Monday, March 28, 2011

Hogs for the Cause 2011

It's all about the pork.

I love pork. If you know me at all then you know that I'm a huge fan of the Almighty Pig. I love it in all its forms: ground, cured, smoked, slow cooked, fried, baked, roasted, braised, grilled ... I'm drooling just thinking about pork.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Homegrown: Pork, Parsnips and Greens

My neighbors! I'm sorry for leaving you without my endless ramblings for so long, but life (including the flu) sometimes catches you off guard. Let's get right to it!

"Do you know where your food comes from?"

These days, how often do we hear this question? And do we truly know the answer? How many times do we blindly pick up a package of steaks or a head of lettuce with no concern over how it made it from farm to store? I never thought much about it until I started living with ducks. Our layers are pretty consistent, so we have a steady supply of eggs. When we run out and I have to buy chicken eggs, I kind of panic. What were these chickens eating? Were they healthy? Well kept? Did they have bumblefoot? (We had a case of bumblefootwith one of our ducks. It's apparently common in poultry, and probably pretty common in commercial poultry farms. I'll let you read up on it yourself.) I'm amazed, after buying eggs, how watery and weak tasting they are. I can easily replace "2 eggs" in a recipe with just a single duck egg. (Look back to my Cheese-Stuffed Meatballs for an example.) I see the ducks who lay these eggs every day. We feed them and care for them. I know where these eggs come from. And they're freaking delicious. (Don't worry. We'll have some egg recipes in the near future!)

Friday, March 4, 2011

Cheese-Stuffed Meatballs


I doubt the title surprises you at this point. While I certainly do have a lot of love for things full of cheese or meat, or covered in cheese or meat, those aren't the only things I'm capable of doing ... and I hope that's clear. My goal, if I have one, is just to get you to think outside of the box. Be creative. Play with your food.

Keeping that in mind, we'll be making meatballs today!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

From NOLA.com: New Orleans king cakes continue to push the edge

I got a mention on NOLA.com! How crazy is that?

From NOLA.com: New Orleans king cakes continue to push the edge

Thanks to the "person on the street" mentioned in the article (a good friend of mine, Ashley, who owns/runs the Porcelain Porcupine shop on Etsy) and to Leslie at NOLA Eats! And, of course, to Brett Anderson at the Times-Picayune!

I'll be cooking something up tomorrow night. Make sure to come back Friday for more food!