January 31, 2012

“Shake and Bake” Chicken

No, this is not the recipe that you are thinking of. No preservatives, boxes, pre-packaging or styrofoam was harmed in the making of this meal. And let me tell you, I have found my absolute favorite way to prepare chicken! Easy, quick, wasteless and delicious. What’s better than that???

Although we can’t afford to buy pastured, organic chickens from our local farmers, i have committed myself to never purchasing packaged chicken that’s already been ‘convenienced.’ This means no buying “chicken breasts” or boneless, skinless anything. I buy Foster Farms whole chickens at the local market… I’m sure FF isn’t the most humane, ( but maybe it is? ) but it is affordable and grown quasi locally, sourced from Oregon or Washington farms. By purchasing a whole chicken, i’m skipping the packaging (plastic wrap, styrofoam, etc) otherwise found in pre-butchered chicken, plus i get the whole bird, leaving me bones and giblets for making stock or feeding Pocket.

Sustainability aside, buying a whole chicken does add an element of work, but really not much. I have a nice meat cleaver that i sharpen often, so hacking the thighs and wings off is easy, as is shaving off the breasts. Pocket always gets the wings, but the breasts and thighs are saved for the humans of the family. I often roast the chicken whole, but chicken grease is just too delicious to not be eaten with gusto, and we usually eat it all in one sitting, rarely leaving the sandwich meat leftovers originally planned for. While searching for a better ‘diet friendly’ option for cooking chicken, i’ve tried curries, bakes, casseroles and anything else you could think of… but now i’ve found my absolute favorite, and it’s the easiest to make of all!

Shake and Bake Chicken – Scratch Made

  • 1 chicken/ 2 thighs and 2 breasts, fat and skin mostly removed (i like to leave just a bit of skin covering the large side of the thigh, and some of the breast
  • a ziplock or grocery bag
  • Flour mixture: crushed dried bread crumbs, 1/2 cup flour, salt, pepper, seasonings to taste: pick a theme and go with it: cajun, italian, mexican, etc    – i used mustard, paprika and sage
  • 2 potatoes

Mix the flour mixture in a bag and toss each chunk of chicken, one at a time until coated. Before tossing, preheat the oven and a large cast iron pan (or pyrex baking dish if you’re sans-cast iron) to 425-450. Once pre heated, take out the hot pan, melt a bit of butter in it and place the tossed chicken pieces in, skin side down. Enjoy the popping sear sounds! Place a potato or two halved, face down in the same cast iron, nestled in between the chicken parts. You may also wish to toss the liver and gizzrds in the seasoned flour and add to the the pan. Bake for 20 minutes, flip chicken parts (leave the potatoes) and bake another 20.

Easy. Tastes like fried chicken. Stays juicy. Isn’t greasy.   = new favorite.

What’s your favorite way to eat a whole chicken??

 

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January 26, 2012

Choosing a Raw Diet

Since choosing to feed our corgi, Pocket a raw diet… we’ve had lots of factors to consider. Where to get our supply of meat? What type of meat to feed? How often? How much? What “philosophy” will we follow: B.A.R.F., raw meaty bones, whatever is on hand with no rhyme or reason, should we stop feeding kibble altogether or feed some occasionally? Will we consult a nutritionist, or just follow our common sense? We’ve come to a few decisions, and we’re still working it out with the help of Pocket. So far, so good!

Supply of meat: local. We’re open to roadkill and hunting if the
opportunities present ourselves, but we’ve found an excellent source of
goat/pork/ and lamb meat just north of town: Winns Livestock and Hatchery.
Initially, we found a great source of ‘meat’ from a butcher about 40
minutes up the road, and still have a few butchers to call up for
alternative sources… but the first butcher sold dog food in the form
of ground beef (muscle and organ meat). And we’ve sense decided that what she needs is meat and bone. (Pocket is seen here consuming ALL of a goat neck, from the flesh to two vertebra).


Philosphy: The ground meat, along with chopped veggies and other raw human-grade meat was a great start, but we’ve since decided that going with the ‘raw meaty bones’ philosophy makes the most sense to us. I purchased the book “Work Wonders: Feed Your Dog Raw Meaty Bones” by Tom Lonsdale and read it cover to cover. His website, rawmeatybones.com (which i haven’t visited yet) has more resources and forums, and i feel that feeding meaty bones that require Pocket to pull, chew, “floss” and gnaw makes more healthful sense than feeding already ground up meat. I still feed her chopped veggies, in season and supply her with chunks of meat, but the majority of her diet is now fed from raw meaty bones. And when we’re talking meaty, we’re not talking a bone with some meat on it, we’re talking about a leg of critter, covered in all the good stuff and consumed down to the last swallowed bone chunk. Eating is a workout, strengthening her jaws and shoulders and cleaning her teeth all at once.

So now we have both source and philosophy down, it’s time for implementation. Along with meaty goat and lamb bones (and potential pig/sheep/goat heads and other weird body parts) purchase specifically for Pocket from the local farm and butcher shops, she’ll also enjoy bones from human grade food, that would otherwise be wasted or saved for stock making. I only buy whole chickens when i want chicken meat, so i have plenty of chicken carcasses coming through the kitchen. When i have plenty of homemade chicken stock on hand, i’ll save the chicken frames and backs for Pocket’s meals. If i need to save a few for stock making, she’ll have to eat something else. If we happen to buy some bone-in red meat, i may cut off the meat for us and save her the meaty bones.  “Reduced for quick sale” meat is a great option for us and her, and one can usually find gizzards and other cuts in the grocery store. Utilizing ‘spare parts’ or less popular/old cuts of meat, and sharing the edible portions from the meat we do purchase becomes cost effective, resourceful, and healthful for the whole family to utilize as many parts from the animals/meat we choose to eat.

Now that we’ve decided what philosophy and source we’ll be feeding by, the proof is in the pudding: Pocket’s coat is shiny and soft, her teeth are getting cleaner and her itchy ear scabs have cleared up. Are you interested in the pros and cons of a raw diet for dogs? I’d be happy to post more about my research and experience, and i’d love to hear from you if you feed your dogs/cats raw meaty bones.

Shall we continue this conversation?

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January 25, 2012

Beazell Forest

Just up hwy 223 (from the junction of hwy 20, just west of Philomath) is Beazell Memorial Forest. Hidden under the trees are mushrooms, ferns, streams and several miles of lovely hiking paths.

Signs of the recent floods were obvious, and water still ran down many of the steeper paths. We very much enjoyed our trip into the fog and ferns, and Pocket is still sleeping off her eager romp. With a hill steep enough to warm my core and work up a sweat, you can be sure we’ll be back again soon.

Do you have a favorite trailhead near enough your house for frequent day trips?

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January 24, 2012

Black Bean and Goat Chilly

While everyone else in the country (it seemed) was watching a football game, we the televisionless couple cooked some chilly in honor of the sport. We paid a visit to a local farm last week to pick up some meaty bones for Pocket, and some goat meat for us. Winn’s Livestock and Hatchery just north of Corvallis has affordable meat raised by a  4th generation farmer and his very friendly wife. April chatted back and forth with me via email to decide what was best for us to purchase, and we ended up with a freezer full of bones for Pock, a pound of ground goat meat for us plus a shoulder steak that i’ll cut up into stew meat in the next week or two. *More about the nutritional facts on goat meat coming soon.

To preface, i am no master of chilly. Sometimes my chilly is soupy, sometimes thick. Sometimes it just tastes like bean soup, other times i master true ‘chilly’ flavor. This batch was kind of more bean and meat soup, but it was freakin’ delicious bean and meat soup. Topped with a little shredded cheese, in season (and cheap!) avocados and a dollup of homemade yogurt: protein, a little fat, probiotic, balanced deliciousness!

I started by soaking some black beans in a stock pot over night. The next afternoon i poured off the water, covered the soaked beans with water and brought to a boil. Meanwhile i browned the pound of goat meat with a few chunks of bacon, seasonings (taco seasoning from a Seattle market), chopped jalapenos and a diced onion. Once the meat was cooked, i poured it with the fat into the beans along with some chopped carrot, another diced onion, some more jalapenos, a few pinches epazote and a generous pinch of cumin. I turned the mixture down to a simmer and covered it with a lid. The stew/chilly/soup hung out for about 3 hours until i added some frozen roasted tomatoes (with garlic) and a little salt and homemade raw apple cider vinegar. Never add tomatoes/vinegar/salt to beans too early on: you’ll get beans that never soften! After adding the final ingredients, i simmered for another few hours until we were ready to eat. This definitely did NOT taste like watery beans! All the flavors emalgumated very nicely and formed a lovely, thick texture.

Fist pumps all around!

Are you picky about your chilly, or can you ‘go with the flow’?

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