1 post tagged “vegetable”

One thing I've learned to do since moving to northeast Iowa is to really.....really....appreciate spring.  After a hellish winter of brutal cold, endless inches (feet) of snow and wind that'll rip the skin off your face, a 60 degree day seems like a day in paradise. 

Yesterday was amazing.  The sun was shining, just a light breeze and really warm.  Birds were everywhere - most seemed to like the small brush piles in our year and kept busy taking small twigs for their nests.  A few robins waited by the edge of our vegetable garden plot and grabbed at worms and grubs.

About the garden plot - Mark and I decided that it was now or never to get our vegetable garden plot prepared.  Being folks with few garden tools and even less money to buy them, I supervised while Mark dug the sod up from a 12 x 20 foot plot in our backyard.  It took all day but now we have the beginnings of what I hope to be a productive source of healthy food. 

I've made some serious changes in how I shop and what we eat.  I've done this before but this time I feel very committed to making a lifelong change.  I've had several high school classmates die in the last year and it's made me very aware of my age and my health and the need to control what I can to stay healthy. 

I took a look at what we were eating and began to eliminate what wasn't nutritious, like white flour, sugar and chemicals.  I'm trying to limit our intake of starches like white rice, potatoes and pasta and concentrating on cooking lots of fresh vegetables.  Meat has become a side dish and I try to buy only lean meat and fish.  It's a little difficult because our meat department is made up of predominantly pork, but that's what happens in the #1 state for pork production.

I've found that now I rarely shop in the "middle" of the store - the place where the processed food is kept.  No more mac & cheese, Tuna Helper,  Rice-a-Roni", thing I'd cook when I was too lazy to put thought into what I was feeding my family.  My grocery list is full of fruits and vegetables and we're eating fantastic salads.  The best thing that's happened so far is that we're losing weight.  I'm down almost a full size and have lost 12 pounds.  I'm amazed at how easy weight loss has been when I don't "diet" but eat healthy food.  

So, back to spring.  We'll be outside again today, finishing up the veggie garden and digging some new flower beds.  I'm going to get out the Weber and cook some Beer Can Chicken for dinner.  It  should be a good day.

Serves 6.

Chicken sits on a can of beer for 2 hours in this dish from barbecue expert Steven Raichlen. (BBQ University)

1 whole chicken (4 to 5 pounds)

3 tablespoons of dry barbecue rub

1 can (12 ounces) beer, with 6 holes punched in the top of the can

1. Remove the pockets of fat inside the chicken cavity. Rinse and dry the chicken. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of rub inside the bird, 1 tablespoon rub all over the skin. Use half the remaining rub to sprinkle between the skin and flesh.

2. Light a charcoal fire using the indirect cooking method: Set the charcoal around the sides of the grill. Set a foil .