To begin this new year with a healthy start, I am excited to embrace a new cookbook in our collection. This year for my birthday I received a copy of Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats. Like many others, I hope to improve my health this year by eating more nutritious foods. Almost a cult classic, Fallon’s cookbook is the one to have if you are ready to challenge the mainstream interpretations of nutrition. You may have begun this journey if you read Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food: And Eater’s Manifesto. While this relatively short book examines the history of nutritionism in America, Pollan also argues that we must revert to a more simple and wholesome diet – one consisting of more whole foods and pastured animal meat. To meet this goal, I highly suggest Fallon’s cookbook. It is the cornerstone of revitalizing traditional foods in the modern home.

What originally drew me to this book was her writing on animal fats. Contradicting every “health eating” article, report or societal advice I had heard, Fallon argues that cholesterol and animal fats are not the enemy. Instead, butter, cream, cheese, organ meat, eggs and raw milk are nutrient-dense and good for you! (Note: To attain these nutrients one must consume fat from animals that are raised on pasture, eating what is natural for them.) Her ideas are grounded in the research of Weston Price, a dentist who traveled around the world studying the diets of non-industrialized people. His finding were both controversial and significant to the understanding modern disease. (See a previous post on this specific topic.)

The Weston Price Foundation website is an excellent resource to learn more about these ideas and if interested, ways to get involved in the ‘movement.’ Although I am not an official member of WPF, I do advocate their ideas (i.e. this entry.) Once I tackle the 70 page introduction of the book, I’m sure I will have much more to say on her dietary suggestions. That said, I have already prepared one of the recipes – a winter root vegetable soup – and it was awesome! I think it may have been one of the best soups I’ve ever made. When I make it again (in a couple weeks) I will definitely post the recipe with some pictures.

If you haven’t guessed already, I mention all of this info because this week I will be making another recipe from her book. Because I value her philosophy and am intrigued by the nutritional benefits of her recipes, I find myself drawn to the prospect of preparing many, but not necessarily all of the recipes in this book. This week I’ll make my second Nourishing Traditions recipe. Again a soup. The plan is as follows:

• Roasted chicken with steamed broccoli and carrot/parsnip puree
• Lamb shepherd’s pie
• Vegetable curry with rice
• Chicken and rice soup

A couple comments on this list: The curry is a spin-off of a Bittman idea I prepared after Thanksgiving; instead of turkey curry, I’ll make some vegetable curry. The soup is from Fallon’s repertoire and I will use some stock I made this week for the broth. One lesson we’ve learned from these menus I write is the potential for leftovers. I’m rather certain we will have lots of leftovers this week and so I am leaving one night open to those; and another night we’ll have a potluck (TBA on our dish though) So I think a 4-dish menu is quite reasonable.

Overall I think this will be a great start to the new year. I definitely look forward to a nutrient-dense year of local, seasonal, homemade eating!

Related posts:

1. Mixed Up in the Head (or) Thank You Dear Library (weekly menu 10)
2. The Pains of Eliminating (weekly menu 19)
3. The Recipe vs. Spontaneity (weekly menu 11)

That said, I have enjoyed eating more vegetarian meals. Every so often I read another study on meat consumption and climate change. Sadly I don’t have a link to this particularly reading, but I remember a study that found eating meat 3 times a week was sustainable (given the meat was raised Joel Salatin-style.) And so I want to eat meat by this number. As a meat eater I think its very reasonable to consume animals 3 times a week – it provides a good balance for the weekly menus. Though for some reason unbeknownst to me, we have eaten meat less than 3 times a week lately, more like once or twice.

Things are gonna’ change around here! Well, actually, at least this coming week they will. It so happens that we are leaving Portland to visit my family in VA for a week. Not knowing what we’ll consumer there, I want to enjoy some of that luscious lamb we purchased from Afton Field farm. I suppose, whether or not we eat meat in VA, I want to enjoy some of the good stuff we have now.

And so, without further ado, next week’s menu (starting tomorrow):

• Lamb chops with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy
• Cuisines of the World potluck – Morocco
• Butternut squash soup with ginger and roasted cauliflower
• Lamb (shepherd’s) pie with sauteed kale

Okay. Let me explain why there appears to be so few meals this week. Unlike our normal lives, this week we actually have lots of plans! (yay for socializing) Three of our nights we’ll be eating out and on Sunday we will host the next Cuisines of the World potluck. I am really excited about it because I picked the country, and we are going to Morocco! I’m thinking spices galore, slowly stewed meats and lentils, maybe some mint tea and savory pastries. Although I have no idea what others are bringing, I can share my intentions with you. Again, using one of our Afton farm meats, I will brine and roast a chicken rubbed in Moroccan spices. As you might expect, I will post pictures and comments on the evening later next week. It shall be a glorious feast!

Overall I think it will be an awesome week. Ending with a Hanukah party and a week-long vacation with my folks. I’m sure everyone has lots of exciting plans for the holiday season. Lucky for us, we are getting an early start this year.

But don’t you worry, Good Man Eats will continue to write, write, write.

Related posts:

1. Where have all the simple meals gone? (weekly menu 12)
2. Freezer Madness and the Long Winter Ahead
3. Kale, how I love thee (weekly menu 5)

For most people a simple meal is one they don’t make – they eat out. For others, a simple meal might be cooking from a box or can. For me, ‘simple’ is defined by the list of ingredients, the required prep work and the time needed to make the meal. By the end of every week I want to plan a simple meal – minimal prep work and little time used. And yet, come Friday when I post my menu I see that this goal of mine is again, disregarded. In my attempt to write an easy menu for next week’s pre-Thanksgiving meals, I may have failed myself all (again.) That’s the bad news. The good news is that we will be eating some more fabulous dinners. Maybe this is a win-win paradox?!

Starting tomorrow and following through till Tuesday, here is what I put together:

• Coconut curry squash soup
• Baked lamb shanks with mashed sweet potatoes
• Pasta with tomato cream sauce and steamed broccoli
• Fennel risotto with dried chili and ricotta

My desire for simplicity originated with Mark Bittman, and he is still a guiding force in my food-focused thinking. I recommend his modern bible, How to Cook Everything to anyone new to the kitchen. When I think about simple foods I think about Bittman. The soup recipe I’ll use this week comes from Bittman, specifically an article he published this week on 101 simple holiday meals. It’s almost mechanical how easily he creates easy to prepare meals. I didn’t take the time to read through the list, but I imagine if you are interested it would be a good site to bookmark for future use.

The lamb and risotto come from another favorite chef of mine, Jamie Oliver. He’s another celebrity chef hailing from Britain and eager to spread the gospel of healthy eating. I won’t go into great detail here, but if you come across any of his cookbooks or his website, I highly recommend reading about him, his philosophy and the numerous recipe ideas he creates. I would say he is a step up from Bittman, at least when I compare their recipes. Oliver is especially honed in on fresh, seasonal and sustainably-raised ingredients. No matter who you choose, both gentleman are excellent starting points for novice home cooks.

The grand irony of the week is Thanksgiving. For the first time in my life I will not be going home (to Virginia) for the holiday. The trip is too costly and too short in length to make sense. And so, an almost dream-come-true scenario is born this week. I will be cooking and hosting our Thanksgiving meal. One day I hope this will be one of the traditions we take on as a household; a day when my East coast family travels West for the celebratory turkey day.

I digress. The irony of the holiday is my strong desire to cook as simply as possible, something I rarely do on a daily basis. I will write more on this later next week, as I want to share the menu I planned and discuss the tasty possibilities of single-ingredient dishes. Until next Thursday though, it looks like I’ll continue to complicate my kitchen plans!

Related posts:

1. Thanksgiving Menu
2. Between the Holidays (weekly menu 14)
3. The Recipe vs. Spontaneity (weekly menu 11)

Although not aesthetically pleasing, freezing is a simple process for the preserving novice.

Since the purchase of a stand-up freezer, the opportunity for mass food preservation reigns. For the last several months I have slowly stocked up on random items. This week I compiled a list of all the current packages, including content and quantity. Between the big freezer and the one atop our refrigerator we have the following foods:

• 1/3 of a gallon bag filled with dried figs (foraged this summer and fall)
• 6 quart bags filled half-way with partially cooked chanterelles and their juices, (foraged this fall)
• 2 gallon bags of blueberries (purchased in August)
• 3 gallon bags of blackberries (foraged this summer)
• 6 quart bags of roasted red bell peppers (read this for the story)
• 6 quart bags of sliced peaches (bought in August)
• 2 gallon bags of ratatouille (here’s the recipe)
• 1 gallon of fresh corn soup (rather ironic to have froze this) (here’s the recipe)
• 5 quart bags of corn kernels (purchased in August)
• 4 chicken carcasses

This list does not include this month’s meat order from Afton Field Farm. On Thursday I will pick up the following:

• 1/2 a lamb, half of which is being shared with a friend; the total weight for our household will be about 20 pounds.
• 2 whole chickens
• 1 pound of chicken feet
• 3 dozen eggs
• 1 pound of ground beef

It’s important for me to explain why I ordered so much meat. The farm does not raise enough lamb to sell individual cuts. Since lamb is my favorite animal to eat, I wanted to have some for the rest of the winter. Like produce, animals are seasonal. Unless the farm raises large numbers of different animals and has the freezer space for all the cuts, certain species are available during certain times of the year. For example, lamb is mostly slaughtered in the spring and fall. Chickens are slaughtered in the early summer through late fall. I think cows are slaughtered year round as they are able to gain weight through the winter time. As you might expect, I think it’s important to consider the seasonality of meat, since animals do not naturally graze year round (at least in this part of America.)

Aside from the limitation of getting lamb, I am also sharing the order with a friend. Buying 40 pounds of lamb is a bit extreme, even for us. The other portions of the order are part of our monthly needs. In other words, the lamb is a long-term investment and the chicken, eggs and beef are short-term.

With all of this frozen meat, produce and cooked meals, this morning I had a revelation. In my mind, food preservation, be it canning, freezing, drying, curing, etc, is a means eating different foods when they are no longer in season. Therefore, it makes sense to eat all of these things during winter and early spring; and then the cycle begins again. Adding up the total quantity of frozen foods (excluding meat) there is a total of 32 bags. If, starting the first week of December, we ate one bag a week, we would have enough items to last 4 months! Clearly we could not sustain ourselves from December to March, but we can include some wonderful flavors in the mix. This calculation is even off a bit because I know we will be out of town at various times. I suppose I’d rather over estimate than under.

After making this calculations, I am excited to add a new element to our meal planning. Starting in December I can add a new variable to the process. Once this begins I will try to post once a week on the use of these different frozen foods.

For a geek like me this rather exciting!

Related posts:

1. Filling up the freezer
2. Grocery-free Living
3. Food Fantasies

Obviously there is a spectrum when we answer this question. The first thing that comes to my mind is fast food and varieties of colorful processed-food packages. And yet, I am not eating any of that. We pride ourselves on not using processed foods in our cooking, and rarely do we use commercially canned goods. I love eating seasonally, but when I sit down to write a menu, I can’t help but return to either:

• classic comfort food
• a meal of meat, veggies and grain
• the occasional “ethnic” dish (or)
• a recipe from our ‘kitchen favorites’ list (not a literal list but one of nostalgia between B and I)

Regarding the spectrum of “Americana cuisine,” I think we can agree there is not one clear type. Like many (if not all) other countries, the United States is divided into regions as well as states. I am originally from Virginia and now I live in Oregon. Even though both states rest along an ocean and a mountain range, I immediately consider southern style  vs NW cooking. The seasons are the same, but what fruits and vegetables are accessible in these differing climates affect the regional cuisine. For example, the NW is famous for wild mushrooms – morels, chanterelle, oyster, maitake, etc. I could buy these ingredients at a grocery store by my folk’s home, but that doesn’t mean the foods are indigenous to the place. And because of this disconnect, it would seem rather strange to see wild mushrooms on a menu in Norfolk, VA (my hometown) at a restaurant claiming “local food.” The same could be said for eating blue crab at a restaurant in Portland. So maybe the first response to the question, what is American food, would discuss the regionalism of our country’s cuisine.

Another more obvious answer would claim, “We are a nation of immigrants. There is no one type of food that dominates this country (except processed foods.) Thus our ‘American cuisine’ is really a melting pot of flavors, spices and techniques.” Okay, so we have lots of passed-down ethnic foods. Why then, when I want to make a casserole, I do not see many Norwegian casserole recipes when I search “casserole recipe?” In other words, where did the authenticity of the dish go?

These questions came to me yesterday while visiting a SE Asian grocery store. Vieng Lao Orietnal Food Center is a small store on Killingsworth, right between I-5 and the PCC campus. The store is filled with large sacks of rice, strange candies and snacks, aisles of products that both intrigue and disgust me (no offense.) Honestly, for the convenience of its location and the very affordable prices, its where I go to get coconut milk, special ingredients when I cook “Asian” food, and sometimes to explore the my imagination. Yesterday, while perusing the aisles, I was struck by how little I consider non-American cuisine when writing a menu. In fact, the one dish in next week’s menu that has any “ethnic” flare is rice noodles with veggies and a peanut sauce. Funny how noodles of a different grain and sauce of a different texture, make the dish “Asian” in my mind.

On that note, let me share with you the menu. Consider some of these questions when you write a menu. I think these issues of authenticity and assimilation are interesting when looking at what we eat as Americans (assuming you live in this country.)

• Gratin of potatoes with white cheddar and tarragon (I wanted to use up some excess cheddar cheese in casserole form, and this recipe looks pretty darn good. Also, this meal will be for a potluck.)
• Tomato and Mozzarella Lasagna and side salad (Is this an Italian casserole or an American casserole?)
• Roasted chicken in adobo marinade with steamed broccoli and roasted acorn squah
• Vegetables with rice noodles and peanut sauce
• White bean and escarole soup
• 3 side dishes – I’m thinking spicy cauliflower, carrot and beet salad, and roasted brussels sprouts

In some ways I see this menu as a mishmash of ideas and wants. I’m digging the casserole technique – pile veggies, cream and cheese in a pan and cook till crispy. What better way to enjoy the cooling weather?! At the same time, I want to start diving in to the new season’s produce. We love squash, brussels sprouts and root vegetables. As the season continues I think our meals will reflect the changes (or at least I want to think so.)

In the meantime, I want to get some cookbooks on NW cuisine. Now that I live here, I should familiarize myself with the authentic flavors of the region. Do you think its possible to eat NW cuisine without eating seafood all the time?

Related posts:

1. Asian Madness (weekly menu 9)
2. The Pains of Eliminating (weekly menu 19)
3. Cuisines of the World potluck – Vietnam

To make soup or not to make soup? If you live in Portland, maybe Soupcycle can determine that for you.

For the last month or so I have spent my Monday mornings or afternoons helping out Soupcycle. I will be the first to admit that my good friend Jed Lazar is co-owner of this burgeoning bike-centered company here in Portland, OR. The premise is simple: freshly made soup with locally sourced organic ingredients delivered to your home or office every week. Each week they prepare a vegetarian, vegan and meat soup covering the 3 major bases of the American palette. The next day (Tuesday) and the day after that (Wednesday) they deliver the soups (and salad and breads) via bicycle to you, the consumer.

It is easy to order soup and rather affordable too – 1 quart of soup plus salad and bread for 18$. One quart of soup is approximately 4 cups. If an individual ordered a quart this would last at least 2-3 meals, depending on the size of the serving. Considering that Jed and his business partner Shauna only source organic ingredients and make all the soups from scratch, I think this is a great deal. Of course, I have an obvious bias in the matter; and to be honest, I am not a paying consumer – I am a volunteer-consumer.

Each Monday when they make their soups and salads, the work before them is long and tedious. But when they have extra help the processes go far smoother and faster. For me, as the volunteer, I get free soup! And as someone who spends way too much time planning out meals, these free portions are a huge help to my planning system.

I chose to post on Soupcycle for two reasons: one, to provide some honest advertising for my friend’s company and two, to discuss the role of spontaneity in weekly meal planning. As you know from last Friday’s post, I had this week all determined (and I still do.) But when I went grocery shopping today I was able to alter the game plan a bit.

One of the necessities to efficient planning is to constantly assess what is in the kitchen. As I have gotten better at writing menus each week, this skill goes hand in hand with remembering what ingredients lay in the cupboard or in the fridge and planning from there. The more I know the better I can handle spontaneous “food gifts.” For example, after helping out at Soupcycle I was provided some extra supplies that they over-ordered. I left the kitchen with a huge bag of fresh mixed greens, a quart of shredded cheddar cheese and a quart of tomato soup. All of a sudden, I visualized the menu I had written and began changing things around. With the greens I knew we had to eat tons of salad. Over the weekend we received a bag of tomatoes from my father-in-law. So instead of butternut squash soup we will have a garden burger salad. For this we buy less ingredients and use up these free “food gifts.” The extra quart of soup is also very helpful because it provides another lunch option for the next couple days.

I don’t know how often other people come across free food. I think there is sometimes a disregard for free food, like “I’m not poor, I can buy all the food I want.” But when someone has extras and you know you can use it, why not trim down that extra spending? As a consumer and cook, I am always on the lookout for a way to beat the system – specifically, eat well for less money.

I think one of the difficulties with meal planning is the planning – the time commitment to learning and remembering what one has in the kitchen. The commitment to the plan, to buying and preparing the meals on the list. It’s okay to go out to dinner on occasion and its okay to fulfill the spontaneous food moments in our lives, but its very important to know where our money is going. Unless you are rich and have limitless money to spend, we all need to budget as hard as that may be. For me, (and definitely not for everyone), I am willing to work for food. Of course I need to make rent and all the other financial needs, but sometimes I want to ease other parts of my life. And free food is a good source of easing spending and thus stress from frivolous purchases, etc.

The moral of the story is two-fold: 1. Volunteer and ye shall be rewarded; and 2. free food makes meal planning easier for our wallets and our time in the store. Don’t be afraid to deviate from the plan!

Related posts:

1. A simple menu (weekly menu 2)
2. No Idea (weekly menu 24)
3. Meal Planning Guide – Your’s for only $5!