The chicken issue

I got back from Tai Chi this evening, relaxed but hungry and anticipating dinner.

Oh, the fragrance of something -green? Odors of protein as well. While I was away, this is what happened:

Sauteed boneless, skinless chicken breasts (only one for the two of us) on a bed of pureed swiss chard.
Roasted beets
Corn on the cob
Mixed green salad with Italian tomatoes and avocado. Oil and vinegar dressing - none of that gooey commercial salad dressing, just pure olive oil, rice vinegar, herbs, salt and pepper.

Decent red wine.

No dessert.

About the chicken. He had purchased organic bone in, skin on chicken breasts. He sliced the breasts off the bone and skin so he had two nice cutlets, one for this meal and the other to be frozen for another time. He threw the bones and skin into a pan with some water and a bay leaf and boiled it while he prepared the beets and put them on to roast in a hot oven. Then, with the resulting broth, he whirred it up in the blender with the cooked swiss chard left over from the night before. What broth was left and the bits from the bones went into the dog's supper dish.

Chicken can be hard to do. Often it is tough and fatty (and I know!) Andy is very careful to cook such chicken as this we had tonight for dinner, only for a very short time. It isn't pink or bloody at all. He uses a timer and his nose. He knows.

He always cooks with organically raised chicken and if the whole chicken is to be roasted he marinates this in a blend of kosher salt with a pinch of sugar. He keeps careful track of the doneness. (Roast chicken is for another discussion.)

But however you cook your chicken, respect it. Use everything but the clucking. Always make broth from the bones and skin. This is your ticket to marvelous soups and sauces. Have you ever looked at what is in commercial broth? Makes my skin crawl. And it is so easy to make your own!

My job is cleaning up the kitchen. There were a few of the roasted beets left over. I put them in a baggie and in a few days they will become borscht!

It's not hard to cook from scratch - and even easier when our vegetable garden gets going in the fall.

We believe that eating well- organically, locally, from scratch as much as possible, is key to maintaining health.

Also, it is so fun to cook and eat well!

How we Eat

It has been awhile since I last posted on this blog. But we are still here, eating wonderful meals every evening. Grandpa Andy is not a 'digital' guy so I am here to tell you about how all you can cook wonderful meals in an hour or less.

Most days, I will tell you what we have going on in the kitchen.

I am usually around and about our large property and I know that when I appear in the house close to six p.m., I will smell something delicious! I never know what it will be.

G'Pa has usually gotten something out of the freezer, or has something from the grocery store or the fish market.  In season, we'll have a choice of vegetables from our garden.

Tonight he presented a vegetarian dish of eggplant layered with tomatoes and onions and garlic topped with shaved parmesan. No salad tonight, but a huge dish of plain red swiss chard. On the side there were egg noodles. No dessert.

We are careful, but not rabid, about eating local and organic foods. Everything we eat is real food, nothing manufactured that includes 27 or more ingredients your mother would not recognize!

Often, we have guests for dinner, so the meal is more complex.

I promise to present every supper here, including recipes and photos, Cooking is not hard. It is so creative!

Here are scallops with mushrooms and celery we had recently.

I love this guy who cooks for me and our friends.