Viva Espana!

Appetizer

Piquillo Peppers and Manchego Cheese

Dinner

One of my favorite Spanish dishes is Paella! I love everything about it and have gotten quite good at making it in various ways.  Along with being a fan of all things Italian! I am in love with Spanish food. Someday I will go to Spain and learn how to cook (and then swing down to Italy)! I think what I love the most is their fresh ingredients, a little difficult here in Fort Collins. 

I took this from one of my favorite cookbooks; Spain on the Road Again! Yummers! This is so good!I purchased a paella pan and use it often. You don't have to have a paella pan to make paella either.

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 10 to 12 large scampi or prawns
• 1 medium Spanish onion, cut into 1/4 inch dice
• 1/2 cup pureed ripe tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon saffron threads
• 1 tablespoon sweet pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika)
• 1 pound cleaned calamari (I skip the tentacles), cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 quarts Fish/Veggie or Chicken Stock
• 2 cups Bomba rice
• 1 pound lobster
• 1 pound Manila clams, scrubbed
• 1 pound of mussels

PHeat a 14- to 18-inch paella pan over medium-high heat. Add the oil and heat until smoking. Add the scampi and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Add the onion to the pan and cook until soft, about 8 minutes. Add the tomato puree, stirring it into the onions, and cook for 3 minutes. Add the salt, saffron, pimentón, and calamari and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, or until the calamari firms up slightly. Add the stock, bring to a boil, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir well to distribute it evenly. Add lobster, mussels and clams, arranging them in nicely, bring the stock back to a boil, and cook, without stirring, for 10 minutes. Reintroduce shrimp to paella, taste for salt and add it if needed, then cook, again without stirring, for 10-15 more minutes, or until the liquid is almost completely absorbed and the pan starts to make a crackling noise (don’t worry, this is what you want). Remove from the heat and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Dessert

For dessert I made a traditional Spanish dessert I found online. I have attached the link! It was sooo yummy! I am actually surprised they made it to the dishes as Jeremy and I were having spoon fulls hot off the stove!


Crema Catalana

As much as Jeremy and I strive to be local, organic, etc...it is hard when you love certain food! However, the dessert we used our own eggs, local milk, organic everything else. The paella the onion is local (farmers market) and homemade stock. You can't win them all...but you can try to win most of them!

Forks Over Knives and Rambling Thoughts

I recently went to see Forks Over Knives at Whole Foods with my good friend Malini.  It was a great movie and I recommend everyone to watch it. As someone who is avidly striving to live a healthy lifestyle, I am open to differenct opinions in regards to what we put in out bodies.  There are so many diets out there right now;

• The Paleo Diet
• The Blood Type Diet
• Dr. Dean Ornish Diet - I actually did this one and it worked! Hard to sustain but good.
• Plant-Based Diet 
• Vegetarian Diet

I could go on and on because I haven't even spoken about the famous 10 Diets. I swear if you look hard enough there is a ton of stuff written and successful in regards how to eat to live. I do believe it is personal to everyone and what works for each individual person.

I am attaching a link about Forks Over Knives and I appreciated the approach on the whole foods, plant-based diet. I do think that we have become lazy as a society as we need immediate gratification on everything, including food.  If both parents are working, kids are in sports, school, etc. it can be difficult. I mean let's face it, there are very few families that have time. I think it is great that everyone is writing all these books but nobody is helping/teaching people HOW to do it.  These authors are showing people recipes and exercise but we are asking people to change habits and that can take a lot of work.  We need to teach people HOW and make it EASY for them and people will change.  There will be a time when Lays Potato Chips will be $5 a bag and broccoli .79 cents. Jeremy and I have incorporated this philosophy into our weekly diet for years and have invested a lot of time and money into living this way (sidenote from Jeremy: he loves Lay's Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips and hopes they never reach $5 a bag!). 

While I believe very strongly after reading about plant based-whole food diets, I also believe that animal protein is good in moderation AND it depends how that animal lived (but that is my personal opinion).  I know it can be expensive to shop for groceries at specialty shops but if you are going to the Wal-Marts and Sams Clubs you probably are eating factory farmed meat, make sure to get organic soy products, as most commercial soy beans today are genetically engineered to feed cows.mass-produced food that has a lot of chemicals in it. I eat a steak every once in awhile but the cow is grass fed. I will eat chicken from Jodar Farms or soon to be my own chickens, I think that you get my point.

Being a gardener, chicken farmer and huge supporter of eating local. I am a HUGE Joel Salatin fan and believe we can eat healthy as long as we know what we are putting in our bodies and where our food comes from. It can take a lot of work, investing in your groceries is like investing in stock. Here are a few things I do in my daily life:

• Be smart about how you shop.  
• Read labels. 
• Read cookbooks 
• Know your meat/fish (if you choose to eat meat). How did that animal live? How was this fish caught?
• If  you are going to be a vegetarian/vegan, take a cooking class and learn new and fun ways to make different types of food. Indian and Asian foods are super good and have a lot of vegan/vegetarian options. I am especially on a kick learning to make Indian food!

Here are some fun reading materials to check out that Jeremy and I have enjoyed:

• Feeding the Whole Family - I purchased this book a year or so ago and enjoy the recipes
• The China Study
• Animal, Vegetable Miracle
• Omnivore's Dilemma
• Farm City - This is just a cute fun read
• McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook  - great cookbook
• Folks, This Ain't Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World 
• The Backyard Homestead

I have also been loving my IPhone and my new favorite app is "How to Eat Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman! Seriously just plug stuff in and WHAM! You have yourself a meal. 

Peace and Love

Sarah Is A Fan!

I discovered this sweet treat at Whole Foods and love it! It taste so creamy and flavorful! I especially think it would taste super yummy frozen!