Eating as a Non-Vegetarian- Lime and Garlic Marinated Porkchops with Cilantro-Lime Quinoa

Ok, I admit it: I like meat.

I don’t eat it very much. In fact, I eat it pretty infrequently. I rarely purchase it.

But I like it. I like the way it tastes. And there are very few photos of piglets that will make me feel guilty about enjoying a slice of bacon.

However, what I can’t come to terms with is what happened to the meat before its arrival at my dinner table. It arrives after inhumane mammalian brutality, hundreds (if not thousands) of travel miles, and undocumented harm to food workers.

All because I wanted a slice of bacon.

Yeah…that’s not ok.

I’m reaching a point in my life where I can’t bear to purchase meat that’s been produced in ways I can’t stomach. I mean, my ancestors ate meat- but the meat they ate is not the meat I buy at my local grocery store.

As regular readers of this blog know, I can pontificate on this topic for pages and pages. But all I really need to say is that in order for me to eat meat, I need to be prepared to find meat that was harvested from animals who were raised humanely.

Yes, it will be expensive. But that’s the price of being an omnivore in the 21st century first world.

ANYWAY, since yesterday was the most beautiful day ever (seriously, anyone who wasn’t in the North Carolina triad yesterday missed out on a gorgeous Southern spring day), I decided to make my girlfriend a spring-y dinner of pork chops and quinoa.

So where does an ecologically conscious Winston-Salem resident go when they want fresh meat?

Whole Foods Market, of course.

Whole Foods has a remarkable devotion to the sale of sustainably produced food items AND (probably most importantly) to crafting and maintaining solid relationships with farmers and ranchers. Since the food chain from farmer to consumer grows with every congressional bill and ‘science innovation’, it is more important than ever for us to support companies who strive to cut out the millions of middle men who get in the way of Americans eating food which doesn’t go against the evolution of our bodies.

As far as meat sales go, Whole Foods adheres to the stringent guidelines of the Animal Welfare Rating Standards, which are produced by the Global Animal Partnership. Basically, they have a 5 step standards list which details the requirements for a livestock animal’s living conditions. It looks like this:

Step 1: No crowding
Step 2: Enriched environment
Step 4: Pasture centered
Step 5: Animal centered: No physical alterations
Step 5+: Animal Centered: Entire life on same farm

As you probably noticed, there’s no step 3 for cattle. There are separate charts for poultry and pigs. And at Whole Foods, all the meat options are labeled with the number which corresponds to this chart. It’s another way of letting you know where your food came from.

Since I was making pork chops, here are the five steps I looked at:

Step 1: No crates, stalls or cages
Step 2: Enriched environment
Step 3: Enhanced outdoor access
Step 4: Pasture centered
Step 5: Animal centered: No physical alterations
Step 5+: Animal Centered: Entire life on same farm

I ended up buying some very pretty chops from a local farm with a 4 rating. There were other options, but the fact that the meat came from a nearby farm means that the journey from farm to table was very short, and it insures the freshest ingredients possible.

It does not, however, insure the cheapest price.

But here’s the thing- I can’t pretend to not know what I know about factory farming. And if I want to eat meat in spite of that knowledge, I need to be prepared to pay the price.

Plus, the flavor of this finished dinner was more than worth the money. I’m not a huge fan of lime and/or cilantro, but both of those flavors keep popping up in my recipes recently. I’m blaming it on Chipotle– I mean, who doesn’t love their cilantro-lime rice? But instead of making rice, I decided to try out the same flavor combo with quinoa. I’d say it was a success- Kate basically licked her plate clean.

(Ok, so she didn’t lick it clean. But she probably wanted to lick it clean.)

Both of these recipes are unbelievably simple, and can be whipped up very quickly. They can be served together, or paired with other dishes. For example, substituting cilanto-lime quinoa in a homemade Chipotle burrito bowl is a healthier option than eating mounds of fluffy white rice.

(I mean, don’t get me wrong- I LOVE fluffy white rice. But quinoa is just as delicious, and packs an unbeatable nutritional punch.)

Lime and Garlic Marinated Pork Chops

(Adapted from Gina’s Skinny Recipes)

Yield: 2-4 servings (depending upon size of pork chops)

Ingredients:

4 (6 oz) lean boneless pork chops ( for the record, I made this recipe using 2 super thick bone-in chops, and the proportions still worked perfectly)

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp paprika

1/2 lime, juice of

lime zest

salt and fresh pepper

1. Trim off extra pork fat.

Basically, go from here:

To Here:

2. In a large bowl season pork with garlic, cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Squeeze lime juice and some zest from the lime and let it marinade at least 20 minutes.

I always recommend long marinade times, but if you need to make this in a hurry, 20 minutes should get the job done. I had to whip up this meal pretty quickly, and I think 20 minutes was long enough to get a good flavor infusion.

3. Line broiler pan with foil for easy clean up. Place pork chops on the broiler pan and broil about 4-6 minutes on each side or until nicely browned.

While that’s cooking…

Cilantro-Lime Quinoa

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup dry quinoa

1 1/4 cup Water

1 lime, juice of

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1. Follow my instructions for fool-proof quinoa.

2. While quinoa is cooking, combine chopped cilantro, lime juice, and remaining oil in a medium bowl and toss until completely mixed. When quinoa is finished cooking, add it to cilantro-lime mixture and toss until coated.

Bam, dinner is served.

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you: Kate and I also ate French fries with our dinner. But those French fries are extra special, and will be reviewed in a separate post. However, just for the record, they were absolutely delicious.

What I Ate This Spring Break: Vacation Restaurant Edition

So today is the final official day of spring break. Boo Hiss. As much as I hate to say good-bye to my free time, I have to admit that this break was the perfect combination: I went on a mini-vacation with awesome people, cleaned my apartment, and got to see my family. All in all, this has been one of the most well-balanced spring breaks in my personal history.

(I also did quite a bit of cooking and recipe documentation. Among other dishes, I made potato-leek soup, chocolate Guinness cake, and my own take on Chipotle burrito bowls complete with homemade slow-cooked pork barbacoa. Get your appetite ready: this week’s recipe posts are going to make you drool all over your computer.)

In honor of the end of my restful week, I’ve decided not to do anything productive today. You heard me right: instead of fretting over details of the coming week, I am going to lay low and enjoy my last day of freedom. Plus, today is the final day of the Baha’i Fast: tomorrow is Naw Ruz, the Baha’i New Year! Needless to say, it’s a pretty exciting time in my apartment.

I’ll probably spend the majority of the day reading the two books which have claimed my attention this week:

Having free reading time has probably been the absolute best part of this break. I’m usually so bogged down with work and school that I don’t have time to read for pure enjoyment.

However, before I fall into the Reading Rainbow vortex, I really want to share some of the meals I ate while on my Wrightsville Beach vacation earlier this week. Before we get started, be warned: I ate without concern over calories. And while some of my meals were not the healthiest in existence, they were really freaking delicious.

Let’s start with the Causeway Café, a very popular Wrightsville Beach breakfast haunt. I was quite charmed by the restaurants beach décor- it was all driftwood accents and kitschy souvenir shop goodies. They have a very detailed menu and it’s predominantly breakfast- since breakfast is my favorite meal of the day (I could probably eat breakfast for every meal), I was all too eager to try out one of their famous offerings. And, in spite of my vegetarian tendencies, I really couldn’t help myself- I didn’t hesitate when I decided to order the “Meat Lovers Breakfast”.

The Meat Lovers Breakfast includes a GIANT sausage link which (I’m pretty sure) was homemade. It also included FOUR strips of bacon, and a slice of ham. Not salty country ham (which I kind of hate), but thick and moist regular ham.

BUT WAIT: That’s not all-

We can’t forget about the scrambled eggs, grits, and pancake.

The pancake was almost the size of my face (and I have a HUGE face). It was thin (just the way I like ‘em) and had a very nice flavor. In my opinion, pancakes are frequently ruined because they are both too mealy, and they taste like flat slices of bread. This pancake was delicately sweetened, and the texture was nice and fluffy.

Also, I’ve spoken extensively on my grits theories, and I’m constantly frustrated by the ways that restaurants manage to ruin this subtly complex dish. In fact, as a rule, I try to order grits at every breakfast restaurant at which I eat- I think it’s a great restaurant comparison measure (plus I freaking LOVE them.) With all my needs and wants, I frequently expect to be disappointed by the average grits bowl- however, Causeway Café exceeded all of my expectations. Their grits are clearly made by real Southerners who know what the dish should taste like- smooth, creamy, and perfectly seasoned (the best grits should not require additional seasoning- another common mistake.) Also, in my opinion, the best grits should be so creamy that individual nuggets of corn kernel are indistinguishable- this is a trait that can be very difficult to attain. Causeway’s grits were the very definition of creamy- honestly, if I had not already been swimming in food, I probably would have ordered another bowl. They rocked my world.

(The eggs were great, too. I am really picky about my eggs- so picky that a paragraph in a beach wrap-up blog entry is truly not good enough. One of these days I’ll have to get around to writing my egg manifesto. In the meantime, just know that all the eggs I ate on this trip met my ridiculously high expectations.)

On to the next spot: during our last night in New Hanover County, my companions and I decided to go big before we went home and we dined at a French restaurant called Caprice Bistro.

As one might expect, Caprice is not known for its inexpensive or healthy dishes. It is, however, known for its delicious eats, and I figured: “JESSAMYN YOU’RE ON VACATION JUST SHUT UP AND EAT!”

Well, Jessamyn’s manic sub-conscious, I can’t argue with that logic.

I love a good dimly lit restaurant photo, don’t you?

I ordered duck confit, served with sauteed potatoes, petit salad, and balsamic jus. The duck was positively sinful- it fell off the bone and was moist beyond belief. However, for the record (and I know I’m about to be admitted into a special layer of culinary hell), I hate balsamic vinegar. I try to like it- trust me, I try. But the sweet yet oddly nutty and savory flavor is always an unwelcome taste in my mouth. I’m not so unrefined that I don’t understand why balsamic is the chosen accent ingredient for this dish (or, for that matter, in most dishes), but I personally find the flavor to be very unpleasant. By no means did it ruin the dish for me, but it certainly didn’t help.

(I also ordered pomme frites with homemade mayonnaise and I ate them too quickly for a photo to be taken. Surprisingly, I was not very impressed by the fries. They tasted just like any french fries I could get at any restaurant. And, to worsen matters, I’m absolutely certain I’ve eaten better fries at significantly lower brow establishments. The mayo was good, but it was a little too thick for my taste, and dipping the frites in it was very difficult. Again, a very good dish, but it wasn’t a home run.)

After a great trip, and with sadness in our hearts, my posse and I were eventually forced to head home.On the way home from Wrightsville Beach,we decided to console ourselves at a restaurant called Chris’ Cosmic Kitchen.

First of all, I need to applaud Chris’ Cosmic Kitchen’s proper use of social media- before heading out, my clan checked out yelp to find the best ‘on the road’ brekky option. The Cosmic Kitchen had excellent reviews AND an offer for a free drink simply by mentioning their presence on yelp. Therefore, guess who had a free cup of hot tea with her breakfast? THIS GIRL. By this point in the trip, I was starting to remember my food ideals and I decided to order the egg white Farmer’s omelet, served with rye toast and grits.

The farmer’s omelet is stuffed with lots of yummy vegetation- peppers, spinach, mushrooms, etc. It was quite tasty. However, the grits did not live up to my aforementioned expectations. They were very thick, which is usually a good thing. However, the thickness could be attributed to the grainy texture of the grits. I could taste and feel every individual corn kernel. For the record- NOT A GOOD THING. They also required a fair amount of additional seasoning (from very unruly salt and pepper shakers). All in all, I was not pleased with these grits- they weren’t bad, and I’ve definitely had worse. But I probably wouldn’t order them again.

Ugh- writing about all this food has got me jonesing for another beach trip.

In other news, I’m thinking about starting a mini-herb garden in one of my kitchen windows. Whole Foods has a really exciting selection of organic and local herbs for sale. However, my gardening thumb is definitely not green- it’s more like a muted grey. Do you have any at-home gardening tips?