Planning ahead and freezing food

I think it started when I read Diana's latest post, about Mabon.  I don't celebrate any pagan holidays... heck, I barely celebrate secular ones.  And I was a little surprised when I realized her post was about acting like a squirrel and not about eating one.  The idea of putting away food now, and being grateful for my foresight later, really touched me.  I don't can or dehydrate, but I do have plenty of freezer space.  I have cooked and frozen some meat recently, but I've been slacking on the vegetables.

So here's what I made last night:

Herbed Squash and Fennel

• 4 bulbs fennel
• 1 red kuri squash (also known as a hokkaido or potimarron)
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• sage
• thyme
• rosemary

Peel and chop the squash.   Slice the fennel crosswise into about 1 inch slices.  Put in a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with herbs, and mix.  Roast at 375 for about 45 minutes, until the squash is tender.

I liked it.  The fennel stays rather firm when roasted (it was my first time cooking it that way) but it's sort of a nice contrast to the softness of the cooked squash.  It tasted very autumn-y.  =]  I'm not sure how the squash will turn out after freezing... I've seen mention of it being frozen in chunks, but I've only ever frozen mashed/pureed squash before.

I didn't get a photo until after we had eaten.

Closeup!

And here it is ready to go in the freezer for later.

I also roasted the rest of my tomatoes to turn into tomato sauce, since some of them were getting a little soft.  I've got plans to blanch some green beans and freeze those, too.  My bag of veggie scraps is getting awfully full, so I need to make some stock.  And tomorrow when I pick up my share from the CSA, you better believe I'll be thinking, "which of these things do I want to freeze for later?"

Pretty multicolored tray of tomatoes.

I also just wanted to share this picture because it makes me laugh every time I walk in the kitchen and see it.  We had a visitor last weekend and decided to restock our liquor collection, since we were down to one tiny bottle of rum.  (I say "we" but my husband really doesn't drink.)  I think we bought enough to last us about 5 years.  We then took a wine tour, where I bought a few bottles along the way, including two of my favorite Bellwether ciders.  Now I can't figure out where to store it all.  =P  It looks pretty, for now, anyway! (Thanks to Kia and Toyota - we paid for all of this using the cards they send to my husband for selling cars.)

Shiny!

I've got a plan in the works to photograph and post an entire weeks worth of meals.  And I mean EVERYTHING I eat, which has been 3 meals a day recently.  I'm not sure if I'll start tomorrow (Saturday), Sunday, or Monday.  But stay tuned.

Bacon, spinach, and leek frittata

I made a frittata that was particularly good a while back and took some nice photos, so I thought I'd share.  Here's the final product - you can find the recipe and step-by-step pictures by clicking the link below.

30-Day Primal Blueprint Challenge!

I refuse to get preachy about my nutrition and fitness choices on my blog, but I do want to share something I'm excited about.

Today is Day #1 of the 30-Day Challenge over at Mark's Daily Apple.  There will be challenges and contests, and lots of neat prizes, including a WHOLE COW!

If you've been thinking about doing something to improve your health, give it a shot for 30 days.  And try to win a few prizes while you're at it.

Click  here to check out the contest!

For the sake of honesty: I had a bagel this morning.  Not the best way to start out a challenge, huh?  I guess I need to be extra primal the rest of the month to make up for it.  

Feel free to ask me any questions you have about why I believe in the paleo/primal, low-carb, high-fat, grain-free lifestyle.  Just let me know whether you want general answers, or lots and lots of science and numbers.  =]

Traffic light veggie sautee

I'll be honest, this is too simple to call it a recipe.  But it makes for some pretty pictures.

This "recipe" is inspired by things my parents used to cook during the summer when I was growing up.  My dad still makes something like this - I remember him cooking it for me and Matt a couple years ago, to go with his famous cornmeal-and-rosemary-breaded perch.

My parents would buy vegetables from farm stands on the way home from work in the summer, so when it hit the point in the summer where these particular ones were cheap and plentiful, this sort of thing would appear.  My dad worked a lot of overtime, so he didn't cook all the time, but he did the majority of the grilling.  So while he was grilling, he and my mom would throw this together inside on the stove.

Ingredients: green bell peppers, yellow summer squash, red tomatoes.  Use whatever you've got, of course, but if you have 3 colors, it makes it so much prettier.

In a large pan, heat your fat of choice over medium-ish - I used duck fat.  (Yup, I'm STILL using up the fat from that duck.)  Throw in the vegetables.  All of them.  At the same time. 

See how pretty this is?

Cook, stirring occasionally, until the peppers and squash are soft enough.  At first, the tomatoes will release a frightening amount of juice.  But that juice will mix with the fat and reduce into a sauce that coats the other vegetables, and it will look like this picture. 

Less pretty, but more yummy. 

Feel free to peel your tomatoes if you don't want bits of skin in it, but they don't bother me.

You can just season it with salt and pepper.  Garlic is a nice touch - I used garlic powder this time because I forgot about it until it was already done cooking.  Or, do something more creative, and tell me about it in the comments.

Last weekend I actually had time to check out the u-pick section at the farm where I pick up my CSA vegetables.  We have u-pick privileges at 3 different farms included in the price of our share.  I came out with cherry tomatoes, basil, and dill.  I didn't plan on picking flowers, but a few of these were so big and fluffy that I had to take them, even if they were a bit past their prime.  They remind me of muppets.

I used my phone, since I wanted to play around with the changes to the camera UI that came with the new "froyo" update.  This made it difficult to really capture the colors.  Also, see that Munchkin box?  Who's up for a game?  It's been too long.

All About Meatza! General instructions, and my Spicy BBQ Meatza.

I debated with myself about posting this at first, because to me, a meatza is sort of a boring/basic food.  But then I remembered it's really not a typical food, and I've just been too immersed in the primal/paleo culture for too long.  =]

A meatza is just a pizza with meat for a crust.  As you can imagine, there are endless variations.  You can make a traditional pizza analog to crush a pizza craving, with your favorite pizza sauce, melty mozzarella, and your favorite pizza toppings.  Or you can load it up with more toppings than usual since you'll probably wind up eating it with a fork anyway.  You can even get really creative - I've seen Mexican meatzas, curry meatzas, and Batty just made a Shawarma Meatza that looks awesome.

1. Choose your meat.
You've got lots of options when it comes to meat.  Just about any ground meat can work, regardless of how lean or fatty it is.  Beef, pork, venison, veal, turkey, chicken.  You could even use sausage!

2. Prepare your crust.
Now that you've chosen a meat, you've gotta turn it into a crust.  The simplest way to do this would be to just take that plain meat and smush it into a thin layer on a large baking dish, baking sheet, or pizza pan.  Or you can add fresh or dried herbs and/or spices, finely diced onion, minced garlic, whatever you think you want your meatza to taste like.  Or you can use a meatloaf or meatball recipe, complete with egg and whatnot.  My preference?  To just add some dried spices and dried minced onion to the meat.  How thin you make it is up to you - I think anywhere from 1/4" to 1" would work.  Adjust your cooking time accordingly.

3. Bake your crust.
At about 400 F, until it's done.  Probably 10 minutes or so on average.  After it's cooked, pour off as much of the fat as you can.

4. Add toppings.
Add sauce, cheese, veggies, meats, etc., in whatever order you please.

5. Melt cheese/cook toppings.
Throw the meatza back in the oven long enough to heat or cook your toppings, and melt the cheese if you used it.  I like to broil it for a minute or so at the end to brown the cheese (especially when  I know I'll be photographing it).

Click below to see pictures of my "Spicy BBQ Meatza"!

Quick and easy meals, and a random moth

I don't always have 2.5 hours to cook a duck... sometimes I do things that are quick and easy, or that can be prepped ahead of time.  Here's a few that I made recently, with limited photos.

Buffalo wings

I found some chicken wings on sale recently, which I don't think I've ever cooked before.  (When I say I found meat "on sale" I almost always mean the use-or-freeze-by date was 1 or 2 days away so it was heavily discounted.  This often happens with meat that people aren't sure what to do with, like turkey necks, or that ground beef-pork-veal mixture that makes THE BEST meatloaf).

I used Alton Brown's recipe for buffalo wings.  Well, I used the technique anyway... for the sauce I mixed roughly equal parts of Frank's Red Hot and melted unsalted butter (I finally figured out where to find the Kerrygold in Wegmans!).  Just going by what I remember from working the grill at Crossroads back in the day.  =]

The key is steaming the wings for 10 minutes, then letting them cool/dry in the refrigerator for at least an hour.  Heck, you could steam them in the morning before work, then leave them to cool until you get home.  They take 40 minutes of roasting time, but it's pretty hands-off, so you can still lift weights or play Starcraft.  Or whatever it is YOU do in the evenings.  They came out great - even Husband, who doesn't like meat on bones so much, said they were good.  They do get a crispy skin as if they were fried, and they were more moist inside than most commercial wings.  Heck, I'd consider paying full price for chicken wings just to do this again!

Freshly-steamed chicken wings.

Sorry I have no pictures of the finished product, this was back when I wasn't sure if i'd ever be able to get them off my camera.  I served them with Steamy Kitchen's Kale-llaloo.  This was fantastic!  It's basically the same as my usual kale "recipe" but with added coconut milk... but that coconut milk adds a perfect amount of sweetness.  I cooked it a lot longer than 5 minutes at the end, until the sauce had thickened.

Mexican beef

I threw a chuck roast into the crock pot (still frozen, even!) and added onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, and taco seasoning mix, and cooked on low most of the day.  When I got home, I shredded the meat, and served it two ways:

For Husband, in tortillas with sour cream and salsa.

For me, in a bowl, with sour cream, salsa, and avocado.

Frittata

My favorite kitchen item (a Le Creuset 3.5 quart braiser/casserole in cassis) is awesome for making frittatas!  And frittatas are an awesome way of using up leftovers.  If you don't have a pan that can be used both on the stove and in the oven, you can cook the fillings and mix them with the eggs in a baking dish - but that takes a lot longer to cook, and maybe would be better described as a crustless quiche.  So you should probably just go out and get yourself a cheap cast iron skillet.

The method:

• Cook/heat meats and veggies in the pan - drain if it gets too liquidy.
• Add egg mixture.
• Cook until most of it is set, but the top is still runny.
• Add cheese if desired.
• Throw under the broiler until fully cooked and browned.

This particular frittata had bacon, leftover pork, onions, and lots of shredded zucchini.  Too much zucchini, in fact - it didn't hold together very well.  Seasonings included garlic, chili powder, ground mustard, seasoned salt, and pepper.  I topped it with thinly sliced tomato and a teeny bit of parmesan cheese.  These pictures were taken with the phone.

Cooked meat and veggies.

Isn't it pretty?

Closeup - a little messy looking.

Not food...

While I'd make an exception for Diana's mealworm cookies, I don't think of insects as food.  This moth was hanging out on my window at work (yes, all the way up on the 4th floor!).  He refused to open his wings whenever I put my phone up to take a picture.  But I enjoy the blurry view of the east side of campus behind him.

Anyone else enjoying Starcraft II?

I just wanted to mention that I am actually having a lot of fun playing Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, despite my complete lack of skill in RTS games.

The story is excellent and the game really immerses you in it - every board you play feels like it's contributing to the progression of the plot.  There's corny humor, and cheesy romance, and a bit of an old western feel (hmm, a western in space starring a hunky and lovable rebel... this sounds familiar... except in SC2 there are aliens, and far fewer women).  The characters are fun, the voice acting is good... and as with all Blizzard games, there are a few knock-your-socks-off cinematics.

And the achievements... oh, the achievements.  I'm a total achievements-whore.  My blood elf shadow priest was "the explorer," and had "/love"-ed all those animals.  When the new Plants vs. Zombies achievements came out on Steam yesterday, I instantly started working on them.  And the plethora of achievements means many, many hours of replayability.

Basically, as usual, I agree with Morgan Webb's review. 

So if you play as well, I'd love to add you to my friends, so I can get all jealous when you get more achievement points than me.  Comment here, or friend me on facebook (since you can request all your facebook friends with the click of a button).