Our Move is Complete!

Thanks for your patience as we've worked hard setting up our new home.  This blog will no longer be maintained, but please head on over to www.realfooddudes.com to start receiving our content once again.

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We thank you for your continued interest in Real Food Dudes.  See you on the other side! : )

Where Did the Dudes Go?

Did Real Food Dudes fall victim to the infamous blogging bug-- where passionate enthusiasm to share a message with the world is short-lived and destined to join the other millions of abandoned blogs in the Internet graveyard?

No worries, no such thing has happened to Real Food Dudes.  Back in February, we quickly launched a site on Blogger to get our feet wet and test the waters.  Seriously, we had the site up in ten minutes and never looked back to configure layouts, create sub pages, or anything else that a good website or blog should have.  We strictly focused on writing and making posts in hopes to just get some momentum and to perhaps discover our niche.  

After a few months of just slapping up blog posts on a structureless site, we discovered that we, in fact, really do enjoy this.  We love the interaction with the community, the sharing of ideas,  and the ability to hopefully provide valuable content to those that are seeking out ways of improving their lives and health.  Also of extreme importance to us is the learning and discovery that, fortunately, we get to participate in as we interact with a wonderful community (both online and offline).

With that said, we've decided to get more serious with the content we provide.  We're taking this to the next level!  We've been working hard behind the scenes on a new site.  Unfortunately, this has kind of meant we've been in hiatus on the current site.  We look forward to resuming the great interaction and conversations we've had with you all soon.

Please stay tuned...

The Roseto Paradox - A Diet Based Outlier?

Photo attributed to explorativeapproach

This week I started an interesting book called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.  This is a book about what makes successful people and has nothing to do with food.  However, the introduction to this book should grab any real foodie's attention.  The entire introduction can be read online here.

Bacon, Spinach & Pine Nut Stuffed Chicken

This meal ended up being one of the best baked chicken recipes I have tried.  It's hard to ever go wrong with bacon and the flavor of toasted pine nuts is just awesome.  I served this with some simple pasta with sage infused butter for the sauce. 

Outlawing "Evil" Marketing to Kids

Image adapted from Rob Sheridan - Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial

I'm a frustrated parent because of the mass marketing that goes on trying to win over the heart of my little one.  If my daughter does get to watch some television shows we prefer Netflix in order to avoid all the commercials.  Given this, you would think that I would be happy to hear that the Government is considering producing guidelines that would limit and regulate the marketing of food to our children.  Captain Crunch and the Silly Rabbit may soon be out of a job.  However, I don't think this kind of political pressure is the answer.  In fact, I fear it may even backfire and make our jobs of teaching our kids about real food even harder. 

Chipotle Butternut Kale Salad W/Goat Cheese

* We linked this post at Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS *

I have a mixed bag of remnant veggies in my fridge at the moment, so I thought a little experiment would be a good way to make some progress getting through the last bits of it all.  This salad is a savory combination of roasted butternut squash, chipotle peppers, cilantro, red Russian kale, and goat cheese.  The result was delicious, and easy:

Straw bales and potato cages

Straw bales with soil topping and drip irrigation system.  We eat the dandelions, so I don't count them as weeds... ;)

* We linked this post at Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist and Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop *

My straw bale experiments are finally yielding some results, so I thought I'd pass on what I've observed so far, and give a little update on the process while I'm at it.

Still Eating Factory Meat? Consider this...

Half of the grocery store meat in the US is contaminated with drug resistant staph.

You read that right.  HALF of the meat on the grocery stores in the United States may be carrying superbug infections.  To anyone who has looked into the way that meat is produced, this should not be surprising.  However, seeing it confirmed with hard numbers is somewhat jarring anyway.  They didn't say anything about eggs and dairy, but I would expect similar results there based on similarities in the production methods used.

If you are still buying factory meat, please stop!  Not only is it bad for you nutritionally due to various nutrient imbalances brought on by a grain diet, but it is actually dangerous to eat.  Additionally, when you buy that stuff, you're giving that production model the means to continue operations and even to expand.  Find a grass-based operation in your area, and buy from there.  It will be more expensive up front, but you're saving a bundle over the long run if you factor on the medical bills!  I believe that the disease-ridden, filthy CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) will end up being among the worst hazards to human health within the next 50 years due to the practice of breeding highly resistant and virulent strains of pathogenic organisms.  Given the falling pace of antibiotic discoveries, the proliferation of resistant pathogens, and the prevalence of constant-low-dose antibiotics in meat production, it seems inevitable that we will suffer unstoppable epidemics within decades (maybe less than a decade).  Even if new antibiotics are discovered, we will not be solving the problem, only adding another flaming chainsaw to the collection we're already juggling.  With our modern population densities and atrocious average nutrition, a drug resistant bacterial epidemic could make the plague years in Europe look like a summer picnic.

Factory meat is a threat to health and the environment.  We have to stop using it!

Carne Adovada, Real New Mexican Food

* We linked this post at Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade *

Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  Probably among the very last places you'd expect to have genuine carne adovada, made with real hatch red chiles (I brought them back with me on my last trip to NM -- that's the kind of chile addict I am).  I was following a recipe I found here, at least approximately.  I had never made carne adovada with smoked pork before, but I will never make it without smoked pork now that I have.  This stuff is GOOD.  Be warned though, it is pretty spicy for those who aren't accustomed to chiles.

Carne adovada is a New Mexican dish consisting of cubes of pork marinated in red chile puree, then smoked and finally slow simmered in red chile sauce until they are fall-apart tender and bursting with chile flavor.  The ingredients are simple, the method is simple, but it does take a few days to do this properly.

Food Labels - Using Alternative Sources to Better Inform

* We linked this post on the Hearth and Soul Hop at A Moderate Life and Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop and Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS *

Some of you may have already heard that the FDA has declined to require warning labels on foods that contain artificial food coloring even though there may be evidence that these chemical dyes may lead to health conditions, especially in children.  Now, I admit I haven't done my research on food dyes, but my point with this post is not to debate whether food coloring is bad or not.  Rather, I want to discuss what we do about any type of potentially harmful substance in our food supply.  Lobbying our government to impose regulations, require warning labels, and to offer stamps of approval, is common method that seems natural to turn to.  However, this approach seems to come with great frustration and very little effectiveness in the long run. Fortunately, I believe some alternatives to government labels are starting to draw some attraction. 

Why Eating Meat Is Not Immoral (Interview with Dude2)

* We linked this post at Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop and Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS and Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade *

This is a special post where I  (Dude1) have the special privilege to interview Erik (Dude2) regarding a hot button topic.  Hopefully, you find it interesting and please feel free to voice your own opinion in the comments section.  Today's topic is the controversial subject of meat eating vs. vegetarianism.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

* We linked this post at Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade  and Monday Mania at the Healthy Home Economist *

Earlier this month I posted a broccoli soup that I liked, but it  lacked the cheesy creaminess that you might expect when ordering broccoli soup at a restaurant.  The common household method (and probably at most restaurants too) of making a broccoli cheese soup is to use a block of Velveeta-- a far cry from "real" cheese.  This recipe, uses all real ingredients, and resulted in a wonderfully smooth and cheesy goodness that even a toddler should have a hard time turning down.  In this recipe you also get to learrn fancy terms like roux, bechamel, and mornay. 

Onion Braised Beef Roast

* We linked this post at the Hearth and Soul Hop at A Moderate Life and Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS *

This is one of the simplest recipes I've made in months.  It has only 5 ingredients, but the flavor achieved by the long, slow braise in nothing but onion juice is really incredible.  This one came from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.  I added 50% more onion that it called for, and used a larger rump roast (the original calls for a 2 lb roast, I think mine was closer to 4).

There is no liquid added to this recipe -- just the onions.  As they cook down they caramelize into a delicious sweet and savory sauce.  Turning the roast frequently in the oven bastes it with this sauce, infusing the meat with a rich onion flavor reminiscent of French onion soup.  If you use a good cut of meat (one with some fat and connective tissue) it will come out fall-apart tender and nice and moist. The best part is that if you're quick with a knife, you can have this recipe in the oven in 10 minutes flat!

Sourdough Cinnamon Toast Desert

This is an extremely quick and easy desert to make for breakfast or even after dinner.  All the credit goes to my local "bee man"  for suggesting this recipe.  We decided to buy some whipped honey from him and this excellent version of cinnamon toast is one of the ways he suggested using it.  Whipped honey is less sticky and more easily spreadable than regular honey.

Gas Grilled Steaks Served with Leeks

 

* We linked this page at the Hearth and Soul Hop at Hunger and Thirst *

While Dude2 has convinced me that charcoal is the way to go, I don't think I'm willing to let go of my very nice Weber gas grill.  I'll probably end up getting a small charcoal grill in addition, but in the mean time I was determined to perfect grilling steaks with my gas grill.

Have you ever had a $25-40 steak at a nice steak house and wished you could cook a steak like that at home?  Did you ever decide to splurge on a $15/lb (or more) premium steak at the store only to be disappointed with the results?  Well, that was me and I had almost given up grilling my own steaks.  Thankfully, Dude2 showed me the way; even though it was torture for him to cook with gas : )

The secrets to success with a gas grill are:

1. Buy a nice thick steak (1" - 1.5"), grass fed of course
2. Get your grill as hot as possible
3. Thrown in a piece of lumpwood charcoal* for adding a smoky flavor
4. Sear both sides and then remove to indirect heat (instructions below)

* Note, I said a piece.  Don't attempt to do all charcoal in a gas grill unless you properly convert it by removing all the gas line equipment.  It's probably a good idea to remove the charred wood after each time you use too. That's my disclaimer.

Teriyaki Ahi Tuna Steak with Miso Soup

* We linked this post at Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop *

We try to get at least one serving of fish in every week here for the purported health benefits, and because I love fish.  Ahi tuna is one of my favorites, and I recently found some that claims to be sustainably wild harvested, so I thought that was a great match.  I also found some organic soy sauce and miso at my local health food store.  When you have a setup like that, the only possible option is some teriyaki grilled fish steaks and miso soup.

Lamb Gyros -- the Ultimate Grill Experience

* We linked this post at Monday Mania at the The Healthy Home Economist and Friday Foodfight at RunDMT *

I love gyros.  I'll take them in nearly any form, even the ones that get sliced off of a giant cylinder of lamb pate at a Greek fast food restaurant.  However, when I get the chance, I make them at home because the flavor of a fresh leg of lamb marinated for three days in a delicious mix of herbs and spices is simply unbeatable.  I believe that this gyros recipe is the best I've ever tasted, anywhere, and I hope you like it too:

Sourdough Pitas On the Grill

* We linked this post at Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS *

I still have no oven, and we needed to have some pitas to enjoy our gyros properly, so I thought I'd give grill baking a shot.  It worked out great!  Now I know how I'll be making some of my breads this summer when the heat gets too intense for indoor baking...

Sirloin Souvlaki

* We linked this post at Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade *


I've been on a Greek food kick this week, and I had this sirloin tip roast in the freezer and a pile of fresh organic lemons shipped in a care package from AZ, so I thought it made a lot of sense to put some souvlaki together.  It was also a good opportunity to make sure my tzatziki sauce was seasoned right in preparation for the lamb gyros...

Pan Fried Whole Golden Pompano

* We linked this post at Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS and Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade *

I recall twice now, that I've been dining at an Asian restaurant to see some of the kitchen staff come out and sit down to eat their own lunch or dinner.  Both times they had whole fish on their plates!  I thought to myself, "how on Earth can they stand to have their food starring up at them?" It was pretty creepy to me at the time, but I was young and naive regarding all the wonderful benefits of preparing a fish whole.

Well, now I know those benefits and I'd like to share them with you as well as my adventure in cooking my first whole fish.