Joining a Meat CSA

It started with an article I read in the News and Observer about CSAs (CSA = community supported agriculture). The local farmer has a group of people that purchase a share of his crop at the beginning of the season. The customers pay a flat fee for a portion of the harvest for so many weeks. Customers don't know what will come in this share each week, but they do know that it is local, most likely organic (depending on the farmer), and sustainable. Best of all, it cuts out the middle man and eliminates the ridiculous food shipping - sending our sweet potatoes to New Zealand while we are sold sweet potatoes from Argentina (that may be a bit of a hyperbole). Being frustrated with the illogic of our food economy, I immediately jumped on board. A friend had bought a CSA with Harry at Beausol Gardens, so that is the one I chose too. I have been buying summer and winter CSAs with Harry since 2009.

Some CSAs have vegetables and eggs and meat, some just one of those. Harry just grows vegetables. Delicious, organic, sustainable, succulent, wonderful vegetables.

But, my husband eats meat. And loves his meat.

Well, Karl, versed in Paleo diet and life philosophy, has been advocating a meat CSA since we got engaged. Several local farms/ranches offer meat CSAs. These are ranches with cows, chickens, pigs, and lamb. They have sustainable ranches, offer free range meat, and treat animals humanely - giving them happy living conditions until it's time for them to become food. It has always been our goal, and continues to be our goal, to eat this kind of meat. This year we are finally making that dream a reality!

We invested in a 6 month meat CSA with Coon Rock Farm and couldn't be more excited! We drove out to the farm to pick up our first share and deposit our money. Upon entering the farm, pink, muddy, chubby, oinking pigs trotted along with our car, safely behind a fence.

Traveling coop to fertilize

Our first month we received a chicken, fresh ham roast, two types of sausage, ground beef, and two pork chops. They have all been delicious. We look forward to continuing shares of fresh, organic, grass fed, free range meat - the way it was always supposed to be.

Alton Brown's Coq au Vin

Every girl needs some inspiration, a challenge, and a willing audience. This has been true of me since the days that I played dress-up - the inspiration was my grandma's heels, the challenge was modeling, and the willing audience was my immediate family.

Little did he know, my husband (as well as seeing frozen pearl onions at Trader Joe's) inspired a recent challenge:

Inspiration = Karl, onions; Challenge = coq au vin; Audience = Karl

Shortly after we started dating, Karl happened upon the Good Eats chef himself at a local book signing. I whined when he excitedly told me he was planning to get a signed copy for his chef-roommate. I liked to cook, I was supposed to be what he thought of day and night and night and day, why wasn't I also getting a signed copy? So, being his sweet self, Karl got me a copy too. :)

That was two years ago (ish). And I have just now made something from the book...

I used rice underneath instead of glutinous pasta. Notice the greens...in every meal!

Alton's Brown's Coq Au Vin

Some things I learned along the way:

- The recipe calls for two bottles of wine...I thought that was a lot and I only had one in the house...so I used one. Definitely use the two. The sauce did not have as much flavor as I hoped.

- The recipe says to let the chicken sit in its sauce overnight. I had three hours...it needed the extra time to soak up all that great flavor.

Victories:

- I started with a whole chicken, a dull knife, and a knife sharpener we got for Christmas. That ended up being a winning trio. Plus, I used Martha's book for directions on how to cut a raw whole chicken into its proper cooking parts:

- I used rice flour to dredge the chicken instead of wheat...worked perfectly!

- I made a more difficult recipe for dinner! I always have a deep sense of satisfaction after breaking the dinner routine and cooking something more gourmet. Like I said earlier, every girl needs a challenge!

Note: I have scanned that cookbook for other recipes to try...and it is difficult considering our restricted diet. But I did make Alton Brown's cashew butter (after soaking my nuts) and it is delicious! I can't wait to try his variation of satay sauce using the cashews.

Homemade Oreos - Gluten Free

They look more like a whoopie pie than an oreo, but the recipe claims that they are not meant to replace the oreo - merely the combination of flavors is inspired by the favorite processed cookie. Well, this American staple happens to be my husband's absolute favorite treat. He would like nothing more than a bowl full of crushed oreos soaking in milk (or ice cream). So for his birthday, I thought I would do him one better than just the packaged kind. I decided to go all out and home-make him his favorite. :) And I wanted to make them gluten free so I could share as well.

I hurried home from work on his birthday to bake them before we headed out to dinner. The cookies greeted him as he came into the house and he scarfed one (two? maybe) up immediately. We had some more after a lovely dinner. Karl said he liked them after they had been sitting with their cream filling for a few hours. The icing filling softened them up a bit. Anyone like a slightly stale oreo too? I always preferred mine softer, which seemed to happen after leaving the bag open for a day or two...

You can definitely tell these are homemade - but they do the trick!

I used the cookbook I have mentioned before, Gluten-Free Baking Classics, by Annalise G. Roberts. I will be making these again - and hopefully sooner than Karl's next birthday.

Cream Filled Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups Brown Rice Flour Mix *
1/4 cup sweet rice flous
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 tsp/ salt

My creamed filling: from Firecracker Whoopie Pie filling
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1¼ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. heavy cream

1. Beat butter and sugar at medium speed in large bowl until light and creamy. (I used a regular hand held mixer - but the directions mention the standing mixer.) Add egg and vanilla and beat well.

2. Add flours, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt; mix until a soft, smooth dough is formed.

3. Divide dough into two equal halves. Drop first half in small mounds across a large sheet of plastic wrap. Fold the plastic over the dough and shape into a long, 1-inch diameter log, leaving plastic open at the ends. Twist ends and flatten dough at each end. Try to smooth log by rolling back and forth on counter. Repeat with second half of dough. Refrigerate both rolls until well chilled.

(This is when I took my shower and got gussied up for my date!)

4. Preheat the oven to 350. Position rack in center of oven. Lightly grease cookie sheet with cooking spray. (My dad got me a mister for Christmas. You put whatever oil you want in it and it sprays it out - with some pumping. So I have been using olive oil for all my baking-spraying and it has been working out well!)

5. Using a thin, sharp knife, slice chilled dough into 1/8 inch-thick slices and place 1 inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake in center of oven for about 9 minutes or until cooked through. Cool slightly on cookie sheet and transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

6. To make Cream Filling: straight from Firecracker Whoopie Pie Filling
To make the filling, whip the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, about 30 seconds.  Mix in the confectioners’ sugar and salt, and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes.  Mix in the vanilla and heavy cream on low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip for 4 minutes, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice.

The cookbook suggests using a filling made with vegetable shortening, which Karl detests because it is hydrogenated.

7. Spread filling on one side of a cookie and cover with another cookie. Store in airtight container. After three days, store cookies in refrigerator. They can be kept in the refrigerator for two weeks or frozen for up to one month.

**Gluten free flour blend:
2 parts (2 cups) brown rice flour, 2/3 part (2/3 cup) potato starch, and 1/3 part (1/3 cup) tapioca flour.

Happy couple...tummies full of GF homemade oreos :)

A Tale of Two Chocolate Chip Cookies

I used Ghirardelli 70% chips - which are not technically dairy free, but that little bit won't bother me, especially in a chip with such a high concentration of cocoa.

Twas the night before Christmas eve and all through the house there was not a safe baked good containing chocolate for me to have...

so I had to make a Christmas favorite, a Christmas tradition, and more importantly my dad's favorite since he was visiting in a few days!

Knowing that spending Christmas with my family would mean being surrounded by irresistible homemade baked goods (cookies, pumpkin bread - my fav, candies, cakes, pies, etc), I was determined not to cheat and cause my body havoc, but I was also determined not to deprive myself.

Over the summer I had tried my hand at GFCF chocolate chip cookies from one of my favorite sites, The Spunky Coconut. Recently, however, my body has not been taking kindly to flax - so when I made these cookies, eating just one made my stomach very unhappy. I will have to keep experimenting with this recipe, though, because I love the idea of using honey instead of refined while sugar. It was pretty hard not to have any after the first one gave me issues; they turned out looking irresistable:

I even doubled the recipe and made 2 batches! These are done - even browned at the edges though they still look like they may be raw

Karl brought them to work to get them away from me, and he actually shared. They were not the office favorite due to the healthy nature of the cookie, but they were well liked. Karl ended up eating most of them.

Alas, without this option and needing something to serve my dad in a few days, I turned to Google for another recipe to try. Lucky me, Alton Brown cooks gluten free! I found Alton Brown's GF version of his chewy chocolate chip cookie.

It felt miraculous: "The Chewy Gluten Free" Having 112 reviews with an average of 5 stars, I knew this would be a winner. The cookies turned out delicious and my dad even took some home with him - a sign that these were some good cookies.

These even look like the traditional homemade chocolate chip. Santa was a happy camper in this gluten free house.

The best part was that I got to enjoy Christmas treats after dinner alongside everyone else without the usual stomach upset. It felt like such a victory.

It's never too late for apple pie...Gluten Free! Part 2

I topped this with coconut "whipped" cream to lighten the dairy overload...but it would probably taste better with the real stuff. Everyone at our table used RediWhip - which looked very tempting...

We spent Thanksgiving in the mountains of North Carolina. Karl and I enjoyed plenty of opportunities to hike and work off all the delicious apple pie we ate. Making the pies the day before we drove up, I put them in the freezer unbaked and defrosted them Thursday morning. The pies baked while we ate the turkey dinner. They came out so well - no one even noticed they were gluten free.

I love hiking in the mountains. Especially with this guy ;)

This is a very normal looking stream. What I didn't capture was the stream running through the trail itself. That was not normal and we had to take some precarious jumps and sideways moves to get through the muck.

The hiking trail even had a ladder to get over the big rocks. We felt so hardcore.

Apple Pie with Crumb Topping

from Annalise G. Roberts from her book

Topping:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cold and diced

Apple Filling:
6 cups thinly sliced apples
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. corn starch
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. butter

1. Preheat oven to 375. Position rack in the center of oven. Make pie crust. Partially bake crust in oven for 10 minutes. Cool on rack while preparing apples and crumb topping. Turn oven temperature up to 400.

2. Combine flour, sugar, and xanthan gum for topping in medium mixing bowl and cut in butter. (I used the food processor). Topping should resemble cornmeal in texture. Set aside.

3. Mix apples with sugars, corn starch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl. Fill prepared pastry crust with apple mixture, mounding it. Dot with cut up butter.

4. Spoon crumb topping over apples and pat it down into place. Cover entire pie with foil. Place in center of oven and bake for 30 minutes.

5. Remove foil. Turn oven down to 375 and bake for 30-40 minutes more until filling is bubbling and top is golden. Cool on rack.

It's never too late for Apple Pie...Gluten Free! Part 1

Homemade apple pie, with crust and everything from scratch, is surely a glimpse of the awesomeness of heaven ;)

 My job for Thanksgiving this year was to make the apple pie. Since my hostess also eats gluten free, she sent me a cookbook to aid me in my task. What a happy discovery!

Baking pie from scratch is a lot of work! But soooooo worth it! Everyone raved about it - and leftovers were even better.

Traditional Pie Crust 

from Annalise G. Roberts from her book

1 cup plus 2 tbsp. Brown Rice flous mic
2 tbsp. sweet rice flour
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
1 large egg
2 tsp. orange juice or lemon juice

1. Spray 9-inch pie pan (I used the throw away aluminum foil since the pie was traveling) with cooking spray (I used a mister filled with olive oil). Generously dust with rice flour.

2. Mix flours, sugar, xanthan gum, and salt in large bowl of electric mixer (I used my food processor and it worked beautifully). Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal.

3. Add egg and citrus juice. Mix on low until dough holds together; it should not be sticky. Form dough into a ball, using your hands, and place on a sheet of wax paper. Top with a second sheet of wax paper and flatten dough to 1 inch thickness.

4. Roll out dough between the 2 sheets of wax paper. If dough seems tacky, refrigerate for 15 minutes before proceeding. Remove top sheet of wax paper and invert dough into pie pan. Remove remaining sheet of wax paper, and crimp edges for single-crust pie.

**Gluten free flour blend:
2 parts (2 cups) brown rice flour, 2/3 part (2/3 cup) potato starch, and 1/3 part (1/3 cup) tapioca flour.



Stay tuned for putting it all together!