How PHAT is that?

PHAT

Well, the answer to the above question really hinges on what you think of my gradual drifting to happy homemaker status. If you think the new recipes and crockpot and cooking whole happy chickens and their broth is cool, then I'm totally phat now! Otherwise it's possible coo coo comes to mind.  

Fat!  I spend way too much time thinking about it. Not the fat on my body, but the fat I put into my body. As I learn more and more about food and the effects on the body, I keep shifting how I cook and what I cook. I think the proper fat shifting has been the slowest. And the issue has really stemmed from not being sure what fat to bake, roast, saute, fry my foods with. I had heard that vegetable oils were terrible. So I cut those out a while ago.  Olive oil you're not supposed to use at high heats, but goodness, it's sure easy and tasty to drizzle a bunch of olive oil on some veggies and throw them in the oven for some tasty goodness!  I tried walnut oil, that is supposed to be better at higher heats, but it has a high ratio of omega 6 fatty acids to omega 3 and just isn't supposed to be that great.

So the answer, and I've known it for a while but resisted, is saturated fats. Saturated fats include primarily animal fats and coconut oil. The problem is that they are solid at room temperature, so they take a bit more work than drizzle and go!  Not to mention that you have to find a place to buy this fat. You will not be buying good quality happy animal lard at Safeway.

So yesterday I did a bit of online research and today when I hit my favorite farmer at the farmer's market (Skagit River Ranch). I asked for fat. And sure enough, they sell it! I am now the proud owner of 2 pounds of pork leaf!  I guess you throw it in a crockpot (perhaps overnight to make my sister proud) and hours later you have a bunch of fat you can use to make everything extra tasty!  If the crockpot wasn't in use making some tasty pork carnitas, I'd whip some up right now! 

In other fat related news, it seems you can also buy organic duck fat at the farmer's market. Which I did, currently eating  chicken and chard cooked in a little duck phat and homemade chicken liver pate (which has bacon). If you all aren't jealous, you should be!!!! 

Whooo, we're cookin' fat!