Menu for 2/27/2011 -- Porterhouse steaks with smashed beet salad (Dude2)

* We posted this recipe over at Hunger and Thirst for Life This is a great blog on traditional foods and foraging. *

Today I decided it was time for some primal cuisine.  Beefy grass fed porterhouse steaks, brazenly seared over open flame then slow roasted in the smoke of a downed pecan limb, served with charred, smashed beets and greens and a robust malbec wine.  It was delicious.  Here's what to do:

Homemade Chicken Stock - So Easy it Should be Priority

I swear my wife and I have fended off colds this winter by making our own chicken stock.  Whenever we feel something coming on, we take out a jar of this chicken stock, boil it a couple minutes with minced garlic, and chug it down.  Mmmm... garlic cocktails! This is not your average stock from the store.  Slow cooking the bones, organs, and even feet, make this a gelatinous, nutrient packed addition to soups, sauces, rice, and more.  If you're wanting to get into eating real food, I recommend this as one of the first things you make routine.

On Creating Recipes (and Menu for 2/27/11 for Dude2)

I decided to make a new recipe today -- a salmon and coconut milk timbale wrapped in a wilted collard green leaf, with Thai-style seasoning.  I had some leftover salmon from a while back, and I was feeling the creative bug.  The flavor was good, but the timbale part didn't work out  so well.  I'll post a recipe when I get that part figured out.

The Bleak Midwinter Pizza Festival (and Sourdough Pizza Crust)

 

** We linked to this post over at The Healthy Home Economist.  You should be sure to check out Sarah's great blog! **

Every year, in the middle of the winter (or early spring, if we're busy like this year) we hold the Bleak Midwinter Pizza Festival here in Cape Girardeau.  A few families get together, and we make pizza and play games to fight off the chill.  I always try something a little unusual -- this year it was a pizza with a pesto base sauce, spinach, goat cheese, basil, and little dollops of red sauce.  It came out great!  I always make my pizzas on whole wheat sourdough crust, which for me is what turns regular pizza into the sort of transcendental experience that real food demands.

Straw Bale Gardening - Part 1: The Setup

I'm attempting a vegetable garden for the first time ever this year.  Gardening has never really been my idea of fun in the past (ask my parents who were always trying to get me to help out in the garden as a kid), but it's time to suck it up.  Buying organic produce can get expensive and there no reason why I can't grow some of my staple vegetables.  I elected to try straw bale gardening when I heard about it because of its pure simplicity.  Before straw bale gardening and I became acquainted, I was stressing out about the lack of space in my backyard and the lack of quality soil.  Problem solved (I hope).

5 Minute Breakfast - Real Food Style

This is my breakfast of choice (at least for now).  I'm usually in a rush to get out the door for work, so this is about the tastiest and quickest way I know of to pack in a bunch of nutrients before heading out the door.  Eggs can be one of the most deceiving items and you should not rely on the organic, cage-free, and other labels.  Since we are eating beyond organic here be sure to find those "real" eggs.

Chicken Fat

Here in Missouri, I'm lucky enough to have a farmer nearby who raises great pastured chicken.  I buy all of my chicken from him at one time each year, and I also get a couple of other specialty things from him:  organ meats and FAT.  We real foodies tend to share a love of good fats, and the rendered fat from a chicken raised on green pasture is a thing of beauty.  It adds a uniquely rich and savory flavor to anything from Spanish rice to the morning's fried eggs, not to mention various nutritional benefits arising from the pasture diet (B-vitamins, Omega-3 fatty acids, etc.).  This is how I render it:

Menu for 2/25/2011 - Chicken Sauce Piquant (Dude2)

I cracked open one of my favorite cookbooks tonight for this one: Donald Link's Real Cajun. That guy knows how to use fats and spices! Here's my version of his Chicken Sauce Piquant (made significantly milder for the benefit of my 19 month old):

Sourdough Whole Wheat English Muffins

I posted this recipe over at Food Renegade, an excellent real food blog. You should check it out!

Having just moved to a new house that I'm having to remodel extensively, I don't yet have an oven. I saw Dude1's post about his sourdough bread last night and decided I needed some myself. What kind of bread can you make without an oven? English muffins. Read on:

Menu for 02/24/2011 - Grilled Whole Chicken, Green Beans, & Basil Garlic Butter (Dude1)

It was time for some white meat after all the red meat earlier this week : )  I almost always buy a whole chicken now instead of the pieces.  I get more for my money this way and use the leftover carcass to make homemade chicken stock.  This particular bird was a 4 lbs grain fed chicken from my local meat market that uses no preservatives, artificial flavoring, or antibiotics.  I served it with my wife's favorite green beans, and homemade basil garlic butter on homemade sourdough bread.  Keep reading for all the recipes.