Food for Thought

If all Americans observed one meatless day per week, 

we'd save an amount of carbon equal to taking 

20 million midsize sedans off the road for a year. 

Wow.  

I learned that from Michael Pollan's article, Farmer in Chief, in last weekend's New York Times Magazine.  Check it out - there's plenty more where this came from.

Humane-itarian, Part VI: The 2-Month Mark

Well, it's been quite a ride so far.

For our viewers just tuning in, a brief summary: Two months ago I made a commitment to a new philosophy that I decided to call "Humane-itarianism". By joining this new cult (with a devoted, deluded following of, so far, only one), I solemnly swore to consume only animal products which had passed my stringent test: the animal in question must have been raised in a humane manner and fed an appropriate diet by a farm or company or individual who did their best to preserve the environment in the process of getting those proteins onto my plate. Tall order? You bet.

At this 9 week mark, a few observations and a conclusion or two:

1. It may surprise you just how available humane-itarian meats can be. Most of the fresh meats at Whole Foods fit my bill, and many grocery stores carry organic meats as well.

2. That said, the places that aren't using organic and/or free-range meats may also make you say "Hmmm". I've been to some swanky joints over the past two months and received some pretty disppointing answers when I asked about the origins of their poulet and boef.

3. Humane-itarians really need to plan ahead. A peanut butter sandwich stashed in one's purse can mean the difference between maintaining the status quo and attempting to gnaw off the cushioned armrest of a waiting room chair while muttering about whether naugahyde counts as an animal product.

4. Humane-itarians eat a lot of spinach quesadillas. We've covered this before, I know, but it's my blog and I'll cry if I want to. I now have a very particlar set of criteria for my SpinQ, and could rank roughly 10-15 restaurants based on this one dish alone. For the record, Cafe Brazil does a bang-up job, and Frankie's are actually really damn good.

5. (conclusion) I am satisfied with a good-faith effort. Tell me the beef is organic, and I will take your word for it. And if the chicken was given access to a pasture, that suits me just fine. As yet, I have not reached the point of belaboring how large the opening was in the little plucker's coop, or whether or not he made use of it regularly.

6. (conclusion) Again, regarding good-faith efforts: If I'm cooked for, I will eat. And be grateful for every precious bite of that home-cooked meal. Nothing warms my cockles more than someone going to the trouble of simmering and stirring on my behalf (and putting out an extra mat and sometimes even using napkin rings). In those cases, I'll eat what I'm fed.

Yours,

C&S

Confidential to J.R.: I'll let you know when I decide to worry about whether Bessie's bovine bits were manhandled during milking :)

Pre-packaged Goodness

I am a self-admitted frozen food snob. Sure, I enjoy a Marie Calendar Chicken Pot Pie every once in awhile, but most frozen food pretty much makes me gag. When a friend recently recommended the Smucker's Uncrustables frozen peanut butter sandwiches to me, I kind of figured they would fall into the "soggy and sad" category of frozen foods.

Boy, was I wrong.

These little pockets of soft white sandwich bread (with the crusts removed, naturally) are filled with creamy peanut butter and your choice of jellies or honey. I chose the strawberry jelly kind, and they are just heaven on earth. The peanut butter has the perfect smooth texture, and the ratio of peanut butter to jam is about 2:1. Perfect, in my book. Even the bread is perfect. Not soggy like I had imagined. Soft and springy, with the chewy texture you would expect from fresh white bread.

These make a perfect snack in the afternoons at work when you're starting to drag and you need a little pick-me-up. And if you stick a frozen one in your purse (or messenger bag) in the morning, it will be ready for you when you need it.

Sure, I know that they're not exactly health food - hello, high fructose corn syrup - but sometimes you need a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and you don't want to eat just two pieces out of an entire loaf of bread, which you will then proceed to forget about, and the entire thing will mold over like a science experiment until your husband finds it a month later and finally throws it away. Okay, maybe that's just me, but you get the point.

Humane-itarian, Part V: An added bonus

It would seem that my recent switch to a "Humane-itarian" diet (see blog post from June), has the added eco-friendly benefit of reducing my carbon footprint.  While flipping through the latest issue of SELF magazine yesterday, I ran across the following blurb:

"Livestock accounts for 18 percent of the world's greenhouse-related gases, including deforestation that clears grazing land and the transportation of your steak, a United Nations agency in Rome finds.  Trade beef for beans once a week to save greenhouse gases equivalent to those emitted while driving 1,160 miles a year.  Craving a burger?  Eat organic or local beef, which isn't shipped as far."

So I'm saving the earth when I eat vegetarian and I'm part of the solution when I choose organic meat as well?  Nice.  I will hereby feel virtuous the next time I eat a spinach quesadilla ...instead of furious that it's the only vegetarian offering on the menu besides a limp iceberg salad.  Incidentally, does anyone know of a restaurant in the affordable price range, besides Chipotle, that serves organic, free-range, and/or grass-fed meats?  (My current running spin-q total: 157 and counting).

C&S

Humane-itarian, Part IV: A Quick Bite

Just a quick note on a couple of satisfying sammies I've discovered in the past couple of weeks.  This Humane-itarian gig has forced me to examine every nook and cranny of every restaurant menu, and in the process I've made a couple of delicious discoveries:

Great American Hero

www.greatamericanhero.net

Lemmon Avenue @ Throckmorton, Dallas

This little neighborhood spot makes a mean hero - or panini or wrap or what-have-you.  They offer a wide range of vegetarian sandwiches, and I've developed a special place in my heart for The Healthy Hero, a satisfying combination of cream cheese, jack cheese, sprouts, mushrooms, cucumber and the like on fresh baked bread.  It's crunchy and creamy and downright delish - and at only $5, it'll leave you with plenty of dough for dessert.  (p.s. Yes, we're calling cream cheese "healthy" now.  You got a problem with that?)

Panera Bread

www.panerabread.com

Various locations to choose from

I just love Panera.  The bread is fresh, the service is fast, and they have free Wi-Fi.  Nice.  Only thing that would make it better would be the use of organic, free-range deli meats (especially my beloved turkey).  Barring that, I'll stick with the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich - basically a Greek salad on bread, with an added schmear of hummus to provide palate-pleasing protein.  I'm also excited to try the Portobello and Mozzarella Panini - with a name like that, what could be bad?

Humane-itarian, Part III: The Problem with Pub Grub

I had a sneaking suspicion that Fourth of July weekend would pose a problem with regard to my new Humane-itarianism...most likely in the form of one of my relatives attempting to force-feed me a hot dog while accusing me of manufacturing my esoteric new dietary program just in time to avoid the annual patriotic spread. But as it turns out, my family were the least of my worries.

The Annual Burning of the Meat (or Pops and Brats, as it is sometimes known) with my Dad and his clan could not have gone better. I suggested ahead of time that I bring the meat - knowing that I would be able to source something equally virtuous and grill-worthy that would please everyone invovled. Sure enough, with just the teensiest bit of grumbling from dear old Dad, I was allowed to take over the hunting, while the rest of the family gathered side-dishes, breads and desserts. The free-range organic chicken did beautifully on the grill with just a kiss of barbeque sauce, and as an added bonus, everyone commented on how tender and flavorful this chicken was, in comparison to the average, everyday bird.

Crisis averted. Or so I thought. Later in the weekend, I hit the Londoner with friends for some laughs and several dozen beers. As the evening progressed and my Blue Moon tally went from 2 to 3 to "it's gonna be a long night", I knew that my tummy needed a little something to bolster its beer defenses. No sooner had I begun to ponder the menu than one of my companions announced that a round of cheese fries would be arriving forthwith. Joy! Perfection! Cheese and carbs and not an animal product in sight! Well...kinda.

The fries arrived with a generous coating of *gasp* bacon bits standing between me and hangover prevention. Rather than make a scene, I simply did my best to avoid the bacony badness - and felt totally terrible about it every bite of the way. In retrospect, I should have ordered a second basket of fries, 86 the bacon, and probably no one would have even noticed. Instead, starving and too embarrassed to make a scene, I made my first pitfall one week into the program in the form of pub grub topped with politically incorrect pork confetti.

This week's tally: Beer Goggles 1 - C&S 0

Humane-itarian, Part II: The first 72

Well, my first few days as a "humane-itarian" would rate a solid "good". Thus far, I haven't had any major problems sticking to the plan. Of course, I also haven't had to attend any family dinners, take any work-related road trips or face the inevitable 4th of July barbeque ...obstacales which my calendar tells me will present themselves in the next couple of weeks. Read below for the first 72 hours, and stay tuned for the challenges to come.

Day 1:

Breakfast: Peanut butter on whole grain bread. No harm, no foul.

Lunch: Can of minestrone soup and bread. This is easy! (famous last words?)

Dinner: Vegetarian pasta. Hubby is satisfied - I'm surprised he doesn't miss the usual ground beef and/or sausage in the sauce, but decided to stick to the basics - and save a few bucks, too. Wondering how long the honeymoon will last.

Day 2:

Again with the breakfast. Lunch is same as yesterday too.

Dinner is another story: Spend 30 minutes reviewing menu for restaurant we're heading to for dinner, only to encounter a last-minute change in plans. Dinner is now at El Fenix, and I have no info on their meat. Not to worry - there's lots of choices for dinner from cheese and/or bean nachos to enchiladas with cheese or spinach, etc. Decide on spinach and mushroom quesadillas. Delicious...but I begin to worry about protein.

Day 3:

Important discovery! A quick investigation of the Chipotle website reveals the following info on their chicken (my favorite meaty burrito filler):

To meet our naturally raised standard, chicken must:

- Never be given antibiotics

- Have more room to move about than in conventional chicken operations

- Be vegetarian fed, never given animal by-products

I am very happy with these standards - I knew the pork at Chipotle was top-notch in this department, but the chicken is a surprise. So glad I checked! Similarly virtuous beef is also available in some areas (not yet Texas). I proceed directly to the nearest Chipotle and chow chicken-style with a clear conscience.

C&S

Humane-itarian

I'm ready to make a change.

Over the past several months, the treatment of my fellow four-legged earthlings has been on my mind with ever-increasing frequency.  I read The Omnivore's Dilemma not too long ago (see previous blog post), and I wrote on the issue of fish safety in a column in the Dallas Morning News (again, see related blog post from earlier this year).  Throw in the fact that it seems impossible to turn on the television these days without hearing a new feed lot horror story or the details of another micro-ecosystem demolished by a fish farm, and I've had it up to *here*.

To be clear, I have no moral issues with the consumption of meat by human beings for the purposes of nutrition.  My issue is with the treatment of animals destined for our dinner plates, and the environmental impact of the places where they are raised.  Not that it's so simple a matter that it can be explained in one sentence, but that's the Cliff's Notes version.

So, I've decided to do something about it.  I want to be one person making a tiny difference when it comes to these animals and our environment.  I am going to try my darndest not to eat any fish or chicken or beef or what-have-you without knowing for sure that it was raised in a humane manner, fed what it was meant to eat, and that it didn't un-do any carefully balanced ecological chain-of-command on its way to my belly.

This is going to require some hardship - I can't afford to eat grass-fed beef, free-range chicken and/or wild seafood every night of the week.  I'm also not in the habit of dining out in the sort of places that only use the aforementioned ingredients on a regular basis.  To add insult to injury, a big part of my life right now involves traveling in rural areas with an already limited selection of dining establishments.  But I'm a smart, resourceful, stubborn girl, and I'm sure that I can make it work.  ...Pretty sure.  85% sure.  Check back to the blog regularly for updates on my adventure.  I'll be sharing with all of you, as candidly as possible, the various ups and downs of my new life as a "humane-itarian".  Wish me luck!

C&S

Thanksgiving Special--Robin's Cornbread Dressing

Okay, let me first say, there is no one cornbread dressing recipe that will please everyone. We all grew up with moms that made it just a little bit differently, and I love all the stuff my mom makes at Thanksgiving—even the sweet potatoes with marshmallows. Okay, especially the sweet potatoes with marshmallows. That being said, this is not my mom’s recipe. This is my recipe, which I’ve made for the last several years, tweaking it just a little bit each time. It’s also great with sausage, but this is the slightly lighter version.

Robin’s Cornbread Dressing:

1/3 of a stick of butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped celery (don’t chop it too finely—you still want it to look like celery)
1 medium fennel bulb, diced
1 large sweet onion, diced
2 medium/large crisp, sweet apples (Fuji apples are my favorite)
1tsp. +1 tbs. kosher salt
2 tsp. dried fennel seeds
2 tsp. dried thyme
2 tsp. dried sage
2 prepared 8X8 pans of yellow cornbread
1 cup apple juice
2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth for our vegetarian friends)
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. fresh black pepper (to taste)
½ cup chopped pecans

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the celery and fennel, and sauté for five minutes. Add the onion, apples, fennel seeds, 1 tsp. salt, thyme, and sage. Sauté for about five-10 more minutes, or until the onions begin to get translucent.

In a large mixing bowl, crumble the cornbread. When it’s done, pour the apple mixture over the top. Add the apple juice, chicken broth, eggs, pepper, pecans and the rest of the salt. Combine.

Spoon the mixture into a 9 by 13 pan, and bake for 45 minutes. The mixture should become firm and the top should brown. It should also smell awesome.

Kiss My Grits

As fall is clearly upon us, my food preferences have turned from the fresh, crisp flavors of summer to the homey, cozy flavors of fall. Basically—I don’t want a stupid salad. I want stew. Or mashed potatoes. Or best of all, in my humble opinion, grits.

Basic cheese grits provide a basis for coming up with your own innovative grits recipes. I’ll start there, and then give you two other options that step it up a little.

All of these recipes are easy, cheap, and yummy and make a whole mess of grits. The best new is—they are even better on day 2 or day 3.


Basic Cheese Grits
These basic grits are great for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and pair with anything from a steak to grilled chicken to sausage.

Ingredients
· 2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable stock, if you’re not the meat-eatin’ kind—this is true for all three recipes. If you’re a vegan, you’re on your own.)
· 2 cups milk (I use 2%, but skim or whole would probably work okay too)
· 1 tsp. + 1 tsp. salt—(kosher if possible—it’s sooooo much better than Morton’s from the can, but not much more expensive)
· 1 cup quick grits—yellow or white, whatever is your preference.
· 1 and ½ cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
· 1 tsp. black pepper—try to use a grinder, it makes a big difference

Step 1: Combine the chicken broth, milk, and 1 tsp. of the salt in a medium/large sauce pan and bring to a bubble. BE CAREFUL, because the milk can boil over very quickly if you’re not watching it.

Step 2: Add the grits slowly while stirring with a whisk (or just with a fork if you don’t have one), to avoid the dreaded lumps.

Step 3: Turn down the heat to low and cover for five minutes.

Step 4: Add the cheese, pepper and the other tsp. of salt, and stir to combine.

Step 5: Let it sit uncovered on low heat for a few minutes to thicken up a bit.

Step 6: Eat and enjoy!




Baked Chipotle Grits
This is just a ramped-up version of the basic cheese grits. I love to make these spicy grits to go with Mike’s famous brisket, but they go well with a variety of other dishes.

Additional ingredients:
· Four chipotle chilis in adobo, chopped.
· 1 small can of green chilis.
· ½ an onion, chopped and sautéed in olive oil until translucent.
· Extra ½ cup of sharp cheddar cheese

Perform steps 1-4 of the basic cheese grits recipe.

Step 5: Preheat over to 350 degrees

Step 6: Add the “extra ingredients” to the grits

Step 7: Pour the grits into a small, lightly greased baking dish

Step 8: Sprinkle the extra cheddar on top

Step 8: Bake for about 45 minutes, until lightly browned on top and firm.

Step 9: Eat and enjoy!



Robin’s Famous Drunken Grits
Okay, they may not be famous yet with anyone but Mike and I, but they are definitely a favorite in our household. A little fancier, and possibly a bit schmancier than most grits recipes, they are as suitable for a formal dinner party as they are a backyard BBQ. I’m going to give you the entire recipe here, because it’s a smidge different than the other two. It’s totally worth the couple of extra steps, though.

Ingredients:
· 1 tbs. olive oil
· 2 garlic cloves, minced (Or use that pre-minced stuff from the grocery store. I buy the jumbo tub of that stuff a few times a year, because it lasts forever. Sure, maybe it’s not quite as good as the fresh stuff, but it’s a lot easier, and your hands don’t smell like butt when you’re done using it)
· 2 cups chicken broth
· 1 and ½ cups milk
· 1 tsp. salt
· Either one tbs. fresh chopped or ½ a tablespoon dried thyme
· Either ½ tbs. fresh chopped or 1 tsp. dried rosemary
· 1 cup quick grits
· 1 and ½ cups shredded white cheddar cheese
· ¾ cup shredded parmesan cheese (Do not use the freaky powdered kind from the can. Get an actual block of fresh parmesan and shred it, please. It’s for your own good.)
· 1 tsp. white pepper (if you don’t want to buy it, black works too)
· ¾ cup of chardonnay


Step 1: Heat 1 tbs. olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.

Step 3: Add the garlic and cook for two minutes.

Step 3: Add the milk, chicken broth, salt, thyme and rosemary to the garlic and bring to a bubble. Again, BE CAREFUL, because the milk can boil over very quickly if you’re not watching it.

Step 4: Add the grits slowly while stirring with a whisk (or just with a fork if you don’t have one), to avoid the dreaded lumps.

Step 5: Turn down the heat to low and cover for five minutes.

Step 6: Bring the burner temp back up to medium and stir in the chardonnay until the mixture is smooth.

Step 7: Add the cheese and pepper and stir to combine (depending on how salty the parmesan is, you may or may not need to add a little salt here, too).

Step 8: Turn the heat back down to low, and let the grits sit uncovered for a few minutes to thicken up a bit.

Step 9: Eat and enjoy!

Sweet and Spicy Black Beans

These black beans are the perfect side for BBQs, and they make for great burritos as well...

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 large red onion, chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 dash chili powder
1 dash cumin
1 dash ground cinnamon
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS
Warm oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion, and cook about 2 minutes; then stir in garlic, and cook until onion is soft and translucent. Stir in tomatoes and brown sugar. Season with cayenne pepper, chili powder, cumin, and ground cinnamon. Cook for 10 minutes. Stir in black beans, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer 1 hour or longer. Before serving, stir in cilantro. Breathe in the spicy, cilantro-y aroma. Eat.