Vet School and Food

My adventures through the Veterinary School process, and the meals along the way.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Peach Productivity

I did three things with the peaches:

1) Ate them, I have had a few today, and I have put the ones that are not too ripe in the fridge for eating and making Peach Kuchen

2) I cut them up in to small pieces and froze them on a cookie sheet until solid then placed them in freezer ziplocks for future oatmeal (musli really)

3) With the remainder which were all moments from rotting, I made freezer jam. I read about a million different peoples ideas on the best way to make peach freezer jam, and this is what I did...
I peeled and quartered a bunch of peaches, placed them in my heavy bottomed pot, added a few cups of sugar and the juice of three lemons (they weren't the juiciest so it only was a few tablespoons worth of juice) and cooked stirring regularly over med-low heat until the concoction reached 224 degrees F. At this point I turned off the burner, covered them and let them come completely to room temperature (it took more than an hour), then I spooned them into freezer tupperware and put them in the freezer.

Studying = Peaches

‘Oot and aboot in the Boonies

Yesterday my roommate, Allison, and one of my classmates, Clarke, and I decided that we needed to get out of town. For one we had been no where other than class (work for Allison) and home literally all week and for another there was a cougar football game. We just couldn’t handle the millions of drunken undergraduates all wearing maroon. Also the night before we went to the Vet Schools annual ‘White Trash’ party (yes we dressed up, and yes it was in a trailer park, and yes we had fun), so we needed to go somewhere where we could concentrate. So we headed out to the cute town of Palouse. We set out driving north of town, with in moments of beginning our drive there was nothing other than recently harvested wheat fields and no more than half a dozen barns in the 15 mile stretch. Eventually a small hill covered in trees becomes evident in the distance, after another couple of minutes we reached the town. We crossed over the bridge into the most wonderful little place. The town is very Northern Exposure-esk place. There is one main bar, a few antique stores, a newspaper museum (open Saturdays only from 10-2) and my favorite Café-The Green Frog. At the end of the stretch of stores in the brick faced buildings lies this wonderful place, the out side is painted in all kinds of crazy colors and designs, and the inside is no different. The café has wonderful food, and great coffee. It is owned and run by two great women. One appears to have just re-located from Capitol hill in Seattle –tattoos, a few piercing, and the deepest passion for all things food, friend, and life related. The other women looks more ‘conservative’ and decade or two older, and always has a smile on her face, and is excited to see each new face that walks in the door.

We arrived, picked a nice big study table, ordered food and of course coffee. We were there for hours studying. Different people came and went. There was a wedding in town so next door there was a live string quartet which we could hear through the door. We were very productive in our studying. At one point a group of people came in who seemed to know everyone in town, including the Green Frog gals. They were some of the official tasters for the recent barley contest in which people in the community turn in their best barley recipe. So there was a wonderful conversation regarding the finer art of barley. At this point Alli Clarke and I all look at each other and almost in unison mutter under our breath “is this really happening… where do we live… how did we all get here?” A little later another women stops in and starts talking to these same people about her recent trip to Royal City to get fruit for canning for her family for the winter. She picked up 550 lbs of peaches and 600 lbs of pears!! She said she had a few extra boxes she was trying to get these barley people to take home. She spent 10 or 15 minutes trying to convince them, with little success. So I said I would take them. And here I am Saturday morning trying to decide what to do with 30lbs of rapidly ripening peaches.

I will let you know what I end up doing with them.

P.S. We also went to the Colfax rodeo last night—cowboy hats and all… Good times!

Monday, September 04, 2006

The Bar-b


P.S.
Andrew cooked one night also! :)

Making it last

Making it last

This week was ridiculously busy, to say the least.
Between class, study groups and electives I left for school by 7 every morning and returned after 8 every night. There were two days I was able to come home briefly in between, but not for more than half an hour.
Long story short, there wasn’t much time for complex meals…
The solution: make one thing and make it last all week. This sounds rather boring I know, but keep reading, it gets better:

--The thing that lasts--
Shredded pork:
2-3lb boneless pork shoulder or sirloin
Olive oil
1 onion chopped
Lots of garlic
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 14 oz can whole tomatoes
2 T tomato paste
Some spices:
Thyme, oregano, bay leaves, hot pepper flakes, chili powder salt, pepper


Heat oil, cook onion, garlic, thyme, oregano, and bay leaves until onions are soft. Add tomato paste, pork, and both cans of tomatoes (including juice). Bring to a boil, add 1 cup water, pepper flakes and chili powder (this is to taste, but if it is too spicy it may not function as well in some of the meals later in the week). Allow to simmer 2+ hours, until meat is cooked and tender. [This is when I went back to lab for a few hours, luckily Andrew was able to stay home and keep an eye on it until I returned home]
Remove meat and shred with two forks (if it doesn’t fall apart easily it hasn’t cooked enough yet) Return meat to pan and simmer another 15 minutes, salt and pepper to taste.
Once you have this made you are ready to go all week.


Meal 1
- Tacos –
The pork is great on tacos. Pick your favorite taco stuff, here is what we had:
Pork
Whole wheat tortillas
Fat free sour cream
Sliced Avocado
Shredded cheddar cheese
Black olives

Meal 2 – Spaghetti
We made this with a big spinach salad:
Remove left over pork from fridge, heat in a sauce pan. Depending on the consistency and what you have in your cupboard, add a small can of tomato sauce or some left over canned pasta sauce to thicken.
Use about ½ to serve over your pasta shape of choice (we had angel hair, it is Andrew’s favorite). Refrigerate the remaining.


Meal 3 – pizza
With the last little bit of pork goodness make pizza!!
I had to add some tomato past to extend it a bit and to thicken it a little more.
We used my ‘baking mix’ (recipe to come shortly) to make the crust, however if you are lucky enough to have a trader joe’s near by just use their crust.
Roll out crust, spread with sauce and cheese, add your favorite toppings, cook as directed.