Dinner, July 4 - Getting Real in the Kitchen

Still going strong with local eats. Grass-fed sirloin pan-fried with garlic scapes served with yellow summer squash sauteed in duck fat and a tomato, cucumber and parsley salad. The olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing - not local. Everything else - local.

This entire dinner, including chopping, probably took me 30 minutes to make. Certainly no more than that. I see commercials all the time that insist on telling me I have no time to cook real food. They seem to think that since people (read: women) have jobs (outside the home as well as in) and families, fresh food and cooking are far too troublesome. Impossible, even. Why cook when you can reheat?

Thing is, cooking doesn't take all that long; it doesn't have to, anyway. Most meats grill up very quickly, but you can always chuck some chicken or pork in a crock pot, dump some liquid and veggies and herbs along for the ride, and let it cook while you're at work. Roast a chicken on the weekend and use it for salads during the week. If you're making a batch of marinara sauce or soup or chili, make extra and freeze it. There's lots of time-saving kitchen tricks that don't involve a plastic tray and microwave.

I think we've lost a lot of respect for cooking, and for food. I think we've forgotten the benefits of slowing down - stopping, even - and savouring moments. Cooking forces you to slow down and savour, and pay attention. It's a time where we can do something inherently good for ourselves and, even better, for others; we can nourish them, make them smile. I truly believe that little miracles are made in kitchens all over the world every day, and that these little miracles can help create a world that is happier, healthier, more conscious. Frozen, boxed heat-and-serve roast beef and canned veggies fill your gut the same as home-cooked roast and fresh veggies, but they don't fill your mind or your soul the same way. It's empty food. Dead. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein...there's just no THERE there.

If all you can do is one home cooked, fresh, from scratch meal a week, then do it. Even if you live by yourself. I know too many people who live alone and don't bother to cook much because "it's just me, why bother?" Because, silly...it's you. You're worth the bother.

Slow down and get real in the kitchen, and see if it doesn't spill over into the rest of your life. Might end up being just what you needed.

Look Upon My Dinner, Ye Mighty, And Despair

Hit the Trinity Bellwoods farmer's market today, because I am now a huge farmer's market whorebag, and got some more veggies - kohlrabi (flatulance be damned) cabbage and parsley - , organic tea and a grass fed beef sirloin. I also picked up - gasp - cheese. I am trialing sheep's milk cheese to see if I can tolerate it. As a former cheese whore (now farmer's market whore) I thought I'd be desperate to include it in my diet in some form, but now I've been without it for awhile I don't really notice. Still, from time to time it's nice to have some cheese and if all goes well, I may indulge. (Hey, how come it's sheep's milk cheese, but lamb chops? Why don't we ever say we're having sheep for dinner? Or cow, or pig for that matter? Like, we say chicken. Anyway.)

I cut the sirloin in half and marinated it in almond oil, maple vinegar and garlic for maybe an hour...however long I was at the gym. Grilled it 3 minutes per side and topped it with sheep cheese - a sharp, hard cheese that I don't recall the name of. How embarrassing. What kind of foodie forgets the name of the locally made sheep cheese she bought? Anyway, it's about a year old and the strongest, smelliest cheese they had. I love me some stank-ass cheese (not to be confused with...never mind). I served the steak over asparagus, garlic scapes, cabbage, parsley and kohlrabi greens cooked with bacon/bacon grease, maple vinegar, homemade beef broth, salt, pepper and more sheep cheese. Good? Bow to me, pitiful home cooks, because I am dinner goddess.

Now we'll wait and see if the cheese leads to any, umm, accidents. So far, I'm feeling confident.

Local Food Challenge - Dinner

Yesterday's dinner was EVOO and garlic-marinated elk steak with grilled veggies and spicy garlic relish, and homemade coconut milk vanilla ice cream with berries. It was so good I could have kissed myself. This will probably be dinner tonight as well, as I have another steak defrosted and ready to go.

Local: elk steak; spicy garlic relish; asparagus; baby zucchini/squash; lard (for the veggies); strawberries; cherries; raspberries; eggs and maple syrup (in ice cream).

Non-local: olive oil; baby carrots, cauliflower and garlic (have to use them up); coconut milk; vanilla extract, PolyD and Splenda (in ice cream).

I didn't take pics of Monday's dinner but I assure you, it looked DELICIOUS. It broke down like this...

Local: bison burger patty; wild boar sausage; hardboiled egg.

Non-local: mustard; Bubbie's sauerkraut and dill pickles; ketchup.

It was hot, and I just wasn't that hungry.

Foodgasm: June 12

Here's what you do with a patty pan squash...you saute it in ghee and olive oil, along with baby green garlic, shallots, cauliflower, asparagus and baby zucchini. Then, you serve it alongside a blue/rare, tamarind-pepper marinaded bison steak, sprinkle with celtic sea salt, and squeeze half a small lemon over the whole thing. Then you eat. Then you have a foodgasm.

Dinner, April 3

Tossed some chicken drumettes with coconut flour, garlic and onion powder; then, fried them with reckless abandon in coconut oil.

Tell me - what looks yummier than chicken frying in hot oil? NOTHING, my friends. Once these were crispy they were whisked off for pampering with paper towels, then a zipper bag to be lovingly coated with Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wing sauce, the king of all sauces. I adore all of Frank's stupendous sauces. If I am ever so lucky to meet Frank, I will immediately have sex with him out of sheer gustatory gratitude. I am a shameless 'ho when it comes to good sauce.

Next...

chopped organic bacon and leeks were gently crisped in a pan. Then, after the addition of a couple spoons of bacon grease (you don't save your bacon grease? Shame on you!) about 2 cups of beet greens and a handful or so of mixed herbs and baby lettuces were delicately tossed in. You cannot roughhouse with baby lettuces. Toss (gently) to acquire a healthy sheen of bacon grease, wilt, add a bit of herb dressing, toss (gently, dammit!), plate. Even picky greens-haters will eat leaves coated with bacon fat. And if they don't? Screw them. More for you.

Voila! A nummy (although dimly lit) dinner that is low-carb, full of good fats, and allergen-free. At least for me. Oh, there's probably a bunch of vitamins in there too...and due to the yummy fat, you'll actually absorb them! A novel concept totally lost on the likes of Dean Ornish (or as I call him, Count Meathater Von BaggyEyes) but we're so much smarter than the average doctor, no?