Chipotle Sausage with Pinto Beans

The sausages I used in today's dish are not to my knowledge AWA approved or Niman Ranch products.

I bought them at the Whole Foods meat counter but I did not ask where the meat was from and if it had been raised humanely.

Despite that I've been suggesting the above practices are the way to ensure that the meat you're eating is traditionally-farmed versus factory-farmed, it is a challenge to find high-welfare meat items.

I read on the AWA's website that since much of the meat on display at Whole Foods is not marked with the Animal Welfare Approved stamp, consumers are advised to specifically ask for product from AWA-certified farms or farmer groups.

Now that seems easy.

So I'm going to incorporate this question into my grocery shopping meat-counter vocabulary: "Can you tell me which meat and poultry items are from AWA-certified farms or farmer groups?"

I'll let you know how I get on.

The choice some people make as a way to bypass the above issues is to become vegetarian, but that's not a choice I'm contemplating.

It is the choice Righteous Porkchop author, Nicolette Hahn Niman made.

However, rather than tout the benefits of becoming a vegetarian in her writing and activism, Nicolette has made it her mission to educate animal-protein consumers (which is the majority) on the meat industry, offering solutions along lines of how to avoid food produced on factory farms.

It's a great article, I urge to follow the link and read Nicolette's solution-oriented suggestions.

And then if you're still keen to put the ingredients in the above picture together to make my version of spicy sausages and beans, here's my method:

Chipotle Sausage with Pinto Beans
1) Soak a cup of pinto beans overnight, strain of soaking water and then gently boil for about 2 hours.
2) Cut up a couple of chipotle beef, pork or turkey sausages (sausages that you feel have been made with meat that has been farmed with integrity).
3) Peel and chop an onion and a clove of garlic.
4) Toss onion and garlic and sausage into a casserole pot with some oil and gently saute over med heat.
5) If you'd like your dish extra spicy, add-to-taste your favorite chili powder and stir into ingredients.
6) Now add cooked pinto beans and a teaspoon of cumin or caraway or dill seeds.
7) If you have any chicken or vegetable stock, add about half a cup to the pot and gently cook casserole on low for about 45 mins.

To Serve: Stir your favorite salsa into the casserole. A smoked peach or tomato and garlic or a combination of both would be yummy. Squeeze the juice from half a lime over the lot and stir through about a cup of chopped, fresh cilantro.

A bowl on its own suffices, or you could serve the beans and sausage over buttered rice, quinoa, millet or even buttery, mashed potatoes.

Ethical Meat Makes Better Beef Rib Stew

I've set the bar high declaring my intention to purchase traditionally farmed meat over cuts from factory-farmed livestock.

It's actually not as easy as I'd hoped, sourcing traditionally-farmed protein items.

At the store, the meat and poultry I gravitate to is labeled organic, organically fed, and or natural, but I've never noticed a label identifying protein items as "traditionally farmed."

And of course labeling is not always accurate.

On further reading of Nicolette Hahn Niman's Righteous Porkchop, I followed the author's research trail and found my way to the Animal Welfare Approved website.

On their home page I read that the Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) program "audits and certifies family farms that utilize high-welfare methods of farming."

And what that means for the consumer is this:

"Animals are raised outdoors on pasture or range on true family farms with the most stringent welfare standards according to the World Society of Protection of Animals ..."

I liked the sound of this and so I scrolled down the home page to a window that says "Find Farms and Products in your Area."

If consuming high-welfare meat, poultry, dairy and eggs stamped with approval by the AWA is of interest to you, type your area and the product you're seeking into that window and see what comes up.

I noticed that Whole Foods carry AWA certified products. Perhaps there's a store near you; follow the link to find out.

Compared to rock-bottom priced factory-farmed meats, you'll pay a bit more for products stamped with the AWA symbol. However, as I've written many times in this blog, if you're on a budget, buy less meat, buy less expensive cuts of meat and or stretch your meat items further.

Yesterday I posted a recipe for hamburgers consisting of 50 percent ground beef and 50 percent hummus. Today the meal idea I'm proposing is beef rib stew which is less about the beef and more about the vegetables and barley that make up most of this dish.

Beef Rib Stew
1) Fill a large pot with water and add your choice of vegetables such as a chopped onion or leeks, carrots, celery, potato and garlic.
2) Add a half to 3/4 of a pound portion of beef back ribs or the portion that will fit into your pot. In the pic above I have approximately 3/4 pounds of beef ribs.
3) Add a few black peppercorns, a couple of bay leaves and if you have any fresh thyme or sage, add a few sprigs.
4) Pour in half a cup of barley or brown rice or brown rice and lentils or your favorite cooked beans i.e. kidney, pinto, canellini or Great Northern -- or a combination of all of the above.
5) Simmer stew for 2-3 hours on low, periodically skimming the surface of the stew for fat and debris.
6) The liquid in the pot will decrease during cooking creating a thickened stew, however if the contents of your pot begins to look too dry, add a bit more water.
7) Taste test and season to your liking.

To Serve: Remove ribs from stew pot and cut meat from bones, trimming away any excess fat. Toss meat back into the pot and ladle spoonfuls of stew into serving bowls; top with chopped parsley and present with chunks of crusty bread or corn bread.

Hummus Hamburger

Last weekend I did my grocery shopping and noticed that meat prices are higher than a year ago.

That happens -- prices go up and if you're on a budget, you adjust your purchases accordingly.

With the hike in price on meat it certainly prompted me to reconsider, yet again, my relationship to eating animal protein.

It was only last month that I dedicated a series of posts to Reducing, Refining and Replacing animal protein in one's diet. More recently, I began reading Righteous Porkchop by Nicolette Hahn Niman.

If you've read Righteous Porkchop you know that it's an exploration of the factory farming industry, vis-a-vis the inhumane farming of animals for human consumption.

To be honest, I'm skimming content because I can't stomach reading the details of factory-farming livestock and poultry; cruel and inhumane treatment of animals is abhorrent to me.

And yet I eat meat.

And if I eat animal protein then I need to know how I can do so without supporting an industry that does not align with my belief that livestock and poultry deserve to live out their lives in environments that are natural to their species.

So I've been reading more carefully the back section of Nicolette's book where she offers solutions such as "Finding the Right Foods" by seeking out meat, eggs and poultry not grown on industrialized farms but on traditional farms.

When I read that I realized one of the reasons I so enjoy watching the All Creatures Great and Small series on Netlfix is the depiction of traditional farming practices.

Though somewhat romanticized (it's set in the 1930's), the series nevertheless is a reminder that raising livestock for human consumption is not an evil when the farming practices are in harmony with the cycles of nature.

Oddly, I didn't realize it until I put two-and-two together that the author of Righteous Porkchop is married to Bill Niman, of Niman Ranch, whose mission it is "to raise livestock traditionally, humanely and sustainably ..."

Before reading Nicolette's book, I wrote a post titled French Lentils and Ham Hock Stew referencing Niman Ranch pork as one of the more humanely farmed pork meats available and thus a brand worth looking out for at your grocery store.

Ultimately, what I've learned through my recent reading and my relationship to eating meat is that I can be a more conscious consumer of animal protein simply by asking questions of my grocery store meat-counter associate and or by researching where in my area I can buy humanely farmed meat and poultry.

If you're a meat eater, I encourage you to be vigilant in your efforts to consume meat and poultry that has been farmed humanely.

Meanwhile, this week at the grocery store I reduced the amount of meat I purchased in order to stay within my budget.

And then once home, here's a delicious trick I employed to make my Niman Ranch ground beef go further:

Hummus Hamburger

1) Mix 1/4 of a pound of hamburger meat with approximately 4 ounces of home-made hummus.
2) Form meat into rounds and brown in a skillet, cooking hamburgers for approximately 10 mins on med to low heat.

To Serve: Because chic pea hummus is moist and quite garlic-y in flavor, when mixed with the beef it makes for a very succulent and tasty hamburger. I still had some good-quality organic Ketchup on the side, but home-made tomato salsa or even fruit chutney would be a great accompaniment as would a crusty chunk of bread.

In the top pic you'll note that I had one hamburger (I kept the other for lunch the following day) with a large helping of the Colorful Winter Vegetables I wrote about earlier this month

Millet Pudding Video

This week I've been revisiting Market to Mouth posts I wrote in February last year. But today, I'm sharing a video demonstration of a recipe I posted on facebook last week.

My facebook friend Jonathan liked the sound of the millet pudding so he subsequently made it for his two little kids, and he videoed cooking the pudding, while the kids waited in anticipation.

Now, the kids enjoy "monkey brains" or cooked oatmeal for breakfast so millet, with its comparatively earthy flavor, had the potential to be a flavor-stretch for the Machen kiddies.

I wish I could say confidently that the proof was in the pudding, however as you will note, their reactions were mixed; though I am hanging onto Phoenix's generous assessment: "It makes your body wiggle."

Wiggling-Good Millet Pudding
1) On med-to-low heat, cook one cup of dry millet in 3 cups of water for about 15 mins. Turn heat off and let millet steam cook for about another 15 mins.
2) Into a bowl, add one cup of the cooked millet.
3) Add a quarter-to-half a teaspoon (depending on how spicy you like your food) of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom, or just one or a mix of two of these spices.
4) Now add an egg and about half a cup of milk, cream or half and half. Mix ingredients well with a fork.
5) Pour batter into a baking dish greased with butt and dob the top with extra bits of butter.
6) Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 15-30 mins or until the pudding is slightly brown on top and set.

To Serve: Spoon into breakfast bowls and top with either fresh fruit like banana or seasonal berries or stewed fruit like apple or pear. And if you wish, sprinkle with toasted almonds or walnuts or raw sunflower seeds; for additional sweetness you might like a little honey, agave or maple syrup over the lot.

This breakfast dish recalls the posts I wrote last month on cooking whole grains for breakfast. So if you'd like to experiment further check out the following:

1. Nutmeg, Spinach and Millet
2. Millet with Buttered Apples
3. Polenta Cake with Yogurt