Saturday, April 7, 2012

Dedicated to April

Would you believe it snowed again this morning?  It's April 7th! This is beyond reducilous!  But now it is sunny, the birds are chirping and I am sitting watching the snow melt off of my car windshield slowly as the sun rises in the sky.  Hmm... That's the kind of stuff you get to do when you're retired.  Wonder how many people would be motivated to save all their pennies so they could sit around and watch that?  Dave and I must really be weird!  Oh wait!  This is Saturday... ok never-mind... but you get the drift right?  Speaking of drifting... this is not about the snow or the month... it's about April the brand new baby calf!  Awwwww...

How cute is she?!!!

And here she is meeting Dave for the first time

And here she is with Mama Ginger, don't look too closely, Ginger is "takin care of business" after the birth.

 So... adorable right???  Now... I love a good steak as much as anyone but this is the time of year when my appetite for beef takes a nosedive!  I mean... that's not a steak... that's a baby!!!  After hanging out with baby April all morning I decided I better make some lunch.  Hmm... what to have... certainly not a burger!  Well I knew I had a beautiful new head of cauliflower in the fridge so I got it out.  I never have an emotional attachment to cauliflower!  I remembered there was also a little wild rice blend hiding on the fridge shelf too... and perhaps some caramelized onion.  Yum!  Oh and some grape tomatoes.  And just a handful of spinach for color.  And freshly grated Parmesan cheeeese!  Yeah... that might work for lunch...


If only I could rotate this pic!  But this was sooo good!  And so non-beefy!  As a matter of fact this could actually be considered vegetarian!  :)  Nice!  I'm so proud of myself!

Of course a nice salad also works too.  I usually don't have meat in my salads... usually.  I made this one a couple of days ago...

It's got grapes, honey glazed walnuts, avocado and Gruyere cheese drizzled with balsamic vinegar and a bit of EVOO.  So good!

That cauliflower dish was so tasty that I decided to bake it in the oven and caramelize it down a bit more and let it appear again at dinner time alongside a very tasty sweet potato and a crispy... PORK chop!  :)  Hey... I said no beef not no meat.  I have very little fondness for pigs... unless of course they are babies but we don't currently have any baby pigs in our barn yard.  That's actually half a pork chop.  I split one with Dave and the other one is scheduled to become some very tasty Mexican soup tomorrow.


The last non beefy thing I want to show you is a little chicken dish that will be on my plate tonight.  Now... when I say chicken really I mean... rooster :)  Dave butchered it himself.  It took me awhile to come to grips with that but... see, last summer our batch of chicks included four little roosters.  It was all well and good to have them scratching around the chicken yard until they grew up.  I mean... those hens were screeeeaming for mercy so whatcha gonna do???  So after experimenting a few times my very favorite recipe for home grown rooster is this...

Kathy's Crock O Rooster

It's sort of a Thai inspired dish.  I imagine it's probably what happens after the cock fights :)  Anyway this little guy is covered with coconut milk, onion, garlic, orange bell pepper, some frozen corn from the garden, red curry paste, cumin, saffron and gobs of peanut butter with a little basil on top.  He will stew all day and be oh so succulent by tonight!  Of course I'll have to make a little basmati rice to serve him over and perhaps a tasty salad to go with him.  And this is what he looks like this in the pot... don't worry, you can hardly even see him under all the pretty colors.


And that's a good place for you rooster!

So here's to April the calf!  It's going to be a very non-beefy month!  Happy eating!  Ciao!




Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Once Upon A Time...

In a tiny little town called Chewbaccaville there lived a girl named Katarina.  Now Katerina lived in a beautiful valley surrounded by high hills covered with timber and beautiful pastures where grazed deer, elk and cows that Katerina's sweetheart Davis cared for.  Davis worked very hard to make Katerina's home lovely and spoiled her considerably.

Katerina was very happy puttering around her pretty little gardens and whipping up concoctions in her tiny little kitchen but sometimes she got bored and so she would call a friend to come and entertain her.  She had two best friends.  One was named Skinny Minnie and the other Fat Fannie.  She would call Skinny Minnie when she was feeling cheerful and bright.  Skinny Minnie always wanted to go to the gym or take a long walk or perhaps enjoy a healthy spinach salad.    She always said vey encouraging things like, "just think how good you will feel when you're done working out" or "sweat is fat screaming!"  Katerina liked to be seen with Skinny Minnie because she thought everyone would like her  better  but truth be told... she really preferred hanging out with Fat Fannie!  Fat Fannie enjoyed baking gooey walnut brownies and lounging on the couch reading fairy tales.  She also enjoyed driving the buggy down to The Big Fish and indulging in a super duper bacon burger with crispy golden fries!  Katarina never needed to have her arm twisted because she had the self control of a day old calf.

Skinny Minnie must have had ESP or something because it was amazing how often she would call Katerina just as she was going out the door on the way to The Big  Fish.  Katerina almost never answered the phone!      
She knew Skinny Minnie was just looking out for her but she did so enjoy sneaking off with Fat Fannie to the Cupcake Castle.  Yum yum!

This went on for ages!  Katarina was never able to choose a true best friend.  She was so conflicted.  She knew that hanging out with Skinny Minnie would lead to a long healthy life and that surely one day Fat Fannie would sit on her and suffocate her to death.  And so, one day she worked up the courage to tell Fat Fannie that Skinny Minnie would now become her best friend.  Of course Fat Fannie screamed and threw herself on the floor flailing and thrashing about.  It was the most exercise she had had in years!

The very next morning I went to the gym.  No wait... she went to the gym!  (Insert big sigh here)  Ok... I give up. I don't think any of you are fooled right?  I am Katarina and yes, I love my friend Fat Fannie BUT... I really feel so much better when I hang out with Skinny Minnie so a new chapter has begun.  Again.  So Yep!  I went to the gym this morning and sweated my tail off.  (Fat screaming!)  It was painful but good.  I will begin spending time reading and focusing on healthy recipes and I swear to never again forage through my brothers pantry and eat all the girl scout cookies and a whole bag of chips.  :)

The End!