Better Than Your (My) Momma's Chicken & Mushrooms

The first time Josh met my mother, she was cooking for him at her house. I asked him what he’d like since she’s such a fantastic cook. Of all strange things he asked for was chicken marsala. I’m not sure on what planet he thought my super southern momma was going to pull a classic Italian meal from. In fact, I remember marinara sauce coming from a jar and boxed dry spaghetti as a kid. She’d add ground beef usually, but trust me; this was not one of my mom’s specialties! So in an attempt to impress my cute new boyfriend, I asked her to satisfy his ridiculous request. And I prayed that he’d never eaten it before! Well, the woman put together a dish with chicken and mushrooms. But man was it awful! He thought it was fine, but he really should have asked for fried chicken or goulash.

Since that terrible incident, I’ve feared cooking chicken and mushrooms in any combination. I love mushrooms and chicken is a staple for me, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Until, that is, Everyday Food magazine had a recipe for chicken with mushrooms. I had previously admired the loose mushroom section of Whole Foods and this recipe gave me an excuse to buy some.

The problem with this recipe was that it had the chicken dredged in flour and cooked in butter. Alllllrighty then my eating habits just aren’t digging that. Queue Big Eater Small Body remedy! This one’s pretty easy, nix the flour and replace the butter with coconut oil. So I can’t really take the credit for this recipe, but I’ll take the credit for healthing it up and give Martha Stewart her props! What I love about Martha Stewart’s recipes is the ease at which most of them come together. However, Martha Martha Martha, why on earth would you use button mushrooms when you have so many beautiful ones to choose from at Whole Foods?!?!

So enjoy this beautiful mushroomy delight with low stress!

Here’s the breakdown:

2 chicken breasts

1 tsp coconut oil

2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves

1 lb cremini mushrooms, quartered

¼ cup white wine

¼ cup chicken broth
s & p

Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally to make 2 thin pieces. Pound out the chicken. I used a hammer, but perhaps you’ll have a more official kitchen tool. If not, hammers work! Place some plastic wrap on top of the chicken and work it out! Maybe hold onto this recipe for a tough day at the office! N E WAY…..when the chicken is thin, cut those pieces in equal halves or thirds depending on the size of the piece. Heat coconut oil in a skillet and in batches brown the chicken on both sides. About 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm. Turn the heat down to medium and add thyme and mushrooms to the pan. You may need a little more coconut oil, but eyeball it. Last thing you want is oily food. Even if it is yummy coconut oil. Sauté the mushroom mix for about 6 minutes until they are soft. Add the wine, broth and cook until liquids are reduced by half. This takes about 3 minutes according to the white collar criminal, but I’d say it’s really closer to double that time. Return chicken to the pan and cook for 2 minutes until everything is the same temperature.

Voila! I served this dish with a lemony broccoli that worked really well as a balanced dinner. All ya gotta do is sauté minced fresh garlic, red pepper flakes, zest of one lemon and a minimal amount of coconut oil until the garlic is fragrant. 2 minutes or so. Then add the broccoli. Crank the heat a bit and sauté for about 5 minutes. Do not overcook the broccoli. That’s the absolute worst!

I can safely say this dish was worlds more enjoyable than that chicken marsala attempt in 2002. And though Josh would never admit it to my mom, he did enjoyed it more as well. Hope you’ll try it out as well!

Salud!

Smokin Good!

It’s a pretty well-known fact that foodies love pork. In fact, I didn’t even call myself a foodie until I started to really appreciate the world of pork and all it had to offer. Well this foodie is here to tell you about a terrific company in Vermont where they’re smoking the finest quality and happiest of pigs to bring you great sausages, bacons, hams and various other pig products. Established in 1962, Vermont Smoke and Cure has been providing their consumers with a product that they can eat with confidence that the piggies’ and consumers’ best interest and health is a priority.

They currently source their local pigs from a single farm in Franklin, Vermont and season some of their pork with local Vermont maple syrup from Sweet Retreat in Northfield, Vermont, which we love because our local farmers are so important to us! All of us, right? In fact, in 2011 they purchased over 60,000 pounds of pork and beef for their products either in Vermont or not far from there!

The pigs live on pasture during much of the year and in barns with deep bedded packs during the winter and early spring.  They eat only grains and legumes, minerals and pasture or hay.  Farrowing crates aren't used.  These are happy, healthy pigs.

So what are they doing exactly….smoking and curing. And bringing you a quality of products you can taste the Vermontness (is this a word?) in. They are using a restrained hand to bring you a product that you can taste a balance of smoke, salt, pork and maple. And HELLO who doesn’t love maple syrup? I think I’ve heard a particular funny guy at a wedding weekend say “I happen to know everything there is to know about maple syrup! I love maple syrup. I love maple syrup on pancakes. I love it on pizza. And I take maple syrup and put a little bit in my hair when I've had a rough week. What do you think holds it up, slick?” Agreed Mr. Vaughn!

And, if you have a particular food restriction, you’re likely to be able to eat almost anything they produce as all but their beer brats are made without wheat or other gluten containing items, MSG, milk or milk products, or nuts of any kind. And they go so far as to clean all the equipment after making the beer brats to prevent cross contamination! So for those of us with food allergies, Stay Calm & Consume On!  

So what are you waiting around for? Oh yeah, the Boston Local Food Festival isn’t until Sunday! Make sure you check them out then and if you love the product, as I assume you will, they will ship to you! Visit them at Vermont Smoke and Cure! And definitely get your tookuses down to the food festival! Check it out Here!!!!

 

Who Says It's Left Overs?

It was a clean out the cupboard kind of evening. My veggies from the week were getting wilty and I needed to use the stuff I had. This happens every so often and usually I come up with something that not only makes me happy to eat because it’s yummy but also that whole past life from WWII. Waste not want not! So my end of week veg list consisted of baby kale greens, mixed greens, two ears of corn, ¾ tomato and two scallions. Clearly I was having salad! But I’m a protein eater, so I wanted some kind of meat. Lucky for me I had half a giant hanger steak in the freezer from Stillman at the Turkey Farm. Yes, grass fed! So after defrosting, I put the steak in a Ziploc with fig balsamic vinegar and left it overnight.

When I was in Kentucky last, I stopped into this place called Stuartos Olive Oil that specializes in vinegar, olive oil and salts. While there, I picked up this amazing espresso coarse salt. I figured that would pair really nicely on the grill with the fig balsamic. DO NOT ask me how I come to these decisions. Sometimes they come out great, other times, not. But the answer is always no if you don’t ask the question. So I tried this out.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Mixed greens

Baby kale

2 scallions, sliced

1 red tomato, or in my case ¾ tomato

2 ears of corn

Fig balsamic vinegar

Espresso salt

1lb hanger steak

After marinating the steak in vinegar overnight, I pressed a liberal amount of espresso salt onto both sides of the steak. Then cranked the grill until it was screaming hot and grilled the steak about 5 minutes per side. Meanwhile, I stacked up my veggies onto salad plates. The corn I boiled for 13 minutes. Not 12, not 14, trust me, 13 minutes. Then I cut it off the cob and mixed with about 1 tbsp of butter. Yup, I said it! I spooned the buttered corn over the salad. After letting the meat sit for about 5 minutes to redistribute the juices, I sliced it thinly on the bias. This is important for the proper texture, especially for hanger steak. Otherwise its a chewy mess, yuuuuck! Top the whole thing with pieces of the steak.

Because of the amazing coffee tasting salt and the butter, you will not need additional dressing for this salad.

It was pretty outstanding! I especially liked the charred ends of the steak which were nutty and complex! I suggest this for a quickie meal and with the exception of a teeny bit of grass fed butter, it’s healthy! It was definitely different, but my taste buds were totally on board and yours will be too!

Salud!

Happy Cows

Who says all the happy cows live in California? At High Lawn Farm in Lee, MA, the cows are happy as clams. And why shouldn’t they be? They are treated with the utmost respect and care. And in fact, the name “High Lawn Farm” came about due to the large green lawns that cover the hills surrounding the farm where the cows are left to graze. What does that mean? Simply, grass fed dairy, which we all know produces higher quality milk.

Another contributor to that high quality is the cows themselves. At High Lawn, they only milk 100% Jersey cows, which come from the Isle of Jersey off the coast of England and naturally produces rich full flavored milk that contains 20% more calcium and 17% more protein than standard dairy cows. Additionally, the milk contains higher amounts of B vitamins and beta carotene. And you can taste the difference.

In fact, last year at the Boston Local Food Festival, a representative of High Lawn Farm explained to me that the lower fat milks actually taste richer due to the milk solids produced only by Jersey Cows. These cows do not produce as much as other dairy cows, but what they do produce is a much higher quality.

Because High Lawn Farm is the last dairy in the Berkshires area, it is important to them to preserve the land and educate on the importance of local farming all while producing a high quality product you can feel good about consuming. High Lawn does not use antibiotics, pesticides or growth hormones, going so far as to test every batch of milk for antibiotics before it even goes into production. Let’s face it, we don’t know what’s going into some of the mass produced milk we find at our grocery stores and knowing that the cows and the environment are as important to High Lawn Farm as they are to me is quite comforting.

At High Lawn Farm, it is equally important help keep their community green and maintain sustainable agriculture. They currently work in partnership with Berkshire Grown and Buy Local Food in order to further the push to local sustainability.

As a fourth generation family business, High Lawn is preserving an over 100 year tradition of providing the best quality milk you can find and sustaining a local presence: a tradition they hope to carry on for another 100 years and are taking the steps to do so.

High Lawn Farm will be at the Boston Local Food Festival on October 7, 2012, at the Rose Kennedy Greenway from 11:00am until 5:00pm. Here’s your chance to check them out if you’ve never tried the yummy milk, or support them if you’re like me and already love what they’re doing!

Cheers to our happy cows right here in Massachusetts!

Green Eggs & Ham BESB Style!

I’m hooked watching the Democratic National Convention this week so I’m offering a small recipe that is not only delicious but packed full of veggie at a meal we rarely eat a lot of vegetables! What meal is that? Breakfast. Not too long ago in an attempt to get some more substantial veggies at breakfast time I looked in the fridge to see what I could put with eggs. What did I find? Asparagus. Welp, that was the only choice so I did what I could.

It was a little bit made up with what was fast and what I had. But the combo of asparagus and eggs would obviously be better with bacon, right? Isn’t everything?

Here’s the breakdown for one person:

5 stalks of asparagus

2 eggs

2-3 slices center cut bacon

Coconut oil

s&p

Fry or bake your bacon until crispy. Drain on paper towel and cut into small pieces, bacon bits, if you will. Then cut the asparagus into small pieces (1/2 inch long pieces). Sauté the asparagus in a little bit of coconut oil in a pan for 4-5 minutes on medium-high heat. In another pan cook two eggs over easy. Over easy is just a couple minutes on the first side and then when I flip the egg, I normally turn the heat off a few seconds after flipping and let sit until cooked. The key is to keep the yolks runny. To plate this, put the asparagus down first, then the eggs, then sprinkle with salt and pepper and finally sprinkle the bacon bits on top.

This was really delicious and I usually pair any breakfast with Amazing Grass brand Green SuperFood mixed up in a glass of water, juice or almond milk, so this was veggie laden! Which not only makes me feel great, but also fueled me for the morning without getting hangry before lunch!!! Try it even if it scares you, I bet you’ll love it!

               Salud!

This salad is BOMB!

Lately I’ve had a serious craving for a sub sammich. Since I’m not eating wheat, this really presents a problem. I’m not really a sandwich eater, so the no wheat thing hasn’t bothered me in that respect. But I do love the occasional sub. And a couple weeks ago I was really feeling the lack of wheat and all I wanted was a giant sub. So I got to thinking about what’s in a sub that I love and how can I make it into something I won't feel guilty about eating. 

For several years of my very early childhood, I lived in Philly. And I am a huge fan of the cheesesteak! In fact, when my family moved to Kentucky, one of my parents' old friends used to ship us the rolls for them so we could make authentic ones at home! I then decided to rethink the cheesesteak and turn it into a healthy but delish alternative.

What I came up with was a salad that had all the flavors I love from that oooey gooeey unhealthy sandwich. A steak bomb (as they call them here in New England) salad! This recipe serves 3 STARVING people.

Here’s the breakdown:

3 Portobello mushroom caps

1 red onion

2 green peppers

mixed greens

shredded Kerry Gold cheddar cheese

*I use this because it’s grass fed dairy

1 avocado

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

olive oil

s&p

¼ cup red wine vinegar

Montreal steak seasoning

Worcestershire sauce

Marinate the whole Portobello caps in a gallon size Ziploc bag with Montreal seasoning and Worcestershire sauce. Let sit as long as it takes to prep everything else. Slice the red onion into ½” slices. Cut the green peppers in half and take out the seeds. Grill the green peppers, onions and mushrooms for approximately 4-5 minutes per side. When you flip the mushrooms, sprinkle the shredded cheddar on top to melt it. Meanwhile, smash avocado in red wine vinegar. Put mustard, avocado mix and just more than ¼ cup of olive oil in a salad dressing container. Shake vigorously. Add salt and pepper. Taste it. If you need more olive oil, add it. You'll know if its too acidic. But be careful, you won’t need too much oil because the avo is fatty. When it tastes right to you, toss it into the mixed greens. Cut up the green peppers, mushrooms and onion into strips. Lay them over the dressed greens. Voila!

This is a hearty hearty salad. And it actually tastes a lot like a steak bomb! I served it with a piece of grilled chicken because Josh really needs more food than that. But for me it was really enough as its own dinner! 

Peachy Keen Pork

Lately I’m eating more protein than ever. For years I was convinced that a vegetarian heavy (not exclusive) diet would be a way for me to keep trim. But through lots of experimentation I find that upping the protein and veg is not only the way for me to get to the body I want but it is also assisting with my strength building and my overall focus, especially in the morning. I’ve also noticed that in the mornings I’m hungry for breakfast: as I should be considering the overnight fast. Which whether rational or not makes sense in my little brain as a good thing. Things seem to be in order for me in this way and I’m especially happy with my performance in the gym.

That said I’ve also taken a huge interest not in just what protein I am eating, but also what my protein is eating. I don’t know why it took me so long to care, but I’m really happy that I’m here now. So I’ve moved to grass fed beef which tastes great and helps me sleep at night. What’s that commercial about Happy Cows? ;) You know that I shop as much at the farmers’ markets as possible, but until last weekend, it didn’t occur to me that I should buy my protein there too. I got into a discussion with a woman from Stillman's at the Turkey Farm where they specialize in protein. In fact, they offer a meat CSA that I plan to join as soon as I eat all the stuff I bought from them last weekend. But the nice lady really talked to me and you could tell that she cared. How refreshing to talk to someone who cares so much about their product and the way their animals are treated. Now, I’m no member of PETA, but I do believe we should respect all living things even if we’re only going to eat them later. So the woman assured me that the beef was all grass fed as well as the lamb. But I mentioned to her that of course the pork eats grain. Well friends, I was wrong wrong wrong wrong! Apparently the piggies at Stillman eat the left over veggies and fruit that doesn’t sell in the market on top of their regular grazing diet. Whaaaat? She even said that lately they’d been eating peaches and that you can taste it!

Moments prior to this conversation I picked up 6 white peaches from Kimball Farms. If that’s not a sign from a great power, I don’t know what is. Thank you food gods for directing me! So a couple days later I made grilled pork chops with grilled peaches and baby greens. THE BABY GREENS I’VE BEEN GROWING IN MY WINDOW!

Here’s the breakdown

2” pork chops

white peaches

baby greens

*if you’re not growing them just buy something delicate

juice of half a lemon

olive oil

borsari seasoning

*you’ll find a pic of this on my blog from 10/20/11

cinnamon

coconut oil

olive oil

honey

If your coconut oil is solid, mix in some of the borsari. If not don’t. Sprinkle a liberal amount of borsari on your chops. You’ll think it’s too much but with a 2 inch chop, you need lots of seasoning. Let your chops sit for 10 to 15 minutes to come to room temperature. Preheat your grill to about 425 degrees if you have a thermometer and if not 15 minutes preheating should do it. Cut your peaches in half and remove the pits. Sprinkle them with cinnamon. Grill the chops for 5-6 minutes on each side. (This will give you a medium or medium well which I’m usually skeeved by with pork, but I know where my meat was coming from and I know that it’s been handled with care.) When you flip the chops put the peaches on the grill. Remove everything at one time. Meanwhile mix up baby greens with fresh lemon juice and an itty bit of olive oil. Slice up the peaches and stack them on the chop. Drizzle just a little bit of honey over the peaches and chop. Then stack up the greens. 

I mean I’m literally smiling while I type this. This dish made me so happy!

This meal was not only enlightening to me on how food can taste when it’s not mass produced in some plant, but was so delicious and I felt amazing eating it. Even felt a little awesome knowing I’d grown part of it! I recommend this meal to you with no doubt that you’ll absolutely love it. But please do yourself a favor and check into what you’re eating. We’re all obsessively at the gym and getting fit, but if we’re fueling our bodies with ick, what are we really accomplishing?

Cheers to your health!