Chicken by any other name

Last night I sucsessfuly roasted my first whole chicken. Turned out well, but then I had to figure out how to cut it up. I don't think it was a textbook carving job but my friends Jean and Joe were able to have a good meal with me. The whole time I was preparing and roasting the chicken I was talking to it. (strange I know) I may have given it a complex though because I kept referring to it as a turkey.

We had the roast CHICKEN, corn, and potato wedges. Peaches a la Jean (served with toothpicks) for dessert. Check out the photos from the night:

Hot Kitchen

I made a stew with crowder peas, okra, tomatoes, squash, zucchini. ground pork, and onions.

I've been having boiled eggs and either canteloupe (the sweetest one I've ever had) or a peach for breakfast.

I made dinner for my friend Katie last night. We had Port Cutlets with onion, tomato and okra saute and a side of roasted eggplant, carrot and onions. She brought over a cucumber and tomato salad from her very own garden! It was a great meal. I had the leftovers for lunch today.

Tonight I am going to cook chicken, roasted potato wedges and maybe some corn dish for my friends Jean and Joe. Photos to follow!

Unforseen Challenges

I knew that eating only local food would be a challenge, but what I neglected to think about was all the other challenges that go along with it. (1) Menu Planning- I pretty much have never made a week-long menu before. Deciding what works well as leftovers, the whole cook once use twice rules etc. (2) Cooking every meal. This is huge! I've already cooked a meal at 9:30pm at night because I couldn't pick something up from a restaurant. (3) Wanting to eat the food you cook can be hard sometimes. It doesn't really allow for cravings or last minute food decisions. I also have had one occasion when I looked at my plate and ate a couple of bites and then put it in the fridge for lunch the next day because I was just so tried of looking at it. (4) I also am learning to cook some things for the very first time like eggplant, a whole chicken, and fresh crowder peas. (see picture below)
I promised some photos and not all this rambling so here we go:

I cooked some brats in a skillet and then used the drippings from cooking the brats and sauteed okra, tomatoes, onions, and squash. It was delicious. I've also made some ground pork, tomatoe and pimento cheese "sandwiches" minus the bread of course.

I plan to cook the whole chicken, make my own chicken stock to make veggie stew with, and make some Italian sausage/ground beef meatballs or meat filling for some bell peppers I have. I'm also planning on making a peach chutney to go with some thyme pork cutlets with roasted potato wedges.

More soon...

First Days of Locavore

Here is a brief listing of the purchases I made Saturday. I'll have photos soon.

• Eggplant
• Squash
• Zucchini
  
• Corn
• Potatoes
• Onions
• Peaches
• Cantaloupe
  
• Yellow Pepper
• Red Pepper
• Okra
• Cucumber
• Tomatoes

More Soon!

Native Meats

I just pre-ordered the meat for my week of eating only local food. I purchased the meat from a local farm in Greer, Native Meats. They come to the Farmers' Market each week.

I purchased the following items:

• 1 Whole Chicken
• Ground Pork
• Ground Beef
• Pork Cutlets
• Italian Sausage
• Bartwurst

I was hoping to get some eggs from them but they won't have any at the market. I hope to get them from another vendor on Saturday.

Locavore

The coffee company were I work (Little River Roasting Company) has been setting up a stand at the local market (Hub-City Farmers' Market) for the past few Saturdays. Being around the farmers with all their fresh produce got me thinking about how food is grown, and how much we depend on farmers to weed, harvest, care for and labor over their crops, all so we can eat. I admit that I have been an uneducated shopper until the market. I knew that bananas weren't grown in South Carolina and that most of the produce I was buying at the local grocery store had traveled a good distance, but I never really thought about buying local produce and meat.

Now, thanks to the Farmers' Market I have been purchasing some local items to supplement my grocery shopping and while that works well, I was thinking the other day what it would be like if I restricted my weekly grocery shopping to the Saturday Market.

All that background information to lay down my week-long plan of attack:
This Saturday at the Market I will purchase all the items for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the week. I hope to be able to get meat, vegetables, fruit, and eggs. I have crafted a list of things to purchase with hopes that they will be available. After I collect my ingredients I will make a menu plan.

Here are the ground rules that I am giving myself for the project:

1. I can only purchase items at the Hub-City Farmers' Market this Saturday
2. I will only used the items I purchase to make myself breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the week.*
3. I will not go out to eat, or go to a friends house to eat during the week.
4. I will have friends over to eat with me.
5. I will drink only water, coffee, and RJ Rockers Beer for the week. A local brewery. (thanks for the suggestion Joe)
   
6. *I will use salt, pepper, and olive oil from my pantry, but nothing else.
7. I will keep a record of the meals I prepare and post the "recipes" here.

More after the market on Saturday!

I love Silpat

In an effort to make myself do more things that I know I will enjoy once I get my lazy ass in gear, I made chocolate chip scones thanks to some inspiration by one of my new favorite places on the web. It also gave me a chance to use a sil-pat pan liner I got for Christmas (Thanks Ma).
Check out the recipe and the super fun website I used here.

It was a very easy recipe to follow. My only note would be to use about a quarter cup more flour then it calls for because the recipe leaves the dough a tad too wet for my liking. You be the judge. I also see many other ways to use this recipe by simply changing the choc. chips to dried cherries, or lemon juice and poppy seeds. One might be even crazy enough to throw in rosemary , Havarti, and ham to make a "savory scone".

I took a picture for your pleasure:Make these scones. If you're like me then a scone, a crossword puzzle and a cup of coffee is heaven. Just don't burn yourself using an old t-shirt in place of pot holders...not that it happened to me.

Che Buonanotte!

Last night my roomie and friend, Heir Spiegel cooked a meal that needs to be shared. It was chicken bolognese over penne. It was delicious! It starts with onion, garlic, carrots, and celery- already the house smelled like a home. Add in browned ground chicken breast, thyme and parsley, deglaze the pan with white wine and simmer with some tomato sauce and say "Salve" to Italia.

Click here for the recipe.

We had only one criticism of the recipe. Use more thyme than it calls for. We also cut the simmer time a little short and I think it would have been even better if it had been allowed more time to blend all the flavors together.

It makes four good size servings.

Bon Appetit!

Using what you have

The other night I made a pasta dish and it turned out pretty good. I tried to remember what I did as best I can so that I can do it again and so that you might give it a whirl. It all started with these two veggies here:


Ingredients
Bow tie Pasta
Laura Lynn Sweet Onion and Garlic Tomato Sauce (I get only the best haha)
1 Small Zucchini
1 Small Yellow Squash
1 Small Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Can Peas
1 Palmfull of italian seasoning or oregano, basil.
Salt and Pepper to your liking
Olive Oil- enough to coat your skillet (skillet is a fun word)


1) Boil your water (as opposed to my water) for the pasta- the box it came in says how much water.
2) While water is coming to a boil, chop up your veggies and garlic. Bite size pieces are good.
3) Heat a skillet and add some olive oil, onions, and garlic. When the onions get soft and kinda clear add the zucchini and squash and cook those until they are tender.
4) Whenever that water is boiling add salt to the water and dump in the bow tie pasta.
When your veggies are tender pour in about half of the tomato sauce right into the skillet. Save the rest for another meal.
5) When pasta is done cooking, eh, around 10-12 minutes drain it.
6) Now to assemble: I added the peas to the hot pasta and then spooned the sauce from the skillet right on top.

The peas were strange at first but by the third bite I was hooked.

No picture of the finished product- I thought about posting this after it was all gone.

Dominoes!

What a night! Pizza ala Amber, laughter ala Chris, and dominoes and conversation ala everyone else. I finally made it to Dominoes night and it was all I remembered from my first experience at Family Camp, well minus the heavy drinking by some of the participants. What more could one ask for on a Sunday night which is usually spent going to bed early, getting ready to face the week by watching TV and being lazy? It was so much fun in fact that I have made an "appointment" for this Wednesday to do it all again! This could be a weekly event I think, and why not? This is what I want in life- people to talk with, agree with, disagree with all in a friendly, loving setting. I'm not sure if everyone there would be as excited or would romanticize the evening in the same way and that's o.k. It is just another reason for me to like it! hahahaha

I encourage everyone to set up a weekly get together of some sort- bridge, dominoes, book club, pot luck, whatever. Just get together, talk, argue, laugh. It does a mind and body good.