Can I hear a mooooo

Thanks to a dear blog reader's question I have gone on a journey about milk. I know this sounds odd, but milk has always been a sort of mystery to me. I wasn't raised on drinking a lot of milk like some people. My brother had bad allergies and so did my dad, so we just kind of used milk as a way to wet our cereal. When we did this, we used only whole milk. My dad said the other milk tasted like water. I personally thought all of it tasted gross, but I did agree with him that the 1% and 2% kind of tasted like gross milky water. I think my mom's logic in buying whole milk was that, the only milk that actually had a good source of calcium was whole milk. We obviously drank barely any of it, so my dad made sure to tell us to take the calcium pills he would buy. That in essence was my milk history. I remember being a smart mouthed 12 year old and telling my aunt that milk was meant for 600 pound cows and that milk drinking was why America was obese; my aunt was not pleased but my oh-so-wise older cousin agreed with me so I thought I was brilliant.

Now you are probably wondering what in the world this milk question was that started this nonsense. She asked what was the difference between fat free and skim milk. I thought that it was all marketing ploy, but little did I know that it was actually a regulated government thing and you know how much I love those things. It turns out that in some states, things with negligible fat can be called fat free. I'm sure this naming process was more recent, because when I was little I remember it all being called skim milk. I'm sure the milk people were thrilled to be able to find loop holes in state's laws, since more and more people are trying to eat healthier. Skim milk has less than 1% of milk fat in it, and it is exactly the same as fat free milk; some states just give the milk producers more leeway when the naming game begins.

Milk is still a tad bit of a mystery to me. I love it when I'm baking, but drinking a glass of it is about as high on my list of things to do as listening to the one line cook at work yell "Billy!" in my ear every time a Billy Joel song comes on the radio, just in case we were unaware who sang "Piano Man". I have done a little bit of research into raw milk and I don't honestly think my milk journey will be complete until I give that a shot, but I'll save that for another blogpost.

In other news my sous chef Rob (he was a little upset that he had made it into the blogosphere so many times and I had not once mentioned his name) had a very interesting view on free range chickens. Besides being appalled by the thought of a waitress asking him if we got free range chicken, Rob explained to me what makes a good piece of meat. I know some of my more crunchy friends might be a little upset by his view, so just skip over it if you're more sensitive when it comes to animals. The best meat according to Rob is tender, which means the animals muscles are tender. "Why," Rob asked "would you want to let the chickens run around and tone their muscles?" Some of you might doubt that Rob truly believes this, but I can account for the fact that he does and in some ways I agree with the idea that tender meat is better meat.

I personally like the fact that Rob is honest. He wants a good piece of meat and he knows what it takes for the meat to be perfectly tender. I firmly believe that if Rob could he would keep chickens in his yard and make sure all they did was sit and eat so they would be perfectly formed pieces of meat for him to create something incredible out of. I don't hold quite so extreme of a view as Rob with tender meat, but I do know that food is something I feel no one should ever have to apologize over. If you had veal and you loved it, please just come out and admit to it.

All of this serious talk and food journeys have made me extremely hungry for nachos. I know that makes no sense, but it just seems like everyone is talking about nachos lately. My friend Kate reminded me of the nachos we used to make when I was living in Providence, RI. It was pretty much a bag of Tostitos, a can of beans, whatever cheese happened to be in my refrigerator, and some Adobo. I threw all of this in the oven at say 350 degrees and baked until the cheese was good and melty. Someone else actually told me this week about tuna nachos that she makes. It sounded easy and delicious. But quite honestly what I want really really really bad right now are dessert nachos. How would this work? Well let me tell you.

Get a bag of nacho chips. Mix say half a thing of cream cheese, or even mascapone if you feel foody that day with some powdered sugar. Only add enough sugar to make it semi sweet; this is the cheese so we don't want it too sweet. Melt the cream cheese mixture in the microwave. Be careful that you don't make a mess; oh never mind make a mess that's what nachos are about. Pour the the cheese on the nachos. Grab some fruit. I'm thinking a few strawberries and blueberries, maybe a peach. Chop them up into smaller than bite sized pieces. Buy or pick some mint. We have mint growing in our rock wall so buying it would be silly. Julienne or chop the basil and mix it with the fruit. Add a tiny bit of sugar if you feel it needs it. Pour your fruit salsa over your nachos and enjoy. My mouth is honestly watering just thinking about it, but sadly there are no nachos in our house. I hope you have much better luck with your cabinets than I did.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily