Try It, You’ll Like It (Big Flavors for Little Palates)

Fun-Doo!

 

Yes, I like to say “Fun-Doo” instead of “Fondue” just because it’s fun. Fondue is fun; saying Fun-Doo is fun too. It’s a little cheesy, I admit. (Ha! I did it again! I am so witty.)

 

Ok, seriously…fondue is a great way to get kids to eat lots of great veggies. I started to make it when I was pregnant and not interested in eating healthy veggies. Why do kids like fondue? Most kids love CHEESE and love to DIP things. Dipping things in cheese? Priceless!

 

(Note: I have no problem letting my toddler eat traditional fondue made with wine; I cook the wine first to allow the alcohol to cook off and still retain the great flavor. If you prefer not to cook with alcohol or just don’t have it in the house, try substituting chicken broth, apple juice, or white grape juice. Be sure to select unsweetened juice.)

 

Swiss Fondue Recipe

Ingredients:
1 garlic clove
2 cups dry white wine (Hint: But the mini bottles of chardonnay to keep in the kitchen for cooking. If you don’t want to open a regular bottle for a little bit in a recipe, this a great solution!)
1 pound Swiss cheese, shredded
1 teaspoon cornstarch
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg

Directions:
Toss the cornstarch with the shredded cheese until it is incorporated.

 

Rub a medium saucepan with the garlic clove. Pour in wine and place over medium heat. Allow it to come to a boil and then simmer for 2 minutes.

 

Slowly begin to add the shredded cheese, stirring in a “figure 8” motion with a wooden spoon.  Stir constantly until all cheese is melted.

 

Continue to cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes, then season with nutmeg.

Serves 6

 

Great dippers for your fondue:

• Bread (whole grains are best!)
• Broccoli
• Bell peppers
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Asparagus
• Tortellini
• Mushrooms
• Grilled chicken strips

Tip: Blanch some of the vegetables to remove the “raw” flavor. This is especially helpful for broccoli, cauliflower, and asparagus.

How to Blanch Vegetables:

1. Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl and set it next to the stove.
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil.
3. Drop your veggies into the boiling water for 1-2 minutes.
4. Using a slotted spoon, carefully remove the veggies and plunge them into the ice water. This will shock them and stop the cooking process.
5. Your veggies should still be crisp and cool; the green veggies will even have a brighter, fresher color!

I hope your family has fun with this recipe!

 

A Chicken In Every Pot - Part II

We cooked our fresh chicken on Wednesday night and found it to be delicious, full of flavor, and a (mostly) welcome departure from the grocery store variety.  Here is a recap of the big event:

I chose to brine the chicken.  If I did it again with this type of chicken, I would have allowed it to brine overnight and then "dry out" during the day. 

I used Ina Garten's Lemon and Garlic Roast Chicken as my template, with a few adjustments.  (Do you ever watch Barefoot Contessa?  If so, then you know Jeffrey loves his chicken!  It makes us laugh whenever Ina makes chicken for Jeffrey, so I had to pay homage.  Plus, I trust her recipes.  Trust is very important to me when I use other people's recipes.  Well, trust is just important all the time, isn't it?)  Wow...that was a HUGE digression.

Back to the chicken...
The chicken had flavor.  It reminded us a little bit of turkey.  When you buy your typical boneless skinless chicken breast at the store, it is really a blank canvas for your recipe.  This bird had its own tremendous flavor that was simply enhanced with some butter, salt, and pepper.  The inside was stuffed with garlic, lemon, and thyme, but those flavors didn't really stand out to me.

I was most intrigued by the differences in anatomy between my bird and the typical one at the grocery store.  Simply stated, there was very little (if any) fat; the leg meat was very dark; and the breast meat was much smaller.

There was a fair bit of, shall we say, "wrestling" involved in the preparation of our bird.  This is not for the faint of heart and certainly not for people who wish to forget their dinner ever had a life.  I prefer not to work with whole birds just because it doesn't come naturally to me; I need to remind myself every time how to tie it, how to break it down, etc.  This was especially difficult with two little munchkins circling my feet the enitre time.

My favorite moment of the entire experience was when I was breaking down the chicken for us to eat.  As I twisted a leg to pop the joint, Andrew walked in and said, "Mommy, you made us a frog?"  I love it!  I wish you could see the scene; we are still laughing, days later.  I also love that he took it in stride and didn't think it was weird.  (I also love that he asked for me to add nutmeg to his cereal that same morning!)

Would I do it again?  Definitely!  The flavor was great, I learned a lot, and I will be able to improve my techniques next time.  Most importantly, I took comfort in knowing how the chicken was raised.  There was no question that I was feeding my family something wholesome. 

Life On The Go

They Smile and Nod Politely…

….but people don’t really understand what I do. Once I explain, they generally think it’s cool. So here it is in a nutshell: I go into people’s homes and cook them food.

Interested? Read on my friend, read on…

Usually I make about 20 meals, stocking them in the freezer. Imagine having a lot of convenience meals ready to heat & eat, except they aren’t full of preservatives and sodium; they are made with real food by a real person, and were cooked in your own kitchen instead of a factory. Sounds pretty nice, right?

Imagine if someone cooked food just for you – a menu developed for you based on the food you like to eat, your dietary preferences, your allergies, and even your little food quirks that you won’t admit to anyone except me. Does that make you feel like a celebrity? Cool – it should! Are my clients rich people who live extravagant lifestyles? Nope, not at all (although I would be happy to cook for them as well!). Most of my clients are regular people like you who don’t have the time or interest to cook. They are large families and single people; they are workaholics and stay at home moms.

I hire someone to clean my home. I am perfectly capable of cleaning my own home; I’ve even been known to clean it myself from time to time. However, I don’t want to clean it. Although I desire a clean home, I prefer to spend my time doing something else (cooking, crafts, playing with my kiddos, etc). This is pretty much the same concept for a personal chef: you could cook, you might even want to; but if someone else can do it for you, then why not? Go for it!

Wordless Wednesday: Gathered In My Garden

A Chicken In Every Pot - Part I

What do you really know about the food you eat?  Not much.  Sometimes I feel it's better that I don't know what happened to the cow or chicken or tomato before it graced my plate.  Some really terrible stuff is going on with the food we eat and ignorance really isn't bliss in this case.  I recommend you spend some time reading Michael Pollan.  Skinny Bitch was a gateway for me; it's so fun and informative that I return to it often.  Bottom line: I know that I can't ignore the food I feed my family.

Tonight will be different.  Tonight when I roast a chicken and lay it down in front of the people I love the most, I will know where that sweet bird came from.  The chicken lived a few miles from us.  It ran in a field (do chickens run?  I'm sure this one did.  And smiled too.), moved freely, and had a healthy life.  Until Tuesday. But I digress.

By now you know that I am loving this process of exploring the foods produced at our local TerraVita Farms.  So when they offered to deliver a fresh, never frozen, free-range chicken from their farm, I couldn't resist.  My only experience with chicken involved grocery stores, factory, pumped up breasts (not in a good way), and uncertain living conditions.  I had a lot of questions, and you might too.  For example:

Q. Will it be whole or in parts?  (Please say parts, please say parts, please say parts....)
A. It is whole.  That's ok; I've been working being brave anyway.

Q. Will there be bits and pieces? (I'm thinking about gizzards and other unmentionables.)
A. No.  *Sigh of relief*

A question I should have asked, but didn't: How long will the neck be?
Hmmm...wasn't ready to see that one.  At least the turkey people have the decency to detach it and shove it in the cavity.  Luckily, my husband knows me and loves me.  After I went to bed, he removed the chicken from the brine, "took care" of the neck, and returned the chicken to the refrigerator.  That's why I married that man.

Ok, so the chicken is resting comfortably in my refrigerator and I am getting ready to make a great dinner for my family...one that can make us all feel good.

Stay tuned for more about our feathered friend...

Finding Okra

I like to find a new ingredient that is intriguing to me, learn more about it, and develop a great recipe.  That is exactly what happened on Saturday at the Farmer's Market when some Jing Orange Okra grabbed my attention at the Terra Vita Farms stand. 

 

Up to this point, my only experience with okra was in soup (maybe even a gumbo), and probably only a couple times.  I didn't have anything against okra, but it just didn't register on my radar.  The color of this particular fruit (yes, it's a fruit; I checked) caught my attention.

 

After some quick research about okra, I learned just enough to be dangerous in the kitchen.  Fortunately, I stumbled upon a DELICIOUS side dish!  This is basically how it went:

Okra and Sun Dried Tomatoes with Rice

 

Ingredients
Olive oil
Sun dried tomatoes, julienned
Mild peppers, sliced thin (they were from my parents' garden so I am not sure the variety I used; they looked like banana peppers but didn't have any heat)
Garlic, minced
Okra, sliced thin into wheels
Brown rice (cooked)
Kosher salt

 

Directions
Saute the sun dried tomatoes in the olive oil until fragrant.  Add the peppers and garlic; saute for 2 minutes.  Add the okra and salt; saute for about 1-2 minutes.  If the okra cooks too long, it will get gooey and sticky; you really want it to stay firm.  Stir in some rice.  Eat and enjoy!

Are you interested in learning more about okra?  I was.  Here is a little bit of what I learned this week:

Okra originates in Africa and is a member of the same family as the hibiscus.  Because it has seeds, it is a fruit.  Okra is commonly found in Middle Easter, Cajun, and Creole dishes.  It is a common thickener used in soups and stews, such as gumbo.
 
To Buy:

• Choose colorful fruits that are long and thin.  When the pods grow longer, they get woodier, drier, and tougher. 
• Fresh is best when it comes to okra; it does not store well (even in the refrigerator) and is best when eaten a few days after harvest.

 To Cook:

• Flavors that pair well with okra include: tomatoes, onion, pepper, curry, coriander, oregano, lemon, and vinegar.
• Stir-fry tender pods whole; add at the end of cooking and quickly heat through.
• Steam pods and dip them into seasoned oil or butter.
• Cut the pods into cross-section "wheels," bread, and fry.
• Pickle it.
• To avoide releasing the mucilage and turning it into a goopy mess, keep the pod intact and do not cut off the base or tip.
• Feeling adventurous?  The mature seeds can be toasted and used as a coffee substitute.

 To Eat:

• Okra is high in fiber and low in calories.  it contains significant amounts of vitamin C, vitamin A, folate, calcium and iron.  (Delicious and good for you...what could be better?)

I hope this inspsires you to try a little okra the next time you find it at the store or the farmer's market.  Let me know how it goes!

Bon appetit!

Try It, You’ll Like It (Big Flavors for Little Palates)

Anna’s Food at 7 Months


Anna is busy exploring some chunkier textures in her food and even trying to get those pesky little Cheerios into her mouth. So cute!


Here is what a typical day looks like for Anna this summer:

Breakfast: Oatmeal, oatmeal, oatmeal! We eat a lot of oatmeal in this house, we really do. I usually serve about 1/3 cup of oatmeal with a sprinkle of cinnamon or freshly grated nutmeg. Sometimes I add a couple tablespoons of applesauce (all natural, no added sugar) or minced banana for variety. I haven’t been cooking the oatmeal, but rather just letting the milk soak into the oats.

In this picture, Anna is feeding herself some Cream of Wheat. I make a batch of the cereal (or use some leftovers), pour it into a shallow container, and refrigerate. When it is time to serve, I simply cut it into ¼” cubes, warm it slightly, and serve.

Lunch: I can’t resist sharing fresh, local summer fruit with Anna. Branstool Peaches are at the peak of freshness, so there isn’t a good reason not to eat many each day! We have the amazing opportunity of eating peaches at lunchtime that were harvested that morning. I usually cut and peel the peach, then dice it into tiny pieces. Most days I also mix in one plum that has been prepared in the same way. She loves it!

Dinner: Vegetables are usually the focus of our dinners. Anna can eat most vegetables now, but we tend to eat a lot of sweet potatoes, peas, zucchini, yellow squash, acorn squash, butternut squash (oh yes, we love our squash too!), carrots, broccoli, and potatoes. I try to incorporate veggies from our main dinner into Anna’s meal as much as possible. Brown rice often makes an appearance with the veggies; although she likes the flavor, I think she gets frustrated when the grains get stuck in her gums so I try to make it creamy by giving it a quick puree in my Magic Bullet.

Drinking: The sippy cup still feels a little forced, but she likes to sip water from a small, open cup. I am grateful that she is still nursing well and plan to continue until she is one year old.