Wind Dancer Ranch

I've been waiting to write this entry because I wanted to give it the time and attention it deserved. I need to get to it, before I forget everything that happened.

A few weeks ago, I went up to Wind Dancer Ranch in Yolo County, to "cut and wrap" my portion of a pig. I split the hog with two other people from the Bay Area Meat CSA. One person took half, the other half was split between me and one other person.

This was such an incredible experience! I feel bad, because I don't have the pictures I wanted. This is my fault - I've got to learn to be better about that. But I didn't get any pictures of the farm itself, despite the fact that the owners, Lisa and Jim, took us on a grand tour.

These two people are amazing - working regular jobs in addition to fixing up and running this old, abandoned farm. We could see how much they've accomplished, and how much they still have to do! But they just jump in work until its done. These are the real heroes of American life.

Wind Dancer has several animals: the pigs, of course, and chickens, turkeys, sheep, rabbits, horses... I had one of their turkeys for Thanksgiving last year, and it was wonderful.

They also have a garden, of course, but don't grow crops to sell. They do grow feed for the animals.

It was a hot day, which made it difficult for the weak city dwellers to concentrate. I brought my 14-year old grandson with me, and he was very impressed. He'd never been exposed to this kind of thing, but he loved it. He even asked if he could come work with them next summer! He couldn't do it this year, because he has a broken arm.

The highlight of the day, was learning to cut the hog. They had already cut it into quarters, so we dealt with the front and hind quarters of our half. We all gathered in Lisa's kitchen, where she has a marvelous wooden table.

She supplied us with cutting boards and knives, and with Jim helping, we proceeded to trim away the rough, pinkish remainder of skin from the fat areas. This was a very thin layer - you can sort of see it along the edge of the fat in this picture.

Jim gave us lots of direction as we sliced, and helped quite a bit with the hard parts. Strength-wise, I'm a wash.






We made sausage with a lot of the meat, using spices we brought from home. Lisa contributed any extras we needed.

This was an incredible experience. Lisa and Jim are working on a real "butchering room" which will have tables, large sinks, commercial refrigerators, and all the huge equipment this job requires. Including, hopefully, a commercial-grade food wrap machine. The little one we used kept stalling, and stretched things out far longer than we'd planned on. But they're talking about having classes for butchering or canning... whole weekends when people can stay in a guest house at the farm and spend time with others who want to learn these important skills. Or who just want to have fun with others while they work!

I had such a great time up there, and I hope I get back. It will take us a while to use all the meat we got. But I do need variety - some lamb, perhaps, or a rabbit or two. Maybe chickens. Another turkey, for sure! But thank you, Jim and Lisa, for all your hard work and help. Good luck to both of you!

A Low-Cal Meal Jenny Craig Can't Come Close To

Here's a simple, low-calorie dinner that is, nevertheless, amazing. The secret is fresh, local ingredients at their prime. Once again, this meal is a result of needing to use up my CSA veggies, although I confess to buying the tomatoes at Whole Foods.

The carrots are a Moroccan Carrot Salad from my Green's cookbook - just carrot curls tossed with a bit of lemon juice, olive oil (only a teaspoon), sugar (just a bit), and orange peel with a little water. The recipe called for orange flower water, but I had no such thing in the house, so I improvised. These are really good carrots!

The summer squash was sauteed in a little olive oil, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. It doesn't get much better than that.

The tomatoes are those heavenly heirloom tomatoes - the kind that are deep red, and heavy with flavor. They make you swoon, they're so good. I just sliced one up, added salt and pepper, and covered them with eggs over easy.

We topped the meal with banana daiquiris - strange perhaps, but I had bananas to use up. It went with the meal just fine.

Post-Vacation

I've been home for a week, and you know - it was good to see vegetables again. I always say that.

My first tasks were to clean the frig, go grocery shopping, and pick up my CSA box. I have to confess to being somewhat disappointed with this summer's boxes. Not completely disappointed - I've had asparagus and English peas, and a few baby artichokes. Green beans, occasionally. But where is my corn or squash? When do the melons come in? What about peppers? I see these things in the store and most of them are from local farms. Why didn't my farm grow them?

Probably they'll start showing up in the box and I'll be overwhelmed. Last year, I remember getting so many sweet peppers, that it took me until this March to use them all up. That's pretty cool, actually. And this week, I got several onions, something else I've been waiting for. So hopefully, the summer stuff will start to come in.

The one thing I'm not so crazy about? Cucumbers. They just don't do it, for me. I like putting them in my drinking water, but that's about it. I should try to make pickles. I'm not mad about them, but I bet my husband would love them. I think my older grandchildren would like 'em, too.

Prep Work

What do you do to prepare for an out of town trip? One thing I have to do, is cook!

My weekly box came right on schedule, but we won't be home to eat it.Here's what my kitchen looked like:

Time to get busy! Here's the sauce for a vegetable stew. It used an onion, which was slightly caramelized, along with some broth I had in the freezer, parsley and other herbs.

Here's the stew waiting for it's crusty topping and thirty minutes in the oven. This took care of the asparagus, fennel, garlic, mushrooms, another onion, and more parsley. I had lots of parsley.

This is what it looked like when it came out of the oven:

That's dinner tonight, with a nice Zinfandel. Perfect for the cold, rainy day we had!

But that didn't take care of everything. No, there were still veggies on my counter. So I shelled the fresh English peas (yum!), chopped up another onion, along with a jalapeno, mint, and a tomato, to make Pea Curry:

I'll freeze this and serve it next week with Roti and brown rice. I also blanched a batch of snap peas and tossed them mint leaves. Those are good! I also cooked up another onion (I had a lot of onions), along with lots of garlic, and sauteed them with chard and beet greens. I'll freeze that, and make a main dish out of it by roasting it with white beans and serving it over polenta. I got that idea from the CSA flyer.

Oh, and I roasted the beets. They can go on salads next week.

How about that? I got something done today!

My Favorite Coleslaw

Still trying to use up weekly vegetables, and I'm enjoying every minute! Today, I made this:

It's called Fusion Coleslaw. It's a variation on the recipe found in Earthbound Farm's Food to Live By. Too simple for words:

1 head of cabbage, sliced thin (hopefully a small one)
3 scallions, chopped
1 jalapeno, diced
2 carrots, grated

The sauce:
3 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp rice vinegar (unseasoned)
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp chile garlic sauce (or is it garlic chile sauce?)
1/2 tsp salt

whisk the sauce together and pour over the veggies, mixing it all up. Add chopped peanuts before serving, and some golden raisins, if you like them.

This makes a big bowlful, and it tastes so good, I have it for snacks!

Fire at Soul Food Farm

I love to buy chickens and eggs from this farm, and this is heartbreaking news. I'll be helping them out, for sure!

http://www.ethicurean.com/2009/09/04/soul-food-fire/

Practicing What I Preach

Connection problems are driving me crazy. I wanted to post this several days ago, but I just now got back on...

I'm always harping on joining a CSA and eating whatever's in your box. A lot of people have a problem with that. They don't like to try new things.

Generally, I'm adventurous enough that I like to try new foods. But I do have a few things I can do without, EVER.

Like black-eyed peas.

They've never done it for me. I don't actively hate them, but I'll walk several blocks to avoid them.

Yep, you guessed it. Last week's box had fresh black-eyed peas.

I figured it wouldn't kill me to eat them. And the information sheet in the box had a nice little recipe, so...

I shelled the peas (that was fun, seeing how patient I am), then chopped up an onion, a bell pepper, a couple of garlic cloves, some tomatoes... that's all I remember.

I sauteed the veggies (except for the tomatoes) for a minute or two, then added the peas and tomatoes. I also threw in a bit of chicken broth to give it enough moisture. At the end, I added some fresh corn. Take a look:










Then I made cornbread:











You know what? This tasted GOOD! Rick thought a little pork would nice, and he's right. I may toss in some sausage when we have the leftovers.

Was it because the peas were fresh, that I liked this? I don't know. But if I'm going to eat black-eyed peas, I'm sticking with this simple recipe.

Win Some... Lose Some

My poor husband. He's very good about eating whatever I fix, and generally liking most of it. But the other night he was reduced to complimenting just specific parts: "Great pizza dough..." "Good anchovies..."

His mother must have taught him to not say anything, if you can't find something nice to say. So he pointedly said nothing about the pizza topping (except for the anchovies).

What can I say? I had to use up my veggies, didn't I? And it really wasn't that bad - just different.

First, I sprinkled some grated Manchego cheese on the bread. Then I sauteed the following and spread it on top of the cheese:

2 spring onions
2 green garlic stalks
About 2 cups of sugar snap peas, chopped

I added a little salt, pepper, and thyme. I threw the anchovies on top, 'cause I know DH really likes 'em. I knew he'd need some encouragement.

I thought it tasted pretty good. But yeah. It was a little strange.

It's the Little Things

Guess what came in my weekly veggie box?

Peas.

Half of them never made it to the fridge. I declared a holiday and shelled one after another, gobbling down the sweet, crunchy peas as fast as I shelled them.


*Happy sigh*

Last night's dinner was a treat:









Potato and Green Garlic Tart with Goat Cheese and Mozzarella. I added the chard 'cause you know I have to serve green vegetables.

It was really, really good. Here's the recipe:

1 recipe pizza dough
1 1/2 lbs fingerling potatoes
2 stalks green garlic
3 oz goat cheese, crumbled
1/2 lb mozzarella cheese, grated
1 bunch chard or other leafy green
thyme, salt, and pepper

Slice the potatoes 1/8" thick and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast in 400 oven until tender, but not brown.

Sautee the sliced garlic and greens in 1 tbsp olive oil until soft. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Place a pizza stone in the oven and heat to 450 degrees. Sprinkle cornmeal on a pizza paddle.

Roll out the pizza dough and place on the paddle. Crimp the edges and brush with olive oil. Spread grated mozzarella over the dough, then layer the potatoes and greens over the cheese. Sprinkle the crumbled goat cheese over the everything, then sprinkle with thyme.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until crust is brown.

This will be a favorite!

Farm Break

This is too much fun: my CSA has a blog. This is the farm from which I get a box of vegetables every week.

Wait - they have two blogs, and here are the links:

http://riverdogfarm.blogspot.com

http://riverdoghog.blogspot.com

I realize it's probably not as exciting to you as it is to me, but I wanted to share anyway. Everybody needs a farm break once in a while.

Winter Smoothies

My CSA box has included a bunch of oranges or tangerines lately. I may have mentioned (once or twice) that I'm not real big on citrus. I like to cook with it - it lends a "mmm" flavor to so many dishes, or can add gorgeous color and flavor to a salad with walnuts sprinkled on. And I insist that my margaritas be made with real limes.

But peel and eat an orange? Dipped in chocolate, maybe.

So what am I going to do with all these oranges every week?

Make smoothies. Oh yeah, that works.

It also gives me something to keep me eating yogurt most days. I tend to alternate with the seasons - in spring and summer, I eat my yogurt with granola and fruit for breakfast. But when the weather turns cool, I long for hot, comforting oatmeal made with whole milk. The yogurt gets ignored.

But I like to eat yogurt as a defense against yeast infections. The idea of going all winter without having any just doesn't seem right. Plus, with the smoothie, I'm also eating some fruit every day, another thing that falls by wayside in winter.

My Winter Smoothie:
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 large orange or 1 tangerine
1/2 banana
1/4 cup crushed ice

Put all ingredients in a blender and mix.

This makes one glassful, maybe a little more. Calories? About 100, since I use whole milk yogurt.

Using Those Veggies

So what did I do with my CSA veggies?

While rummaging through the freezer, I found a couple of bratwurst and I remembered a popular dish I made a few months ago. So I sliced the batch of carrots, chopped the leeks, minced some garlic, sauteed them with the bratwurst. Then I added the head of cabbage (chopped), a little water, and let it steam until the cabbage was tender. I served it with a dollop of mustard and horseradish on the side.

We have leftovers, but I can freeze those for later use.

This left me with a batch of Tokyo Turnips and the chard, which I used yesterday. I had a lot of lamb in the freezer. I'd roasted a leg of lamb back in November and frozen the leftover slices of meat. I got it all out and braised it in a ginger-garlic sauce with lots of Indian spices. I steamed the chard and added it to the stew, serving it with whole wheat naan and the steamed turnips on the side.

I've got leftovers of that, too. Back into the freezer for another easy meal when I don't have time to cook!

Just in time, too. I've got another CSA box coming today.

Cooking at Home

Today was a waffle day.

The batch in the freezer was getting low, and I had some baked butternut squash that really needed to be used. So into the waffle batter it went, along with walnuts and cinnamon and cloves. I had two squares for breakfast, with a bit of butter, powdered sugar, and half a Meyer's lemon squeezed over it all.

A very nice breakfast.

Yesterday, I made a batch of yogurt, which I'll probably mix with the applesauce I made a few days ago, or top with tangerine sections. That will be good over future waffles, or as a light lunch one day.

My crisper drawers are full of good CSA vegetables, and I must decide what to do with them before I get another box on Wednesday. I've got a cabbage, a bunch of carrots, two leeks, broccoli and chard. I already used the spinach, serving it sauteed with olive oil and salt, along with leftover turkey pot pie. And of course, the tangerines were in the box, too. And it's also where I got the lemon.

I'm tempted to serve simple vegetarian meals for a couple of nights, to use everything up. I need broth, too, so I'll probably use the leeks, cabbage, and some carrots to do that. My freezer is actually brothless, at the moment. I'll wander back downstairs to figure things out, eventually. I have writing to do, first.

Spring Work

I can tell that Spring is going to make demands. I hope I never give the impression that I think eating local, in-season food is easy. It doesn't have to be hard, but it does take some planning. And some time of actual doing.

Every week, when I get that CSA box of produce, I have to process it. This happens on Wednesday evening, and must be done, even if I've been cooking all day and just got home. Now, it's not an impossible job. But at the very least, I have to bag everything up and refrigerate it, or store it in the appropriate basket on the counter. If I'm exhausted, this is as far as I get.

If possible, I try to start using things right away. One or two vegetables can be used for dinner. Fruit can be prepped for breakfasts. If I have time, I like to make a quiche using the spring onions and greens that are in most boxes. I can package the quiche in individual servings and heat one up for a quick breakfast. If there are radishes or cucumbers that can be used for salads, I like to wash and chop them, so they are ready to toss into a salad (or in that quiche!). This all helps to make sure we actually eat the veggies, rather than tossing them our compost pile.

Spring is also planting time and I'm busy with that, too. I've got some seedlings growing and I'm adding compost to the garden bed to prep it. And as the seedlings get to the harvest stage (see how hopeful I am?) then I'll need to make sure I eat or preserve them all, so THEY don't end up on the compost.

I'm also on the lookout for fresh, local eggs. At this point, I just haven't found a consistent source. Yeah, I'd love to have my own chickens, but it's not in the cards for now. Maybe someday.

Have you had the asparagus, yet? It's here and it's wonderful. Grab it while it's in season!

More leftovers

I've just returned from a restful and exhausting vacation (those are the best kind!) and I'm back to figuring out What's for Dinner. I have so many frozen homemade meals in my freezer, the hardest part is just making the decision.

It's time for fish, so I took out the scallops/mushrooms-in-a-cream-sauce dish and I'm letting it thaw. I have some broccoli rabe from the CSA and that will go quite nicely. Easy to do.

I baked the leeks last night, sprinkled with breadcrumbs, olive oil, and salt and pepper. I also sauteed some leftover broccoli with a bit of tomato, basil, and rosemary. These were served next to a grilled NY steak from a local rancher who lets his cows feed in the pasture. Quite a yummy meal.

Remember that cabbage I needed to use? It was terrific mixed with last week's chard, a can of tomatoes, sliced onions, garlic, oregano and the leftover cooked ground beef that was in the freezer. It made so much, we'll get two more meals out of it. What an easy dish to make, too!

Tomorrow is another CSA pick-up day and none too soon. I've managed to use everything up, except for the butternut squash. Those fresh veggies have been wonderful.

Here We Go Again

Another beef recall.

When - when - are we going to stop this food industry madness? When will we go back to being responsible for our own food?

Oh never, I know. Not really for our own food, as in all the time, the only one responsible for planting, growing, harvesting, feeding, preserving, preparing, and anything else-ing, that we need to do for all our food. But we've got to break it down into smaller groups. Into regions, at least. None of this one-company-produces-billions-of-pounds-of-meat that go all around the country. And to the rest of the world, too.

What - don't they have cows in Asia?

Dude. I know they do.

Why do we continue to buy bags of loose greens when we know they've come from a warehouse that got lettuce from all over the country and piled them all together in a big bunch and stuffed them into bags?

When we know that if just one small batch of lettuce from one tiny farm anywhere in the country had a problem with their lettuce (say a minor e-coli bacteria-type problem) then every bit of the lettuce mixed with it and put in those bags, now has the same problem.

Why do we continue to buy it? Excuse me - why do you continue to buy it? 'Cause I can promise you, I don't.

Not even the organic stuff. I'll buy my own separate little head of lettuce and wash and tear it myself.

Sure I could still get sick, if I happen to buy the lettuce from the one tiny farm with a problem. But you won't. And neither will ten thousand other people around the country.

Put Big Ag out of business. Run - quickly - to your nearest CSA or Farmer's Market and buy all your food from them. Find CSAs that give you produce, meat, eggs, even milk. You'll probably need to join several to get everything that way. If you have to shop at a grocery store, shop at one that buys from local ranchers and farmers and buy the food that comes from the local source. Don't buy the food that comes from China or from the slaughtershouse six states away.

Do what you can. Just do it.

New Vegetables

Ever had romanesco? Me either.

I got a couple of these pretty veggies in my CSA box. Romanesco are FRACTAL veggies. But that's just how they look.

These aren't the kind of thing most people will pick up if they see them in the store. Most likely, they'll say "are you supposed to EAT that?" and they'll walk on by. And that's if you even see them in the store. I don't believe I ever have.

But they're good. I cut them into eighths and steamed them. Real simple. Sprinkled a bit of salt and pepper on them and that's all they needed. These were bursting with flavor, but I have to warn you: they were in my CSA box, so were just harvested. Although they did sit in my frig for a few days.

Bascially, anything you can do with broccoli or cauliflower, you can do with romanesco. If I get more, I want to make a quiche with leeks, kalamata olives and feta cheese. Sounds good, no?

What to do with all that meat

One of the challenges of belonging to a CSA is that you take what you get and figure out what to do with it. It's a challenge, but it's also fun, so I look forward to it. At this time, I only belong to a meat CSA (Bay Area Meat CSA - clever, huh?). Once a month or so, I get a bag with a few different cuts of meat, maybe a chicken and some eggs, too. All of the meat is from ranchers in the area and all the animals are raised on pasture and grass-fed. Or bug and grain-fed in the case of the chickens and eggs.

The meat is delicious in a way that feed-lot meat cannot even compare to*. I may be crazy, but I don't think it's very expensive, either. It doesn't look like a lot of meat, but it seems to last and I try real hard to not buy anything extra from the store. 'Cept bacon, of course. I have to have my bacon.

So I have to put my thinking cap on and figure out what to do with it. Last month, I got a whole chicken, which gave me a huge laugh because it still had its head and feet attached. Not having grown up around farms, this was a big event for me! I also got a cross-rib roast, a pork loin roast, a skirt steak, and a chuck steak. Oh and a dozen eggs. I do wish I could get more free-range eggs.

It's just my husband and me, for the most part, so these cuts of meat represent 3 or 4 meals. It's a good thing I'm a personal chef. I know all about preparing a meal and freezing it!

The chuck steak turned into Guinness-Braised Chuck Steak, which I fed to my grandsons along with my husband. It was very popular and we still had leftovers! The pork loin was covered in mustard and maple syrup and roasted, then served with heavenly Sherry-Raisin Sauce. I think I posted that recipe in an earlier post. That beautiful chicken massaged with paprika and olive oil and roasted with onions, carrots, celery, and barley in some chicken broth. You have no idea.

I haven't decided what to do with the x-rib roast, but that's for tomorrow and I think I'll use the skirt steak to make my dad's oh-so-yummy-straight-from-the-old-country spaghetti sauce. By then, it will be time to pick up my next order of meat!

*Warning! Dangling particples! Yes, I know it's there.