After reading the Omnivore's Dilemma during the trip, I've come to look at eating meat in a different light, and may be adjusting the restrictions I put on myself a bit. My choice to limit my meat consumption was about the unsanitary processing methods that lead to fecal-borne bacteria in the meat, the cruel conditions the animals endure before they're killed, and my own health. I feel like I can still avoid those problems and eat a bit of pork, poultry and beef, if I'm cautious about the sources. There are still some smaller farms out there that allow animals to live like animals (not smashed into cages), and allow them to eat the foods they're born to eat (not corn and antibiotics).
In that light, today we picked up some organic, free-range, hormone & antibiotic free chicken breasts at the store. I recognize that the terms 'organic' and 'free-range' have been distorted considerably, but I've not yet had a chance to research sources of meat from, as Michael Pollan refers to them, 'good farms'.
Reading the book also invigorated my interest in cooking a bit, and in technique. The chicken we bought was a good chance to practice a bit of technique, since it wasn't boneless or skinless. So I got to butcher it a bit (something that used to creep me out), and I was able to freeze the bones and skin for making broth in the future.
Once they were deboned and skinned, and I'd trimmed some fat off them, I marinated the breasts in some teriyaki sauce for awhile. Then I grilled them, some onions and some pineapple slices up for burgers. (We brought 3 pineapples home from Hawai'i, so I'll be incorporating them into everything we eat for awhile, I suspect.)
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