As you can tell, it has been awhile since I have posted anything on here. I apologize, but my computer got hit with a really nasty Trojan virus that my anti-virus software didn’t catch. Unfortunately, this thing caused major havoc with my system. Needless to say, my computer has been in the shop for quite some time now. To fully eradicate this nasty little bug they needed to do a complete wipe of my hard drive and build everything back up, including re-installing Windows. If I am lucky, I’ll have the computer back tomorrow or by the end of the week. But then I have the massive job of re-installing many of my programs, reconfiguring databases, and making sure everything is back up and running.

I hope to be back blogging within the next week, but that remains to be seen. So, just in case you were wondering, I am still here and hope to be back up and running soon. Hopefully, you’ll stick with me and will continue to enjoy the recipes that I promise to continue to share with you.
Thanks!!
Peter Martin

Meet Genevieve, AKA Gigi, Munchkin, Baby Girl, Cheeks, and Bugaboo. She’s my 4 (almost 5) year old daughter and she has shown up on the blog a couple of times, in pictures, usually helping Dad stir something or making quick work of beater that had been used to mix a cake batter. She also was the inspiration for this post, written about 2 1/2 years ago.

While I don’t want to turn this into a “personal” blog, occasionally Genevieve comes up with something that I feel needs to be shared with my readers. After you read this short exchange her and I had a few weeks ago, hopefully you will feel the same.

Not long ago I picked Genevieve up at day care. She was excited and I could see that she really wanted to tell me something. “So, what did you do today, Gigi?” I asked.
“They let us make our own plates for supper!” she replied excitedly.
“That’s great! What did you have?”
“Well, I put on Spaghetti, sauce and bread” she exclaimed proudly.
“What about vegetables?” I asked, not wanting to deflate her ego, but wanting to continue to instill in her the need for a balanced meal.
“Oh…I forgot.”
“Well,honey, you need to eat your veggies. They make you grow up big and strong!”
“I thought that was candy.”
“No honey. Eating candy makes you short and fat.”
Genevieve paused for a long moment. Looked at me very seriously, and said, “Daddy you eat a lot of candy, don’t you!”

This week I had the pleasure of meeting an awesome guy, Erik Bendl, aka. WorldGuy. On Tuesday, while driving to work, I passed a man, walking along the roadside with a giant, 6′ inflatable globe, and a dog. While my interest was peaked, I was running late for work. I called my wife, told her to be on the look out for the guy, but then he slipped my mind. On Wednesday I was planning on taking the day off, but due to a screw up I needed to run into work for a little while. While driving to work (I have a 45 minute commute) I passed the guy again. It was fate stepping in, and I knew that I had to stop and talk to this guy and find out what the deal was.

So I pulled over, on the side of the road, and introduced myself. I found out his name was Erik Bendl and that he was walking across Wisconsin, with this giant globe, to spread awareness of diabetes. I converstation eventually turned to how he supports himself in these endeavors (this is his 4th or 5th walk) and he said that he relies on donations and the kindness of strangers. I offered any help that I could, while he was in the area, and a place to stay if he needed it. While I was sincere in my offer I really didn’t expect to hear from him again.

Later, on Wednesday afternoon I received a call, from Erik, wondering if my offer was still valid. I was thrilled that he called and said that yes, the offer was definitely still available. I gave him directions to our house and about 30 minutes later he arrived. The first order of business was to get the poor guy something cool to drink as I imagine walking along the roadside in 85° weather was pretty dehydrating business. Next I drove him back to his “support” van, aka. home away from from. We met back up at my house and after getting things in order I whipped up a quick burger for him and a bowl of water and dog food for his companion, Nice, his dog.

We talked for a considerable length of time about his adventures walking to raise awareness for diabetes and his inspiration behind his activism-he has lost a family member to diabetes, have other that are diabetic and he himself was pre-diabetic at one point. Even after a full day of walking, in the harsh sun, Erik still radiated a passion for his cause. By about 9pm, after a long day of walking Erik was ready to crash so we rigged up an extension cord to his van to run his fan and other equipment and I said my good-byes as I would be up and off to before he got up, although my wife made sure to send him off with a full breakfast and coffee to help jumpstart his day.

When I mentioned this to my friends I got a mixed reaction. There were those that thought it was great, what I did, but others that wondered at my sanity-”why would you open your house up to a stranger? Weren’t you concerned?” No, I wasn’t concerned. TV and media has conditioned us to be scared of strangers, to be wary of those that seem outside of the norm. And while I think a healthy dose of concern is smart, we can’t fall into the trap of allowing ourselves to be suspect of every stranger we meet.

I applaud Erik for his committment to his chosen cause and applaud, even more, all the people he has met along the way who, contrary to popular thought, have gone out of their way to support him and make sure that he can continue his journeys.

As someone who is pre-diabetic I support Erik’s cause wholeheartedly. And while I offer up plenty of “unhealthy” dishes (because they taste so good and I can’t help myself) I also try to, on occasion, offer up recipes that are a bit more healthy, not just for the sake of my readers, but for myself and my family.

If you are interested in following Erik’s exploits, you can find his blog at www.worldguy.org. I have also added a link in my blogroll on the right of the screen. Please check it out, donate if you can, either to him or to the American Diabetes Association and if you ever happen to be driving down the road and see a man, and a dog, rolling a 6′ inflatable globe, please stop and, at least say ‘hi.’

Good luck Erik!!! I wish you safe journeys and hope that you make a difference in many lives. I know my family will not soon forget you!

We were very excited today as today marked the first delivery, of the season, from our new CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm. My wife and I had belonged to a CSA for a number of years, but stopped just before our daughter was born. After a 5 year hiatus we were more than ready to sign up for another season of fresh, locally grown produce. While we had been happy with the farm from which we had gotten our food from, for years, we were ready to try a new farm. After much research, on the internet, I narrowed our choices down to 3 or 4 and let my wife have the final say. We decided to try out Good Earth Farm, in Oakfield, WI, about 20 minutes from our home in Fond du Lac. You can check out there website here.

For those of you who are not familiar with what a CSA farm is, basically you purchase a “share” that entitles you to a set number of deliveries, of the farm’s product throughout the year. While there are all kinds of CSA’s, from fruit and vegetable shares, to egg shares, to honey shares, to meat and/or poultry shares, the most popular are the fruit and vegetable shares. While the price of a share varies from farm to farm and region to region, a good average price for a share in Wisconsin is $500-$600 a season. While this may sound like a lot of money once you start breaking it down then it ends up being a really good deal. Most shares will consist of approximately 20 deliveries (give or take depending on the weather) and often those deliveries will weigh in at between 10-20 pounds, again depending on the year and the season (spring and early summer boxes can be on the light side while late summer boxes can be overflowing with produce. Of course, all of this depends on the weather and Mother Nature. That’s why many of these farms plant tens to hundreds of varieties of vegetables so if one fails hopefully others flourish. It becomes a win-win situation for both farmer and consumer as the consumer gets lots of great (oftentimes organically raised) produce and the farmer gets some security knowing that they have been paid for their hardwork, even if Mother Nature doesn’t want to cooperate.

Now back to our CSA share. As typically of early season boxes ours was on the light side, but that didn’t matter because what was in it was excellent! We received a bunch of green garlic (can be used as garlic or in place of scallions), a nice large bunch of radishes, a large bag of spring greens for salad, some wonderfully sweet pea shoots, a pound of rhubarb (not that we needed any of that!), a pint of beautiful, local strawberries, and some wonderful bok choy.

In addition to our regular share, we purchased a bread share, which means that each week, with our box of vegetables, will be a loaf of bread baked, in the European tradition, by a local baker. This week the bread was a hearty, nutty 9-grain loaf. Overall, lots of great stuff to cook with and play with. Tonight though, I wanted to keep it simple and let the produce speak for itself. So I simply tossed the spring greens with the pea shoots and dressed this salad in a light vinaigrette of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, minced green garlic, salt and pepper. To accompany the salad I sliced up a few radishes and served the salad with 9 grain bread which I first brushed with a mixture of butter and minced green garlic and gently grilled until toasty and crisp. It was the perfect meal to celebrate the beginning of our weekly deliveries.

I look forward to sharing what we receive each week, and the recipes that our little box of goodies inspires me to make. Stay tuned!

I apologize for my lack of posting recently. Work and life have once again gotten in the way. Hopefully, I will be back this weekend with some more recipes and posts but in the meantime, I want to remind my readers of a few things.

First off, Saturday is the the Milwaukee “Cookies for Kid’s Cancer” bake sale. It is being held at Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery, in Milwaukee and runs from 1-4pm. My good friends, over at Burp! Where Food Happens have worked hard to gather together a bunch of local and Wisconsin food bloggers to pitch in for this event. Unfortunately, I have to work so I won’t be attending, but I am sending a long a few dozen of my Chocolate Crinkles with Raspberry Jam, and possibly a few other goodies. If you find yourself in the area please stop by, support and great cause, and walk away with some great tasting munchies!!

Other event is for all you barbecue buffs out there. Steven Raichlen will be joining the forums, over at Chef Talk, from May 26th-29th. This is a “not-to-be-missed” event for anyone serious about barbecuing and grilling as Steven has spent years researching and teaching about the art of grilling and barbecuing. He has also written numerous cookbooks on the subject, including one of my all time favorites, “The Barbecue! Bible.” I urge all my readers to click on over to Chef Talk, register for the forums (it’s FREE!) and be part of this great opportunity to learn a little more about backyard cooking. I hope to see you on the forums!!!

A few weeks ago, my friends over at Burp! Where Food Happens invited me to be part of a Cookies for Kid’s Cancer bake sale. Having lost 2 family members to cancer in the past year, I know how devastating cancer can be, even more so when it afflicts those so young. I immediately said that I would love to be a part of it. While I have to work on the day of the event, I am contributing to the sale in hopes of helping raise money for this great cause. I’m also hoping to have my wife sew up one of the vintage style aprons she makes so that they can auction that off also. So, if you find yourself in the Milwaukee area on the afternoon of Saturday, May 21st, stop by the Pabst Brewery, pick up a few dozen cookies and help support a great cause!

Read below for more information, which comes directly from the Burp! blog.

Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is a not-for-profit organization committed to raising funds to support research for new and improved therapies for pediatric cancers.
#MKEfoodies will be holding a bake sale and silent auction to raise money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. The sale will feature items made by local food bloggers, bakers, and celebrity chefs, with silent auction baskets featuring items donated by local area businesses.

Together we can raise the funds and awareness necessary to change the face of pediatric cancer research and to provide more families and children with the hope they deserve. Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is committed to raising the funds to support research for new and improved therapies for pediatric cancer. Make the future of pediatric cancers something more than a scary statistic.

Well, the kitchen remodel is done, for now, execpt for still figuring out where things are going. Eventually, we want to do something with the cabinets, get a new stove, and put in a hood above the stove, but those things are for another time. I’ve been busy, at work, so I haven’t had time to do much cooking in it, but the few times I’ve worked in it have been great! We are really enjoying it and I thought I’d share a few pictures with you all. Enjoy!

My friends over at Cheftalk.com are running another contest that I thought you, my reader’s, might be interested in. Now through Feb. 14th submit a romantic Valentine’s Day menu, for 2, and you could win a $100 or $50 Williams Sonoma gift certificate, or your very own Chef Talk mug. For more details on the contest and to enter click here. Go check it out, and best of luck!!!

Sorry I haven’t posted in a week, but we are in the middle of a partial kitchen remodel. Having new floor laid, walls painted, new outlets, new lighting, and building some custom floor to ceiling shelves. We also are scrubbing all the cabinets, and possibly replacing the hardware (wish we could just replace the cabinets, but not in the budget). Moved the fridge down to the basement and adding a baker’s rack. Having the fridge in the basement is not the most convenient, but we wanted the space and besides I really could use the extra work out. Will probably add a small, under counter fridge under the baker’s rack for those “use all the time” items.

While I have a number of recipes to share, I just haven’t had the time to sit down and write. All my free time is taken up with the remodel so that we can have our kitchen back by Sunday…hopefully. I’ll be sharing before and after pictures when the project is complete. Wish us luck!!!!

Roast Chicken

For those of you who haven’t heard, Foodbuzz is holding a competition for food bloggers called “Project Food Blog.” The competition consists fo 10 contests with 1 person left standing to claim the $10,000 prize. Approximately 1700-1800 bloggers have entered, though only 400 will make it past Round 1.

As I gathered my thoughts for this, my initial post for the Foodbuzz “Project Food Blog” competition, one of the most difficult decisions I had to make is what picture I should use as a lead in to my post. While I certainly have lots of pictures that are much more vibrant and eye catching, I felt that this picture, of a simple, roasted chicken best defines what I do here at “Once a Chef.” Roast chicken is simple, yet to pull it off properly requires a lot of technique and attention to the small details. And while a simple roast chicken can be heartwarming and comforting, it can also be elegant.

Hot Fudge Sauce

It is this same ideal that I have used to create my blog. It is not the most refined blog out there on the web. I’ll leave that to others that are more adept at styling and photography. Nor is it the most adventurous blog in the blogosphere. That’s the realm of the world travelers out there. Instead of trying to “wow” people with pictures of beautiful food, or showcasing ethnic dishes that require sourcing numerous hard to find ingredients, I prefer to keep things a little more simple and straight forward. I want people to look at my blog, read a post, and say, “Yeah, I can do that!” I don’t want to scare them off because they see some highly styled picture and are afraid that they will never be able to accomplish that, or stop reading because they know they will never be able to find half the ingredients a recipe calls for.

Strawberry Rhubarb Shortcake

When someone reads a recipe on my blog I want them to feel confident that they can reproduce it in their home. I take the time to explain each step in detail, because I want everyone to realize that they can cook, that it is not rocket science. Whether it is a simple meatloaf, an elegant, french inspired entree, or the perfect roasted chicken I want my readers to feel confident that my recipes will lead them to success. And, if while doing that, I can impart in them a little of the passion I have for food, then I have been successful.

Apple Dumpling

Ultimately, that’s what it’s all about: passion. It’s why each and every one of us spends the time writing our blogs, creating recipes, and sharing our creations. Growing up in the restaurant business, my passion for food was stoked at an early age, though I can’t remember a time, in my life, that food didn’t play an important role. It is this passion, of mine, that has been stoked and nurtured that I want to share with my readers. I think too many people go through life looking at cooking as a chore that needs to be done. I want to change that. I want to make people excited about cooking, and to do that the first thing that needs to be done is to show them how easy it is took cook.

Shrimp & Heirloom Tomato Pasta