Making Labneh with Olive Oil Gold

During our trip to Italy last summer, we of course had to bring home some "real" Italian extra virgin olive oil and sundried tomatoes.  Most extra virgin olive oil in the states isn't actually extra virgin olive oil.  Some are made of soybean oil with flavor additives.  Companies don't have to tell you this because the US is not a part of the International Olive Oil Council.  Check this out if you're as curious about it as I was.   Blows your mind?  Wait until you hear about honey.

For the labneh (yogurt cheese Middle Eastern style) I followed this method using 24-hour fermented yogurt made with half and half.  I formed the yocheese into little balls and let them dry on the counter for a few hours.  I then put them into a container with some olive oil, red pepper flakes, dried basil, and sundried tomatoes.  After marinating for a few days, we had schmeared labneh on roasted lamb and veggies.  So good!

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40 weeks in and I'm not dead yet

It's been a hellacious few months, to say the least. Today marks the 40th week since I declared my freedom from the Neolithic agents of disease (see right column of things I don't eat) that were causing so much of my bowel distress. It took a bit of experimentation and lots of wasted food hurling from my mouth and into the toilet to realize what works for me, but I'm better now for it. No high cholesterol, heart attacks, or whatever everyone was scared of.  During the last 40 weeks, I've cheated an estimated 10 weeks, causing me to be sick for about twice that amount of time. On February 11th I said enough and finally gave up the sugar for good. It's my crack and we all know how whack crack can be. The grains, starches, and oils were no problem. Sugar, however, was a different situation. It told me I wouldn't be able to live without it. For days it showed me that I couldn't keep anything down without a taste of its sweetness. I told myself this would soon pass. And now 7 weeks later, I really can do without it. Yeah, I would really like that slice of 1000 calorie cheesecake, but it's really not worth the holes in my esophagus and looking like a toothless Appalachian because of the puking.

I'm back and will be posting again soon...

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Rendering Goose Fat, Fried Cornish Hens & Carrots

Our grocery store sometimes surprises us by having quality products.  One random day I found a goose!  It was a bit pricey, but I was going to get all my money's worth by rendering all it's precious fat.  

I stripped the bird of all the fat I could find and threw it in the crock pot for a couple of hours.  This was our bounty:

We used this and some duck fat to fry up a cornish hen and some carrots.  The hen was awesome and the fried carrots are addictive.  Better than any potato chip I've ever had.  Sweet, crispy, and full of flavor.

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