Good Food Comes From Happy Cows

Asian Marinated Chicken with Sriracha Dipping Sauce

Did I get your attention?  Something about Sriracha always perks my ears.  We love heat around here; Thor loves eating foods that bites him back and Fia seems to be taking after him.

In keeping with our lower fat/calorie eating, I found this recipe and I'm planning on serving it again this week.  The tangy marinated chicken doesn't really need the dipping sauce but they are good together.  This would be good served with lettuce leaves to wrap bites of chicken in with some steamed rice.  The recipe also suggests using the marinade for pork, shrimp or tofu.  I think tofu will be the next guinea pig :)

Mmm, pig.  Smoky bacon.  Saucy barbecue ribs.  Ooh ooh, carnitas.  Sorry, got distracted.  Here's the recipe:

Seared Chicken with Sriracha Dipping Sauce
Servings: 4
Source: Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2005, page 249

For the Chicken
1/4 cup shallots, minced
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
8 skinless boneless chicken thighs
For the Dipping Sauce
3 tablespoons ketchup
4 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon Sriracha hot chile sauce
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon grated ginger root

1.    Combine all marinade ingredients for the chicken.  Add chicken and marinate in the refigerator 3 hours to overnight, turning chicken occasionally.

2.    Combine dipping sauce ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use.

3.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place chicken thighs on a baking sheet and bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes.  Serve with dipping sauce.

Calzones

Let's see, Thor had a week-long sales meeting, we're heading to Vegas this weekend and plan to spend lots of time by the pool with Fia and Thor will be a groomsman in his brother's wedding at the end of the month. 

Healthy eating has been the order of the month.  And I just happened to have bought a Cooking Light book at the thrift store last month.  The best few bucks I've spent in a while!

While some of the recipes have been just a'ight, a few have been winners and will be a part of our regular rotation.

One we really liked is this artichoke and spinach calzone.  The recipe calls for shredded cooked chicken breast but since I didn't have any, I added a few slices of pepperoni (I know, not low fat.  But it was just a FEW slices!).  Anyways, leave it vegetarian like I have in the recipe or get crazy and add whatever your chubby little heart desires:)  I served it with Fresh & Easy pizza sauce (which we love btw).  The only problem with their pizza sauce is that it's a bit thin so I also simmer it for a bit in a saucepan to reduce it.  Also, the pizza dough was from Fresh & Easy.  I've tried Trader Joes and just don't care for them.  Or you can make your own, which would be even better.

Artichoke and Spinach Calzones
Servings: 4
Source: Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2005, page 252

1 14 ounce can artichoke hearts, well drained and finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups spinach, thinly sliced
2 ounces feta cheese
2 ounces mozzarella cheese
1 package pizza dough, divided into fourths
16 ounces pizza sauce, heated

1.    Preheat oven to 425 degrees with pizza stone on lower rack.

2.    Mix all ingredients except for dough to combine well. 

3.    Roll pizza dough quarters into large rounds and set on a cornmeal dusted surface.  Spoon 1/4 artichoke mixture into each rounds and starting at one end, twist edges together until the entire edge is sealed together.

4.    Transfer calzones to pizza stone and bake until puffed and golden, about 12 minutes.  Serve with pizza sauce on the side.

GARDEN PREP: THE DIRTY WORK BEGINS

According to Carl, my husband and my dad are the luckiest men on earth.  Of course Carl is probably at least 80 years old and I may be the first woman he's had to chat with in weeks so his standards may have slipped a bit.

While in the midst of shoveling dirt from a stranger's front yard who listed free dirt on Craig's List, Carl came out and we chatted a bit while Thor and my dad tied tarp down over the first load of dirt we piled up on the pickup.  Thor and my dad were having none of it, wanting to just get this crappy job done so I talked with Carl while he lamented life.  He was old, he couldn't use his tools anymore, he was just sitting in this house waiting to die.  Before leaving, he told me that I made his day.  I told him that given the way he described his days, that wouldn't have taken much.

After another load in the pickup and my dad's El Camino (which I have a crush on, did I mentioned that I love that car?) we had a pretty nice little pile of dirt going.

We scarfed down Double Doubles from In & Out, fries and shakes (there's nothing like consuming that much meat, cheese and fat and feeling like you've earned every last calorie) then let Sofia  and mom play in the dirt.

Here's a picture for perspective.  Pay no attention to the rusted out lawn chair, the 3 tiki torches that have only been used to help support the clothes line or the tufts of hair from the dog who's shedding like crazy:

Maggie got lots of love that day from Sofia:

You can imagine the amount of dirt that I found in the cuffs of her pants later :)

So this week I need to work on leveling the ground under the beds, then beginning to fill the beds so I can start amending the soil.  That's IF I can keep Maggie from eating the compost and manure before I get it worked in.  Note to all visitors: do NOT accept kisses from Maggie in the next couple weeks.

FOCUS GRASSHOPPA

Why an I sitting here trying to read the many gardening blogs I enjoy when I have 45 minutes to make breakfast for Sofia and I, then load up tarps, rope, shovels, Gatorade, etc so me, my dad and Thor can drive out to Clairemont and haul away 2 yards of dirt?

Gaaaaah!

SEEDS ARE COOL

Do you know what your food looks like?  Would you recognize it in the field?  Would you recognize it before it fruited?  How about before it grew?

Last year I couldn't say yes to these questions.  I couldn't tell the difference between a tomato plant before fruiting and a carrot plant.  Now, well, it's not much better but I do know what the leaves of tomato and potato plants look like.

But seeds.  Whoa nelly.  Talk about some interesting looking things.  Tomato seeds are fuzzy.  Spearmint seeds are teeny tiny, smaller than fleas.  Think flea poop.  I was pleasantly surprised by the variation in seed size, shape and texture.  Starting from the upper left, going clockwise with a large paperclip for comparison: climbing french green beans, spearmint,  tomato, and onion seeds:

But the seeds that actually made me gasp were the marigold seeds .  They look like little feathery bits of grain with a black base.  Kinda like a beak of a bird.  Here they are with nasturtium in the lower right corner and cucumber in the lower left corner:

It's so impressive that these little nuggets will grow into little seedlings, then grow and bear fruit, all with just dirt, sun, and water.  Freakin' amazing.

MILLE SCUSE

I owe a thousand apologies to anyone kind enough to have sent me a private email message.  I NEVER checked my emails before, assuming that nobody would ever want to email my humble blog. 

Now, my inbox isn't overflowing with flattering, complimentary emails... but a few people have been nice enough to email me and I've never responded.  Because I'm very busy nowadays a dumb ass.

My apologies....

GARDEN PREP: I'M TOO OLD FOR THIS CRAP

I should call my dad and see if he's able to move today.  We spent about 4 hours yesterday putting the beds together and we were both aching and bitchen just a couple hours in.

Here's where the beds will go:


I LOVE my raised beds!!  Did I mentioned the hours of strategizing my dad and I went through, considering the type of wood, what size planks to use, what type of hardware, etc?  We decided to use brackets on the inside and outside.  I bought some big ass 6x6" brackets used for framing lumber that require the use of bolts.  My dad thought it might be overkill so I went back to Home Depot and got some 3x3 brackets that would screw in.  But once we were ready to screw them on, we decided to go with the big ass brackets, using the steel screws he had with washers since the bolt holes were bigger than the screw heads.

Once they went on, we both kinda stood back and said "yeah".  They were perfect.  Industrial.  Not fussy.  Kinda kick ass now, take names later.


You can barely see the hardware cloth already attached to the furthest bed.  Thor and I will be tacking on the cloth to the other two later.  They need to be rotated 90 degrees to their final position but I still need to level the ground before that happens.  Here is a close up of the brackets inside.  This bed is still upside down.  We left a gap at the top so I can build up another 6 inches if I choose to at a later time and still room to connect the new section to the old section.  The brackets are great because the steel creates a seal between the two boards:

Here's a closer view of the big ass brackets on the outside:

And just for fun, a closeup of Maggie showing her age:

GARDEN PREP: THE HEAVY LABOR BEGINS

If you don't consider hauling 12" pavers from Home Depot to the car, to the garage, to the backyard or digging up lawn heavy labor, then you can say the real work shall begin this weekend.

My dad and I will be building the beds this weekend.  Most of my seedlings have sprouted and a couple are ready to go into beds.  The others still need a week or so, just enough time to try to find some dirt to fill the beds with...

Sofia has shown a good deal of interest in the seedlings.  I'm not sure if she'll be excited to watch them grow or excited to see how many of them she can pull out.

As you can see, the nasturtiums and the green beans are kicking butt while everything else is poking along:


I'm planning on planting a few tomatoes out in the front yard so our neighbors  can grab a few whenever they want. 

Also, a quick shout out to Canine and Mulysa who have been sponsoring my compost bins and dropping off their green waste.  Many many thanks.  Please feel free to stop by and pick veggies whenever.

I'm not quite ready to set the beds on the ground yet though.  Due to the numerous gopher holes, I need to rent a sodroller and compact the dirt before setting them down.  The very helpful guy at Home Depot suggested the sod roller instead of the motorized soil compactor, saving me about $40 a day and not having to spew fumes around.

The last thing I have roll around in my head is crop rotation.  Still not sure what should go where...

GARDEN PREP: LET THE WORK BEGIN!

I keep telling Thor my ideas for the garden and backyard.  I see his eyes glazing over before getting flashbacks of MY eyes glazing over as he tells me about his fantasy baseball team.  Or how the Chargers REALLY have a shot at the Superbowl this year.  No, REALLY!  Or about his life's hopes and aspirations :)

He told me yesterday that he really doesn't mind whatever I decide for the backyard.  "It's all your project," he says.

I reassure him that I understand that it's "all my project" in that "I will do all the work" but that I am open to hearing his opinions without any labor expectations.

So far I have the redwood planks drying out in the garage, I'm halfway done digging out the patch of lawn that's in the way, and after many many hours in bed contemplating the design (and budget) I have a plan for finishing around the new raised planters.

Here is the area that the three 4x6' beds will be going:



The planters will have 2' walkways around them with pavers set in and landscape rock filling in between.  The edge will simply be bricks.

From these pictures, you'll see that I have about 2 more feet of grass to dig out along the long end, then more grass to dig out along the patio where the larger area of pavers will go:

You can see that I now have a third reactor set up, courtesy of Mulysa (and you see that little butthole already marking my pavers!):


I guess I no longer resemble the San Onofre Nuclear (or is it nucular) power plant :(


Here is Khyber, ever vigilant against those pesky fruitflies:


Well, I'm woefully behind in getting my seeds in some dirt (someone who shall remain nameless but who is in the 90th % for weight and only 50th% for height) refuses to give me 30 minutes to get them planted!

So now that he or she is napping, I'm going to get my chopsticks dirty...

MO BETTA BEEF

Well, it's that time of year again.  We just put in our order for beef with Morris Grassfed Beef for pickup in June.  Since we quickly realized that 40 pounds of beef was waaaaay less than we needed for a year, we've ordered a half a cow, about 160 pounds. 

However, that means we won't be able to buy any extra for anyone else out there :(  However, if y'all feel like caravaning, we'll be hauling ass to get to Santa Nella (the southern most drop off point they make) and get home in one day.

I remember last year feeling a little guilty above guzzling that much gas to drive 8 hours there and back to buy meat that we could easily buy from the local supermarket.  But after much thought, I actually feel pretty good about our decision.  Thinking backwards about how that beef got to the supermarket...

The beef was delivered from the supermarket's regional distribution center, using fuel.  It was delivered to the distribution center from a packing plant, using fuel.  The  cows were shipped from a CAFO to to the slaughterhouse, using fuel.  While at that CAFO they ate loads and loads of grain, namely corn, which all had to be shipped in.  Not to mention shipments of antibiotics, hormones, etc.

Okay, going sideways for a moment, the corn was probably shipped from some large agribusiness storage facility.  Before that it was shipped from some sort of grain processing plants.  Before that it was shipped from a farm.  Before that a farmer used farm equipment (anyone suppose they use hybrid tractors?) to plant, tend to, and harvest the corn. 

Going sideways from there, the farmer most likely used a lot of fertilizers (which are probably somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico) and weedkillers which had to be shipped in (and we won't even go into the fuel used to create these chemicals).

So back to the cows, before spending their last few miserable months of their lives ankle deep in their own feces and packed into tight living conditions, they were shipped from a ranch to the CAFO.  And the most local these cows are will be central California.  That's if you buy from Henry's or another more local market. If not, they're probably from out-of-state.

So, in case it's not clear, I'm feeling pretty good about getting my beef from Joe Morris and his family.  Their cows live in open pasture where the primary inputs are sun and rain.  Plus any profit will be to his family and their employees, not to an already highly paid executive who's burning jet fuel traveling around the world to promote his large, heartless corporation who'll gladly sell you meat from unhappy cows.