southwestern falafel, glazed pork, and more!

Alright let's start off with an answer to a comment.  I was asked "So, do you like making all this food at one time, then just reheating it?"

And, you know, on any other day I would have said yes.  And I would still probably say yes.  But on this particular day, my answer was no.  Probably only because I was asked.

This is what my kitchen looks like less than halfway through a cooking day.  And depending on how well (or not well) I plan my menu, I have to rewash the same pot, bowl, etc. a million times.  Or at least it seems like a million times.

This time, I washed everything a million times.  And it doesn't help that I had to do both my grocery shopping and cooking all in one day, either.  That's usually about a 2 hour event - one store for produce and the regular store for everything else - not to mention it's an hour and a half roundtrip drive.  And then 6 more hours of cooking.

But usually, I use a separate trip for grocery shopping and then get started cooking by 7 am, so I'm done by 2 or so.  AND, I like not having to come home after working at the ranch and trying to figure out what to cook when it's already 6 o'clock.

So the answer to the question is:  Yes, I like making all this food at once and then reheating it.

Now, onto all this food!

If you'll notice, this Shrimp and Okra Gumbo seems to be missing a key ingredient...perhaps there should be some...shrimp?  I decided that it would get rubbery if I added it and he reheated it.  And the recipe gave me a make-ahead hint of leaving it out.  So, I sent some frozen shrimp with him to throw in when he reheats (on the stove).

It was served with creamy grits (grits with Greek yogurt mixed in).  I'm still trying to decide if I like grits.  Yes, after living in the south for 4 years, the jury is still out on this one.  I can't tell you if this meal was great or not...it's components were ok (the gumbo better than the grits), but the combination of the gumbo and grits could be phenomenal, just like the Southwestern Bean Stew with Polenta (see item 6/5a).  By the way, just so you know, polenta is basically grits in a tube.

This is a good ole American meal.  Glazed Pork with couscous and green beans.  While I think it would have been better with mashed potatoes, the couscous was a HUGE time-saver.  The pork was a quick recipe, I'd say less than 30 minutes.  So if you were going to make this meal, do so in this order:  green beans, pork, couscous.

The green beans are a recipe from my friend and quite delicious.  1)  Heat a Tablespoon of butter and a Tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan.  2)  Add about a half onion sliced vertically, let them caramelize.  3)  Add 1 cup of Chicken Broth, let it boil until it reduces by half - or use bouillon and add less water for a time-saver.  4) Add fresh green beans once the chicken broth is reduced.  5)  Cook until green beans are cooked and broth has reduced/thickened to a sauce.

Don't stare at this out-of-focus picture too long or you'll go blind.  My mom said so.  Or wait, your eyes will freeze like that.  Or something.  Anyhow, both of these items take a lot of time, but are not time-intensive. Get it?  The Oregano and Lime Roasted Chicken takes 4 hours to marinate and the Wheat Berry Salad with Raisins and Pistachios takes 1 hour for the wheat berries to simmer into something edible, but they take less than 30 minutes of actually prep work time.

The chicken gravy was DE-lish-us.  We haven't had the chicken yet.  I just licked the spatula.  After I was done.  And the wheat berry salad was better than I was expecting, good, actually, but I'm not sure I'd make it again.  I don't think I'm THAT into health food yet.  But if you like wheat berries' chewiness, definitely give this a try.  It's got great flavor.  And the reviewers of the recipe have given it 5 stars.  And I would, too, if I liked the wheat berries, but I don't.  Or so I just found out.  Ok enough of that.  You get the point.

Now this, THIS is my absolute favorite vegetarian dish and if every vegetarian dish was this good, I'd become vegetarian.  Maybe.  Southwestern Falafel with Avocado Spread is sooooo, sooooo good.  You're gonna love it.  At least if you love refried beans like I do.

You basically throw a can of pinto beans in, mash them up a bit (I forgot to do this step first, so I threw in some refried beans to help it stick), 2 handfuls of Monterey Jack cheese, some green onions, cilantro (if you don't hate it, which I do), crush some baked tortilla chips, add an egg white and voila, smash it together and call it a falafel.  So quick, so easy, so delicious.  And in the 6 minutes the falafels are cooking, whip up the sour cream/avocado sauce.  Dinner on the table in about 20 minutes.  Did I mention, so quick, so easy, so delicious?  You will seriously consider becoming vegetarian.

We had Korean-Style Beef Skewers with Rice Noodles and Peanutty Coleslaw last night, except we used an elk steak because it's free and in the freezer.  And may I just tell you, Dow and I just "mmmmm....this is good" "yummmmmm...." "oh man, this is good" 'ed (that's past tense of all those phrases) through the whole meal.  I followed the recipe exactly (ok, so I added some sesame oil) and it was definitely on the spicy side, but still finger-lickin' good.

This is another pretty quick meal.  The meat does have to marinate for 30 minutes, but you can throw the coleslaw together in that time.  Then the meat cooks for 2 minutes on a side, so we'll say it's a 40 minute meal.

So I think that's it for food this week.  One more week to go and that's it.  I'm going to do only a few big meals Food Guy can throw in the freezer to keep him a little longer, so stay tuned!

floating teeth

Ever heard the saying, "Getting long in the tooth"?  In case you haven't, it means "getting old" and the saying comes from horses.  You see, you can pull back the lips of a horse, have a gander, and determine its age.  

For instance, I saw THE cutest little Red Roan mare (not this one - she was cuter - but just so you know what they look like) at the auction and pointed her out to Dan, who also liked her...until he looked at her teeth.  She had these little itty bitty teeth, which meant she was only 2 or 3 years old and probably not ready for dudes...if people at all.

On the other hand, as most of our fellas are good, broke, dude-proof, child-donning horses, they are, as you might say, long in the tooth.

And when they get long in the tooth, they can get really sharp edges, or hooks, on them.  Which in turn can cause ulcers - think of biting your cheek constantly.  Which in turn can cause a horse to lose weight, because it hurts to eat!

So, our vet came out yesterday to float teeth.  Never heard of it?  Well, consider it your dental cleaning.  Kinda.  She basically grinds, or files, off the sharp hooks.  

This is her tool kit.  Notice the drill, eye protection, ear protection, needle, head lamp, and rag.

Her first patient of the day was Doc, so we'll follow his whole procedure. 

 First things first, horses are some of the worst dental patients, so they have to be drugged, intravenously.  

It works pretty darn quickly.  I'm not sure if Doc was just showing us that he was ready for his teeth to be fixed or what.

Let's have a closer look, shall we?

Hey guys?  I can't feel my lips!  Am I doing anything with my lips?  My lips feel REALLY weird!  I swear!  I can't feel my lips!

The drugs put the horses into what Dan calls "the 5-point stance," the head being the fifth point.  So this contraption helps them keep their heads up.

You can see it a little better here.  They attach the rope to the top of the halter, throw the rope over the top of the gate, and then Donovan uses the pulley to keep Doc's head from sagging to the ground.

Next comes the spectrum, which will hold his mouth open, as well as cover his teeth with a metal plate so in the event he does close his mouth there's more surface area and less sharpness.

Here it is in his full glory.  Don't you like his nice shiny smile?  It's like he's got braces and headgear.  Notice how his legs are all sprawled out?  He's drunk.  Aaaand stumbling.

Once he's all set up, it's time to rinse his mouth out with water.  Horses will store wads of hay in their cheeks like chipmunks, so she uses a syringe to get all the leftovers out.  Just a little bit larger than what they use on us, huh?  

I think this picture is funny for so many reasons, but Donovan just looks so cooooool.  If I was a better photographer, I think I'd send it to GQ, although I'm not sure what they'd think of Doc.  Donovan just might be taking after his younger brother with a career in modeling.  

Alright, back to business!  The vet is having a look inside.  

She determined that the loose molar Doc had the last time she inspected him fell out.  And that, in fact, he had another loose molar.  Which can cause pain if it wiggles when he eats.

Here, have a look for yourself.

 Yeah, it's kinda hard to see anything.

Putting her nose, er, teeth to the grindstone, the vet started grinding away with her drill.  And then she broke it, the drill, that is, not teeth.  Or the battery died.  Or something.

So she had to go back to the old fashioned way of doing things.  Using a file and pushing and pulling to grind it down manually.  Talk about hard work!

The good news is Oz, our new housekeeper, is a mechanical engineer.  And after much inspection and tearing apart.  Ok, so there really wasn't much tearing apart.  He determined that her knob on the top was stuck between speeds.  So once she chose a speed, she was back in business.

That's the man himself right there.  Oz, the redhead.  And the rest of the audience the vet had that day.

But before we go on, I want you to have an appreciation for the physical strength involved in floating a horse's teeth.  Just look at how she has to brace herself!  Not to be confused with Doc's wide-legged stance.

Finally, the vet has to make sure that the front teeth are filed down enough for the molars to make contact.  Otherwise, the horse can rip the grass off, but can't chew it up.  

Remember I mentioned that Doc lost the loose molar that she had seen last time and that he had a new loose molar?  Well, she told Dan that he needed to get a dental specialist out here with the proper tools to pull it.  Dan kindly explained to her that we did not have the funds for such a specialist and that it was either him or her.

She chose her. 

And this was the outcome.  

At the end of the day, this what they looked like.  Still wobbling and hanging like old, drunken soldiers.  But with an almost-brand-new set of teeth...not enough to disguise their age, though!

banh mi sandwiches and griot

What the heck?  Is that even English?  Actually, no.  The Banh Mi is Vietnamese and the Griot is Haitian.  It was quite the worldly food this week.  (And you're probably asking if I'm ever going to go back to Dude Ranching.  The answer is yes.  Someday.  I've got pictures, I just need to write about it!)

But as for now, I'll do food.  And maybe I'll get a head start on another posting, so I can do more than one a week!

Here is this week's menu.

Griot with Sauce Ti-Malice, pan-fried plantains, and rice.  What the heck is that you ask?  It is a traditional Haitian pork dish.  While it isn't very labor-intensive, it takes an extremely long time to make.  The pork has to marinate for 12-24 hours, is then braised for an hour and a half, sauteed until crisp, and finally cooked with some of the braising liquid until the meat caramelizes.  

Ti-Malice is a bit interesting.  It's a Haitian condiment that's named for a trickster in voodoo mythology, so named because it's a sour sauce that covers the sweeter pork.  I'll let you know if any black magic heads our way.

I just ate this for lunch today and it was good.  I'm not gonna lie, I won't say it was great.  And I guess if you're going to put that much time into it (remembering to marinate a day ahead), then it should be pretty darn good.

Banh Mi-Style Roast Beef Sandwiches with Carrot Sticks.  For me, this is pretty much a meal made from pantry staples - soy sauce, rice vinegar, and fish sauce - and if you do much Cooking Light cooking, these will become your staples, too.  Dow and I ate this meal for lunch yesterday, but I have to admit it was a little dry.  Great flavors, but could have used some mayo or something.  If nothing else, the sauce over the matchstick carrots and radishes with some cucumbers might make a great salad.  

Also, here's something I learned the other day.  I was going to buy flank steak, as the recipe called for, but I saw a flat iron steak right next to it for half price and looked like a similar cut of meat.  I asked the butchers and they said they actually preferred it (flat iron) even to a tenderloin steak.  After basically just searing for 5 minutes on each side, I would have to agree with them.  Cheaper and delicious!

This cheesy dish is actually Tex-Mex Lasagna, the vegetarian dish.  Very simple to throw together with lasagna noodles, black beans, corn, and salsa.  I couldn't tell you how it was, though...I only made one casserole and sent it on it's merry way.

This Easy Penne and Tuna Salad is truly a Cooking Light recipe.  The theory behind this meal is that more is not always better.  By using a few high-quality ingredients, you can have an easy yet delicious meal in minutes.  I would have to say it's true.  First of all, yes, I know that's not penne, but I used what I had on hand...pasta tastes the same to me.  Secondly, they suggest using a jar of PREMIUM tuna, such as Ortiz, but try as I may, I could not find such a thing.  So I grabbed a packet of PREMIUM tuna, which did not come out looking like their picture.  Better luck next time.  Also, usually whenever a recipe calls for broiling my own roasted red peppers, I skip it and by the jarred kind.  I thought in this case, the texture would be noticeable, so I did actually roast my own.  It was worth it.

And last, but not least, was the Chicken with Lemon and Olives, with Green Pea Rice.  This is a budget meal meaning you can feed four people for under $10 ($2.39/serving).  I thought this was probably the best meal of the week.  It does dirty a lot of dishes though - marinate in a bowl, brown in a skillet, bake in a 9x13, and boil the sauce in a saucepan.  One person suggested just grilling the chicken and pouring the sauce directly into the pan, lowering the dish usage to 2 - marinating bowl and saucepan.  I think that would give the chicken great flavor!  Finally, that rice was AWESOME!  I could barely stop eating it after taking a sample bite!  The bad news...it's not listed with the main meal online, so I don't know how to find it.  If anyone is dying for it, let me know and I'll type it up.

That's it for this week of cooking.  Only 2 weeks left to go!

Happy Cooking!