Left Overs Fridge Salad Tonight- General Tso's Chicken for New Year's Eve

 It was the day before New Years Eve and all through the fridge...there was left over stuff since we're having Chinese carry out tomorrow night. 

General Tso's Chicken, Egg Drop Soup and Egg Rolls for me. 

Tonight I thought I better eat the fridge stuff... Dutch Meadows Organic carrots. So 1 large carrot. There were green onions from the girls potato soup. 1 each. A hunk of organic ginger. 1 each small. All chopped or shredded. Splash with 365 balsamic and olive oil. Splash each. Just then my wife said I have 9 grapes left...no 8. Tossed them in. WOW. Tasty little salad. Sweet with a little ginger burnt lip after, soothed by the olive oil. That was 10 minutes ago and no one was left injured. 

lol I love creating stuff from scratch. My daughter just called out Dad we have two slices of turkey...so with that, I'll do a slice of Dutch Meadows onion, A2 cheddar from Australia and a piece of DM grass fed, grass finish beef bacon on my DM sourdough toast with veganaise splash. A winner for sure.

Beef Bacon...I was curious. It's healthier than pork but who cares when discussing bacon. I baked it off separated the pieces and froze them. Take them out as I need them. Very good indeed. Not as stringy as pork and with all DM meat there's no extra bad stuff. 

Bon Appetit and Happy New Year!

The Reality of the Food Experience

 

The girls are off for the holidays, at least partially. My wife texted early today that they had forgotten chips for the holiday and was stopping at Winn Dixie on the way home. Hmmm Winn Dixie, HQ out of Jacksonville when we lived in Florida. I worked with them selling Carlise plastic containers and display trays for the deli/prepared foods area. Prepared foods an area of grocery predicted to send restaurants out of business...30 years ago. Whole foods and Publix entered the picture. Truth is some of each business survived, some didn't. It depends on the food. Right?

I let her know to call me from prepared foods. Typically, I don't want anything, but I like hearing her tell me. Of course, I asked "hushpuppies"? Nope no one ever has them and I would buy them everytime. Hint hint! I ended up getting 10 wings, plain and that's it. 

This is a shout out to Winn Dixie surprising me with the best wings I've had in years. Slightly peppery, fried crispy, room temperature so I could get right at it. How do they look (above picture). Oh... actually those are the leftovers perfectly displayed restaurant style with ranch dressing for dipping.

I was so hungry; and they looked so delicious I ate them plain from the box 4 of the 10 leaving the 6 in the bowl. Just a reminder that marketers market and the reality of food may not be what you think.

I tied off the bones so my sous chef Willis... my daughter's Aussie cattle dog didn't get them. He did have a taste of the wings and gave them a paws up. His take was, sometimes you find buried treasure in those plastic containers. Not on the $25 plates. It's just a thought. We'll see what changes Aldi brings Winn Dixie as they didn't make it in the grocery foods competition. I'm sure it was a good run. Personally, we love Publix and hope Amazon doesn't ruin Whole foods. A lot of my 365 brand product is already gone. Just saying. Happy Holidays!

Saturday Breakfast

 

Yes I played the drums for Morton Senior High School. I got a late start, studied in 8th grade and like sports came into my freshman year behind better musicians. I planned to be a rock star drummer anyway. Hence my first drum was the box pictured below. Yep the original sixties cardboard oatmeal box from Quaker. Lol The problem with that is that we ate oatmeal so rarely (basically Dad during Winter) I only got one to practice with. In 8th grade I got a rubber drum pad, sticks and lessons from Sharon Grimmer. I never appreciated that experience.  Since I was a big kid (a common theme here) the school put me on substitute bass drum and cymbals for football games and cymbals in concert play. lol Yes that was me playing Man of La Mancha circa 1970. 

Oatmeal was our breakfast in the 60's or rather Dad's. We had Grape Nuts, Cheerios and Grandma shared her Rice Chex. Which we'd rather have at the holidays as the Chex Mix snack. Eventually I spent summers at their house and Grandfather made eggs, and Canadian bacon every morning. They were my true influence to start cooking and become reasonably creative.

Today 60 years later I am very creative with a degree in Hospitality and Restaurant Management and a lifetime of Chef visits. So usually I ask myself what sounds good. The dog replies cheebooger and that usually is Mondays. Today in the fridge we had fresh Greek yogurt from Dutch Meadows Farms, healthy A2 casein. Left over blueberries, some roasted coconut (not pictured) Hempseed from Nuts.com and 92% dark chocolate. Those of you who know me know it's nearly all organic and deconstructed. Meaning I don't mix the ingredients I lay them in my bowl and dip my spoon changing up the taste and texture. It was great, Willis loves blueberries and yogurt and licked the bowl. A different take on the American breakfast. Healthy, good for gut flora and tasty.

Dutch Meadows Brisket Lunch

 While I'm waiting on my beef bacon, yogurt, and regular sourdough breads from Dutch Meadows Paradise PA to be delivered I'm making lunch. Dutch Meadows is an Amish Farm with great people who exhibit stellar customer service. I've placed about 50 plus orders averaging every other Wednesday delivery via 2nd UPS. Only a couple storms have delayed their orders.

So I got the DM grass fed grass finished (healthy) ground brisket out of the freezer (a couple weeks old) and soaked the cyrovac bag in warm water, it was thawed in minutes. Meanwhile I diced a DM candied onion and sauteed it slowly to translucent. I toasted a Einhorn bun and sliced my Irish cheddar thin on top.

Now I know my finished product isn't award winning photogenically displayed but by now I'm hungry. The brisket cooked so clean the juices were clear barely any fat- no hormones, chemicals and residues. As I said I just spooned the meat, juices over the buttered toasted buns layered with cheese and a Duke's mayo packet squeezed to the side. The buns soaked it all up and I made it disappear pretty quick with that European dessert spoon. 

Special shout out and Merry Christmas! to the packing ladies at the farm. Janice wrote me a nice thank you for the treats I sent but the hard work is all them. I buy my produce when available too. Carrots , broccoli, califlower and onions also their apples. Bite size flavorful and all organic. 

Dutch Meadows Farms in Paradise PA   www.dutchmeadowsfarm.com