Monday, May 31, 2010

I Proclaim This "The Summer of Squash!"

From the Summer of 69, the Summer of Love,



to the Summer of George, every summer should have a theme.

I proclaim this the summer of squash!

Backpack Full of Squash
I'm a regular at the Torrance Farmer's Market, but to be honest, the last few months have been pretty blah.  I'm not a huge fan of citrus fruit, and you can get root vegetables anywhere. I like apples, but I don't need apples the size of softballs, so I stick to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods for normal, snack sized fruit.

I'd still walk down, mostly  for the exercise, and pick up a few things that are merely staples, then head home, dreaming of persimmon season coming in another half year.

I totally forgot about summer squash.

Every stall was full of the same boring stuff AND summer squash.  I love this stuff.


I made the rounds, and picked just enough of each variety to last the week, allowing me to try them all.


Most were familiar, but some are new to me.  I'm sure I'll love them, and I'll try to post a few recipes, but by and large, I like things simple - steamed, grilled, or sauteed, sea salt and pepper, and some sort of oil or crumbled cheese.  We'll see what happens.

A Squirrel
This little guy seemed pretty taken by the squashes, too.   I put down my backpack on the lawn near the Farmers Market, and this guy came to check things out.  As tame as he seemed, I gave him no squash.

My Summer of Squash begins...



This is going to be my time.  Time to taste the fruits and let the juices drip down my chin!  I proclaim this The Summer of George!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Yard Bird vs Trader Joe's - An Egg Yolk Color Comparison

My friends Greg and Lani gave me a couple of eggs from their chickens.  I put a large egg from Trader Joe's in the mix for comparison.

The store bought egg is the white egg on the right

The brightest two yolks are from the yard birds

I don't claim to know that there are benefits to a brighter colored yolk, but since free range yolks seem to be more colorful...

Here's what some folks at Chow have to say about the subject.
Richer-colored egg yolks are more likely to come from free-range hens, says Dr. Hilary Shallo Thesmar, director of food safety programs for the Egg Nutrition Center (ENC): Free-range hens have the opportunity to eat more pigmented foods, and the pigment is then transferred to the yolk.

So, while the color doesn't make them more healthful, maybe more healthful eggs tend to be more colorful.

The paler yolk, above, is from a basic Trader Joe's egg (the $1.49 for a dozen variety).  I have previously compared the TJ's yolks to those from the grocery store, costing up to double the cost.  I found that the yolks from TJ's eggs are consistently brighter and more colorful.  However, TJ's doesn't claim these are cage free or free range or anything special.  Maybe they are just fresher.  I don't know, but they are cost effective, pretty, and tasty.

A perfectly cooked yolk (from the brown egg, btw)

Friday, May 21, 2010

It's freezing in Starbucks #4 - updated

I had a nice talk with a Customer Service Rep about the temperature in the stores.  He laughed when I mentioned the "temp is controlled from Seattle" claim.  He says he hears that one all the time.  Translation = "I don't know."  Also, he said if the temp was controlled in Seattle, people wouldn't be calling to complain.

While this doesn't actually fix the problem, his explanation helped my attitude just a bit.  Turns out that most Starbucks have the AC controlled by the landlord, and most stores are in a strip mall type building, where the central air hits all stores in that building.  Often they can flip off the vents for their store, but not always.

I'm still not happy when it's cold, but he suggested contacting the District Manager for that store, rather than just mentioning it to the local crew.  Each store keeps a stack of business cards for the DM behind the counter, so I'll start that.

We will see what happens...

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Primitive Leftover Soup

This isn't really paleo and it's on the verge of "primal." But, since I don't want no Primals coming in to yell at me, I'm not going to call it that, either.  Basic, primitive, soup.  I know primitive peoples had neither soup kettles or blenders, but that's not stoppin' me!  ...and since I'm that far off track, I'm throwing in some stinky cheese, too.

By the way, did you know that Tortilla Soup, Italian Wedding Soup, and Minestrone are all soups made from leftovers?  That they have recipes and purists, is funny.


Primitive Leftover Soup

Serves one.  If you need more that that amount, go back in time and preemptively make more leftovers for today.

1/2 leftover roasted butternut squash
some leftover sauteed mushrooms
the last of the bleu cheese
not enough chicken stock to share
salt

Scrape the squash into the blender.  Toss in the mushrooms and cheese.  Pour in some stock and start blending.  Puree it.

Put the soup in a pan and heat it up.  Stir in any extra chicken stock and salt to taste. 

Since it's just for one, you don't really serve it, you eat it.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Irresistible Sweet Potatoes


Many people think sweet potatoes and yams are a healthier potato choice than other potatoes. I guess I think that, too. Not dramatically better, and since I don't need to load them up with extras, like butter and sour cream, I lean toward these things more than regular potatoes.  Here, I offer up the sweeter version of "Irresistible Potatoes."

Instead of chicken fat, I'm going with bacon fat.  The next time you cook some bacon, poor the cooling fat off into a little jar and put it in the freezer. 

A Roasted Yam

Irresistible Sweet Potatoes

per person...

1 small sweet potato or yam*
1 tsp bacon fat or clarified butter**
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

If you have some sort of metal skewers, either actual potato nails or just some simple metal skewers for bbq or kebabs, skewer the potatoes, lengthwise.  I couldn't find my nails, so I used bbq skewers this time.

Using a sharp knife, slice down toward the skewer.  You slice crosswise through the potato.  Slice down until you hit the skewer.  Leave the skewers in for faster cooking.

Place each potato, cut side up, in a shallow cooking pan with a lip.  I use pie plates, which have smaller bottoms and collect the fat so I don't have to use as much.  Salt each potato and top each one with a dollop of fat or butter. When cooking, the fat will melt and pool in the pan, and a nice crust should form on the bottoms.  Good stuff.

Place in the oven and cook for 30-45 minutes (longer times without the metal skewers).  The potatoes are done when the slices can be easily separated when touched or when the bases can be pierced with a fork.

Remove the skewers before serving.

Roasted Sweet Potato

* Did you know that what we know as a yam is really a sweet potato?  Yep.  It's an orange one.  An actual yam is some crazy jungle tuber that you've probably never had. 

** Clarified butter doesn't smoke up at higher temps.  Both can be made ahead and kept in the fridge or freezer. If you can't do butter or fat, I'd use light olive oil for the cooking process, then top with a bit of butter for flavor.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

It's freezing in Starbucks #3

1.  It's cold in here.  Where am I?  That's right, I'm in Starbucks!  I just got my jacket from the car, as did several other guys here.

2.  I have fond memories of New Orleans and the Cafe du Monde.  Enough to actually buy Some New Orleans Coffee at TJ's.
WTF is chicory, anyway?
It's actually really good.  Black or with a good amount of steamed milk as a cafe au lait.

4.  Just because this is "It's freezing in Starbucks #3" doesn't mean it's the 3rd time it's been freezing.  I can honestly say that it's been DOZENS of times where it's been too cold to actually work without a jacket.

5.  Speaking of dozens of something.  I have DOZENS of draft blogs.  I have to stop adding them in when I get an idea.  The list has become unmanageable.  Many can only be finished if I put in the time to write it like it's an article.  Like that's going to happen anytime soon...

6.  (It's a little warmer in here, now.  They flipped off the A/C, which makes them sweat in the back room.  What can you do?  YOU CAN FIX IT, IS WHAT YOU CAN DO!)

7.  Too many processed carbs ARE the culprit.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Small Coffee, Medium Cup

"Small Coffee, Medium Cup" - a request, overheard at Starbucks.

I feel like I want to say something deep about this, but I don't know what it is.  When I heard it, I wrote down the phrase, made a mental image of the dude, and turned to check my expectations.  About what I expected, I guess.

Don't be that guy.  Don't be "small coffee, medium cup."

Monday, May 3, 2010

The Cobb Salad

might just be the perfect combination of ingredients.

bleu cheese • avocado • hard boiled egg • bacon

chicken & lettuce, if you insist

There's little reason to go all fancy with special dressings, a bunch of chopped herbs and three different letti.  One lettuce - romaine - works well, as does a simple bleu cheese dressing.  I'm too lazy to make a salad all pretty in sections, so I like it tossed.  I don't like when salads have pieces too big to fit in my mouth, so I like it chopped.

It's all good, but the real challenge is finding a bleu cheese dressing that's not made with soybean oil, which is very, very bad.

You can make your own, but you kinda need mayo.  Try to find a mayo that's not made with soybean oil.  It's kinda hard.

It seems like Trader Joe's never has everything to make a whole meal for me, but this time, it was their time.  One stop shopping.
 
 
Bleu Cheese Dressing

Makes four 2 tbsp servings

1oz crumbled bleu cheese
1/4 cup light canola mayo
1/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
garlic powder
salt

Place mayo and buttermilk in a jar, and shake well.  Stir in crumbled bleu cheese.  Garlic powder and salt to taste.  Allow to sit for 15 minutes before serving.

 
Chopped Cobb Salad

Serves 1, so if there's two of you, make more. *

romaine lettuce, chopped
tomato, chopped
1/2 avocado, sliced
2 hardboiled eggs, sliced
2 strips bacon, crumbled
1 chicken breast fillet, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tbsp bleu cheese dressing **

Mix all the ingredients together.  Serve.


* If there's 3 or 4 eaters, then there's a special process, called math, that you can use.  Take the number of people eating and multiply each ingredient by that number.  

** If the number of diners is greater than 4, then you'll need to make more dressing, too.  Divide the number of diners by 4 and round up to the next whole number.  Multiply the result by 1.  This is the number of batches of dressing to make. Reserve any leftovers in the refrigerator for a few days.
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