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Introducing Poultry by kessia{Sage} Introducing new foods is rarely easy, particularly when there are change resistant folks in the house (i.e. Master and the rugrats). Over a period of years, kessia has managed to squeak in some protein variety, mostly ham, chicken and the bi-annual fish stick dinner. Hopefully, others will not have such a hard sell in introducing new stuff, and will get some use out of this, the “other” meat list. Yes, there are proteins other than steak, though she will likely be beaten and gagged for saying so publicly. There’s pork, lamb, poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, and cheese. Peanut butter deserves a mention too, as it is has a good protein content, and she thinks most everyone knows how to serve that. Knowing that the stuff is out there though, does little good if you don’t know what to do with them once they’re home. For those change resistant types, kessia recommends starting with poultry, pork, and eggs. Poultry, specifically chicken, has got to be one of the easiest to introduce and the most versatile to handle. Jazz it up with spices like cumin or cayenne or dress it up with wine and mushrooms. Fry it, bake it, poach it……just don’t eat it raw. You can make nifty little game hens for a company dinner or roast a whole chicken then use the frame for soup. Eggs and cheese generally appear together in cookbooks and are another easy sell in the variety department. There’s welsh rarebit (cheese on toast), omelets, quiche, soufflés (which are complicated but fun) just to name a few. This girl started with scrambled eggs for dinner and worked her way towards quiche after a few months. Nowadays “egg night” is not just something saved for the night before grocery shopping when the fridge is empty. She is not even going to try to list every type of fish and seafood or we will still be here next month reading it. So far, she can only get fish-sticks past the Master, but she has high hopes for tilapia, a flaky mild flavored fish. For those of you who do consume seafood and fish, most specifically large long lived fish like swordfish and tuna be aware that you do need to be careful as too much of it can lead to mercury poisoning. Eat the larger fish only a few times per year and eat smaller freshwater fish like cod, tilapia, or hornpout (catfish) the rest of the time. Also, know that kessia is awash with fish envy as you bake, broil, grill and fry these delectable tidbits. Master is just not ready to branch out into the sea yet. Pork is another of those meats that tends to get overlooked. Sure, He’ll eat the unhealthy stuff like bacon and ham, but balks when grilled tenderloin is put in front of Him. Grill or bake the chops, tenderloins or roast. Dice it and stirfry it with vegetables. Mince it and use it in stuffing for a chicken or turkey. Pork is right up there with chicken in terms of versatility and mild flavor. Look for light pink meat with little marbling and don’t forget to try the pre-marinated tenderloins when they go on sale. Lamb and tofu tend to be difficult to introduce because of what they are and because they share an unusual consistency and flavor. Mutton, the grown up sheep, has a strong taste that people either love or hate. Lamb is milder, but has that “how can you eat anything that cute?” factor, coupled with its distinctive taste. Tofu has that ‘flower child’ cachet, and an odd consistency depending on what you do with it. It is, however, worth trying to introduce, especially if you have an all red-meat eater who needs to maybe have a healthier diet. This one has found the pre-made tofu burgers to be reasonably palatable and taste ‘healthy’ enough so that Master is content, knowing He has eaten as He should for at least one meal. So there’s the rundown on “other” meats. Most of them are worth trying at least once, despite what your Favorite Red Meat Eater will tell you. Grab your favorite cookbook and give some of them a try, just have a couple of hamburgers in the fridge as a backup. Thank you all for your comments and questions, please keep them coming to kessia_s@yahoo.com and have a happy happy new year! Chicken Parisienne Master has proclaimed this edible, but has announced it must only be served once per calendar year. Everyone else likes it loads though, so she hopes you decide to try it.
Whisk together the sour cream, soup and sherry until mostly smooth or all the way smooth, depending on how much energy you have. Yes, it looks ugly but will taste great. Add in chopped onion and sliced mushrooms and dump the lot into an oven safe baking dish. Preheat oven to 350. Drizzle olive oil in a frying pan and turn to medium heat. Sautee chicken cubes and garlic until lightly browned. Dump this into the dish with the onion/mushroom/sherry mixture. Stir together and bake for about 45 minutes. Serve over rice, egg noodles or toast if you have forgotten to buy egg noodles (hey, it happens to everyone) Kess’ Kitchen Sink Eggs If you dump the egg/cheese/veggie mixture into a pie shell and bake it at 350 for about an hour, it magically becomes a quiche. Neat, huh? The trick here is to use what He likes, and what you have on hand. Feel free to substitute any veggie or cheese in this. This recipe serves one starving hungry Master, two bottomless pit kidlets and one slave.
Whisk eggs until uniformly yellow. Add milk and whisk that into the eggs. Warm a fry pan until it is hot to the touch, use a dab of butter or non-stick spray if you’d rather. Dump eggs and other ingredients together and cook over med-low heat, stirring gently. Sometimes the eggs will stay “wet” for a long time, so if you need to, skim out/drain some of the liquid, it won’t hurt a thing. When eggs appear fluffy and dry they’re done. Put it on plates, make some toast and yell that it’s dinner time. Please write in with suggestions, comments and criticism to: kessia_s@yahoo.com. |
