Tag: cooking

ABC’s “The Taste” Review – Great Cooks and Picky Judges

I was looking forward to watching the new highly marketed ABC show “The Taste.” It’s food network meets The Voice. The premise is four judges (Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson, Ludo Lefebvre, and Brian Malarkey) blind-taste a one-bite morsel and decide if that cook belongs on their team of four.

Only after the judges decide yes or no, is the cook revealed. (S)he could be a home cook or a professional chef.

Judge Tony Bourdain was actually sweet, contrary to how he usually is. I’m surprised they didn’t go for more ratings with making him more Simon Cowell-ish. Nigella was wishy-washy most of the time, which was very disappointing because I love her! Ludo was barely understandable when he spoke and I don’t even know (or care) who Brian Malarkey is! Ha!

By the end of the 2 hours, I was bored, paying more attention to my cookbooks from the library.

There was hardly any actual cooking shown and per usual in prime time, the show was painfully slow. During the first half hour, only a mere four bites were tasted!

Over and over, the judges enjoyed the taste of the dish but declined to say yes. It was frustrating to see a lot of interesting, unique cooks be dismissed. Even stranger, the judges repeatedly expressed remorse, but then the same thing would happen with the next cook. It was getting frustrating because By the time they chose a cook for their team, it seemed like they were picking out of desperation, making some of their choices uninspired and dull.

Another peeve was the judges repeatedly told the home cooks not to apologize for being a non-professional. It was as if they were supposed to feel shame about being a lowly home cook!

But the worst part of the show was the excessive use of dramatic props. Clunky game show buttons, blinking lights, special effects screens, and sliding doors looked silly and wasted time that could have been used to show more detailed recipes. But then I guess most viewers probably would be bored too much complicated cooking.

So yeah, i was not happy with the show. But Surprise! Yes, I will probably keep watching, as long as nothing else was on. I am intrigued by Sarah the food blogger and Lauren, the Mississippi girl living in the trailer park.

Next week will be part 2 of auditions and going forward, they’ll start the actual competition. I’ll give it a little more time and see if it’ll perk up my interest.

The French Chef vs New Food Network Shows

PBS is having a marathon of The French Chef shows today! Julia Child is a delight! What a difference in comparison to today’s food shows.

Perfection is the most important aspect of current (highly edited) cooking shows.

Take the “Next Food Network Star” – the contestants have to perform flawlessly or they will be scolded. I don’t think Julia Child would make it past week one on The Next Food Network Star. She’d be criticized for her clumsy performance!

But her charming imperfection was what made her show so alluring. She was an experienced chef/cook, but she made you feel like she was just like us, fumbling our way in the kitchen!

I love her! God Bless Julia Child! Thankfully we still have access to her past shows!

Gardening Diary: Canning & Preserving the Harvest

canned jelly and apple sauce

Wow, this year, surprisingly I found that I really enjoy the craft of canning!

It’s a lot of work, but once you get 2 or 3 batches under your belt, there’s confidence and organization that makes the process a little bit easier. The rewards will outweigh the work!

There was a lot that I was worried about in the beginning (like most newbie canners), most importantly was I did NOT want to kill myself and my family with deadly bacteria!

But after reading a lot of library books, and scouring the web for good information, I learned that if done properly, following the instructions, you do not have to fear the canning process!

This post is L-O-N-G, and it might be boring to a lot of visitors, so if you want to learn more about my canning experience (and see a few photos), read onward!

Continue reading “Gardening Diary: Canning & Preserving the Harvest”

Sage Spoonfuls By Liza Huber – Book Review

I became interested in the book, Sage Spoonfuls – Simple Recipes, Healthy Meals, Happy Babies when I saw the author, Liza Huber, and her mother Susan Lucci (All My Children’s Erica Kane) on a morning talk show. Liza was promoting her book, and she spoke about how important she thought it was to make your own homemade baby food.

I am not sure why I gravitated to her and this subject matter, seeing that I do not have any any children, nor will I in the future, but I am passionate about healthy food, and I agree that good nutrition has to start as early as possible, especially when we are seeing soaring rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes in young children. Maybe the subject struck me because my niece recently had a little baby girl, and I am hopeful that maybe she could be raised with wholesome healthy homemade food.

So, long story short, I was fortunate to receive a review copy of Liza’s book, and I’m so glad I did!

Sage Spoonfuls by Liza Huber book review

Now, again, I can’t speak from personal experience, but Liza states that for only 1 hour every two weeks, you can have a freezer full of homemade healthy baby food!

She created Sage Spoonfuls as a complete homemade baby-food system, of which the book is part of. The “system” includes storage jars, blenders, freezer packs, coolers, totes, etc. and the book does promote her products, but her ideas are 100% doable without any additional purchases, unless of course you want to. Well, I should clarify that you will need to buy some sort of small storage containers or baggies if you want to freeze your baby food, which is the whole point of the book, but most of the other necessary tools are items you probably already have in your kitchen: veggie peeler, strainer, cutting board, knife, spoon, cooking pot with steamer/lid, skillet/fry pan, baking sheet, immersion blender or food processor, fork, glass bowl, spatula, & sauce pan.

So let’s start with what I liked about the physical aspects of the book. It’s spiral bound, so it lies flat on your counter; that’s so helpful when you’re trying to read while cooking. The pages are thick & glossy, which I assume could resist staining (again, so helpful in the kitchen!) There’s bold bright colors on every page, with easy to read fonts and graphics. Lot of big detailed photographs throughout.

There is a lot of information to read and if you are new mom, it might be a good idea to read it once then go back and read it at least one more time to really understand the process. I dog-eared many pages and highlighted text that I thought was important!

So, there are 5 chapters in the book: Food for Thought; the Essentials; Let’s Get Started; a Homemade Lifestyle; and Recipes. Each chapter is loaded with tips, hints and details that will give you all the information you need to feed your baby homemade food. There is a 2 page “index” at the back of the book, and it’s easy to find each vegetable or fruit, along with the general subjects she mentions in the book, like Foods to Avoid, Reheating, Infant CPR.

Liza covers every aspect of how to prepare homemade food for your baby, including nutritional facts (vitamins, minerals, fats, etc) and allergies. I love that she encourages adding herbs and spices to your baby’s food. Again, I might be totally experienced in this area, but I always thought baby food should be bland. Not so! In fact, she states that the more flavors your baby is exposed to, the more “adventurous” an eater he will be, and the less “picky” he will be later in life.

Sage Spoonfuls really is a A-Z book on EVERYTHING you need to know. What is the best way to reheat the baby food? How to quickly defrost the food from freezer? What do you look for when shopping for produce or meat? What to expect when going on an overnight trip to a location with a fridge? Liza covers that, along with other scenarios like day trips, and overnights without a fridge.

My favorite chapter is Recipes – it covers each stage in a baby’s life, starting with 4-6 months, then 7-9 months, and 10-12 months. I suppose you could say that these are technically not really “recipes”, but a directory of ingredients appropriate for that specific age group.

There is also a section on Family Favorites, simple recipes that the entire family, including adults, babies, toddlers, and older children, will enjoy.

The first three age-centered recipe sections each start with a FAQ, which answers just about every question you could have concerning feeding your baby at that particular age. Liza encourages you to keep trying if at first your baby doesn’t respond. She makes every “problem” sound completely normal and that you are not alone; there are other moms that went through the same, and it’s okay!

Each single ingredient is highlighted on two pages. The first page includes helpful tips for cooking/preparing along with nutritional data plus the appropriate age at which you should start feeding the particular ingredient. She also lists if the ingredient is suitable for freezer and/or fridge and how to store “on the go”.

sage spoonfuls sample pages

The ingredient’s 2nd page focuses on yummy food combinations, again, appropriate for that particular age group. This is my absolute favorite aspect of the book. I don’t know why, but these food combinations just thrilled me. I just love the knowledge that banana can be easily combined with apples or pears & parsnips – I mean, what commercial baby food manufacturer offers a jar combining potato, pea and pear? I guess that’s what makes homemade food so exciting. The endless possibility of yummy tasty combinations!

Another favorite part of the Sage Spoonfuls book was the realization that you can indeed make homemade baby cereal! Okay, it could be my lack of child rearing experience, but I think it’s so cool that you can easily make your own rice, oatmeal, barley and millet baby cereal and it will be tons better than anything you buy at the store!

My complaints about the book? I wish she shared more about the why’s of some of her tips. For example, why you need to peel vegetables and fruit? Is it because it is more difficult to puree or could it cause choking? And why she didn’t mention using a microwave to warm the food? I’m assuming her belief is that perhaps a microwave kills nutrients, but I would have loved to have read her official opinions on both.

I’m sure most of the book content can be found in various books or other “mommy” web sites, but it’s really handy to have ONE book that explains all aspects of preparing homemade baby food!

I recommend Sage Spoonfuls – Simple Recipes, Healthy Meals, Happy Babies to new moms, or moms without a lot of cooking or nutritional knowledge. I’d even recommend this for grandmas that want to give their grandbabies healthy homemade food when they visit.

This is the way I wish all children could be raised, eating wholesome homemade food! We could eliminate so many chronic illnesses and especially childhood obesity problems! If only parents would take the extra time to cook for their families! It is probably the best gift they could give!

(Disclaimer: Even though I received a free copy of this book, my opinions are truthful, and I tried my best to give an fair evaluation.)

The Chew Review – New Daytime Food Talk Show on ABC TV

I’ve been looking forward to the premiere of the new food talk show, “the Chew” – with Mario Batali (famous chef, previously on Food Network), Carla Hall (charming contestant from Bravo’s Top Chef), Michael Symon (current “Iron Chef” on Food Network), Daphne Oz (supposed nutrition expert, and daughter of famous Dr Oz), and Clinton Kelly (entertaining expert).

Today is the day! Episode #1

I’m excited that it’s an actual “live” show with an audience, well at least live-taped some time that same day. From the show intro, it looks like there are going to be a lot of taped segments filtered into the “live” audience stuff.

They promise a “party in the kitchen” – I’m just hoping for healthy, consciously sustainable, and interesting talk and advice. Let’s dig into the Chew!

Mario Batali isn’t in studio, he’s shown on a big TV screen by satellite feed at a charity golf event.

Michael Symon is now cooking up a pork dish with beans and greens. They need to work out the camera angles a little better…Too many long-view camera shots, or blurry too-close shots.

Commercial break.

We’re back. Audience is tasting and chatting about the Symon pork dish. Symon asks the audience member, “Tell me why you think it’s delicious?” as if it couldn’t be anything OTHER than delicious. Lots more unnecessary chatter and then a good dose of ego-boosting audience applause. Stop wasting time! Yes, we know you cook delicious food, get on with it. It would have been more interesting to see more actual cooking and less adoration and chit chat.

Another commercial break? what? Are you kidding? Thankfully, I have this on DVR, so I can fast-forward the commercials.

And now we have Daphne talking about how wonderful her dad/family is. And then of course, they bring out a “surprise” visit from Dr Oz himself!

Way way too much chatter and giggling! *rolling eyes* They’re all talking over each other and you can barely hear what’s going on. Then Dr Oz pretty much took over, annoying. But I suppose he is used to being the center of attention! I kind of felt bad for her, he kept teasing her with embarrassing childhood stories.

Now, Daphne is explaining the components of her healthy smoothie recipe, talking extremely quickly. And again, there is way too much applause.

Commercial break.

Okay, now we’re watching Michael Symon again, touting the many wonders of the microplane grater/zester.

Not really ground-breaking, is it?

And we’ve got ANOTHER commercial break. Are they kidding? Come on. Another break?

Next, Carla tells the story about how she found her family’s old Betty Crocker recipe box. That was quite fun seeing this old piece of cooking history. I really hope they bring out more items like that.

So, now Carla is making apple ring pancakes, inspired by a recipe her mom made from the old recipe box. I’d make this dish; it looks interesting and fairly simple to prepare. I like Carla.

Recipes from the first The Chew episode:
http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/episodes/September-26-2011

And of course, we’ve got another commercial break.

Now the entertaining wizard, Clinton Kelly’s segment “Plate to Platter” is giving us tips on how to miniaturize favorite meal dishes into bite sized party appetizers. Eh, kind of boring, not really what I’m interested in.

Okay, after the next commercial break (surprise! another break!) we’re seeing Mario Batali make a pizza at the golf course. Because of the satellite feed, when the hosts ask him a question there’s a slight pause/delay before Mario answers.

Michael Symon asked how he got a pizza oven on the golf course? – he answered with his tagline “There’s Italians and those that want to be Italians” – joking that Italians drive with pizza ovens where ever they go. Yeah, a little bit of a “set up” but cute.

He gives his recipe/tips on how to make the perfect pizza, peppered again with way too much applause after every little comment, and I swear I also hear a fake laugh track added.

And that’s it. The end of the show.

I dunno. maybe I’m being too critical, but I really was looking forward to this show and it was a disappointment. Sort of like expecting Cooks Illustrated but getting Good Housekeeping.

Too much advertising and same ole same ole…nothing groundbreaking or new.

What else would I like see changed? I’m really hoping they tone down the excessive “love fest” between the hosts, it’s a little bit too much. And most importantly, whoever is in charge of lighting up the audience “applause” sign needs to take a little break once in awhile.

It would be great if they try adding a few more “real” subjects. I’m not saying they need to cover depressing serious subject matter, like GMO Crops & factory farming well, yeah, maybe they should once occasionally. It’s just too darned cheery on that set!

BUT I have trust it’ll get better, at least I hope so. I am not giving up on the Chew just yet. I mean, it’s only the first show, it needs time to find its way. Only time will tell!

$5 Challenge – Slow Food With a Budget

So the Slow Food movement has been promoting a $5 challenge that is starting today, Sept 17th. Cook a meal for yourself, your family, your neighbors, a party, for $5 or less per person, using the slow food ideals: “food that is good for those who eat it, good for farmers and workers, and good for the planet.”

The $5 challenge has been met with praise and some criticism.

Yes, for a family of 5 or more, @ $5 per person, that could pose a bigger challenge for some families to afford on an ongoing basis. But I think the point is, the $5 amount is a guideline, as in “$5 or LESS” – so work within your own monetary means.

My $5 Challenge Meal

Last night I started to think about what I would like to cook for my $5 challenge meal. I won’t know exactly how the finished dish will come out until I start cooking, but I was inspired by a couple of recipes:

  1. Butternut squash with celery leaves and orecchiette (Whole Foods recipe) – now I wish that I didn’t “dry” all the leaves from this week’s fresh CSA celery.
  2. Pasta with Winter Squash and Tomatoes (Mark Bittman from cooking channel)

Here are the planned ingredients (I’m not counting salt & pepper or dried spices or balsamic vinegar):

  • $1.22 per person – Air chilled boneless chicken breast $4.89 for just under a pound = 4 servings. We’ll have leftovers! (boneless chicken breast is a treat for us, I normally buy whole chickens – pastured or organic. Eventually, I’d like to find a local source, but for now, I purchase at Whole Foods store.
  • $.52 per person – Butternut Squash @ 2.11 for 2 lb squash = 2 4 servings – after cutting up the squash, I realized there is more than enough for 4 servings.
  • $.38 per person – Dececco Pasta 3oz each person @$2 for a 16 oz box (Dececco is my splurge pasta. I think this brand is worth the slightly extra cost.)
  • $.17 per person – one 8 oz onion – 3 servings
  • $.58 per person – received a pint of mixed cherry tomatoes in our CSA box this week plus I picked a tomato from our garden (FREE). I’m estimating the cost to be $3.49 for the whole pint. Only using half the pint box tonight – 2 3+ servings.
  • $.14 per person – Olive oil 2 Tbsp. $7 for a bottle of California Olive Oil = 50 Tbsp per bottle
  • $.33 per person – Parsley from CSA. A batch of parsley – 3 servings
  • $.66 per person – I’m adding left-over cooked green beans, and a batch of pea tendrils, both from my CSA share this week. I’m estimating the cost for 3 servings.

$4 per serving!

Our Meal: Orecchiette Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash, Sauteed Onions, Pea Tendrils, Tomatoes, Green Beans, & Parsley Topped with Baked Boneless Chicken Breast

$5 challenge - slow food

UPDATE: Well our meal was great. Not the BEST dinner we’ve ever had, (I wasn’t totally happy with the butternut squash mingling with the other flavors) but it was very tasty and VERY filling. I even had a lot of leftover veggies that I’ll throw into a soup tomorrow with the rest of the chicken.

Note: I ended up tweaking the ingredients’ cost per serving due to the left-over veggies.

Even though I have been regularly cooking and eating “slow”, it was helpful to organize my ingredients beforehand and really “see” how I was spending my money. It made me think about how I can create a better meal but save money at the same time! On the negative side, it was a little more stressful than usual. I don’t like being held in a constrained box when I’m cooking. I like being spontaneous. For me personally, I’d rather stick to a monthly or weekly budget, not a per meal budget, but it is a good way to start for newbies just learning to cook homemade food.

I hope the slow food $5 challenge brings much needed attention to good old-fashioned family dinners! Whether your table is set for two or twenty, get back to cooking from scratch! And challenge yourself to create something wonderful without spending a lot of cash. It can be done!!!

Links:

Eating From the Freezer

I have decided to try to eat what’s in my freezer before purchasing any more meat or seafood.

I have lovely scallops, shrimp, boneless chicken, whole chicken, ground beef, etc. and I think it’s important to save some money and just concentrate on eating what’s there first.

So far so good! I roasted a chicken on Sunday, and it’s given us 6 meals! 4 dinners (including soup!) and 2 lunches!

I can’t believe that I haven’t been to Whole Foods since the end of August! I did shop at the local Market Basket grocery store to pick up a few things, I desperately needed a bag of King Arthur white whole wheat flour, yogurt, and some bananas.

This week, I’m glad that there isn’t much on sale again at Whole Foods. I’ll just pick up a few necessities at Market Basket, and grab all my produce from the local farms and from my CSA share at Farmer Daves.

With our lower meat consumption, I could actually be sustained for a few weeks, and possibly not need to visit Whole Foods until October. Wow, now wouldn’t that be a feat!

But for now, one week at a time!

Roasting Tomatoes and Drying Celery Leaves

Went to a local farm in a neighboring town and picked up 6 lb gorgeous tomatoes ($1.75lb) along with a big celery with tons and tons of leaves ($1) and two small pickling cukes ($1). All for under $13.50!

As soon as I returned home, I washed and chopped the tomatoes into halves/large chunks and put them in the oven to slow roast @ 260F.

Never ever throw away fresh celery leaves when you buy them fresh at the farm or farmer’s market. They dry out so easily in a low oven and will keep in a air-tight container for awhile. Use like any dry herb, for soups, sauces, etc. Penzey’s Spices charges over $8 for a 4 oz bag of celery flakes and the dried leaves work just as well!

Just tear off most of the deep green celery leaves (thin stalks too), rinse and spin dry. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet and into the (260F) oven. I had mine drying along with the tomatoes.

Watch the celery leaves in the oven, remove when they get crispy and can crumble completely in your hands. It takes about 30 – 45 minutes. Then allow to cool (only takes a few minutes) and crumble the leaves and stems into an air-tight container or plastic baggie. They keep for awhile, but will lose flavor the longer you keep, just like other dried herbs.

Back to the tomatoes. It’s about 2-3 hours to roast the tomatoes, and once they’re all roasted to sweet goodness, allow them to cool. I transferred into quart freezer bags, ready to use in the winter months when I’m longing for fresh tomato sauce! You can also freeze fresh (uncooked) tomatoes. I just core them and freeze them whole. Works great!

I’ll probably buy more tomatoes from this farm and freeze those raw, but this time, I wanted to get them roasted up first.

Oh it will be soo nice to have summer tomatoes available for my tomato sauce in February…if they last that long!

Big BIG Plan Ahead Cooking Weekend

My sweet niece is having her first baby within a couple of weeks. I know as new parents, they are not going to have a lot of time (and energy) to cook healthy meals for themselves, so I am taking this weekend to cook up big batches of food to freeze for them.

Yesterday, I went shopping and purchased most of what I needed.

  • Chicken bone-in whole breast (found a good deal on Bell & Evans air-chilled) – chicken soup
  • A large beef chuck shoulder roast along with a 7-bone chuck roast – braised beef
  • 5 lb potatoes and 5 lb onions – not sure if I’ll be able to use the potatoes, as I’m reading that potatoes do not freeze well.
  • Kale, carrots, poplano peppers
  • Swanson chicken low sodium broth – a brand I haven’t bought in a long time.
  • Small bag of store brand white rice
  • 6 cans of Pine Cone whole tomatoes – another brand that I haven’t bought in awhile, but it was cheap!
  • And the purchase that shames me more than anything….a pack of frozen Perdue chicken breast. Oh the horror. I have spent so much time criticizing Perdue and other “Big Food” companies like them, I can’t believe that I stooped so low to actually purchase their product! But they are convenient, and my niece and her DBF will be able to prepare them quickly and easily.

So, yesterday afternoon I got started on the chicken soup and white rice.

The soup turned out very well. I sauteed onions, celery, carrots, (and from my fridge,) zucchini and a couple chopped radishes in my new 7 qt Staub cast iron pot (oh have I mentioned I absolutely ADORE this pot!) and then I added some fresh tomato chunks, and both cartons of chicken broth, along with the bone-in chicken breast and tons of dried herbs and a little turmeric. Simmered it on the stove for over an hour, and it was done.

I divided the chicken into two 1-gallon freezer bags along with a hefty portion of soup. I filled one more bag with just the soup (no chicken) with instructions to add a cooked Perdue chicken breast if needed.

The rice didn’t fair as well. I decided to try Lucinda Scala Quinn’s suggestion of a 1 to 1.5 ratio when cooking white rice.

In my 4 qt Staub pot, I poured 3 cups water and added 2 cups of rice and some salt. I was a little distracted, and made the mistake of leaving it for a couple of minutes, and then stirring the rice. You’re not supposed to stir rice while cooking, but there was still a big mound of rice rising out of the water. When the liquid was cooked out, I took it off heat, and allowed it to “steam” like I always do. Well, when I tasted it afterward, there were “crunchy” parts. Oh no!

My biggest mistake I think, looking back in hindsight was using such a large pot. The water wasn’t filled enough over the top of the rice and I think it evaporated too quickly. Then I left the pot with the rice still mounded up over the water for a few minutes and stirred it!

I tried to fix my mistake today by re-cooking the rice (same pot) but adding about 1.5 cups more water. I allowed it to cook until the water evaporated and then I took off heat to allow it to steam. I like steaming rice after cooking, as it allows any “stuck” on bits at the bottom to soften and lift from the pot. Makes it easier to clean and it make the rice fluffy!

So, I think the rice is saved! I packed it into 3 quart sized freezer bags.

Oh and a bit of advice about freezing. I know my niece doesn’t have a large freezer, so I wanted to make the food as compact as possible. I am freezing everything flat on a large cookie sheet, so she won’t have to worry about too much bulk.

Today’s cooking started out with braised beef, and ended with some tasty tomato sauce. In between I made her a loaf of homemade bread.

For the braised beef, I used my wonderful 7 quart Staub again (I can’t believe how useful this pot is!) and I browned the beef. Starting with the taller roast chunk, I browned all 4 sides, then I transferred onto a plate. I browned the larger flatter 7-bone “roast” (it’s not really a roast, it’s more like a chuck steak, but then I suppose shoppers might confuse it for a real steak and try to grill it, not braise it) on top and bottom. Oh and I generously salted and peppered all sides of the roasts as I was flipping.

Once the 7-bone was browned, I transferred that to the dish as well, then tossed in 5 large-chopped onions and a little bit of juice from one can of tomatoes. Using a wooden spoon (I NEVER use metal in my beloved enameled cast iron) I scraped up some of the delicious flavor bits stuck to the bottom of the pot.

I allowed the onions to cook for a few minutes, covered, then added some cheap red wine, scraping up more flavor bits at the bottom, making sure they were all found. I arranged each piece of meat back into the pot, then poured the rest of the canned tomatoes and more wine on top. Covered and cooked for about 5 hours. I checked on it once after 3 hours.

When it was tender and falling apart, I removed the meat from pot to a large platter to cool. What was left in the pot was scrumptious, so I figured it would be a great base for tomato sauce, which I could then make into chili later.

So, I poured 4 cans of tomatoes into the pot, along with what I thought was some mild Poblano chili peppers – ouch. My fingers are still stinging from chopping them. I usually wear gloves while chopping hot chiles, but since Poblanos are known to be very mild, I didn’t. Thankfully I tasted a small piece before putting too many into the pot. It was powerfully hot! So, I chopped the rest to freeze in a quart freezer bag for them to use in future recipes. I only added about a half a chili, figuring I can add more later.

In the meantime, I started to shred the beef and transfer the pieces to a glass storage container, making sure to keep out any gross fat pieces. The large chuck roast didn’t have much fat to remove, but the 7-bone had a bit.

I’ll keep the meat in the fridge overnight and pack it into freezer bags tomorrow, along with maybe starting on a batch of chili with beans, and the rest of the carrots and kale.

And so, all in all, it was a productive day…Yes, my fingers are still stinging and tingling from the chili oils, and I have two small burns on my arm. One from the beef splattering up at me trying to take it out of the pot, and once when I touched the top of the oven while taking the pot out of the oven. Boy, that pot is a heavy one too. But I love cast iron for muscles! Who needs a gym when you can lift heavy pots!

Anyway, it was a good cooking day! Tomorrow, I’ll probably make her some blueberry muffins, and get the tomato sauce and beef into freezer bags.

I was thinking I’d also like to make her a small batch of quinoa. We’ll see.

Le Creuset Stoneware Baking Dish

I bought my Le Creuset stoneware 9inch square baking dish for a bargain price at Home Goods and it is my favorite baking dish.

I have been using it for at least a year or two, and I think my favorite use is roasting vegetables – it cleans up very easily too. I’ve also baked egg frittatas in it, along with desserts. Sometimes, baked on eggs do require a bit more elbow grease to clean it, but probably my fault for not pre-coating with enough oil.

Scratches or black marks from metal utensils (which I try not to use very often in the dish) are easily removed by using a touch of Barkeepers Friend cleanser.

I love this baking dish but is it better than a far less expensive stoneware baking dish? I think so. I don’t like buying “Made in China” stoneware for fear of lead levels in the glaze or other materials, and I know it’s possible that the lead content in the Le Creuset is no better or worse, but it does not feel like cheap stoneware that clanks & clangs when you hit it against something. (FYI, Le Creuset stoneware is made in Thailand)

The Le Creuset stoneware pieces are strong and very well made. No, I don’t recommend paying full retail price for them, but if you run across one or two pieces of Le Creuset stoneware at Marshalls, Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Tuesday Morning, or other discounters, then grab it! I believe I paid about $15 for the 9inch square piece. I was tempted at a later date to purchase the large loaf pan, but decided to wait.