Tales from the Kitchen

It's Been a Long Long Time

2007-01-22T13:27:00.000-08:00

I started this blog to try to keep my knitting and cooking content separate. In reality, trying to maintain both blogs and take care of the kids and home has been too taxing. So, I will no longer be posting to this blog. I am going to move over my recipes to my main blog, Arabian Knits. I will leave everything up here, as it is now, and I'm not deleting this blog, but if you want to see anything more about my cooking (or knitting, or family), it will be on Arabian Knits.

Thank you all and goodbye!

English Muffin Bread for the Bread Machine

2006-10-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

After much fiddling around with the recipe I was given, this is what seems to work the best.

3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons yeast
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Run on large/normal cycle.

Two Meals for the Price of One

2006-10-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

If anyone out there still checks this blog, here is something new for you!

Tuesday night, we had smothered pork chops, mashed squash and scalloped potatoes.

I started the scalloped potatoes first, because they take the longest. I pulled out the fake mandoline I have, and sliced eight Yukon Golds. I layered them in a 9" X 13" pan, salting and peppering each layer. Then, I took two cups of heavy cream, tossed in two cloves of garlic, minced and a teaspoon of thyme. Tossed that in the microwave for something like two minutes, and poured it all over the potatoes, spreading the garlic around. Put the pan in a preheated oven, 375, and baked for an hour.

For the chops:

I sliced two onions and sweated them in olive oil, peeled, cored and sliced a pear and tossed that in as well, stirred it all around until they were soft and starting to brown, and put them on a plate. I then browned six one inch thick pork rib chops in the oil, after salting and peppering them generously (these were all natural, non-injected chops, fed with no medications in their feed), turning once. I had to do this in two batches, because even my largest pan wouldn't hold six chops in one layer at once. I put the first three chops on the plate with the onion and pear, when the second batch was browned on both sides, I added the onion and pear back, and stirred it all around a bit to cook them down some more. Then, I grabbed the apple cider vinegar and put a couple splashes in, half a cup? One cup? Something like that. Sprinkled the whole thing with two teaspoons of dried thyme and brought it all to a boil. Covered and reduced heat, cooked for about 15-20 minutes.

For the squash, I took two sweet dumpling squash, poked them all over with my knife, and put them in the microwave for 20 minutes. Pulled them out, and while burning my fingers, peeled them and removed the seeds, put all the flesh in a bowl with about four tablespoons of butter and some salt and mashed them up.

This provided dinner Tuesday and lunch yesterday.

Last night, after our mechanic fixed the starter on our car, we had him over for dinner. The beans and rice I think I've posted here before, let me know if I haven't and you want to know how I did it. I took a 1 1/2 pound flank steak (bought in the cheap meats section) and rubbed it with a tablespoon of chipotle powder and a teaspoon of kosher salt. We were going to grill it, but I ended up broiling it, something like 15 minutes. Sliced it thinly across the grain, served with the beans and rice in flour tortillas, with lettuce, sour cream and salsa. This went over really well.

For dessert I made the lemon pudding cakes from Fine Cooking, except I increased the lemon zest by quite a bit. Those were so good, we will definitely be making them again.

Next up, the recipes and food descriptions from my last post.

Back for a Second

2006-08-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have wondered where I have gone. Some of you may have given up on seeing another post. It all started innocently enough, we had house guests, and I thought I'd post some of the foodie reports after they were gone. By then, though, I was so hot and tired from the baby (did I tell you I was pregnant?), and just didn't want to sit at the computer that long.

So, bug me for recipes and techniques for:

Roasted Corn with Chile Butter

Lemon Blueberry Poundcake

Not Spice Cake Zucchini Bread

You can also ask about the wonderful grilled salmon meals we had, all the shortcakes we consumed, the three birthday meals we had and any other assorted things you think of to ask.

Meanwhile, I'll tell you what we ate for dinner Monday.

I took about 18 eggs, about two or three cups of leftover cheese sauce from the baked potatoes from Friday, basil from the garden, minced, and mixed it all up. Greased a 15" X 11" pan, dumped in the egg stuff, chopped up a head of broccoli and mixed that in, topped with shredded provolone, mozzarella and parmesan. Baked at 425 F for about 20-25 minutes. While that was cooking, I put in about two tablespoons of olive oil into a pan, heated it up, chopped up six stalks of celery and about six scallions, tossed those in the pan with a cup and a half of burghul, cooked a little bit, then added probably two cups of beef broth, some salt and lots of pepper. Brought to a boil, covered, reduced heat and cooked for about 15 minutes. Normally, I toast some pine nuts and throw it into the mix with the pilaf, but I didn't feel like it that night. This made enough for two days.

Our garden is doing quite well, though all we managed to get in this year were herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers and tomatillos. I have a crock of fermented pickles going, and we are enjoying eating the overgrown cucumbers, pear tomatoes and are starting to get the first of the large tomatoes and tomatillos.

That is probably the last real food news you will hear about for a while, since I am going in to have the baby on Friday.

Tortilla Casserole

2006-04-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

Wednesday we had this tortilla casserole, based on something I saw in Martha Stewart Living. I changed a couple things, based on what we had at home already, and ease of preparation.

I left out the spinach, didn't precook the tortillas in oil, used more poblanos than the recipe said and would make half the tomatillo salsa in the future, even with serving some with the torta, we have tons left.

6 fresh poblanos (recipe called for 4)
18 corn tortillas, cut in half
Sunflower seed oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 small onion, thinly sliced (I used sweet onion)
6 cloves garlic, minced (they said 4)
2 cans black beans, drained (you could easily use two or three cups of cooked black beans)
1 cup crema (we didn't have any, but did have sour cream, so I used that)
2 1/4 cups tomatillo salsa plus more for serving
1 1/2 cups grated queso fresco, Monterey Jack or a combination (I used the pepper jack we had in the fridge, I think it would be best with the queso on the inside layers and the jack on top to melt nicely)

Roast chiles over open flame, or under broiler on baking sheet, about seven minutes a side, until blackened and blistered. Put in a paper bag to steam about 15 minutes.

Peel chiles, remove seeds and stems and slice into about 1/2" wide strips.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Heat two tablespoons oil large skillet over medium heat, add onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt, cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent. Stir in chiles and cook to heat, about a minute. Transfer to a bowl.

Heat two tablespoons oil in same skillet, add garlic and cook stirring about 30 seconds. Add beans and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, mashing the beans a bit with your spoon. Set aside.

Line the bottom of a large round casserole, about three inches deep, with 12 tortilla halves, overlapping slightly. Layer with half of chile mixture, half bean mixture, and half the crema. Spread 3/4 cup salsa over top. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese. Repeat for second layer. Top with remaining tortillas, 3/4 cup salsa and 1/2 cup cheese.

Bake until heated through, about 30 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving. Serve with more salsa and crema.

Tomatillo Salsa (half the original recipe)

1 tablespoon sunflower seed oil
1 small onion, diced (again used a sweet onion)
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 pound tomatillos, husked and washed
1/2 cup water
1 fresh serrano, stemmed
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped (or just torn up, like I did)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Heat oil in a medium saucepan, over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, cook about a minute, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatillos, water, and serrano. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatillos have softened, about 15 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Working in batches (that's from the original, you could probably do the whole mess in one shot with half the recipe), puree tomatillo mixture in blender or food processor. Add cilantro and salt. Pulse to combine. Salsa can be made ahead of time and refrigerated for up to three days (probably more).

Tonight I am experimenting with a feta cheese and leek tart, to be served with a salad. If it turns out well, I'll post the recipe.

Just for the Halibut

2006-04-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

Last night we had grilled halibut, a tossed green salad and watermelon for dessert. I had been planning on making some cous cous for the fish to sit on, but decided we would fill up quite a bit on what we had without it.

I based it on a recipe from Bon Appetit, but didn't really worry about measuring everything, increased the amount to feed the family and used the sauce entirely as marinade rather than brushing it on and spooning reserved sauce on top at serving. It was perfect. Not over done, not dry and flaky, but perfectly grilled, slightly smoky, meaty fish. We devoured it. It helped that there were wild Alaskan halibut steaks on sale.

The marinade was very simple, six cloves of garlic, the zest of one lemon, juice of two lemons, about a half cup of olive oil, a large handful of basil leaves, finely chopped, about a tablespoon of drained capers. I rubbed the fish with a tiny bit of kosher salt and some fresh ground pepper and Rich grilled them over fairly high heat on a well oiled grill for about five minutes per side, they were pretty thick. The kids loved it, we loved it, and it is all gone today.

Easter Feast

2006-04-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

Well, after the Lenten abstinence, and the fast on Good Friday, we were ready to feast on Sunday. We had the Easter Vigil Saturday night, and ended at around midnight.

Sunday's feast was at our house, we've been hosting the church and family for about three years now. About four families couldn't come this year, so we only had about 40 people over including us.

I made four legs of lamb, stuffed all over with garlic and roasted in an herb paste

A roast turkey, roasted with rosemary, lemon, onion, salt and pepper and gravy to go along with it

Laban bi Khiyar, which is a yogurt cucumber salad/sauce with garlic, lemon juice and mint in it

Hummus

Three batches of pita bread, of which we have much more left over than we thought we would

Taratoor, a tahina, garlic and lemon sauce

Harissa, a spicy red chile sauce

Falafel

A pot of waraq 'ounab, grape leaves stuffed with meat and rice and herbs and cooked in a tomato sauce

Koubbeh, which is a shell of lamb and burghul wrapped around cooked lamb and pine nuts, all spiced

Tabbouleh

We set out lettuce, Kalamata olives, Spanish olives, sweet pickles and dill pickles, feta cheese, tomatoes, radishes. Someone brought California olives and artichoke hearts.

Other foods brought were,

Two hams, with a glaze of orange marmalade and peach juice on them that was very nice, but not cloyingly sweet

A green salad with glazed walnuts and pears and a champagne pear vinaigrette

Chips

Shrimp cocktail and crackers

Devilled eggs

Pesto pasta salad

Mixed veggies

A kind of pasta risotto with lots of vegetables

A Japanese rice roll type thing

Someone had brought seasoned turkey burgers to grill, but they never were cooked

For dessert: I made a triple chocolate cheesecake, double batch in a huge pan.

My mother in law made a lemon cake filled with lemon curd and iced with a coconut cream frosting and shredded coconut

Other people brought Easter sugar cookies, frosted and decorated

Chocolate covered nuts

Brownies with cherries in them

Chocolate cake (a belated birthday cake for our priest)

A shortbread apple tart

To drink:

Sparkling Shiraz (Lorikeet)

Vacqueyras Red Wine (Clos de Cavea)

Ginger Peach Iced Tea (made from Republic of Tea's ginger peach tea)

Lime Coke

Cherry Coke

Barq's Root Beer

Fanta

Ice Water

The lemonade never did get made, but nobody seemed to miss it.

Of course, there were all the plastic eggs stuffed with candy for the kids, too. The older kids put them out for the little kids to find.

Lenten Cookery

2006-03-29T09:21:00.000-08:00

Tonight I will be making my Accidental Souffle, which is a spinach, egg and cheese dish I made up one night when I needed to come up with something for dinner. That and a salad will be dinner tonight.

On Friday we ate a lovely frittata with potatoes, onions, peppers and asparagus. Also with a salad. Earlier last week, we had Melanzane al Forno, with broccoli raab steamed and sauteed with lots of garlic, and some pasta.

It has been challenging to come up with Lenten meals, and we've come up with some tasty and satisfying meals. Even though we haven't given up meat entirely, only on Wednesdays and Fridays, we are trying to use it less. My goal is that next year we will go meatless for the entirety of Lent. It is a physical discipline preparing us for spriritual discipline. Our priest quoted a saint this Sunday who said that if you can control what you eat, you can control your passions. We think this is really true, as all are matters of appetite. We are still trying to be guided by the idea of leaving the table before we are satisfied.

We did take a feast day last Monday, as Rich's parents were in town and watched the kids while we went out. We had a choice of dinner at a seafood restaurant to which we've been wanting to return and a diner type place with great burgers. Rich had been craving a burger for so long that we went with that place, and did eat a meat centered meal along with (!) french fries.

I am looking for some simple dishes for Saturday's dinner, they can include meat, but not as a main feature. Any ideas?

Dark Rye

2006-03-22T16:24:00.000-08:00

I have a really good sour rye bread recipe, but I want to find a great dark rye bread recipe. I've made black breads, and they were alright, but not quite what I was looking for. Any ideas?

Macaroni & Cheese and WTD with Guava?

2006-03-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

I got caught up in four loads of laundry and four loads of dishes and sundry other tasks yesterday, and never returned to post the recipe. So, to make a 9 X 11 pan:

I boil lots of salted water to cook the pasta (about a pound), and while that's happening I make a white sauce. Preheat the oven to 425 F.

1/4 cup butter
1/2 an onion, finely diced
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons mustard
a couple dashes of hot sauce, I use Frank's usually
3 cups milk
3-4 cups grated cheese, usually cheddar, but sometimes a mix with cheddar and other cheeses

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and saute a few minutes, then add the flour and stir to combine. I let that brown a little while stirring it occasionally. Then I add the mustard and hot sauce and stir into the flour paste. I add the milk, a little at a time, stirring to combine and let it cook five to ten minutes to thicken. Reduce heat to low and add the cheese, mix it all up until the cheese is melted.

In a greased pan, dump the cooked pasta (not all the way cooked, it will finish in the oven), and pour the cheese sauce over it. If you have any leftover or frozen vegetables, you can put some in with it as well. Stir it all up to coat the pasta, and bake for about 30 minutes.

Usually, I put buttered bread crumbs on top before I put it in the oven, but I didn't feel like cleaning out the food processor. When Rich came home from work, he reminded me that we had already made some that were stored in a container in the pantry, but it was too late at that point to do anything about it without making dinner pretty late.

I usually serve with a salad, and try to have two salads, one green and one fruit, to go with this.

Guavas

A friend of ours brought us about six guavas from his mother's yard in southern California. Aside from just eating them out of hand, what are some good things to do with them? Please leave suggestions in the comments.

Cooking Through Lent

2006-03-16T08:01:00.000-08:00

We are not Eastern Rite, so we still use dairy products and eggs. However, I think they cheat a little by allowing sweets.

Last Friday, I made macaroni and cheese.

I will post the recipe later today, though it is simple to do.

Tonight I will be making a chicken and lima bean stew with potatoes in it. I put dry lima beans, diced onion, potato, some garlic and chicken breasts in the crock pot with water and chicken broth to cover, some thyme and a bay leaf, and cook on low for about six hours. Season with salt and pepper and add some dry sherry in the last hour of cooking.

We do not go meatless through the entirety of Lent as used to be the custom, and still is in the East, but we do try to reduce our intake of meat, fats and sugars, and eat more heartily. Our priest suggested that a good guideline for Lent (and probably at all other times, too) is to leave the table before you feel satisfied.

Preparing for Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and Lent

2006-02-22T10:45:00.000-08:00

We are planning a game night with doughnuts and gatayif for Shrove Tuesday, whoever wants to come is welcome, and we'll play and eat and have a great time. I will still be cooking for the kids on Ash Wednesday, but with the two adults fasting, it won't be much. Rich and I are looking forward to Lent, and not just as a spiritual discipline, the dietary restrictions will help our well rounded figures.

I am very excited that this year we will be having an Easter Vigil. It will be ending at midnight, and we won't have morning services on Sunday. The church will be coming her for the feast that afternoon, and we will sleep in a little bit in preparation.

Last night's dinner was a quickie stir fry. I thawed some pork tenderloin and diced it up, marinated in soy sauce, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, and oyster sauce. I cooked some sliced onion in sesame and sunflower seed oil, then added the meat and some sliced green beans, then the sauce to thicken up. We served it over rice and rushed off to our Bible study.

Tonight will probably be a clean out the fridge type vegetable soup. We've had a cold spell for our area, with some snow pellets on Monday, and just chill nights. Just when we were hoping that we wouldn't be needing the heater much any more. Ah well, we should be getting out of it soon.

Feasting

2006-02-15T10:36:00.000-08:00

We had quite a nice meal last night. Falafel, grilled lemon chicken, laban bi khiyar, hummus, ful, grape leaves served with lettuce and tomatoes. I never did get the raspberry tart made, so I'm going to try to make it today.

We are planning ahead for our Easter feast. We will have a late night vigil, ending at midnight, and no church in the morning. Then the whole church will come to our house for roast lamb, grilled lamb, hummus and pita, baba ghanooj, laban bi khiyar, tabbouleh, grape leaves, and maybe fried kibbeh. I'll also make the triple chocolate cheesecakes and gatayif. Other people will bring veggies and fruit, salads, devilled eggs, breads, drinks, chips and dip, desserts, all sorts of things. We'll have olives out and feast after a long time of fasting.

Ash Wednesday is late this year, this is the first Valentine's day that wasn't in Lent in a long time, it seems.

Ice Cream

2006-02-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to dinner at our neighbors' house. They served a chicken stir fry with rice and a chicken and vegetable soup that was really nice. We said we'd bring dessert, and I really wanted to bring kiwi-lime sorbet, because I thought it would go with the food, but kiwis were really expensive. However, we did have cream and eggs and sugar, so I made two kinds of ice cream: coconut and dark chocolate. They were easy to make and very tasty. We enjoyed them a lot, and our neighbors made sure to keep the containers to finish them off.

We're having two couples over on Friday, and I'm still on the ice cream kick, so I'll be making two more batches of ice cream. Probably mocha almond fudge. We'll be eating wicked shrimp (in a spicy wine and butter sauce) over rice pilaf with a salad and some slow sauteed broccoli and butternut squash.

Tonight however, is clean up the fridge and get rid of leftovers night.

Rebuttal to the Comment on my Previous Post

2006-01-10T16:08:00.000-08:00

I can see why a veterinarian in a city might not see the imposition and burden on the rural farmer who is trying to rasie food for his family in this proposal. Especially when one considers that the only effects this would have on you, and that you would really see, would be to turn you into an informant and possibly increase your work with placing the devices in the animals. Simply reading through the proposal would not convince the people who will be affected to agree.

If the main concern is tracking disease, the USDA might take better care to inspect those large company meat processing plants, the ones where the vast majority of food contamination comes from in the first place. If this law would impose a crackdown on such operations, I doubt very much that those food companies would support it, as they do. Instead it makes the home farmer the target, the person raising food for his family without the intent to sell as well as the small food producer. It also includes non-food animals. In fact, in KS, after the mad cow scare, Creekstone Farms asked the USDA for permission to test each of the animals they slaughtered, so they could get back in business, at their own expense. The USDA forbid such testing. The reason, it seems, is because large-scale packing plants like Tyson, Smithfield, Swift & Co., and Excel Corp. do not want to do such intensive testing and these companies control approximately 80% of the meat-packing industry. As a result, Creekstone had to layoff 150 of their 800 employees. The USDA cannot control the major sources of food contamination as it is, and the big food companies know this. They know that the added cost to the small farmer from the tagging of the animals and the fines has the very real possibility of putting them out of business, if their smaller customer base cannot take the cost being passed on to them, or the home farmer for whom the added cost may make raising food for his family completely prohibitive.

Just the fact that Agribusiness supports these measures (when they have done such a poor job of maintaining even basic cleanliness standards in their slaughter houses and processing plants) makes me wary. And as for becoming more like Canada, the thought makes me cringe. They are having their freedoms stripped every day, and anything that would bring us closer to their system is a step in the wrong direction.

It is also ridiculous to include such livestock as poultry, especially chickens, when they are often culled early on, are attacked by predators (often neighbor dogs), and their turnover rate is so much faster than other livestock. Then, of course, is the tracking of non-food animals such as fiber animals, work animals and pets.

The projected estimate for implenting this plan is 33 billion dollars. $33,000,000,000.00 just to implement it, not including the cost to maintain it. $115.78 for every man, woman and child in the US. It does not include the cost to microchip the animals either, making those who raise food pay even more. Those who raise food for their own consumption have no way of recouping the cost of this program, where commercial operations will pass the cost on to the customer. This program will also eat away at rural programs like 4-H, as they will be swallowing the costs like the home farmer, with little or no recouping of their money.

A friend of mine who actually raises livestock for her family wrote:

Agribusiness, specifically The National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA), lobbied the USDA (after 9/11 and subsequent BSE scares) to create the NAIS supposedly to protect U.S. citizens and their animals from diseases. The NIAA is composed primarily of two groups - (1) large corporate producers and (2) the makers and producers of animal ID equipment. In April 2002 a task force composed of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and over 30 livestock organizations provided leadership in creating the animal identification system. Small-scale farmers involved in animal husbandry, homesteaders, and animal hobbyists were not represented.

Language quoted from the Draft Strategic Plan proves this, "APHIS then established the National Identification Development Team (NIDT), a joint, State, Federal, and industry group to further advance this effort. Throughout 2003, the NIDT, consisting of approximately 100 animal and livestock industry professionals representing more than 70 associations, organizations, and government agencies, expanded upon the work plan to produce the initial draft of the U.S. Animal Identification Plan (USAIP)." (Plan, p. 4) While associations, organizations, etc. may be backing the NAIS, they did not inform their members of this proposed legislation. Chances are the members still have no idea that their freedoms are being given away.

I am writing in opposition of the National Animal Identification System because:

(1) Should the NAIS become law, we will be forced to pay fees to register our farms and animals. "Even with public funding, there will be costs to producers." (Plan, p. 11)
(2) We will be forced to report to the national animal records repository within a short-term specified timeframe the birth, death, and loss of identification device, sale, or movement of any animal in our possession.
(3) We will be required to report to the national animal records repository when an animal we own attends a livestock show, participates in a trail ride, is transported to another farm for stud service, or takes part in a community parade, etc.
(4) Our personal information collected through NAIS could be disclosed - “the USDA cannot assure the confidentiality of all the information at the present time." (Plan, p. 15) Financial institutions were not able to keep this information confidential, so it is no surprise that USDA cannot guarantee confidentiality.
(5) The NAIS will violate the religious beliefs of minority faith communities by requiring them to become part of this computerized, technology-dependent system or abandon the livestock ownership necessary for their way of life. (Many adherents raise their own food animals and use animals in farming and for transportation. Some, by scriptural teaching, would refuse to take the "mark" of such a numbering system.)
(6) Our livestock would become part of the "national herd." (Plan, p. 8)

Not only would small farm operators be negatively affected by the NAIS, but this legislation will do serious damage to feed store owners, farm supply houses, hatcheries that sell and ship day-old poultry, and other businesses frequented by farmers.

The most common types of meat contamination in the U.S. are the occurrences of pathogens such as Listeria or E. Coli in processed meat. When meat becomes contaminated at a large packing plant, millions of consumers in all 50 states are exposed to the dangerous product. Government should enact a law to closer scrutinize the large commercial confinement food sources such as the giant broiler operations, the feed yards that produce beef, the large commercial turkey operations, laying houses, and the confinement hog farms. Because of over-crowded conditions and the general biological by-products of animal production, these are the places most likely to contribute in the spreading of infectious disease, not the premises of small producers. If our government is indeed concerned with BSE, why does it not test every slaughtered animal? In fact, if you look at the USDA's prior actions, you will see it does not care to test every animal slaughtered and in fact forbids it.

She also wrote, and I agree:

If the real purpose of NAIS is to track the food supply for instances like mad cow disease then:

1) NAIS is not necessary for horses, donkeys, guardian animals or other non-food animals (such as fiber sheep, goats, llamas, alpaca, angora rabbits) - these animals are not going to enter the human food chain in our country and should NOT be tracked by the government. There are already safeguards in place for preventing the spread of disease in horses. Regulations that would require implantation of a chip to track movement and registration of premises keyed to Global Positioning System coordinates is an invasion of privacy and makes no sense for a hobby farmer who raises alpacas or a family with a pet pony.

2) NAIS is not necessary for sales direct to the consumer from the farm. In these cases there is already far better tracking of the food chain. I am more confident in the safety of food raised on small farms than that which is commercially raised in confined, disease-promoting environments, pumped full of vaccines and antibiotics to counter the effect of confinement and mass slaughtered in unsanitary packing plants where the employees have no personal pride in the quality of the product they touch each and every day. If NAIS is forced on small hobby farmers and homesteaders, hundreds of thousands if not millions of individuals may have to give up farming if they cannot afford expensive RFID readers or cannot keep up with the excessive reporting required by NAIS.

3) NAIS should not be at all involved with people who are raising livestock for their own family consumption. They know exactly where the food came from - they raised it. There is no need to have any government involved in our own kitchens and food that we raise in our own backyards. I see raising food for our families as a basic human right that should not be interfered with by government.

4) NAIS is a violation of the religious freedoms of Americans whose beliefs make it impossible for them to comply. For example, the Amish choose to farm and live without technology according to their beliefs and this system is a threat to their way of life.

NAIS if implemented, should be required only for those large commercial operations where the health, welfare, and safety of livestock is disregarded in favor of profit. Commercial operations are responsible for the bulk of the meat and dairy product consumed throughout the United States, and they are responsible for the vast majority of disease and illness and contamination found in these products. They can absorb the cost of such an endeavor; the small family farmer cannot and should not!

Inclusion of small farmers, homesteaders, and backyard hobbyists requiring identification of animals that will never make it into in the food chain, or even requiring pets be identified strongly suggests ulterior motives by the government such as invasion of privacy. The plan, as it stands, will undoubtedly result in financial hardship for those already at risk, serving only to enhance the bottom line of special interest groups. Further, the overwhelming scope of such an endeavor begs failure as tracking the movement of animals, such as horses, will require considerable resources while providing no subsequent value to protection of the food chain.

I am extremely skeptical whether our government would be capable of tracking every single animal born for the entirety of its life. Given the failure of our government to track illegal aliens in this country, I cannot believe it will be able to track every single chicken hatched on a small farm. Even those members of Government who promote this plan realize this is impossible, which is why the sole responsibility has been placed squarely on the shoulders of those individuals who do not accept this program! As such, any failures will be a result of owner error and will result in fines being levied on these individuals. The government is implementing a program that they know cannot work while taking no responsibility for its failures!

Public Service Announcement

2006-01-04T09:57:00.000-08:00

Do you raise animals for food? Have pets? Shop at Farmers' markets or small organic producers of meat? Buy yarn or fiber from small production companies/farms that raise sheep, llama, alpaca, angora rabbits or goats? Then this announcement applies to you. Please read and sign the petition if you agree, and then write to your US senators and your US representative and ask them to oppose this. Also, please feel free to copy this post and post it on your blog.

Small farmers and backyard flock/herd keepers are facing a serious threat
to their way of life. The government is proposing a Mandatory Property and
Animal Surveillance Program that will require the registration of property
and individual animals, even if you have only one chicken, pig, cow, etc.
This must be stopped, or all small farmers will be driven out of business.

Help Stop the USDA from Taking Away Our Livestock and Our Pets

Poultry keepers and small farmers are facing a serious threat from a
proposed government intrusion in to their pastimes and way of life. For
quite a while now, the USDA has been working with the very largest scale animal industry
organizations ( for example, The National Pork Producers, Monsanto Company,
and Cargill Meat) to develop a mandatory "National Animal Identification
System" (NAIS).

Most small scale livestock producers, people who raise animals for their own
food, and people who keep horses and livestock as companion animals do not
know about this. The NAIS will drive small producers out of the market, will
force people to stop raising animals for their own food, and will invade our
privacy to an extreme degree. It will violate the religious freedoms of
Americans whose beliefs make it impossible for them to comply, and will
destroy the last vestiges of animal welfare from the production of animals
for food.

On April 25, 2005,the USDA released "Draft Program Standards" and a "Draft
Strategic Plan" concerning the NAIS. If you think the description below to
bizarre to be true, please go to usda.gov/nais and read the Standards and
Plan and check the citations for yourself.

By January 1, 2008, the NAIS will be mandatory.(Plan,pp. 2,10,17) Every
person who owns even one horse, cow ,pig, chicken, sheep, pigeon, or
virtually any livestock animal, will be forced to register their home,
including the owners name, address and phone number, and keyed to Global
Positioning System coordinates for satellite monitoring in a giant federal
database under a 7-digit "premises id number." St., pp. 3-4, 10-12; Plan,
p.5)

Every animal will be assigned a 15 digit I.D. number, also to be kept in a
federal database. The id will likely be a tag or microchip containing a
Radio Frequency Device, designed to be read from a distance. (Plan, p.10;
St.,pp.6,12,20,27-28.) The plan may include collecting the DNA of every
animal and /or a retinal scan.

The owner will be required to report the birthdate of every animal, the
application of every animal's id tag, every time an animal enters or leaves
the property, every time an animal loses a tag, every time a tag is
replaced, the slaughter or death of an animal, if any animal is missing.
These events must be reported within 24 hours.

Third parties, like veterinarians, will be required to report "sightings" of
animals. For example, if you have a vet on your property to treat a sick
animal, and the vet sees any animal without the mandatory 15-digit computer
readable id, the vet will be required to report you.

If you do not comply, the USDA will exorcise "enforcement" against you. The
USDA hasn't specified the nature of "enforcement" as of yet, but it will
probably include fines and/or seizing your animals. There are no exceptions
- under this plan you will be forced to register an report even if you raise
animals only for your own food or keep horses for draft or transportation.

What you can do:

Small scale keepers of poultry and other livestock can take action to create
an effective movement in opposition to the USDA plan. First, small scale
livestock owners should not participate in any "voluntary" state or federal
program to register farms or animals. The USDA is making farmers willingness
to participate in a "voluntary" program as a justification for making the
program mandatory. ( See Plan, "Executive Summary" and pp.7-8) Small farmers
and livestock owners can also help to inform and organize others. The USDA
presently does not plan to finalize it's rules for mandatory id until the
summer of 2006. There is still time to make your voice heard. Please, sign
this petition and let the USDA know we will not stand for having our right,
freedoms, and personal privacy taken away. Thank you.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/369063795?ltl=1136227578

Rich's Theory

2005-12-12T10:51:00.000-08:00

He thinks that I didn't make it as a finalist, because my recipe was too much like actual food, rather than an instant meal that requires much in the way of packaged goods. He says he will come up with some such abomination next year, and thinks he will have a good chance of making the finalist list. I love that he's trying to make me feel better.

Melanzane Photographs

2005-12-08T14:07:00.000-08:00

Here they are, in all their blurry glory. I forgot to put the camera back on landscape after taking some detail photos of something else.

Melanzane al Forno, the Cheater Way

2005-12-07T17:11:00.000-08:00

I have an incredible recipe for this, but in order for me to make it in a hurry, I have come up with a cheater version. Pictures will come tomorrow. I made this tonight, for our vegetarian meal.

Melanzane al Forno

2 medium eggplants, about a pound each
12 cloves garlic
salt
pepper
1/2 cup olive oil, with 2 tablespoons reserved
2 cups tomato-basil pasta sauce, homemade or jarred
1 pound frozen, sliced mixed peppers
2 cups shredded mozzarella, provolone and parmesan

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice off green stem end of eggplants and cut in half lengthwise. Score a diamond pattern in the meat of the eggplant with a sharp paring knife, being careful not to cut through the skin. Slice the garlic into slivers. Slip about seven slivers of garlic in each of the eggplant halves. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

In a large frying pan, one that can hold all the eggplant in one layer, heat almost half a cup of olive oil over medium heat. Carefully put the eggplant in the pan, skin side down, reduce heat to medium low and cover. Cook for about five to ten minutes, until the skin is browned and wrinkled. Turn with a slotted spoon and cook three to five more minutes, until the flesh is browned, and soft.

Carefully put the eggplant in a 9 X 13 pan, skin side down. Cover the eggplant with the tomato sauce. In the frying pan, splash in about two tablespoons of olive oil and add the remaining garlic silvers. Stir to cook, add peppers and saute in the oil. Spoon over the sauce and sprinkle the cheese all over the top (you can either shred them yourself or buy a bag of mixed Mediterranean cheeses). Bake for 20 minutes.

While they are baking, make a salad and start some salted water boiling for pasta. Cook about a pound of pasta, any kind you like, in the water. The eggplant needs to rest about 15 minutes, to be cool enough to eat. While it's doing that, drain the pasta and toss with olive oil, ground pepper and crushed garlic. If you really want to be fancy, you can infuse the olive oil with chopped garlic and use that instead of just tossing the whole mess together.

Serve the eggplant with the pasta and the salad. We serve a half to adults and a quarter to each child, so this meal feeds our whole family.

Dinner Last Night: Chicken Ottoman

2005-12-07T16:57:00.000-08:00

Last night I made Chicken Divan for the family, this is something we all like, and it goes together quickly, even if I don't have leftover chicken and need to cook it up from raw. I got the recipe from someone online, who I think got it from his wife, and I have changed it a bit, like I change every recipe that comes into my hands. However, we were a bit broccoli-ed out, so I used green beans instead, which really isn't Chicken Divan, so if you make this, call it Chicken Ottoman and the food police won't get you.

Here is the recipe with my changes.

Chicken Divan (or Ottoman)

1/4 cup butter
1/2 onion, peeled and diced
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 cup grated parmesan (or romano, we like it either way, last night's used romano)
1 lb broccoli, peeled and chopped (or any other vegetable you like, we've made it with cauliflower, green beans, among others)
2 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite sized pieces (this is about 2 chicken breast halves)

note: if you use the frozen chicken that has the sodium solution in it, you will not need to salt anything, but if not, taste for salt and salt as necessary. Also, if I am not using leftover chicken, I cook the chicken in olive oil after sprinkling it with black pepper, I make the sauce during the time it takes to cook the chicken.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the onions lightly. When they start to soften, add the flour and cook, stirring, to make a light roux. Add the chicken broth and cream, and cook, stirring, to thicken, about three to five minutes, then add the mustard, sherry and worcestershire sauce. Stir to blend and take off the heat. Add the parmesan and stir to melt.

In a 9" X 13" pan, put the broccoli and chicken, and mix. Pour the sauce over the top, and stir to coat all the pieces.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until bubbly and heated through. Serve with rice and a salad.

Thanksgiving Post Mortem

2005-11-30T10:40:00.000-08:00

We are recovering, the stock is in the freezer, and all the turkey has been eaten. 15 people can eat a nearly 22 pound turkey in two days. That was the new thing we discovered this weekend. We also found out that unless we can get away with the same size turkey next year, we will need a larger roasting pan. This one just fit in ours.

Because nobody had to drive home the same night, as we have always had each year, we were able to have dinner at dinner time, rather than at breakfast. So, we eased into the day, had a late breakfast/brunch of blintz casserole, double batch in a larger pan, served with raspberry jam and sour cream, two hashbrown casseroles, one with sausage and one without, and lemon cranberry scones - the original recipe. I made four batches

Lemon Cranberry Scones

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Zest of one lemon
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 425. Prepare one pan for baking.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Cut in butter, I like to rub the pieces of butter through the flour with my fingers, but you may also use a food processor, until mixture resembles large peas and cornmeal. Add cranberries and lemon zest and mix together. Stir in buttermilk until dough holds together. Knead lightly on a floured surface. Pat dough into a circle about eight inches across and cut into eight wedges, like a pie. Place them two inches apart on baking pan. Brush tops with milk and bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Our final menu, what actually made it to the table, for dinner was:

Lemon-Rosemary Roasted Turkey with Bourbon Gravy
Pumpkin Rolls and butter
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Shredded Brussels Sprouts
Maple Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Bread Stuffing (I was going to make my wild rice dressing, but my mom made this instead)
Lemon Cranberry Sauce
Cranberry Horseradish Relish

We had a Chardonnay and a Sangiovese to drink, as well as Martinelli's Sparkling Cider, Apple and Cranberry Apple. My mother in law started a salad, but decided that with the appetizers and the amount of vegetables on the table for dinner, it wouldn't be missed.

We started with a relish tray including:

Mixed pickled vegetables, four kinds of olives, dill pickles, bread & butter pickles and sweet pickles
Crudites Platter
Spinach Dip
Asst Crackers
Stuffed Grape Leaves
[edited to correct] Devilled Eggs

For dessert, we had two each:

Pumkpin Pie, made from our sugar pumpkins
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Cranberry Cherry Pie
Nantucket Cranberry Pie

I also made a sweet potato casserole that was loaded with eggs, butter and brown sugar and topped with pecans, more butter and brown sugar.

We're still full.

Not a Finalist

2005-10-24T14:45:00.000-07:00

Well, as I was beginning to suspect, I am not one of the 100 finalists in the Pillsbury Bake Off. I will post my recipe for Lemon-Cranberry Scones, that I developed to use two of their products, soon. I modified my, very good in my opinion, basic scone recipe to use their flour (negligible difference, I use whatever we have or is on sale) and Yoplait Lemon yogurt, rather than the buttermilk I normally use. I had to fiddle with amounts and baking times to make it all work the right way, since the yogurt wasn't quite the same viscosity or consistency of buttermilk, and after baking several batches in different ways, and serving them to many people, came up with a great recipe. It was evidently not what they were looking for, though. I would think they would want a recipe to use up the lemon yogurt, since I cannot imagine that it sells all that well. Ah, well, their loss I suppose, and I'll share the recipe with you and my original recipe.

How Many Things Can You Make with a Squash?

2005-10-05T10:05:00.000-07:00

Well, it is squash season. I have made a roasted, onion and garlic stuffed, buttercup squash. I have two butternuts. One will become soup and the other will be sliced and sauteed in olive oil with garlic, red peppers, carrots and thyme. I passed up an opportunity to pick up a mini hubbard and a cheese squash at the farmers' market, which I regret. I may have to go back and get some. I'll probably pick up some cippolinis and beets as well. I love fall vegetables. We didn't grow any veggies this year, not even tomatoes, so we will be spending the fall preparing the yard for a garden next spring. I wish we had grown our sugar pumpkins and tomatoes at least.

So, what are your favorite squashes and how do you eat them? Leave a comment to tell me.

My favorites are the winter squash. I really only like the yellow crookneck and zucchini tyoe summer squash (we will be growing a kousa type in the spring). Patty pan squash and I don't get along, and I don't believe I've tried cocozelle. I adore pumpkin type squash, rouge vif d'etamps, small sugar, and butternut squash of any kind, buttercups, cheese, delicata, hubbards, sweet dumpling. I can take or leave acorn squash, they're alright, but I likely won't grow any. Ditto for spaghetti squash.

Our menus this week have been lovely. Sunday we had grilled pizzas with a nice salad, we had our neighbors over for dinner. Monday, we ate leftovers, because I wasn't feeling all that well. Last night we had a kind of cross between a chicken pot pie and chicken and dumplings with dill biscuits cut out and baked on top of the chicken filling. Tonight is the butternut squash soup and a salad with more of those herbed biscuits. Tomorrow is brisket with carrots, onions, peas and potato pancakes. Friday is homemade mac and cheese with some fruit and a salad. Saturday, chili and cornbread. Sunday a pizza party for Alexander's birthday party. More details to come.

A Plug for Cooking with Martha Stalwart

2005-09-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine has a cooking blog with some of her friends, I like to try some of the things they try and read their posts. Today I noticed a good homemade hamburger skillet type thing that could be a nice hurried weekday meal with a salad and some bread: Supper In a Hurry is the post title. Go check it out, and the rest of the blog, there are some great finds there.

Cooking with Our Crops

2005-09-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

Last night I made a large savory egg custard, 8 eggs, a cup of sour cream, two cups of cottage cheese, salt and pepper, 3/4 cup flour, a whole bunch of chives from the yard, some shredded cheddar folded in with the chopped chives at the end. Baked it for 30 minutes at 425 in a very greased 9" X 13" pan. I used our potatoes,

which I parboiled in salted water, in a saute with thin green and yellow beans and baby carrots. I cooked them in some olive oil, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Served the custard with the saute and some olive oil bread.

The potatoes grew in the recessed window to our basement, when one of the boys (or all of the boys) through some potatoes in there a while back. They harvested the little babies last Saturday.

Here is our little truck of potatoes: