a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down.

I took the four year old to the dentist. It went so well. The dental hygienist made a big deal about keeping the sugar bugs away. The dentist was great, talked to my daughter, explained things, and talked to me like I am a partner in the keep teeth healthy process.
Why am I talking about this on a food blog? Well, because the dentist recommended, almost insisted, on something that made me stop. She said no more dried fruit.
This stopped me in my tracks. We don’t do candy. We rarely do cookies or cake or ice cream. But, raisins, dried cranberries, dried pineapple, those are my bribes. Yes, in fact, I call them candy. The lovely dentist pointed out that the gooey sweet natural goodness is sweet and gooey. By giving my girls dried fruit (oh, how good are dried blueberries?), I am coating their teeth with the sugary goo.
She is right. I don’t let my girls regularly drink juice. I don’t want them to get those calories without the fiber nor do I want them bathing their teeth in fruit sugars (and any added sugar). And, once I think about it, it makes sense.
Of course, she did recommend that the four year old have her teeth sealed. Yeah, after her teeth are sealed, in the words of the dentist “she can have all the real candy she wants”. Um, in a word, NO.

So what?

Sometimes you are the windshield and sometimes you are the bug - Mary Chapin Carpenter

You know those weeks when you meet your workout goals and you eat super yummy and healthy, yeah, that was not me this week. I have not worked out since my big workout on Saturday. And, well, I did not give much thought to what I was eating this week.

I gave a bit more thought to what my girls ate but, really not much more. So, how do I feel about my give up week? Not as guilty as you would think.

The girls got to have their favorite treat meal this week. Taco Bell quesadilla with rice and beans. Um, they had an apple for dessert. Did they get this on Friday as a special treat? No. no. It was just a mommy is exhausted on Thursday dinner. And, tonight was a total give up. Dinner at the cafe around the corner. The girls barely ate. So, they snacked on whole grain crackers and bananas at home tonight.

Some days my meals are colorful, well rounded, and yummy. Some days I am getting by.

I'm ok with that in the long run. Tomorrow is a produce pick up day. I have no doubt that 30 pounds of organic produce and a trip to the farmers market for meat will get me out of this funk.

Life is about balance. Sometimes it's just about finding the way back to that balance.

Moo, Baa, La La La

I don't eat with my girls as often as I should during the week. I am in the kitchen with them but, I am unloading the dishwasher or repacking school bags. All that end of the day mom stuff.

So what I do a lot is feed them some of the leftovers from the night before. For instance, if my husband and I had chicken and veggies, my girls the next night will have a chicken veggie pasta. My husband gets home well after the girls have eaten. And, selfishly I will admit that I like that time with him.

Last night, there were no leftovers. Not one bite. Why? The goat was just too yummy. Yep, I made braised goat shanks. Young, Texas goat. I am not sure why that is relevant but, the dude at the farmers market was very excited about those points. I had wnated to get some lamb. I love lamb and so does my husband. But, I was late that morning and my lamb guy was sold out. But, he pointed out he had one more package of goat shanks.

Goat was rich like lamb but leaner. The shanks were small and easy to handle. And, now I have three lovely bones in the freezer wanting to someday flavor a rich stock.

So, I first carmelized some onions, celery and carrots in a heavy pot. Then, I pulled those out, added a bit more olive oil, and seared the shanks until they were a bit browned and I could smell that yummy browned meat smell. Then, I pulled those out and poured in most of a bottle of inexpensive merlot (yes, most of the bottle. I had to have a chef's sample of the wine of course). I scraped all the crusties on the bottom of the pot up and added some garlic powder and garlic salt to the simmering wine. I put the shanks back in and dumped the veggies on top. I added some leeks too as they had been forgot in the bottom drawer and were a little sad looking for another dish.

Since I had poured such a big glass of wine, I had to add some stock. I just used chicken stock as that was all I had in the frig. I put the top on the pot and put it all in a 325 degree oven. Almost three hours later, the meat was falling off the bone tender. It still had that rich flavor.

I served it with brown rice. Now, I will admit I hate brown rice. I grew up with minute rice. That nuttiness of brown rice is a bit off putting to me. To get around that flavor, I added half a cup of the braising liquid to the rice and replaced another half cup of the water with stock. The rice had a nice richness to it. I served carmelized broccoli with it.

And it vanished into thin air.

Braising is a favorite cooking method of mine. First, once I learned that all it really is is searing the meat and slow cooking it, I realized "hey, I can do that". I like braising with wine. But, if I don't have a cheap bottle on hand, I will use stock with a bit of apple vinegar or wine vinegar. I like to buy wine on sale an then by the case or half case (to get a further discount). I buy stuff that I will actually drink. I dont cook with the stuff I would serve my parents in law but with something drinkable. Remember these flavors are getting cooked into the food.

I am going to get more goat this weekend. My little carnivore would love it. Take a leap this week and try something new.

The Rabbit Hole

Sorry I vanished for so long. Work, family, ok, mostly work just got in the way.
But, I am still cooking and more importantly, focused on healthy, wholesome food for my family. The wholesome food quest has opened up a can of worms so to speak. I read a book that my husband my never forgive me for, Eating Animals by the guy who wrote Everything is Illuminated. Even though I read and am a huge fan of Michael Pollan’s, Eating Animals has changed the way I look at food, changed what I will put in my mouth, and makes me question what authority I have over what my children put in their mouths.

Let me back up a bit. I have a friend who is a mom in a way that I could never be. She is a stay at home mom who considered home schooling (I would sooner shave my head and walk through Uptown naked). She watches other people’s children (insert joke here about barely being able to handle my own). But, she is smart and really researches things. I respect her opinion immensely. She read Eating Animals and recommended it to me. Having not finished or even truly started Everything is Illuminated, I doubted I could get through this book. I had found the author’s voice a bit irritating. I have to say I still find his style irritating. But, he clearly and concisely laid out his arguments.

Eating Animals is his journey into what it means to eat meat in America today. His accounts of what occurs on poultry and pig farms was so disgusting that upon reading each chapter I said no more. No more factory farmed chicken or pork in my mouth or in my home. He also went into the horrors of the factory farmed cow and the ocean caught fish. Hopefully, without sounding heartless, I will say I was saddened and a bit disheartened but, I did not stop eating meat from those animals. Oh, factory farmed fish was also raised in disgusting environments.

So, the net result? When I am out of my home, I am essentially a vegetarian. And, at home, I am eating only pastured meat and eggs from pastured chickens. The meat can be more expensive. I discovered by going to the local outdoor market every other week that I could buy meat direct from the farmers and ranchers for a deal. The steaks are awesome. Chicken, lamb, and even goat are amazing. And, I am actually spending less. True I need to make sure I get over there.

I also joined an organic produce co-op. So, every other week I pick up 30 pounds of produce. Fifty to seventy percent of it is local. And I have to say, the local stuff is so much fresher. Probably an obvious point…..

It is fun since I dont know what I am making the next two weeks until I pick up the produce. And, I have to make adjustments to use up things that will go back sooner.

A really great thing is happening in Dallas. Local markets are springing up right and left - or, at least it feels that way in East Dallas. White Rock Local Market is at the Green Sopt on Buckner the second and fourth Saturday of every month. I buy most of our meat there. EatGreenDFW is at Mockingbird Station Thursday afternoons. Great place to go get fresh seafood.

And, if you ever have leftover shrimp (I have no idea why one would have any shrimp leftover but, I assume it could happen), give it a rough chop and mix with some of the following leftover grilled corn cut off the cob, chopped red pepper, finely chopped jalepeno ( you can deseed and devein to lessen the heat), finely chopped red onion, roughly chopped cilantro. Then, drizzle with some olive oil, sprinkle on some salt, and serve over an avacado. I do the same thing with well rinsed black beans as I will never have leftover shrimp.

Happy eating.