Mike The Headless Chicken (as seen the in the May edition of the Source)

(as seen in the May edition of The Source  http://www.yvsource.com/)

What are you excited about this spring? I am gearing up for fruits and vegetables from the Grand Valley, I am stoked about picnics, festivals, outdoor concerts, and longer days.

Can you believe all that this valley has to offer? Music festivals, food festivals, headless chicken festivals… yeah you heard that right... Mike’s big day is coming soon. 

Mike the headless chicken days are May 17^th and 18^th in Fruita, Colorado. This is a great time to get out and celebrate the pluck (pun intended) of the chicken who would not go to the big fryer in the sky.

The story goes that Mike was on the menu one evening and his owner went to do the deed. Being the good son in law that he was, he attempted to leave as much of the neck intact for his wife’s mother.  Now if you have never been around someone who raises chickens for food, you might now realize the process. After you remove the head people have been known to let the fowl run around (like a chicken with his head cut off). This is strictly an adrenaline, muscle stimulation reaction. Except in Mike’s case… because so much of his neck was left, the remaining brain stem allowed him to live.

Photo linked from http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org

He had to be fed with a dropper and carefully taken care of because ummm well he didn’t have a head. (weren’t you paying attention?). So long story short is that Mike became a celebrity and toured around to sideshows and fairs until his untimely demise (again) due to choking. Makes me think about Al Capone… he was notorious as a gangster, criminal, and all around BAMF, but his down fall was tax evasion.  

I recommend you check out the site for the festival and participate in this crazy event. http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/. Maybe I will see you out there? 

It is said that the simplest and most complex dish is a roast chicken. Chefs work for years to find the perfect method for cooking this versatile protein.

This seems like a good recipe to start with…

Simple Roast Chicken (From www.realsimple.com)

Ingredients

• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 3 1/2- to 4-pound chicken, giblets removed
• 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds new potatoes, halved

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450° F. Place the onion in a large roasting pan. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Tuck the wings under the chicken and place it on top of the onion. Rub the chicken with 1 tablespoon of the oil and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper.
2. Scatter the potatoes around the chicken, drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of oil, and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper.
3. Roast, tossing the potatoes once, until a thermometer inserted into a thigh registers 165°F, 50 to 60 minutes. Let the chicken rest at least 15 minutes before carving. Serve with the potatoes and onions.

Visit me at www.cookingwithtrace.com or email me at cookingwithtrace@gmail.com I would love to hear from you! 

New year! New banana bread...

Almond meal?

What the heck is that? It is ground almonds. Simple as that… almond flour is ground blanched almonds, and almond meal is just ground almonds. Not just chopped nuts… but ground into a consistency somewhere between cornmeal and wheat flour.

Why? As I have mentioned I am trying to remove grain from my diet as much as possible and almond
meal allows me to hold on to a few favorite foods.

Breaded pork chops –
      I bread my marinated boneless pork loin chops in almond meal and then either fry or bake

Pie crust –
      Instead of using a traditional pie crust or a graham cracker crust, mix 2 cups almond meal
with 3 tbls melted butter and 2 tbls sugar. Press the mixture into a sturdy pie pan and prebake for 10 minutes. I added a pumpkin pie batter to the crust and baked into a delicious grain free pumpkin pie.

Banana bread – this was delicious. I made a quick bread with almond meal in place of flour and the
results were so amazing. The family loved it and it was devoured fairly quickly.

Cautions?

Well almond meal is very calorie dense, it carries a load of fat, protein, and fiber that is greater than
regular wheat flour…but it is very low carbohydrate.

¼ cup almond meal
160 calories
14 grams of fat (1 gram saturated)
6 grams of carbohydrates (only 3 are sugar)
3 gram of fiber
5 grams of protein.

¼ cup all-purpose white flour
114 calories
.25 grams fat
24 grams of carbohydrates (0 sugars)
.6 grams of fiber
3 grams of protein


Although almond flour has a higher total fat content, the fat is made up of fatty acids that were shown to reduce cholesterol levels in a 2002 study conducted by Canadian researchers.
(source: http://www.livestrong.com/article/90491-nutrition-information-almond-flour/)

So which one is better? That is up to you, but for me having a lighter carbohydrate load is excellent for my diabetes.

Here is a quick and easy banana bread that I made this weekend. My only warning is to watch the bread closely; mine was very done on the edges (almost burnt) after about 50 minutes.

Almond Flour Banana Bread from The Wannabe Chef
(http://www.thewannabechef.net/2012/06/04/almond-flour-banana-bread/)

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 55 minutes

Ingredients (Makes 1 loaf):

1 1/2 cups almond meal or almond flour
4 eggs
1/4 cup oil (I used butter)
3/4 cup light or dark brown sugar
3 medium bananas, mashed(about 3/4 cup banana puree)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (was out of nutmeg, substituted cinnamon)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnuts(optional) ( I added some delicious local walnuts)
1/2 cup chocolate chips(optional) (maybe next time)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together the almond flour, eggs, oil, sugar, mashed bananas, vanilla,
cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt until there are no clumps.

Fold the walnuts, chocolate chips, or any other mix-ins you might want into the batter.

Lightly grease a 5 x 10 or similar sized loaf pan and pour in the batter.

Bake for 55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. (watch carefully)

Remove from the oven and let cool completely before slicing.

The bread was delicious and I cannot wait to try again.

Try your hand at something different in 2013… and let me know what do think of this recipe on
www.facebook.com/cookingwithtrace or on my website at www.cookingwithtrace.com

Happy new year!

Gourmet Street Food!

Street food? Gourmet? I would not have put those words together… but now I can. Duncan’s Gourmet Street food is rocking in Grand Junction.

This is a family operation, Ryan Duncan with Jamie (Ryan’s wife) taking orders, and Jean (Ryan’s mom) helping in the “kitchen”. They bring an atmosphere of fun and I know that they are gathering a following with the people I work with.

Utilizing the Grand Junction Business Incubator to do prep work and then taking the truck on the road, they have been spotted at Johnson’s House of Flowers, Solaris Square, The Department of Energy, the DMV, and other places around Grand Junction.

Working out of a bad ass food truck, Duncan and his family are pushing out some seriously tasty grub.

Spicy ahi taco, steak taco, surf and turf taco, Colorado cheese-steaks, and more are on the menu
when the big blue beast is parked.

I even had them make my taco without a tortilla and it was stellar.

The surf/turf tacos have ahi tuna and delicious steak topped with red cabbage, green onion, and a cilantro tartar sauce… which adds a great amount of flavor, and don’t tell my wife, but the cheddar fries with bacon dipped in ranch dressing are an excellent side.

They even have Decadence Gourmet Cheesecakes In A Jar ®, for a sweet finish to your meal.

Check out Duncan’s “Gourmet Street Food” on Facebook, twitter (@duncansgourmet) or just watch for the big blue truck of deliciousness!


They also have a website that lists their locations every day... http://www.duncansgourmet.com/


Tell them Trace sent you!