CHEESESLAVE

All my life, I have loved shortbread cookies. I usually buy Walker brand, from Scotland, which are, thankfully, still made with real butter. I love the sandy texture, the sweet taste.

But most of all, I love the butter. Butter is not only delicious, it’s also very good for you.

Someone once told me I should change the name of this blog from CHEESESLAVE to BUTTERSLAVE. It’s a tough call. I love them both.

This Christmas, I’m going home to Texas. First to Dallas to visit my parents, and then we’re all going on a road trip, 3 kids in tow, down to Austin. We’ll be getting our fill of Texas comfort food from my childhood: migas and Texas BBQ, pecan prailines, chili, quesadillas, and chicken fried chicken with fried okra, mashed potatoes and cornbread.

Nothing says Texas like pecan pie. Okay, that’s not exactly true. There are many things that evoke the spirit of Texas: armadillos, longhorns, Willie Nelson, chili, pickup trucks and gun racks, two-stepping, and nachos (invented in Texas). But pecan pie has got to be one of the very best things in all of Texas.

This recipe is different from most recipes you’ll find for Chinese Orange Chicken. I used a healthy, traditional fat — lard. Unlike what you read in books like The China Study, lard, or pig fat, has traditionally been used in China for thousands of years. I also used a traditional, unrefined sweetener — honey. And I used whole grain sprouted flour instead of refined white flour.

While on vacation a few months ago, we made our bi-annual trip to the outlet mall. While there, my mother-in-law officially decreed that every time we go to the outlet mall, I get a piece from Le Creuset. God bless her.

This time I chose a tagine. A tagine is a traditional cooking vessel from Morocco. It turned out to be a very wise purchase. This thing rocks! I’ve made tagine chicken three times now, and every time it has come out great. I didn’t have to marinate the chicken at all, and yet it was flavorful and moist. My whole family loves my tagines — even my toddler who is a bit picky.

I started making my own homemade all-purpose cleaner a while back and I love it. Why make your own household cleaner? It’s super cheap, really easy to make, there are also no toxic chemicals, and you don’t have to buy more plastic to add to the landfills since you can reuse plastic spray bottles.
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There is nothing like gazpacho in summertime. Gazpacho is a cold, spicy, raw tomato soup which originated in southern Spain, made with peppers, onion, garlic and cucumbers which are either diced and/or blended.

It is so nice on a hot day to not have to turn on the oven. Besides that, it’s a great way to use up all those tomatoes in your garden. And it’s gluten-free, casein-free, and GAPS-legal.

Fig season has sprung here in California. If you’re lucky enough to have a fig tree in your backyard (I used to in my last home), you’re probably busy harvesting and drying your figs before the birds get to them.

Dried figs can feed your family throughout the year. They can be added to granola or oatmeal, or used to sweeten baked goods. And during the holiday season, who doesn’t love a good figgy pudding? My sister makes Christmas pudding every year.

Dried figs are good, but fresh figs are delicious. Roasted, they are even better. Roasted after you drizzle honey on them — pure heaven.

It may seem like I’m doing a lot of fried food these days, and I suppose that’s true. But I just (a) got a new deep fryer, (b) rendered a whole lot of beef tallow, and (c) ordered a gallon of palm oil and five gallons of expeller-pressed coconut oil. So I’m having fun playing.

Plus, it’s tough when you’ve got a toddler on your hands who’s addicted to French fries. So addicted, that anytime we go to a restaurant and anyone at the table orders fries, she refuses to eat anything else.

Speaking of said toddler, see my post about the fact that she is slightly anemic. I think it was “milk anemia”, which is fairly common for this age group. Which is why I whipped up this dish of fried clams for her. Did you know that clams are really high in iron? Who knew? Popeye should have been noshing on fried clams, not spinach.

I used to be addicted to Diet Coke. But not anymore. Ever since I learned how to make kombucha, those days are over.

What’s kombucha? It’s a naturally carbonated, sweet and tangy drink. It’s essentially a mildly fermented, fizzy sweet tea. It is not alcoholic, though, and has very little caffeine. Since it’s naturally fermented, it’s a living food with active cultures. Good for the gut!

French fries have been around since the Middle Ages. They are said to have originated in Belgium in the 1600s. Known as pommes frites in France and chips in Great Britain, French fries are immensely popular all over Europe, as well as in America. Did you know French fries can actually be good for you? If cooked in the right kind of fat, French fries are nourishing, healthy and full of vitamins.

Who knew that eating French fries could help us prevent cavities and osteoporosis? Now you can tell your children they they can skip the salad, but they must finish all their French fries — so they can grow big and strong.