collect–rather than buy–some oyster mushrooms next week. Courtesy of an idea from UC, this will be served over spaghetti squash “noodles”, which he did with something else a while ago. It was spectacular, so it’s becoming a standard part of our menu.

LUNCHES (mix-n-match)

Leftovers. Tuna salad on whole grain bread. Salad. Probably some things I am forgetting.

BREAKFASTS (mix-n-match)

Steel-cut oats. Greek yogurt with fruit. Whole Grain toast. Scrambled/fried/poached eggs. Fruit. Homemade healthy muffins.

SNACKS

Hard boiled, farm-fresh eggs. Nuts. Cheese. Fruit (pomegranates are in season, yummy!). Fresh salsa & corn chips. Raw Veggies. Steamed artichoke. etc. Homemade healthy muffins.

BEVERAGES

Milk. Tea, caff and non. Water. Coffee.

I haven’t finished shopping for the whole two weeks yet, so I can’t give a definitive cost.

Canning and Freezing

I realized that I didn’t have any photos of what I actually *do* when I preserve foods, so I am going to make a more concious effort to set up the tripod and get some shots of what actually goes on in Chef Shawn’s Kitchen. This means you’re all going to see me at my worst, since I don’t shower, do my hair, and put on makeup before I work in the kitchne. In fact, I am often a mess, especially when canning: my nastiest clothes, oldest aprons. my hair thrown haphazardly up into whatever I think will keep it out of my food and my face. This is what cooking looks like to me, the nitty gritty. It’s what I do, it’s what I love, it’s what I think everyone who possibly can do should be doing  (yes, I am opinionated and passionate, which is why most of my readers are here).

Above: filling sterilized jars with hot peach sauce. I lost my funnel, which I am hoping to find when we move (or before, actually, which would be better). Below:  Lowering the jars into the hotbath.

Below: the final product: peach sauce we can enjoy this winter. This is just the first batch (I am canning another batch tonight, in fact). I love home-canned peach sauce in the middle of winter, it’s a decadent treat that warms you through and through.

I’ll be posting more about preservation soon, including freezing basil, pickling beans and cucumbers, and a bunch of other stuff. I’ll even include some recipes! And, speaking of recipes, there isn’t one for peach sauce. You just pit the peaches, slice them into quarters, and toss them in a pot over some heat until they get mushy (yes, skins and all). WARNING: Peach pits are poisonous when cooked and eaten. Please make sure to pit your peaches! I use a stick blender to whip it all into a sauce, and voila! No sugar needed.