use real butter

I made chili today with ground buffalo from the co-op instead of ground beef. It is leaner and the smell of buffalo cooking is a little different from beef, more gamey in aroma (if you’ve ever cooked deer, you will know my meaning). This time I tried cooking it in the crockpot after sautéing the vegetables and browning the buffalo. It was also my chance to add some chocolate stout. For a quick chili recipe, this is pretty good.

I can’t wait for winter when I can make posole, beef stew, brunswick stew, real chili, corn chowder, masaman curry, and other giant pots of gloppy, soupy, delicious stuff. Although sushi and sandwiches are at the top of my list of favorite foods – stews rank up there because despite being soupy, they are filled with enough goodness to be eaten as a meal solo or with a scoop of rice.

I read that I should be planting garlic this month. Hmmmm. Maybe I should ask Jeremy to swing by the farmer’s market tomorrow on his way to the bus station and buy a few good looking bulbs of garlic? But he doesn’t really know what to shop for in garlic and I don’t think he’s comfortable asking the vendor about garlic flavor… I guess I should go and clear out the random weeds growing on the plot and cordon off the composting area. I have too much green composting and not enough brown composting.

For dinnah, we had turkey burgers. I can get ground turkey meat at the Wild Oats counter in either breast meat or thigh meat. Ground breast meat tends to be most common, but I personally think the flavor (and cost!) of thigh meat is far better. Especially for burgers, the ground thigh meat results in a more juicy burger. It’s lean because it’s organic and if I can’t find organic, at least “natural” (minimally processed) is better than those national brands with “added flavorings”.

ground turkey, minced onion, minced parsley, garlic powder, pepper, salt

great with a slice of swiss at the end of grilling

what’s your beef?
People’s eyes usually glaze over at the mention of filet mignon, that small end of the tenderloin. It is by far the most tender cut for dry heat cooking. It is lean and has a satisfying flavor. Chateaubriand comes from the larger portion of the tenderloin and is a popular and romantic dish for two complimented by a good bernaise sauce. Rib eye (Delmonico) is another desirable cut as the meat is marbled with fat to give fabulous flavor right off the grill. My personal favorite, is the flank steak. Not as tender as filet and lacking the melt-in-your-mouth of rib eye, flank steak offers the most flavor bang for your leaness buck. Tonight Jeremy grilled a marinated flank steak for dinner.

and then we paired it with those roasted vegetables…



Ever have one of those days when you remember what you are having for dinner that night and that is all you can think about for the next 4 hours? That’s what happened to me today. Ever reach the point where there are so many things going on in your life and in others’ lives that it becomes overwhelming and you suddenly stop giving a shit? That’s what happened to me today too. Ever feel like you are ready to walk away and flip everyone the bird? Me too. woot!