Chicken burgers

I have this thing about ground beef - it really just doesn't do it for me.  Reading way too much about how many different cows go into one burger made my decision to stop eating it really very easy, except I really like them... They are easy to make and are great for company.

I had my best friend over for lunch a couple of weeks ago.  She is a paleo eater and we were planning on just making a salad.  I said earlier that my life change goal is to use what I have and embrace it.  So I looked in my freezer and found some beautiful ground capon from C & D Family Farms in my freezer and texted her that we were having chicken burgers.  Her response was "OK...." so that was encouraging.

The amazing thing about burgers is that they can be whatever you want them to be.  I used what I had laying around: 1 pound of ground capon, a squeeze of lemon, a handful of chopped cilantro, two chopped chilis in adobo sauce, an egg and a couple of teaspoons of Caribbean Calypso seasoning from the Spice House.  Had I not had my little gluten hater over, I certainly would have added some whole wheat bread crumbs, but they're not necessary.  I formed them into 4 beautiful patties and sauteed them in cilantro olive oil, topped with soft queso fresco and voila: a masterpiece.  We liked them so much we both had two.  Certainly a unique approach, but localish and healthy all the same.  What are some weird creations you have made?

Winter Comforts

So I'm a little late in writing what my New Years Resolutions are, but I think that's OK because my goals are more of attempts at life changes.  You see, food for me is an obsession.  I have been obsessed and fixated on food since I graduated from college until last summer.  After I canned tomatoes, I was convinced that I wouldn't be a local eater until I baked my own bread - Can you see where this is going?

And so my friends, I give you the beloved soft boiled egg.  It's elegant in its simplicity.  It's beautiful and delicate.  The yolk is velvety and buttery if you have the right egg.  And if you're reading this blog post, I'm pretty much assuming you know my feelings on store bought eggs versus the real thing.

This is my goal for 2013: embrace what's simple instead of being discouraged by imperfection.  This doesn't mean I have to be thoughtless and careless.  This means that I don't have to get wrapped up in the fact that I don't make my own bread every weekend.  I can easily buy freshly baked bread (or not, if that's what you prefer) and high quality eggs from the farmers market or a specialty store here in Chicago.  And guess what, I'm still kind of making a difference with my locally purchased bread and eggs.  So if that's all I can do this week, then thank you and good night ladies and gents.

And here is the best part.  My 3 minute soft boiled egg actually has some extremely deep sentiment behind it.  When I was a little girl my dad travelled all the time - inevitably when he came home, all he wanted was to sleep in on the weekends.  But he was ever so lucky to have me as his offspring and so at 6 or 7 AM I'd jump out of bed bursting with energy ready to talk to him.  He would get up every weekend and make these eggs for me except he cut the crust off my toast and the egg cutter was Mickey Mouse, not a rooster.  But the egg cups and cat warmer are the exact same as when I was a little girl.  This was something that I waited for all week to do with my dad and now I fondly eat my soft boiled egg and whole wheat toast with a smile on my face, knowing that that is truly what's important.