Personal Project Update

The last two recipes I made for my food project were a dill-lemon chicken, and the sweet zucchini biscuits that I brought to class.  Here are the ingredients and cooking instructions for both:

Dill-lemon chicken:

·         1 cup fat-free sour cream

·         1 tbsp fresh, minced dill

·         1 tsp lemon-pepper seasoning

·         1 tsp lemon zest

·         4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

Combine sour cream, dill, lemon-pepper, and lemon zest.  Spoon one-quarter of mixture into slow cooker.  Arrange chicken breasts on top in single layer.  Pour remaining sauce over chicken and spread evenly.  Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours.

 Sweet zucchini biscuits:

·         ½ cup margarine or butter, softened

·         1 cup packed light brown sugar

·         2 eggs

·         1 tbsp orange or lemon juice

·         2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

·         2 tsp baking powder

·         ½ tsp ground cinnamon

·         ½ tsp ground mace

·         ¼ tsp salt

·         1 ½ cups shredded, drained zucchini

·         ½ cup chopped pecans

·         1 tbsp grated orange zest (orange part of rind only)

·         Powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees; grease 2 baking sheets.  Beat margarine until fluffy.  Beat in sugar, eggs, and orange or lemon juice.  Combine flour, baking powder, spices and salt; stir into egg mixture.  Stir in zucchini, pecans, and orange zest.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets.  Bake about 10 minutes.  Cool on racks.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.  Makes 5 dozen biscuits.

The dill-lemon chicken was a recipe I’ve been wanting to make for a long time, both to see how it tastes and to utilize the crockpot I got for Christmas last year!  It turned out pretty good, maybe a tad bit less flavorful than I expected, but dill is a rather mild spice.  I took the chicken and put it over a bed of brown rice, with extra sauce spooned over it, and a salad.  It was pretty good overall, and nice to save for leftovers, too! 

Dill-lemon chicken ingredients

Mixin' the sauce

Cookin in the crockpot!

Pretty good meal!

I wasn’t able to document my zucchini biscuits with photos, because my camera charge had run out… but at least I was able to bring them in to share!  I’m glad everyone seemed to like them.  I personally thought they were a bit too soft, but they were tasty overall.  It was very fun mixing the dough for them, and I also bought a really nice grater to shred the zucchini with, so I am slowly but surely adding to my culinary utensil collection, as well!  If any of you are interested in trying this recipe out, I recommend it- they were fun to make and good to eat!

One last bit of research I’ve done in regard to my project is to investigate the specifics of free-range, pasture-raised chickens.  I have considered a vegetarian diet in the past, but have come to the overall conclusion that I would miss eating chicken too much.  I do also enjoy hamburgers… BUT, through this project, I’ve realized that there are multiple ways to still enjoy my carnivorous habits, while reducing the impact that my food choices make on the environment.  I am going to try to drastically cut my meat consumption down, leaning towards a vegetarian diet whenever possible; but, when I am craving meat, choosing chicken more often than beef (which I do anyway, most of the time).  To this end, I wanted to ensure that I informed myself as much as possible about the type of chicken I should be purchasing, what my money is buying and supporting, etc.  I found this article online, (it provides the full, download-able version near the bottom) which goes into detail about the myriad of benefits of raising poultry on pasture, as well as providing tips to livestock farmers that include best raising methods, breeds of chicken that thrive  on pasture-raised methods, types of food and housing that are best for your poultry, different processing methods, etc.  Some of the most interesting facts I gleaned from this article:

·         50% of the sale price of each chicken goes back to the farmer and his/her family; chickens sell at $1.75 per pound (average weight of 3.5 pounds), and turkeys sell for $3 per pound (average weight of 18 pounds dressed); whereas, for conventional growers under contract, they only receive about 22 CENTS per pound for a 3.5 pound bird!

·         Housing costs for local, pasture-raised chickens are typically much lower than for

                   conventional growers

·         Chickens raised on pasture make it easier to graze other livestock there, because chickens deposit nutrients through their waste, and work it into the soil; this makes vegetable production easier as well, because you don’t have to use chemical fertilizers; this method leads to a more diversified operation that earns money from several markets, contributing to a stronger farm and environment

·         “Vertically integrated” corporations control almost every aspect of chicken production, and have monopolized almost 100% of this multi-billion dollar market

·         Efficiency in poultry production has sacrificed both the autonomy and independence of farmers, the welfare of flocks, and the taste and quality of meat and eggs

Such a breadth of information in just one article!  A very important read for those who are interested in streamlining their diets and knowing more about where, exactly, their food comes from and how it’s processed.  Buying and supporting local food and farmers is just a good practice, for everyone involved.  BOOOO to corporate producers!!!