Monday Musings - Turkey for Days

I've not been a big fan of turkey meat until recently.  Three years ago we began to BBQ our turkey and the results have been...well, fantastic.  We had quite a bit of leftover meat from Thursday, and at first I attempted to foist it off on folks.  No takers.  They were turkeyed out.

Lucky for us, because I've made some really yummy meals from the leftovers.  First night, I made turkey pot pie, and used the gravy I made for that.  Then, I made a giant pot of turkey broth in my pressure cooker.  45 minutes and done!  With that broth, I made a turkey tortilla soup for our dinner last night.  It was delicious, and the kicker is I made up the recipe myself.

I'm pretty good at sussing out what's in the pantry and frig and throwing meals together from that.  I had a large stack of corn tortillas that needed eating or they'd soon be ready for the compost.  So I fried up a big bunch of tortilla chips.  I cook on the fly.  Often without a recipe.

A little frozen corn, canned diced green chilies, salsa Verde, I had cheddar cheese on hand.  And all that great turkey broth with some meat shredded into it.

We're going to end up having about 5 meals from that one turkey!  And I'm freezing the left over soup in order to have it when we have guests next weekend. 

I just may end up having a Christmas turkey as well, now that I know how versatile this little gobbler is.  We buy really good fresh turkey at our local coop.  It's expensive compared to the frozen mass produced stuff, but the taste difference is remarkable.

I've been fairly blah about cooking these past few weeks, but feel re-energized.  I'm happy, also, that each dish has been a hit with the mister as well.  It's a win-win.

Do you have a favorite post-Thanksgiving recipe to share?  I'm open to any and all ideas!  Oh my, this just popped into my head:  Turkey Mole. 

Holy Mole!

TGIF

Last night we watched an amazing movie, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.  Quite gripping, agonizing, uplifting.  The struggle of a human to communicate against all odds.  The life of the mind in an airtight container.  What happens to us and those around us when our body fails us.  When the mechanics go ass over teakettle.

My parents have decided not to look further into a retirement community in the Napa Valley, two hours away.  They want to be closer to my sis and me.  We still have the unsettled question of what to do in an emergency.  God forbid something life changing but not life-ending occurs.  What are we, their children, supposed to do?  Dad turned 84 this month, and he is in fine and dandy shape.  Mother continues to slowly decline after almost 16 years of living with Parkinsons.

One of the things Mother loves (I know, we call her "mother") is when we bring Lucy by.  We went to Capitol Park today to photograph the magnolia trees, so we dropped Lucy off on our way.  The pink and lavender blooms are hypnotic and we timed our visit so we just missed the showers.

The Camellias were also gorgeous and abundant.  I was taking photos with our fairly new Leica Q camera.  Man, the optics are phenomenal.  This is the only fully automatic Leica camera, which is a boon for me because my eyesight doesn't allow me to shoot manually anymore.

After fun in the park, we  had a yummylicious lunch at Hock Farm.  I had shrimp and grits with an ancho chili oil, and Steve had very good pork sliders.  Steve is explaining something very important to me here.  So important I can no longer recall what it was.  And that, my friends, is the way it goes.

Enjoy your weekend!

Monday Musings (on Food)

On the second day of Hanukkah, I got down with the Jewish fare in the kitchen.  I made 2 traditional dishes with nontraditional twists.  First was a brisket which I cooked with prunes, prune juice. thyme and Merlot wine.  Both recipes may be found on Epicurious website.

The second was potato latkes, but instead of white potatoes I used sweet potatoes and put in spices like curry, cinnamon, nutmeg, and onion powder.  Served with the traditional sour cream and apple sauce.

We were quite pleased with both, though my husband thought the latkes were made out of carrots!

I even ate cold latkes later, sans sour cream and apple sauce.  Delicious, and will become a part of my regular cooking repertoire.

We don't usually celebrate Hanukka, and we're not really doing that this year.  I just felt compelled to try new recipes and decided to give it a go.  The menorah remains unlit, but present on the buffet table.

  Happy Hanukkah!

Season of the Choke

I happen to love artichokes.  Hot or cold, with mayo or cooked in water with olive oil and

herbs.  My folks recently were in Castroville (supposed Artichoke Capitol of the world) and brought home many chokes for us.  I grew up on the Monterey Peninsula, driving by choke fields in Carmel and Castroville, Watsonville and Salinas.

It was the Spanish settlers who brought the artichoke to California. Some artichoke plants were in the gardens of European immigrants.  California's first artichoke fields grew south of San Francisco near the town of Half Moon Bay in the early 1920s.  In 1922 Andrew Molera planted the first artichoke shoots in Castroville. Angelo Del Chiaro, Egidio Maracci, Daneil Pieri, and Amerigo subsequently leased 150 acres of land and grew artichokes.  There's a state beach in Big Sur named after Mr. Molera.

In 1923 there were nine artichoke growers. Within four years there were over 50 growers and 12,000 acres of artichokes growing in Castroville, and in the Monterey Bay area. Whatever you do, know that you do NOT have to get all fancy schmancy like Jacques here



I gasp in horror as he cuts away some of the best parts! The stems are great! They are like the heart.  Cook the chokes simply by placing them in a large pot of water and boiling for 20 to 40 minutes, depending on size.  I like them cold for lunch.  I eat the stems as well.  If you don't like stems, don't cook 'em.  Send them over to me.

Here is a beautiful choke in my neighborhood, that has been allowed to flower.

Isn't in gorgeous?  Contrary to popular belief, they are not difficult to cook and eat.  Been doing it my entire life.  They are a delicacy that goes well with just about any other good food.  I also make a mean artichoke spread for crackers, with the hearts, mayo, garlic and Parmesan baked until bubbly and brown.

Speaking of delicacies, I recently had the most heavenly clams in the shell in a crazy good broth, with crunchy garlic bread for dipping, along with a cucumber martini.  Okay, Okay, yes, I AM a martini purist.  Perhaps this drink should be called a vodka cucumber chilly breeze or something. It was so good that I purchased cucumber infused vodka and other makings the very next day.  Forget about the recipes that call for mint, or squeezing cucumber into a juice.  Just get yourself some flavored vodka (mine was Skinny Girl because that was the only brand flavored with cucumber), a lime and some Cointreau.  Shake shake shake that icy drink and enjoy.  But be careful, it doesn't taste like the highly alcoholic drink that it is.  It is light and refreshing.

Ah, the tastes of summer to come....

Fukushima and Dog Food

The latest from Bill Moyers on what we need to know about the Fukushima Power Plant problems.  Now, I'll admit, I passed on some bogus information this week on Facebook about the level of contamination in fish on America's west coast due to radiation from the broken power plant.  Clare Kines kindly linked me to Snopes, which I usually check on this sort of thing.  Thank you, Clare.  But that is not to say that there are not serious serious problems with the leakage from the plant, and the possibility of more leakage in the future.  I think the scariest part of the story for me is:

"The Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo said earlier this year that there’s a 70 percent chance a 7.0-magnitude or higher quake will strike Tokyo, near Fukushima, by 2016. Should the fourth reactor collapse, Suzuki said, it would be “bye bye Japan,” and “everybody on the west coast of North America should evacuate. Now if that isn’t terrifying, I don’t know what is.”

 Meanwhile, in the thriving burg of Sacramento, I spend my day researching homemade raw dog food and purchasing vitamin/mineral and fish oil supplements.  Feels a bit like fiddling when Rome is burning.  However, my little pooch has grown very very picky about her food, and will not eat much of the store bought variety.  I switched her to white rice (brown is too much for their digestive systems) and ground turkey which she loves.  Gobbles it up.  So, I decided to do a little research and by golly, there are all kinds of recipes out there for raw and cooked food for dogs.  Yes, Virginia, dogs did eat meat before commercial dog food was developed about 1860.  And, oh my, but there is a lot of frothing at the mouth when it comes to advocating various diets for dogs.  Just like foodnazis, there are dogfoodnazis.  Brown v. white rice, veg or no veg, raw or cooked, bones or not.  Shoot.  I'm picking the simpliest (ground raw meat, cooked white rice, hard boiled eggs -shells included- mashed and adding the tiniest amount of nutritional supplements for vitamins/minerals, probiotics etc.)  I kind of feel like those super conscientious moms who made all their own baby food for their little sprouts.  I did a little of that, but was not opposed to popping open a jar of Gerber when needed.

The world may be going to hell in a hand-basket, but while it does, my little buddy is going to eat well.  And I hope it will benefit her health as much as all the pundits say it will.  She is my little miracle*, after all. 

 *A warm living being that adores you and wants to be with you at all times.  A being that will lick your face and make you feel like the most wonderful person on the planet.  A being that radiates JOY.

When the weather turns

Well, I've managed to avoid research on my report on the photographer Walker Evans.  I'll get to it...in the meantime I'm in cooking mode.  Playing jazz on the ipod, making tomato sauce from fresh, homegrown tomatoes and garlic; putting together the innards for a Shepard's Pie to take with me when I visit my daughter.  Last night I made a tomato tarte that a friend and I enjoyed.  Oh, and for an appetizer, I made the Curry and Sriracha Roasted Garbanzo beans from the Simple Veganista.  Oh, they were good.  Spicy.  But not too.  What a healthy snack!  Legumes are especially great for those of us who live with diabetes; they digest slowly and evenly so no blood sugar spikes.  And nutritious.  Much better than a bag of potato chips (empty calories).

It's one of my favorite ways to relax, cooking.  When I'm not under pressure.  Just hanging, listening to music, waiting for the daily mail, doing homework (yeah, right).  When the weather turns chilly, it's the best time to cook up a storm.  I've got meals for days now. 

Hearth and Home.  Speaking of which, I went to a fundraising breakfast today for an organizing called Mutual Housing.  And I made a small monthly donation.  This group has been around for 25 years now, a friend of mine is the CEO, and her girlfriend (also my friend) invited me to join her at her table.  I am so impressed with the work these folks have been doing -- we heard the stories of several current and former residents of Mutual Housing projects, which are so much more than "projects."  People are provided with a safe, clean, well-maintained, affordable place to live and thrive.  Their children grow up in a community that emphasizes healthy living, community participation and education.  Many of the residents go on to lives with purpose and dignity.  I can't tell you how this presentation warmed my heart.  Wish there housing developments like this all over the world!  Check it.

In Praise of Lettuce

We've been eating the most wonderful salads, all with greens growing on the patio.  Oh, and herbs, too.  Last night I made a pasta dish that was finished off with lots of freshly picked Italian parsley.  Yum.

I have quite the mix of greens going, but silly me I tossed all the plastic sticks that identified what they are.  The long skinny ones are Italian, and they have a pleasant peppery bite to them.  We're eating all the lettuces very young, and this makes them especially delicious.

Don't know why I didn't do this sooner, and I'm going to try to keep it going through the winter.

Do me a favor, wont' you?  Send me your favorite salad recipes (or salad dressing) because I'm running out of ideas!

Bake Those Suckers

What to do when all your veg is coming in at once?  Roast 'em and bake 'em and throw some Panko and Parmesan on the top mixed with a little olive oil.

I used 4 zucchini, 4 japanese eggplant, 4 large heirloom tomatoes, a red pepper that was on its last legs.  You could throw in some basil or other herbs.  I thin sliced the zucs, eggplant and red pepper and brushed with olive oil.  425 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Then I layered, put a smidge of fontina cheese between one layer, and topped with tomatoes and Panko bread crumbs that I mixed with grated Parmesan and a little bit of olive oil for the browning.  Baked about 25 minutes on 350.

I would image you could do this with a wide variety of veg:  cauliflower would have gone nicely in here, too.  And I wish I had pine nuts, I would have roasted them in a dry pan and thrown them on top as well.  Yum.

Yer Kale-ing Me!

It's threatening to rain outside.  Storm clouds are crowding out the sky.  I put off washing the car today.  So now the rain will never come.

The saga of kale continues, tonight with a Portuguese Kale and Potato soup.  It has spicy Portuguese sausage in it and lots of onion.  The garlic has been omitted (sigh) because someone in the house is intolerant.  On so many levels.  (Okay now, return to your happy place.)

Serving it with challa (I like to say "holla!") bread.  Bon appetite, babies. 

Call of the Kale

Last night I found myself reading kale smoothie recipes.  Yep. Mango and banana, avocado and oat, blueberry and almond milk.  The health benefits of kale.  Curly versus Dino, or Italian "Tuscan" kale.  My pal Robin makes a raw kale salad that I am not a fan of -- too bitter and too chewy.  I hear this is the way of kale.  Robin is an excellent cook and I adore 99% percent of her exquisite food.  Just not the raw kale salad.

So, with kale on my mind and a spring in my step, I headed over to the mid-town farmer's market to score me some kale.  Tuscan kale, babes.  And I found it after passing by many stalls.

ze Tuscan Kale

Morning Bounty

 Of course I had to get many other delights -- zinnias, grapes, green cauliflower (higher in vitamins) and two flavors of cashew cheese.  Oh, and not pictured here, for dessert tonight, fresh cannoli!  I haven't had it in years.  It looks positively crazy good.  See how I work this?  I have a nice healthy green shake in the morning and sugar and fat in the evening.  It all works out in the end, me thinks.

Do you go for the super green food kale?  If you have a favorite smoothie recipe, please send it my way.  I haven't tried making mine yet, but I'll report back when I do.

Food for Thought

a Turkish garbanzo salad
paired with coffee and cream
satisfies the senses
and calls out to the dream.

Turkish Garbanzo Bean Salad - Vegan

2 cups garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 red onion, diced
1/2 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, minced
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
3 T. red wine vinegar
1 T. kalamata olive brine from olive jar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T. Dijon Mustard
1/2 t. each:  marjoram, oregano, paprika
1 t. sea salt
black pepper to taste

Mix together all ingredients and serve or refrigerate.  This salad tastes best the next day, after all the flavors have had a chance to seep into the beans. 

Some add feta to make it betta.