I LOVE BUTTER!

Along with my sustainably farmed, organic, stress-free, yogafied, greentea drinking chicken we had a bounty of sides! I had to cook all these veggies before they went bad. So I made mashed potatoes. Not the healthy ones I normally make with some stock and parmesan cheese. These were with milk and butter...and they were so good! We also had corn...yes potatoes and corn. Two starches. I am sure I am going to hear it from my mom "Tracy, corn is a starch, you don't need anything else to go with it!". We also had Zucchini and summer squash and one more thing ROLLS! with more butter! OMG...it was so delicious. They were whole grain.. but with butter...they may have well be white rolls. OH and I did make some gravy out of the drippings from the well cared for and respected chicken. Yes my friends it was one of THOSE nights and my kids ate it up...all of it. They also took their roll with butter and ran it across their plate to sop up all the gravy. Yes this is the sweet joy of rarely eating like this. DAALICIOUS indeed! Now everyone is in their beds in silent fat slumber.

Special Guest for Dinner Tonight

I frequently buy organic chicken, but this is the first encounter I had with "Rocky Jr". I read the packaging and couldn't help but laugh. So does this chicken understand that in time they will take him to the back and wring his little neck? This chicken had a GREAT life before it was carnage for my family. Poor Rocky. May he rest in peace er.. in our stomachs...hmmm. Well it was very good needless to say. Go buy one. They lived a life of peace for you and me.

Rocky Jr. Frying Chicken
Sustainably Farmed

Because all animals deserve to be treated with RESPECT AND CARE, or chickens are raised and handled in a HUMANE MANNER. By allowing our chickens adequate SPACE TO ROAM, we create a STRESS-FREE enviroment. Our birds ar fed an all VEGETARIAN DIET and are NEVER fed anitbiotics or growth stimulants.

www.petalumapoultry.com

HOME OF ROCKY THE RANGE CHICKEN

Black Bean Burgers

I needed to make something quick tonight and at 3:00pm I still hadn't prepped anything for dinner. I wanted to make the burgers but I would have had to plan ahead and soak and cook my black beans and I failed today in that area and I had no other protein source. Once my son came home from school we ran to the grocery store to get what we needed. Let me first say...I haven't been to a large grocery store in a very long time. It was refreshing however to walk in and only buy 3 cans of organic black beans (which were cheaper that all the other brands), a block of sharp cheddar cheese and some whole grain buns that's it.

We get home and I now have 30 min to get a burger into my sons hands before he leaves for practice. So I drain the beans recruit my soux chefs (two kiddos) and they mash away. We throw everything else in and sear the burgers serve it up with Cheddar Cheese and organic mayo. 1 1/2 burgers later, I think man-boy is full? I know he ate, I didn't see him chew but I saw a burger-in-hand-to-mouth motion. BEEP BEEP ( his coach) kiss on the cheek and he's out the door. Whew! I know it's terrible to eat that quickly but I don't think he's ever done it differently.

Recipe as follows:

Makes 8 burgers using 1/2c patties.

3 cans Black Beans (drained and rinsed)
1/2 lg Bell Pepper
3 cloves Garlic
1 c Broccoli Crowns
1/2c Rolled Oats
1/2c unseasoned Breadcrumbs
2 eggs (whisked)
1 tsp chili powder
1/2tsp Smoked Paprika
1/4tsp Cumin
1/4tsp Coriander
1 1/2tbsp Kosher salt
1 tsp Oregano
Olive Oil or natural cooking spray

Preheat grill or pan on medium heat. Mash black beans until they begin to stick together. In a food processor puree bell pepper, broccoli and garlic. Add to bean mixture and remaining ingredients and stir until well combined. The mixture will be sticky.

Add oil or spray to the pan. Using 1/2c measurements form patties and place on grill and cook 4-5 min. on each side. Toast bun and add veggie or condiments of your choice.

My mom also joined us for dinner and we dressed our burgers with Avocado, garden Tomatoes, cheese and spicy brown mustard and ketchup along with Kettle Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper chips.

Refrigerate leftover burgers separated with parchment paper.

Spiced Carrot-Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

2 tablespoons ground flax seed
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 to 1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup finely chopped or grated carrot
3/4 cup finely chopped or grated zucchini

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of a loaf pan.

Combine flax seeds and water in a blender to make an egg-like mixture. Blend oil, soy milk and flax mixture in a large bowl. Add sugar.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and powder, salt and spices, and stir into the wet ingredients just enough to moisten. Add vegetables and walnuts. Stir lightly.

Scrape mixture into loaf pan and bake approximately 70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of loaf comes out clean. Cool in pan five minutes. Loosen sides, tip loaf out of pan and finish cooling on a cooling rack.

"Wiggle Room"

"Today was our first day at "school", AKA The Wiggle Room. We focused on the letter A, cutting As from magazines and pasting them on a big letter A, and then we baked a vegan carrot zucchini bread. YUM."

Pictures by www.yeptheyareallmine.blogspot.com

Bulgogi

or Bul-s#it as my oldest child would say!

Bugogi (Korean BBQ) served over Soba noodles and Swiss Chard

Recipe:
2lb boneless Ribeye ( very thinly sliced against the grain)
1/4c Dark Soy Sauce
3 tbsp cane sugar
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Toasted Sesame Seeds
1 tsp Sesame Oil
3 cloves Garlic finely minced
3 stalks of Spring Onions white part only finely minced
6 stalks of rainbow chard cleaned and cored
1 pkg of soba noodles

Combine all marinade ingredients and add beef. Allow to marinate at least an hour. Most recipes say to cook this on a Hibachi, we don't have one so I used a stove top grill (one of my favorite kitchen staples.. future blog idea!) Preheat grill on med-high and brush with Vegetable Oil or peanut oil if you prefer (those two oils tolerate high heat well) lay half of the meat on the grill and cook no longer than 30 seconds, flip and quickly cook the other side. Continue with the rest of the meat. Do not over crowed your grill you want to get that crisp delicious char on the meat and that requires a HOT grill.
Once the meat is done (cover with foil and set aside) add the Chard to the grill and drizzle remaining marinade over the leaves and allow to cook for at least 4 min on each side or until it looks wilted enough for the kids to chew through it without gagging. I cooked mine for about 8 min. You can turn the heat down at this point so the marinade doesn't start to burn. Remove from heat directly onto a cutting board and chop to bite size pieces.

I put the chard on the bottom of the bowl soba noodles, meat and garnished with chopped peanuts and more spring onions.

My husband, my youngest and I LOVED it!

My oldest threw his Chard in the garbage, which left him grounded for the night...not because he didn't eat but because he threw food away and that makes me absolutely insane. And because I cannot force feed my 5'9", 13yr old (me 5'3") man-boy he now has some research to do on the starving people right here in America. Or maybe some volunteer work at the local Loaves and Fishes. Or even better, he can hang out with the homeless man who stands at our busiest intersection begging for food, he can even walk there and I can save gas and time. I would say he can ride his bike or his skateboard but he lost his helmet and my husbands helmet so he would have to walk in his Jordans and put some wear and tear on those.

My daughter ate most of it even her chard. There was a bit left which I spoon fed to her.

After dinner was a mother-daughter trip to Burrs' Fountain for some mint chip ice cream.

Sweet Rewards!

Local Hot Spot

Tonight I felt the need to get some alone time. I beeline for my happy place. A place where music is free flowing, music so good that I imagine strobe lights and fog machines . I want to throw down my piece of cardboard and try out my best break dancing moves or the moonwalk and honestly if I really did that, I don't think anyone would care. No one ever says anything when I sing aloud in the aisles.
When I arrive at Sac. Natural Foods Co-op (yes that's what I said..the co-op) I get a decaf coffee and peruse the aisles and take my sweet ass time touching, smelling, reading, testing anything I please. No child is asking me endless "why" questions, or wanting a boob or wanting money or a treat or wanting to go home, want, want, want! OMG... I WANT to stab my ears out! Ok...sorry tangent.
It's so peaceful there, I don't if it's the pachouli oil, or all the samples of the soaps, oils, lotions I smell /use while I am there but I am absolutely obsessed with that place. They have everything you can ever want...gourmet, vegan, raw, bulk, Asian, Mexican, Indian and all in between. My great buys tonight are are all from the bulk section, that's where I spend the majority of my time.

Canellini beans (to make this delicious white bean guacamole dip I had today at a friends house)
Rolled Oats ( to make my raw cookies requested by my hubby to take into work)
Organic sugar
Organic Cocoa Powder - needs no excuse!
Organic Curry powder
Caraway Seeds ( I love Caraway seeds, I will find some use for them!)

And I heard a voice in my head " Mommy, bunnies cereal. I want bunnies cereal please, may I." Annies Cinnebunnies, picked up a box of those too. She's going to be so excited.

I come home, unload my treasures. Smell the Curry and the Caraway. Taste the Cocoa Powder. Show my husband...who amuses me by "appreciating" them too. Pack them away neatly. Grab my copy of The Co-Op Reporter and a piece of the couch.

I AM CENTERED.

Good...but it's not my favorite.

So I realized when reading my past recipes..we eat a lot of Italian and Pasta dishes. Which makes me want to branch out more. So upon my daily search for inspiration I found recipes for Spanish Tortilla and Paella and I realized I didn't have all the ingredients for either recipe. In my past, emotionally eating, spur of the moment life I would have ran out to the big chain grocery store and picked up whatever I needed. But not tonight and I am so proud of myself, I stuck with the "Spanish" theme and went with what I had. I came up with a Brown Rice, Vegan Paella. Please forgive me, all you Paella enthusiast's. I am almost %100 positive I broke some cardinal rule of Paellaism... no special pan, no delicious crusty bottom and NO MEAT! So I guess I can't really call it Paella, except for the spices. I stared this at 4:00, thinking I had plenty of time to do this and still eat by 6:00. Well after the prep work, it was 4:30 and then my oldest son came in to remind me (as he does every Tuesday and Thursday) that he has practice! CRAP! How am I going to do drop him off and add broth to the rice for the next hour? Following that thought, my youngest starts in with his tantrum which normally leads to a nap...hmmmm. So I did what any busy mom would do... called in for back up! The trusty hubby found a fellow teammates parents to pick up Alexander for practice and I put Dominic down for a nap. OK so that's all handled...now on to whats really important.
So this dish was time consuming, but anything with wine , Saffron and Smoked Paprika (my spice of the week) in it tops my list! We ate when my son came home from practice 7:30. It was very hearty. My husband (for a quick second) mistook the marinated Tofu for Chickenl. The brown rice cooked through and it wasn't mushy at all. Would have been a visually appealing dish, had I not thrown in the peas as early as I did. A bit grey... but still sweet! I cannot put a picture of this recipe on here, I have to uphold this "reputation" I have of only serving beautiful food to my family. Think, slow cooked brown rice, Peas, Artichoke hearts, Tomatoes and corn all tossed about. Not so pretty, however, I bet my friend Penny can make a stunning photo of it.

Recipe:
2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 tsp fresh ground Pepper
1tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
1/2 tsp ground chipotle chili powder
Toss cubed Tofu in this mixture and allow to marinate as long as possible.
1/2 tsp saffron threads
1/2 c dry white wine
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
2 c chopped sweet onion
2 c fresh tomatoes, pureed in food processor with vegetable broth to thin it a bit
1 quart organic salt free vegetable broth
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 1/2 c Brown Rice
1 chopped roasted Red Pepper ( I used jarred)
1/2 c frozen organic peas,
1/2c frozen organic corn or fresh if you have it on hand, you can just cut the fresh corn in round and throw it in whole and rustic style.
1 c frozen artichokes, I left them whole but you can chop them if you like
1/4 c fresh chopped Parsley

Soak saffron threads in wine for approx 30, or as long as it takes you to do the prep and the next step.

Saute Onions in 1 tbsp olive oil until translucent and a bit caramelized (do not allow to burn). Add garlic and saute for one more minute. Add rice and "toast" gently, this may take almost 10 minutes. Add wine/saffron mixture. Turn down the heat if it's spattering. Scrape all the bits off the bottom of the pan and stir until rice has soaked up wine. Combine the tomato puree with the broth and slowly incorporate this into the rice, one cup at a time and allow it to soak into the wine. ( yes this is the time consuming part, which is why my children were neglected from this point on). Once you have most of the broth in and it's simmering nicely, add the red peppers and the tofu. Allow to reduce and preheat the oven to 400. Add the tofu and the rest of the broth and put a the covered pot into the oven for about 30 minutes. If the rice is cooked add the remainder of the vegetables and cook for an additional 10 minutes. If the rice isn't done yet and more liquid is needed you can water 1 c at a time. Once it's done and all the broth is cooked in, remove lid and allow to rest for 10 min in oven.

Toss with freshly chopped parsley and ENJOY!

If you have a FABULOUS (authentic) Paella recipe that I should try please send it to me!

Chicken Cacciatore - Revised (9/10/09)

I am editing this post because I was reminded this morning while on the phone with my mother that this recipe is HERS. I stole it! Yes I did...and I am fessing up. I even called my mom the day I wanted to make this and asked her what she put in it. She should be proud though, my love of cooking was partly inspired by her. I come from a long line of passionate cooks. She was never one of snacks and junk food but she did make some dinners that are beyond comfort...think Tacos (she put Parm cheese on the fried shells way before Jimboys did!) and that hamburger, potato, green bean dish she use to whip up. LOVE IT... though I think only her daughters (3) can appreciate that dish. So THANKS mom...your the best... and when this Chicken dish wins me a "Best of" award and I am a world renowned chef, I will owe it all to you!

Love you!

Recipe is as follows

2 Lg Chicken Breasts cut into 1" squares
1 Yellow Onion, cut in half then thinly sliced
2 Garlic cloves
1 Lg Red or Green Bell Pepper (in my case it was more rainbow...love that farmers market)
5 Lg fresh tomatoes, if you don't have those (like me today) I used one large can of 6 in1 tomatoes.
2 tbsp Oregano
1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika (my addition, SHE didn't use this in hers..EVER)
3/4c Red Wine
6 Green Olives OR
1 Tbsp Capers
Salt and Pepper to taste

Pour 1tbsp olive oil into already heated pan and quickly saute chicken with a bit of salt until nicely browned, but not cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside. Add one tsp olive oil to pan and add onion, garlic, peppers. Saute until onions are translucent. Add tomatoes and remainder of ingredients including chicken. Cover and allow to gently simmer for 20 min...or longer if you have the time. If it's too watery remove lid and allow to cook down to desired consistency. I serve this over hot whole wheat spaghetti.

Summer Salad... Yellow Watermelon, Kiwi and Blueberries

An excerpt from a book I am interested in reading

"The Devil is in the Details" by Barry Foy

“Love: The universal nutrient, adaptable to all human cuisines. This affordable, easy-to-use substance enhances the nutritional value of virtually any dish. Dissolved easily in water, wine, milk, oil, gravy, mayonnaise (store-bought or homemade), soy sauce, lard, ghee, or even Vegemite, it can be added either during or after food preparation and has an extremely long shelf life. Significantly, love’s beneficial effects operate without regard to the skill level of the cook; in fact, many people look back fondly on dishes—sometimes whole meals—in which love was the only appealing or even palatable ingredient. Best of all, love does not stain saucepans or kitchen counter tops.”

Crisp Green Bean Salad!

2 Handfuls of trimmed fresh green beans ( lightly blanched in salted water, then shocked in a water bath)

1/2 cup of Kidney Beans

Red Onion slices, amount varies depending on your taste. I put about 8 thin rings.

2 tbsp Feta Cheese, crumbled

2 tbsp Roasted/Salted cashews

Tossed with Balsamic House Dressing (recipe soon to be posted)

It's crunchy and sweet, tart and salty and the best of all it's so fresh!

The pantry is full and it was the first day of school!

So I am finally posting again...
We were out of town and the fridge was empty...my world has temporarily been put on hold. That's what happens when we are out of our staples. After our refreshing visit to our local farmers market and our trip to T.J.'s I am centered and organized...well as far as food and nutrition go.
My son has started back at school this week and now begins the battle of him making time for breakfast and "remembering" to eat lunch. AH.. to be 13 again. I have stocked the fridge with food he can grab and go! His buss arrives at 7:30 and for some reason he has to leave at 7:00...hot am date or what? So we have sprouted wheat bagels, cream cheese, yogurt, whole grain waffles and a variety of cereal. I introduced him to Almond Milk and he loves it! I no longer have to buy cows milk. I am so happy about that.

Todays meal plan was:

Breakfast- Steel cut oatmeal with fresh Strawberries, Bananas and Honey. I have been toasting the oats and it makes such a difference in flavor.
Lunch - PB & J on sprouted wheat bread, Queen Anne plums from the market (the most delicious plums I have ever tasted). Hummus, salsa and flax chips. Eaten on the living room floor on a Tinkerbell blanket...all because my daughter wanted to have a picnic ;) It was sweet.
Dinner - Ratatouille with tomatoes and basil from our garden. Served over sprouted wheat Papparadelle pasta, sprinkled with Quattro Formaggio cheese blends.
Dinner was delicious...some protest from my daughter...her usual "That looks disGUSting! I am not going to eat it. " Well after a few minutes she did and told me it was "pretty good." She even asked for seconds ;) My one year old ate every morsel. I LOVE this age, where they devour everything in sight!

Later in the week:
Fish Tacos
Black Bean Burgers