Happy Meal

Each bite of salty, crispy, cast-iron-skillet browned rosemary-olive bread makes my mouth water in anticipation. Then, the sharp tomato juice drips over the smooth, creamy cheese, filling my mouth with contrasting flavors and textures. The crisped bacon crunches in my teeth and I am in pure bliss because this is the most perfect, delicious fall treat I can imagine. I dip slices of crisp, tart apples into creamy-smooth yogurt, and I crunch my way through a carrot that was just dug out of the Connecticut earth. There are many reasons why this meal makes me happy.

I am happy about where this meal came from. Not everything we eat is local, but every week I try to see how well we can get by with farmer's market and in-season products only. Here's how this meal stacks up:

• Local artisan bread
• Local artisan cheese
• Local, organic bacon (from a humanely raised, family-farm pig. We recently purchased a
  half side - about 50lb of meat - at $3/lb)
• Leftover bacon grease from aforementioned swine
• Tomatoes from our backyard
• Local, organic carrots
• Local-to-DC-where-I-was-visiting-a-friend heirloom, organic apples*
• Local, farmer's market yogurt

*Greg says local-to-DC doesn't count. But I was in DC anyway, so I think it counts.

I do my best to put my money where my mouth is - for it is true that artisan products are generally more expensive than their mass-produced counterparts - but I am equally as often surprised that the value for the money allows me to get away with better deals than I thought. Let's take a guess at this sandwich. The loaf was $4, but I only used a quarter of it. The bacon was $3/lb, and we fried up a pound this morning - maybe a third of a pound went into the sandwich. A few slices of cheese ($2), two carrots ($0.40), an apple ($0.50), and two tablespoons of yogurt ($0.50). I estimate the cost at (1+1+2+0.4+0.5+0.5) /2= $2.70 for each spectacular lunch. It took me 10 minutes to make, with two dishes, one knife and a cutting board to wash and one cast iron pan to clean.

There's not much that I would trade this lifestyle for. I like knowing that every penny I spent on my food went to folks who are working hard to bring back family agriculture, sustainable living practices and all around good values. I like that the meat I ate came from a pig who led a happy animal life (something I feel sure of, because I look the farmer in the eye every week when I buy his pastured chicken eggs and he asks me how Zane and Tori are doing). I like that the food tastes wonderful and that it fills my belly well. I like that I saw two people buy basketfuls of fresh produce using food stamps. I like that in the imperfection of this world, we are all able to live our lives by the principles we believe in, whatever those principles may be. This is what a Happy Meal is for me.

P.S. Greg says I should have called this post "Porky's II", since we had bacon for breakfast and he's funnier than I am

Leftovers Three Ways. Way #2: Roasted Vegetable and Grain Enchiladas

 

I've gotta say, after trying this recipe, I may never again pay $5 for fake meat based on TVP, tofu, or weird fungi. This was good. And natural. And cheap. And it used up these leftovers.

 

I'm not actually a fan of fake meat. I'd usually rather have vegetables, or occasionally have the real thing. Yet every once and a while, the craving for nachos or meatballs hits me, and I just find myself not wanting to spend $15 for a bowl of free range chili (for that price, I'll take the ribs).

 

This does the trick and it's all natural and homemade. This time, I used a pre-mixed taco seasoning for flavor (I wanted something salty!). Next time, I'd keep things simple to let the vegetable flavor shine through. I could imagine a variety of light seasonings: a little lemon juice, salt and pepper, maybe a little sage or coriander, cayenne, chili powder, or curry powder. I absolutely loved what the ground up pecans did to this dish. Greg is allergic to walnuts, but I imagine those would work just as well. Next time I'll up it to a full cup of nuts, and I'll toast them beforehand. I also happened to toss in some of the braised tofu as well, although I'm not sure that it added anything, so I left tofu out of this recipe.

 

Roasted Vegetable and Grain Enchiladas

Serves 2-4

 

Substitute any vegetables and any grain (except white rice, which might get mushy...) and any nuts you wish. Toasting the nuts before hand might be tasty. This particular set of roasted veggies included carrots, zucchini, asparagus and green peas - but of course, anything would work quite well. You could assemble the filling ahead of time.

 

In a blender or cuisenart, puree, or finely chop by hand:

~1 cup mixed roasted vegetables and Quinoa

1 egg

Generous 1/2 cup pecans

In a medium bowl, combine the veggie/grain mixture with:

Another 1/2 cup roasted vegetables and Quinoa

Seasonings of choice

Set aside the veggie/grain mixture. Chop:

1/2 sweet onion

1 red pepper

To a large fry pan, add:

1 tbsp olive oil

and saute the onions and peppers on medium-high heat until soft (~10 minutes). Add the veggie/grain mixture and continue sauteeing until cooked through (~10 minutes). Add a splash of olive oil to the bottom of  a large casserole dish and assemble the enchiladas with:

6 10-12" flour tortillas

Add ~1/3 cup enchilada filling to each tortilla. Wrap the tortilla around the filling and place, seam side down, in casserole dish. Once assembled, pour over the top of the enchiladas:

1 cup simple red salsa, with a few shots of hot sauce if you wish

1/4 cup chopped pickled jalepenos or green chilis

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, or until everything is bubbling. Sprinkle over the top of the enchiladas:

1 cup grated cheese

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Bake for another 10 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly. Serve with sour cream. and extra salsa.

Leftovers Three Ways. Way #1: Roasted Vegetablesand Quinoa Soup

Passover is a symbolic and ritualistic event. The Passover seder and subsequent meal includes many different foods - all of which have meaning. Among other traditions, Passover should include roasted meat (to commemorate the lamb blood that the Jewish slaves smeared over their doors), fresh peas or other springtime vegetables (renewal), and, of course, no wheat is permitted (to remind ourselves that upon escape, the Jewish slaves were not able to wait for their bread dough to rise, or, to remind ourselves that the Jewish slaves ate poor, unenriched bread, depending on your tradition).

Since our house is mostly veggie, I chose to roast springtime vegetables (asparagus, peas, carrots, zucchini), braise tofu, and serve it all over quinoa drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.

This Passover was a sad event for me. I was rushing through an animal experiment whose timing was out of my control; it could not be postponed no matter what. I spent my entire weekend in lab, hunched over a bench-top with a sterile mask covering my mouth so that I could do something that I hate and find engrossing all at the same time: do brain surgery on 40 rats. For a cultural holiday designed to make you aware of the how you are enslaved in your own life - and remind you that your ancestors have, on more than one occasion, escaped from what opressed them, and that cultures (and animals) across the world experience slavery even today- this was a travesty. I felt terrible. I was both the one doing the enslaving and feeling enslaved. I felt denied the one yearly event that is important to me.

Yet, somehow it all worked. I finished my surgeries at 5pm on Sunday and raced home to assemble a small seder dinner by 7pm. Greg, myself, my officemate Audrey (who had never been to a seder before), and our Jewish friend Josh sat down to a lovely evening where we swapped stories of religion, discussed the symbolic importance of everything we ate, and had more than a glass of wine or two.

When we finished our meal, there was enough leftover roasted vegetables and quinoa (among other dishes!) to feed a small army. I used these roasted vegetables in three ways this week, and I thought I'd share the ideas with you. These are, of course, all very loose recipes.

Roasted Vegetable and Quinoa Soup

Serves 4

Certainly this recipe calls for improvisation. This is a kitchen soup sort of soup! What I like best is the contrasting flavor of lemon and Quinoa

Combine the following ingredients in a medium sized soup pot:

2 cups mixed ratio of roasted vegetables and Quinoa, with tofu if you prefer

4 cups good vegetable stock

2 cups water

Cover, turn the heat to medium and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the stock thickens slightly. Add

The juice of half a lemon (or, lemon juice to taste)

Sprinkle with

A handful of chopped cilantro

And serve!