Posts Tagged ‘chef dad’
Tip: Deal With The Farm Share Right Away (Chef Dad)
The farm share. I’ve mentioned it before, and every year I say I’ll be better about dealing with the vegetables right away. Because if I don’t, they go bad.
And I do. Do better, that is. But I need to do better better.
Admittedly, it’s kind of a pain. I know. Call the wahhhbulance.
Which is why I’m saying I need to do better than I am, even though I’m doing better than I was before. You don’t want rotting vegetables. It’s wasteful. Besides, I need to eat my vegetables.
In case you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, here’s the deal: a box of vegetables shows up at my door once a week. Also fruit. You never know what you’re going to get. (Sorry, Forrest
All together now — wahhhh.
Here’s another wahhhhbulance clip. (The Internet seems to spell it “wambulance”, but I prefer the extra h’s.)
I do better with the winter farm shares, which tend to be mostly root vegetables. Carrots? Easy. Even the kids will eat those. Brussel sprouts? I’m the only one who will eat them but they’re easy to cook (roast ’em with some olive oil, a little salt and pepper), healthy, and whatever I don’t eat right away I can freeze.
Gooseberries? Not my thing. I don’t bake. I suppose I could learn, but it’s not high on my list. I could probably put the berries in a salad. Or eat them plain. If I ever get them again. Because sadly, I waited too long, and the gooseberries gave up the ghost.
Again, to be clear — wasting food is a bad thing. I’m a little embarrassed to be talking about this. I don’t waste it all. Just… some of it.
Next time I get gooseberries, I’ll wash ’em right away.
Chef Dad On Fuzzy Strawberries
Chef Dad has this to say about fuzzy strawberries:
I hate wasting food but I think these strawberries qualify as a new life form.
This tip is good advice with regard to all foodstuffs of uncertain freshness. “When in doubt, throw it out.”
From this week’s Brett Singer Tweets. Here’s the rest if you missed ’em.
Five Allergy Safe Recipes
I saw this post on Lifehacker about allergy safe recipes and was intrigued. Then I realized you could use recipes for allergic adults with allergic kids. Here is a DaddyTip from Chef Dad to you.
(h/t to Lifehacker and TheKitchn.) Read more »
Another Reason To Become a Vegan—Pink Slime
So, ew.
I missed this story about “pink slime.” What is pink slime? According to ABC News, “‘Pink slime’ is beef trimmings.” Oh! That’s OK, right? Well, no. “Once only used in dog food and cooking oil, the trimmings are now sprayed with ammonia so they are safe to eat and added to most ground beef as a cheaper filler.” For added fun, ABC says that pink slime is in 70 percent of the ground beef sold at supermarkets.
Now you might be saying, Brett. That’s just supermarket ground beef. That’s not enough of a reason to become a vegan. What are you, one of those commie pinko Occupy Everything buttheads? Seriously—do you have, like, a butt for a head?
No! I do not have a butt for a head. I do, however, think that you are unlikely to find ammonia in your kale. And kale is healthier for you anyway. So why not just avoid meat altogether?
But Brett! What about fish? Or chicken? Huh? What about tasty, delicious chicken? You like chicken, don’t you? Read more »
More Advice About The Lunch
First we had The Lunch as life lesson. Now we have more advice about the making of The Lunch.
Specifically How to take school lunches beyond peanut butter and jelly by Kathtyn Rem.
She suggests making a meal that you know will have leftovers, and then using said leftovers in tomorrow’s lunch. Great idea.
Other tips are good not only for The Lunch but also for general sandwich making. “To keep sandwiches crunchy, place a single layer of lunchmeat on each slice of bread. Then spread the condiments on the meat, which creates a barrier between the bread and the rest of the ingredients. Cheese also works nicely as a barrier.” (Oh, if I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard that last one…)
Other tips include “cutting a sandwich to look like a butterfly with carrot sticks for antennae.” Hey, if that works for your kids, more power to you. That would never fly in my house. (No pun intended.)
Also, the title is interesting, since every school I know of has banned peanut butter and all other nutty foodstuffs from the premises. In my case, it wasn’t so much about breaking away from lunch routine for the sake of variety. The one protein-filled food my son was willing to eat every single day was suddenly banned, so we had to come up with an alternative.
Toy Story 3 lunch box image via Amazon.com
Use The Crusts As Bread Crumbs [Cooking Tip]
For some mysterious reason, most children will not eat a sandwich unless the crusts have been cut off. Today’s tip: use the crusts as bread crumbs when you are cooking.
This morning, like most mornings, I made lunch for my son. Currently, he will eat a bologna sandwich, on wheat, with the crusts removed. I was about to toss the crusts in the trash when I realized that they would make good homemade bread crumbs.
Here’s what you do:
– Break the crusts apart into smaller pieces.
– Put into a mortar and pestle. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, use a bowl. Then go buy a mortar and pestle because they are inexpensive, useful and, in their own way, awesome.
– Add spices. I used herbs du provence, truffle salt, and pepper.
– Smoosh it up until it looks like the bread crumbs you get from the can, only without the additives (or the can).
Bingo! You have homemade bread crumbs. I put mine on some roasted carrots that were in this week’s farm share box. What do you put bread crumbs on?
Mortar and Pestle image from Amazon.com
