The closer the cow, the tastier the meat...

59/100

Today I made a fantastic brisket. Wow that was an amazingly boring sentence. However, the brisket is fantastic, boring sentence aside. It is a thing of beauty. I love meat. Sometimes I feel bad about that. I feel like if I were more responsible about the planet I wouldn't eat meat. And I try to cut back on my meat eating, but it is so good. Right now, in my fridge, I have lamb, organic grass fed ground beef, brisket and chicken breasts. That's a lot of meat for one person. I think that comes from growing up cooking for a family. I miss that. A lot. So if I invite you to dinner... COME for crying out loud. It isn't work for me and it makes me all happy to have someone to cook for that appreciates my cooking. I've lived with people who haven't appreciated my cooking *chuckle* I stopped cooking. Which is a shame. Because I truly love to cook.

Back in college, I used to be a vegetarian. I was relatively happy as a vegetarian, although I did eat fish, eggs and cheese. I don't eat cheese now, as it makes my stomach hurt. And really? I remember the day I decided not to be a vegetarian. I was going to Mexico, knew it would be difficult to be a vegetarian there and decided to go to Burger King. This was 20 years ago mind you. I loved that burger. It had been over 2 years since I had eaten red meat. My body was miserable later, but I remember thinking, my god I love meat.

Having made this brisket, I realize the importance of good quality meat. It is worth the extra money for organic beef. Whole Foods shows the farm where the meat is raised and harvested. I feel good about buying my meat there. Having bought cheap meat at Costco before, now I look at that long cooler full of meat that is stretched out across three isles and I know I don't want to participate in that sort of factory beef. If I am going to eat meat, the least I can do is buy sustainable beef. I'd love to buy a side of beef from a local farmer, but it costs around $600 and I can't afford that right now. Eventually! In the meantime, I buy from farmer's markets, Central Market and Whole  Foods (called Whole Paycheck by those in the know). Maybe I am just buying my meat there to make myself feel less guilty, but I really believe their meat is better. There is a small butcher shop near where I live, I keep thinking I will go and check it out but haven't yet. I tried the butcher that promotes local beef, but I wasn't impressed with their meat.

In the end? I believe in being more organic, eating food that is grown within 100 miles of my home and supporting local farmers who are growing fruit, vegetables and raising chickens and selling eggs. The food tastes better and I feel better supporting my local community. I admit I still buy tomatoes out of season, even though they have absolutely NO taste. I still buy bananas. I still buy other vegetables out of season... but when possible, I choose local and I choose organic.

Next year? I want to have a garden. I have plenty of space for one... I just wish I was better at tending and managing a garden... well... next year is the year I find out. I'm starting with strawberries and going from there! I plan on canning my food, I've gotten quite good at it, and having fresh veggies into the winter next year. We'll see how that goes, but I'm already reading about it! Plus I know a great lawn guy who is fantastic with plants... He doesn't have to know yet that he'll be helping me! *lol*

Peace,

Marykate

Best damn chicken house in the Pacific Northwest!!
That's my house. In case I wasn't being clear...

41/100

I was going to write about walking a little over a mile today (for the second day in a row) and then swimming and then doing resistance exercises on my arms in the pool. How good it made me feel, etc.

Then? I came home and made the best damn chicken I have *ever* eaten. Seriously. THE BEST. Of course recipe and info to follow (mostly because I want to make you all jealous and show once again that damn it, I'm cool *lol*)

Okay I started with an organic chicken. I set it out about 3 o'clock for an estimated 4:30 pm grilling. At 1:00 I put on some organic spelt/flax, sesame seed bread to bake. I love my bread maker and I have been making a loaf a week. It lasts me all week, is pretty inexpensive and adding the flax and sesame seeds tonight really kicked it up - yum! Plus my neighbor has organic chicken eggs... so LIFE IS GOOD! (insert grin here)

About 4pm I lighted the grill. This is where the story breaks down. I did NOT have that grill ready until 6:00. Seriously. I can't seem to navigate fire in the big green egg or in my fireplace... *lol* I digress. I did finally get the grill at about 325 sometimes around 5:45. The grill was supposed to be 350, but it didn't matter to the chicken. I did direct grilling instead of indirect, so they cooked pretty quickly. What is 'they' you may ask? "They" is my spatchcocked (well really half spatchcocked) chicken. I'd have put in photos of the whole thing, but this guy? Already did. No need to repeat. However, I went farther than this guy did. I also removed the cartilage between the breasts and cut my chicken exactly in half. Trimmed off the excess fat and got out my nucoa (I don't do dairy if I can help it) and made sure both halves of the chicken were dry. I then put butter on both halves and a little under the skin on both breasts. I will say that I didn't use that much butter, maybe a tablespoon on each side. I then dusted both sides and the bottoms with Poultry Seasoning (which was simply amazing) and Butt Rub!I love butt rub above all other seasonings as it has no sugar in it! YUM!!!

I had no idea this was going to turn out so well so I have no 'before' photos of me spatchcocking the chicken or of how it looked before I put it on the grill... but *this* is what it looked like after 45 minutes of cooking and not ONCE opening the lid. The internal thermometer measured 160 in the breast and 180 in the thigh *exactly*. I turned it over for about 1 minute to crisp up the skin then realized it was unnecessary as the skin was already crisp and removed the two halves from the heat. Look at those pretty red coals glowing under the chicken... *drool*

ohhh pretty!

all crispy and juicy!

other side

all plated up!Oh wait... is that organic CORN from the farmer's market I see? Why yes, yes it is...

mmmm  homemade spelt/flax/sesame bread fresh out of the breadmaker!

dessert... organic marshmallow with dark chocolate and organic graham crackers!

ohh look at you, you beautiful, crispy perfectness!

Um. YUM. Seriously this is the best chicken I have ever eaten. It had a smoky flavor, but the skin was crispy, the meat was incredibly juicy and fell off the bone. The bottom carmelized perfectly and without all the extra bones, the chicken was just beautiful and easy to eat.

Super healthy! Super tasty and low in calories. Yay me! AND I exercised today. My goal is to exercise every day for the next 10 days. Doesn't have to be anything crazy, BUT I have this new iPhone app.. I am LOVING it! It's called iTreadmill and it is fantastic. It measures every step, tells me how many calories I've burned, how fast I've walked, how many steps I've taken and the distance I covered in the time I walked. I really like it!

So happy Sunday night to you all! I'm beat! Gonna put away my leftovers for bento tomorrow and going to sleep early. One of my resolutions has been to get into bed by 10... I'm doing pretty well with it... It makes such a huge difference in how I feel the next day!

Peace

MaryKate

Ribeye... seared and rare...
on the BGE (big green egg)
20.5/100

Start with a good bone in ribeye. Let it set out for an hour to warm up to room temperature. I used Dizzy Pig Cow Lick. I love this seasoning, but it is one of their only ones not to include sugar. I am not a sugar-on-my-meat fan, so this one is awesome! (I wish now I had used some olive oil before I put the seasoning on, it would have made more crispy edges, but it's good to know for next time!) Let the seasoning sit on the meat for at least an hour:

I lit the grill about 15 minutes before I was ready to grill the steak:

After about 10 minutes I closed the lid and let it start to really heat up

I let the grill get even hotter, then put the steak on

mmm already looking good! Closed the lid and let side A cook for 2 minutes. (I'll probably go 2min 30 seconds next time)

Oh yeah looking even better! Turn over to side B and grill (would do 2min 30 seconds next time). Then turn the ribeye back to side A at a 90 angle to create crossmarks on the meat. I closed the grill lid, closed the vent on the top and on the bottom and let the meat cook back on side A for another 2 minutes (again I'd add 30 more seconds next time for a true medium rare)

I removed the stead and covered it on the plate with aluminum foil to let the juices return to the meat. In the meantime, I threw some olive oil, onions and Dizzy Spice Cow Lick onto some aluminum foil and put it on the grill for the 10 minutes while the grill was 'cooling down' (I was reducing the heat so put on a pork should that will need to cook for about 20 hours)

All grilled up and no where to go... oh wait, yes there is!!!!! *lol*

and the final result!

It looks more medium than it was. It turned out to be pretty perfectly rare if you are a rare meat eater. The center was warmish and red/blue. Like I said, next time for my tastes I'll add 30 seconds each round and a little olive oil, but the steak was DELICIOUS and so were the mushrooms/onions!

Tasty Pork Tacos

14/100

Today's blog is a Big Green Egg birthday BBQ dinner :) Very healthy and while it took about 20 hours? It was sooo worth it.

 It started with a Pork Butt (actually, it's the butt of the pig shoulder)...

Now, you'll see this is armour pig shoulder? I bought it because it was on sale for 1.99 a pound. However, after thinking about it, I don't think I'll buy Hormel again. I'd much rather support local, sustainable farming, not the industrial farming Hormel represents. But the Butt Rub? Fan. Tas. Tic. I really like that it has no sugar.

I used the place setter in my big green egg with the metal pan to catch the drip pan.

                                      

I set the grill at 220 - 250 and cooked the pork until it reached an internal temperature of 200- apx. 20 hours. I have an incredible new thermometer that measures *both* the temperature of the egg *and* the temp of the food! AND???? IT'S REMOTE! So I can sit in my living room and look at the temp of the egg and the food without leaving my comfy chair! *laughter* woohoo!

This is a pic of the Princess and the Horses watching the green egg and the smoke and wondering what is going on!

I didn't take a photo of the finished product (I forgot) but here is the result: pulled pork with just the right amount of seasoning:

I also threw some sweet onion and yellow peppers onto the grill while it cooled (omg sooo yummy). I put a little saffola oil on them and some Butt Rub:

I made pico de gallo (tomatoes, cilantro, lime, jalapenos and onions), guacamole (avocados, lime, garlic salt, pepper, some salsa, cilantro, mashed together) and made spanish rice in my rice cooker (sushi rice and a can of Mexican tomatoes with mild chilis and cilantro and some cumin )

Dessert was chocolate mousse with fresh raspberries:

1 box of silk tofu

1/4 c agave

1c coconut milk

1 bar organic chocolate (no dairy)

1 bar Ghirardelli dark chocolate

3/4 c dairy free chocolate chips

1T vanilla

Melt chocolate in a pan slowly with coconut milk and vanilla until it turns shiny. Place the tofu into a large food processor and blend it until it becomes smooth. To help the blending you can add the agave (or maple syrup or honey if you prefer). Once the chocolate melts, turn the food processor back on and slowly add the chocolate to the tofu mixture. Mixture will look like pudding. Place into the refrigerator and allow to set up for several hours or overnight. Serve with raspberries a spring of mint and whip cream if you like. 

 

Wonderful, tasty and healthy! 

Peace,

MaryKate

Chicken on the Egg

12.5/100

Quick recipe post... it isn't full of photos, but just in case you want to grill chicken on the egg... It just turned out so moist, flavorful and perfectly done I wanted to share what I did! I often dread boneless skinless breasts on the grill because usually? Someone has cooked the dickens out of the chickens (wow...that is so corny but I couldn't help it). However, the egg held in the moisture and even though I could have taken it off the grill earlier, it was still super moist and slightly smoky.

I started with organic chicken skinless/boneless breasts and lit the Big Green Egg...

It was just me, so I made two. I rubbed them with dry spice (Dizzy Pig Tsunami Spice) and let them set while I let the grill warm up...

Took a while for me to get the grill going and solid at around 350. It went up as high as 400 and at times hovered at 300... Eventually it settled in at around 360 or so... It's a vague science... I'm learning! *laughter*

I put a small amount of oil in pie pan where the chicken was waiting to be grilled. I just put the oil over the rub. Also? I used saffola oil - high smoking temp. and is extremely stable at high heats.

I placed the chicken directly on the grill and DID NOT TOUCH THEM for 15 minutes. When I went to turn them? They didn't stick and turned perfectly. They were registering about 100 - 115 degrees... I cooked them until they reached 170 - 180 and took them off the grill and let them sit for about 5 minutes.

The juices were clear and they looked beauteous!

I then sliced one and took a bite. It was delish! Absolutely moist, cooked fully (I could have taken it off the grill a few minutes earlier) and the outside was slightly smokey with grill marks as a nice added bonus. I didn't, however, like the rub I used. It was high in sugar and while it formed a nice crispy outside coating? It was really too sweet for me... I'll be giving this Dizzy Pig away and seek something else I like better for the chicken. HOWEVER I have to say I LOVE some of their other spice rubs... I will be buying more of the ones I like and featuring them later, but this one was just too sugary for me! 

Here it is sliced and ready to eat! Which I did. I am saving one of the breasts... if it makes it to Monday without being eaten? I see a bento box in its future!

*laughter*

Peace,

MaryKate