Ham Ball and Black Eyed Pea Chirashi Rice

Continuing to upcycle a holiday ham, this time into New Year's good luck, while getting folks to eat a wide variety of vegetables as well.

I am not a nutritionist nor much of an advice giver--but in my 8 years of experience with Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share and 16 years of experience with, shall we say reluctant vegetable eaters [because if the child won't eat any type of vegetable, well, that's not a picky eater--you have to pick something in order to be picky, you know?] . . . .

This has been such a run on sentence I've lost the point. Let me sum up.

If you have a wide variety of vegetables in your house, you are more likely to include a wide variety of vegetables in your meals. If you include a wide variety of vegetables in your meals, the folks eating your meals will ingest a wide variety of vegetables. Because we joined a CSA, my kids eat a wide variety of vegetables.

It's a bold statement--but if I'd served this recipe to my kids before we joined a CSA, or in the early couple of years, they probably would have picked out the ham balls and the rice and left the rest. Sure, while they've spent the last 8 years eating from the farm share they've also been growing up--that happens--but the unrelenting exposure to a wide variety of vegetables is the foundation of the change. Extrapolating from the end of season survey, we got more than 40 different vegetables over the course of the 20 weeks.  That's a wide variety, and more than I would have bought had it been up to me (ahem, mustard greens, turnips, and beets I'm talking to you!).

This recipe is a great example of how having extra vegetables on hand means I'll add more veggies to our meals. It's also another way to get your New Year's good luck on without extra effort the day after the hoopla. For another New Year's Black Eyed Pea recipe, please see my Black Eyed Pea and Kale Salad in Salumi Cups.

Teriyaki Roasted Mushrooms

Teriyaki sauce tossed with roasted mushrooms for an easy to fix savory appetizer.

It's been over a week since our Fall Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share ended. One moment I'm blogging my Thanksgiving After Action Report, the next moment I'm cleaning up from Robert Barker's latest escapade [he chewed a hole in my nukable neck wrap and I vacuumed rice & flax seed from the living room rug. Now there are piles of rice & flax seed all around the yard]. You can read about Robert's story--and get a dog food recipe--here. The end of the Fall CSA means two things:  time for mushrooms and time to squeeze in all my end-of-year posts before I take a holiday break.

No, it doesn't mean I'll stop blogging about what we're eating from the farm share. Although we only get fresh foods from the farm for about 6 months of the year, to paraphrase the words of my birthday t-shirt, "We eat local because I CAN" (seriously cute shirts, no affiliation to disclose). The point is that I've been freezing and canning and filling up the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve like a boss an ant all Fall, and after I take a couple of weeks off to host my family-of-origin (flung from the far corners of the globe to Southwestern Ohio for the holidays) I'll be back on it with seasonal CSA-inspired recipes, ways to use local foods, and the occasional indulgence thrice weekly in 2015.

Mushrooms and end of year posts . . . there's a connection. We don't get mushrooms in the farm share, though if I'm lucky I can score an occasional King Oyster mushroom at the farmer's market--so I like to make mushroom treats for my spouse and I while I'm not staring at overwhelming piles of mustard greens. I'm also participating in Holiday Baking Week next week, sharing five sweet holiday recipes [though predominantly getting my ethnic on] with giveaways for you folks.

That means I need to get my savory and New Year's recipes up now, like this little effort-big taste vegetable appetizer, one of my Awesome Veggie Apps and Snacks (link to my Pinterest board). My spouse and I consider a skillet of mushrooms a mini-date--we're easy to please--and I've shared several recipes. You can find more mushroom recipes in my Mushroom Recipe Collection, part of my Visual Recipe Index.

TLC for Rescue(d) Dogs: A Recipe with Results

Grass fed beef liver plus rice in a gentle mix, great for boosting the nutrition of neglected dogs.

Subtitle: Tenderness, Liver, Cardio and/or That Liver Concoction

I have a recipe for dogs today--though cats of people certainly could eat it [folks, add salt, pepper, and/or onion to taste]. It may seem weird for a local foods blog to have a dog food recipe, but the key ingredient is liver. I buy my beef from my neighbor's friend, a quarter beef at a time, and I get all sorts of parts in that quarter beef. Some, like the tongue, were initially new to me but have become desired cuts. Others, like t-bone steaks and liver, tend to sit in the freezer until I come up with a way to cook them.

Yes, I just put t-bone steaks and liver into the same category. It's not them, it's me. See, I can confidently take a package of ground beef and make Green Tomato Bacon Jam Burgers. I know how to cook them and they turn out great--better than I can get at a restaurant, though Five Guys runs a very good second to me (and their fries are way better than I could ever do). A t-bone steak is scary. I worked at a steak house in college, and I've eaten in fancy-pants steak houses. I know what a good steak should taste like, how it should turn out. I have not mastered the technique of cooking it enough-but-not-too-much. So I bypass the scary packages. The liver I leave just because I keep trying ways to get the family to like it, and my neighbor keeps giving me hers so I've got plenty.

With this train of though--local liver is in my house and I need to find a way to cook it--liver is now akin to the beets, turnips, or kohlrabi from my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share and therefore excellent blog fodder. It's possible I'll add a beef liver category to the Visual Recipe Index [my son just asked me where the chicken category was] but for now I'd like to share WHY I'm cooking that liver concoction.

I'd like you to meet Robert Barker. I met him last month when I went to the Humane Society to donate leftover composting pig food and bedding after Crystal died. [As an aside, I think folks who join a CSA should get a pair of composting pigs for their living room. It's a win-win situation and I loved the near 5 years we had Quartz and Crystal after we adopted them from MGPR.] I had no intention of getting another dog when I casually asked, after filling out the donation paperwork, if I could peek into the dog room. Robert Barker immediately caught my eye because, and I'm being totally superficial here as my son pointed out, he's a good-looking Basset hound.

I grew up with Basset hounds. When I say I grew up with them, I mean I do not have a childhood memory without a pack of hounds in it. One family story is of a race to see who would learn to walk down [my mother gently correct me, it was up the steps] the steps first--toddler me or our first Basset pup. The dog won. I got my last hound as a sophomore in high school and lost him when I was in my mid-twenties, and though I went in a new direction with my next dogs (short ears and long legs) I've always had a soft spot for Bassets.

While Robert Barker's good looks caught my eye, his story tugged at my heart. He was picked up by animal control after a neglect complaint and weighed 18 pounds when he arrived at the humane society. He wasn't yet available for adoption due to the court proceedings but I was smitten. I went home and told my spouse about him (though at the time I didn't even now if Robert was a boy or a girl). The next day my spouse left work early so we could return to the shelter and visit Robert again. That started a week of calls and trips to the shelter with trumped up excuses [here's the application I emailed last night, I was in the area, how does the dog react to the uniform, etc]. I bought a new dog bed and a used dog bowl and left them in the car 'just in case'. The animal control officer came for a home visit, met Vincent and Simon, and said that Robert would make a good addition to our home. I'd like to think that photo of cute little me with puppies in the whelping pen helped our case.

The next day Robert was released from medical hold and came home with me. His weight was up to 33 pounds but he was barely more than skin and bones. His fur was dry and missing in many areas, he could not maintain a crouch long enough to pee without sinking down into his puddle, and he was such a sweet and friendly dog. I took him to the vet and in addition to a course of meds she told me he just needed TLC. The shelter had been feeding him prescription canned and dry dog food, and our vet said we could gradually switch to over-the-counter food.

Looking at the ingredients in the canned dog food aisle I was struck by all the flour and flavorings used. When my spouse commented 'this one has Animal Liver . . . doesn't even specify which animal it's from' I decided to use what I've already got on hand and make my own version of TLC--That Liver Concoction. I ran my recipe by the vet and got an OK to get started.

We've been feeding Robert about ⅓ to ½ cup of this concoction with breakfast and dinner for the past several weeks. [Simon and Vincent get a Tablespoon and teaspoon, respectively, though Vincent as the Top Dog gets dibs on licking the spoon.] Robert's coat looks much better, he's got more energy to play with our other dogs, he's alert and aware of squirrels and chases them on walks, he doesn't dip down into his pee--he's just a delightful addition to our family. When I was discussing this post with my spouse I asked for help creating a backronym for TLC. Since plenty of exercise has been a big part of Robert's daily routine, my spouse suggested Tenderness, Liver, and Cardio. It works for me, and it's working for Robert Barker. He's a pretty awesome 50th birthday present, don't ya think?

Cuddling with Vincent helps with the Tenderness part.

Robert will probably always be a food hound. In my experience Bassets are. His favorite place to hang out is with a human in the kitchen.  No matter which kitchen, you'll find Robert Barker there. It's probably time for a recipe, right? Let's get to it.

TLC--That Liver Concoction for Rescue(d) Dogs

1 package beef liver (mine come in ¾ to 1 pound packages)
water
2 cups cooked rice (I use short grain sushi rice because that's what I have on hand)

Place liver in a small saucepan and add water just to cover (2 to 3 cups). Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Transfer liver to a food processor (a blender would do in a pinch) and add  a small amount of the poaching water. Pulse several times to break the liver into small pieces, then process until it is a uniform paste. [If you're making this for folks, taste and add salt & pepper at this point]. Add the rice, and some more poaching water, and process until well mixed. I usually use all the poaching water because . . . why not? The rice will absorb it.  This keeps in the refrigerator for up to a week.

This post is shared on What's Cookin' Wednesday, Fiesta Friday