Yes, I still eat and cook healthy, but I spend my time on a different blog these days. You’re welcome to come visit at Genesis 12:1. I may come back to this blog someday, but for now it’s retired.

Dice potatoes into half-inch cubes. Saute rosemary and garlic in butter, lard, or olive oil or a combination of those for a couple minutes and then add the potatoes with salt and pepper. Close the lid for 10 minutes and then take it off and turn the potatoes. Leave the lid off and fry for another 10 minutes.

In another pan, saute onions in butter until soft. Add ham, bacon, or sausage and cook until done. Whisk some eggs together with some cream, salt, pepper, and just a bit of chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. Dump the eggs in with the meat and cook until done. Add some chopped tomatoes.

Combine everything and mix it up. Add some grated cheese if desired.

UPDATE (6/28/08): Here are some recent improvements in this dish. I use stainless steel pans for all but the eggs.

For the potatoes, set the pan on medium-low (about 2.5-3 on a scale of 1-10). I generally use a combination of butter and olive oil. Make sure it is preheated before adding the potatoes. Cook with the lid closed for 8 minutes and with it off for 8-10 minutes depending on how crispy you want the potatoes.

For sausage, saute on all sides on medium-low until browned and there is fond (the brown stuff) stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add butter and onions and season with salt and pepper. The liquid that comes out of the onions will help to deglaze the pan. If there is still fond stuck to the bottom toward the end of cooking, deglaze with a little water or just a tiny splash of dry red wine or stock.

Cook the eggs separately in a non-stick pan with some butter. Add some of the chilpotle to both the eggs and the onion/meat mixture.

I use whatever fresh herbs I have on hand. Generally that’s rosemary and thyme. Sometimes I use oregano. Chives and/or parsley makes a good garnish.

I had some leftover cooked macaroni noodles (brown rice noodles) in the freezer. I defrosted them. I made up a white sauce with butter, flour, milk, and small amount of cheddar and gruyere cheese. Before adding the flour to the butter I sauted a small minced garlic clove in it. I made this sauce thinner than my macaroni and cheese sauce. It was more like a light cream sauce. I added a little salt, pepper, and paprika.

I took a small can of salmon (half the size of the 15oz ones) and used a fork to break off small pieces of salmon into the sauce. I dumped the defrosted macaroni into the sauce, and that’s it. I quite liked it.

Some nice additions to this dish might be asparagus and/or shrimp.

• 2 cups dry black turtle beans
• 6 strips bacon
• 1/2 sweet onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 small sweet dumpling squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 1 28oz can chopped tomatoes
• 1/4 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, seeded and minced (optional)
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 bay leaf
• grated nutmeg
• salt
• pepper

Soak beans for 12-24hrs in slightly acidic water (e.g. add vinegar, whey, or lemon juice). Rinse beans thoroughly, add water until just covered and cook 3-4 hours until soft, adding water as needed to keep beans covered.

Peel and chop squash into beans.

Cook bacon. Chop bacon into beans.

Saute onion and celery in bacon drippings until soft. Deglaze the pan with the chicken stock. Add to beans.

Add the remaining ingredients and cook gently with the lid off for 40-60 minutes until the squash is fork tender.

Garnish with sour cream, crème fraîche, or yogurt.

• 3 cups dry cannellini beans
• 1 cup chicken or turkey stock
• 1-2 cups leftover cooked chicken or turkey, diced
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 stalk celery, minced
• 2 tablespoons butter or lard (or bacon drippings of you have them)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, seeded and minced
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste (I used about 12 twists if the grinder)

Pour simmering water over beans and soak overnight (12-24 hours). Add a strip of kombu seaweed for improved digestibility. Rinse thoroughly and cover with just enough water. Bring to a boil and skim. Add about 1 tablespoon of salt and cover. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook until tender, 2-4 hours. Add additional water as needed to keep the beans covered. Sauté onion, celery, and garlic in butter or lard until tender. Add vegetables and lard to the beans. Stir in remaining ingredients and cook covered for 1-2 hours. Leave off the lid if you want a thicker chili. Serve with crème fraîche or sour cream.

Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; but urge me not to use moderation. — William Lloyd Garrison

• 1 cup brown rice (I use short grain brown)
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 tsp salt

In a covered saucepan, simmer the rice in the chicken stock with salt until all the water has been absorbed.

• 2T butter or coconut oil
• 2T unbleached flour
• about 2/3c coconut milk (I eyeballed it)
• about 2/3c chicken or turkey stock (I eyeballed it)
• salt
• pepper
• leftover chicken or turkey, chopped

In a sauce pan, melt butter. Add flour and wisk until combined. Let simmer for about 1 minute. Wisk in stock and coconut milk. Bring to a simmer until thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Stir into rice and add chicken or turkey. Season to taste. A nice addition might be some cyan other spice, but for kids, simple is best.

We headed out for Kapnick Orchards in Tecumseh, but along the way I remembered reading about a local cheese shop in Tecumseh called The Boulevard Market. Not only are they extremely helpful and knowledgeable, they have some amazing cheeses. In addition to a wide selection of cheeses from all over the world (I tried a 5 year gouda that was simply amazing), they make their own cheese. I bought some of their delicious goat cheese made from locally produced goat milk, some Amsterdam Reserve, and some of the 5 Year Gouda from Holland. Of course I couldn’t resist the build your own 6-pack beer deal going on either…

Then we were on to Kapnick’s. We picked 2 pecks of Mitzu apples, bought a half gallon of cider (they have the unpasteurized variety that hardens nicely), and the kids got cider slushies.

All-in-all, the kids and I had a blast, not only of fun, but of wind in the hair.