Explore Chesterfield County

On September 26, we tagged along with Troop 808 to complete the "Explore Chesterfield County" patch program.  The program requires visits to at least six historic county sites.  We visited the Chesterfield County Museum and learned a bit about the history of the county - from dinosaurs to native Americans to coal and the railroads.  Our plan was to visit the Old Jail, but due to renovations, the jail was closed.  We did, however, learn about it from the docent at the museum and walk around the outside of it.  We walked around the courthouse green to view the various monuments and buildings, then moved on to Magnolia Grange.  Here we got a taste of how people lived in Chesterfield in the 1800's and learned that the house has a ghost (or two?).  After a quick visit to Castlewood, home of the Chesterfield Historic Society and research library, we headed over to Burger King for a snack for some, and lunch for others (oops on my part!).  Our last stop for the day was the Mid-Lothian Mines Park, where I thought we'd see the ruins of the mines and then play on the playground.  Silly me!  There is no playground, no bathroom, no trash can at this park - it's all about the mines.  I'd like to come back here one day better prepared (now that I know what it is like).

So if you read all this and say "wait, that's only five sites!" well, you're right.  The sixth site everyone has already seen is Pocahontas Park.  We've all been there, and some of us have even visited the museum.  If you haven't checked out the museum, you really should - it's interesting.  And the nature center is fun, too.

So there you have it - Explore Chesterfield County in an afternoon!

Locavore Badge

For the Senior Locavore Badge, we visited a farmers' market and purchased locally produced ingredients to make a scrumptious meal.  With an Italian meal in mind, we purchased tomatoes, peppers and zucchini to make a sauce; eggs to make pasta; pound cake and fresh raspberries for dessert.

Here's what we did:

Vegetable Sauce

1 medium zucchini, cleaned and cubed

5-6 fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and rough chopped

5-6 sweet peppers, peeled, seeded and rough chopped

(I would add onion, but we didn't use any)

3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

3-4 leaves fresh basil

sprig of fresh oregano

sprig of fresh rosemary

salt

olive oil

Put about 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add zucchini (and onions) and cook until softened. Add peppers, tomatoes, garlic and salt. Bring to a strong simmer, then reduce heat to low and cover the pot. Cook over low heat while you prepare the chicken and pasta.  Just before blending, strip the leaves from the sprigs of herbs (discard the stems), chop all herbs together and add to sauce.

Chicken

We used 4 skinless thighs. Use your choice of thighs or breasts, but the meat should be boneless and skinless.

Cut chicken into large chunks. Place in a bowl and season with salt, freshly ground black pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and a drizzle of olive oil. Stir until seasonings are well distributed on all the chicken pieces. Brown the chicken in olive oil, a few pieces at a time to avoid overcrowding the pan. When all pieces have been browned, place all chicken back in pan, cover and turn off burner.  The chicken will finish cooking from the remaining heat.

Pasta

(If you don't have a pasta machine, purchase a good dry pasta, or a package of fresh pasta.)

1 cup flour (we used white all-purpose)

1 egg

salt

(You can add finely chopped fresh herbs, lemon zest, tomato paste, spinach, etc.  Use your imagination!)

Place the flour in a cone-shaped pile on a clean counter (or in a bowl).  Make a well in the top of the flour (so it looks like a volcano).  Add a good sprinkle of salt.  Crack the egg into the well and begin working the flour in with a fork.  You will not use all the flour.  When you have a dough ball beginning to form, start to work the dough with your hands until it is no longer sticky.  Begin feeding it through the pasta machine, using setting 1 until the dough is smooth.  Roll the dough through the machine using settings 2-7.  Try to work quickly so that your noodles don't dry out.  When all the dough has been rolled out, begin cutting the noodles.  Place the noodles in loose piles until ready to cook. 

Bringing it all together:

1. Shred the chicken with two forks. Hold in a bowl until ready to serve.
2. Place the sauce into a blender and blend until smooth (or use an immersion blender if you have one).  CAREFUL!  Hot sauce splashed by a blender hurts!
3. Gently place the noodles in salted boiling water and cook for about 1-2 minutes. Be sure to stir the noodles to prevent sticking.  Drain (and butter - optional) the noodles and serve immediately.
4. Place a serving of noodles on each plate, top with shredded chicken and sauce.

Serve with grated Parmesan cheese and garlic bread.

For the dessert, we sliced the pound cake and served it with ice cream, chocolate drizzle and fresh raspberries.

Sadly, we didn't think to take any photos until we were almost finished eating.