Why You Don't Have To Get Chicks From Us

We have refocused and making it cheaper and easier for all to have  access to good tasting and healthy chicken meat.  You may grow your own food or get from farmers you know and trust.  Get to know your farmer.  Its all about farming :)

How did we make it cheaper and more accessible to grow clean meat?  We run trials and have gotten the results we wanted by using the white chicks that are used for commercial poultry raising.  

When given probiotics/fermented plant juices and pastured for the same time as its colored cousins, they have the same taste, and surely the healthy benefits are in how it was raised.

We are teaching you a concept.  We are selling you the idea of raising/eating well.  Food that you may grow yourself.  Food that you may entrust to farmers you really know.

If for some reason you can't find dayold chicks in your area, or you want the brand that we use, then we can cater them to you.  But again, the ,most ideal is get the chicks from your area.  The point was to make it cheaper and easy for all farmers.

Another plus side:  Easier to teach when we aren't selling anything to you :)

White Christmas

At four (4) weeks now, they will be seeing you in December :)

The recently held Poultry Show was very motivating.  People embraced the idea of "yes, the whites can be pastured".  Low cost, easy to find, safe chicken for all!

For us at Solraya, it isn't just an "idea" anymore.  It had been ran and tested several batches.  Harvested and taste tested at different intervals.  For our pastured chickens, we still go with a slow developing chicken.  Let it age and naturally farmed....it will give you great tasting and healthy chickens :)

We will be happy to explain them to you during AGRILINK 2010.

Green Daisy's Sunshine Chicken ala Hainanese Chicken

This post started it.  Daisy Langenegger of Green Daisy Organic Restaurant saw the recipe and just took the pointers and guide.  Daisy always uses the best and freshest ingredients that is available to her so following a recipe to the "T" is hardly done.

In one of the Philippines for Natural Farming Inc's working group's meeting, Daisy served her version of ala Hainanese Chicken.

It was really good!

Accompanying condiments and Chicken Rice

Healthy Gizzard Sisig

The gizzard is naturally crunchy so it gives the healthy sisig the needed crunch and different textures. No chicken meat, just pure gizzard. To make it creamy, we added chicken liver. This is one of our sought after products, the healthy gizzard sisig.

You may sizzle it in a hot plate, heat it up in a thick skillet to give it that brown and toasted look. Simply, it is OK to heat it up in the microwave.

Serving suggestions: over rice, wrapped in lettuce, topping in salad, using tortilla wraps, top crackers. Endless variations with your healthy and tasty food choices.

Sunshine Chicken in Couscous

Green Daisy's owner, Daisy, was a gracious host to a group of natural farmers the other night. Daisy cooked a wonderful dinner, served buffet style, in honor of Jojie and Andry Lim.

I sent her pate, sausages and chickens to cook. She served the pate and sausages to other guests she had the previous night and they loved it. This time, she made Couscous using Sunshine Chicken... it was really good!

The natural farming boys in our group were debating if it was Arroz Valenciana....whatever you call it, it was deliciously flavorful. Actually, Daisy did a great job, as always.

If you want to see more of that night, see the photos posted to the Sunshine Chicken page in Facebook :)

Green Daisy is a restaurant that serves organic food. They have their won farm that produces their organic rice, vegetables and chickens. 20 Maginhawa St, UP Village. By appointment only.

Liver Lover

Sounds like an ad!

Eversince I can remember, I loved livers, gizzards, intestines, eyes, brains...from fishes to bulls etc. Offal as it is termed.

Memories of Reno Liver Spread in hot pandesal...a tin for myself. As you get older the tastebuds mature so we go one step up to Pate...still liver spread :)

I was in search of one with character....a Pate that can stand on its own and it says "umpppphhhh!" back at you. Bought some recently and brought a tub to our meeting for Berdelicious. The trying hard foodies in us were taste testing and discussed with Chef Myke what I wanted.

He did come up with what I wanted using our Sunshine Chicken's. Chef Myke said the taste is distinctly more intense than that of the white broiler's liver and no fishy taste. He used pure liver, no use of pork fat nor extenders. Creamy on its own. Full bodied flavor. If there was a gender for Pate, this will definitely be masculine! Not at all glamorous, prim and proper type. Have a closer look...it is forkable and may be taken alone :)

Like Foie Gras? Try slicing some Pate and soft frying it.....very good and close to addicting!

NOW AVAILABLE! Just like our other products, our Pate is for the Pinoy tastebuds, no preservatives, no extenders. Great value for your protein health and money.

Stewed Out

One is sick, the other on a diet. Raining outside plus some last minute paperwork to do for deliveries....what to cook?

It was supposed to be vegetables, Pinakbet to be exact...but its not fit to serve the above given data. We need home cooked, rich soup...

Brought out a pack of my Italian Sausages and chunked them. All in low heat....Sauted some garlic in Olive Oil. Added the chunked sausages and let it simmer a while. Next went in a lot of chopped tomatoes and a handful of Basil. That was allowed to simmer...small soft bubbles, gurgling a little. Seasoned with a little salt. It was done when I realized there was no rice. Grabbed two handfuls of elbow macaroni and threw it in. Stirring for the next 10mins, turned off heat and covered...waiting for the table to be set.

I was starving at this point and reached for a large chunk of the sausage before I covered my skillet...it was so goooood! Our sausages are no doubt dry, because there is no fat, but stewing it rendered and blended the flavors and it made it juicy :) Excellent for a blast of an idea just before getting dinner ready.

Won't say that this was a recipe to die for....but it is very good, comforting and healthy food. Stewed out....or rather, stood out for our rained out heads.

Healthy Sisig

After our Sunshine Chicken Sausages, our clients are demanding more :)

Asked Chef Myke to develop some products for the Liver and Gizzard.

Healthy Sisig anyone? Took some from the freezer to heat and toast a bit in a non-stick electric skillet.

NOW AVAILABLE! Crunchy and with character, Chef Myke used the packs of Gizzard to develop this super Health Sisig. Chef Myke was saying that even with just salt and pepper, the Gizzard was already good, so he knew that spiking it with chillies etc, he was going to have a delicious product.

Our early contribution to Agri-P-Noy!

How Do You Like Your Veggies?

Since we have a chemical free farm, best for me, are the ones freshly picked before you eat them. Some can be taken raw. If they have to be cooked, I like them boiled and then with some bagoong w/ Dayap, or salt on the side.

But, Manila is 8hrs away from the farm. The temperature in Manila is steaming hot. I can get locked up in airconditioning but that is no fun. Last night, I wanted to eat good salad, and airconditioning was a major ingredient :)

Now where do we go for our salad when in Manila? I used to love the Oriental Chicken salad at CPK, but they changed the recipe. Then, some years back, we discovered the salads at Cyma, the Greek restaurant at Shangri-la Mall and at Trinoma.

This is my all time favorite: Roka Salata

Fast Food

Since we started moving out of Fairview, hardly had I been there. Had to go there briefly yesterday and the few seconds I was out of the van to get to the office was disastrous. When you are like some of us...the ones that get allergy at the sight of dust...then you know how it feels to breathe even a speck of those killer fumes.

I felt so bad that it kept me off a scheduled appointment last night. I needed hot soup and thought about just buying from a chinese restaurant...but then...I thought about all those additives.

Roasted chicken packs in my freezer...hmmm...it was 7pm but I have to feed this nasty nose of mine. Did I have enough time?

Took out a pack from the freezer. Set it inside my glass saucepan....I am without help so my cookware is the one the goes from stovetop, oven, to table, to ref/freezer, to microwave and back to table. You end up just washing one piece :)

Got about 4 cups of hot water from the dispenser into the saucepan with the frozen roasted chicken. Sliced up one red onion. That's it, and boiled it. Once boiling, I took a handful of elbow macaroni and placed it in the pan. Cooked uncovered for about 8-10mins (followed instructions on the label). Added chopped onion leaves for color. That't it!!!!

Why no seasonings? The frozen pack was of a roasted chicken. So it had all the flavors it needed already.

If you don't want to eat the meat with your soup, it will make great chicken sandwhich or salad.

This was quick and doable. But, if I had my way and time...I would have done this on simmering temperature. Still low fire, slow cooking....to really have the juice ooze out in its own sweet time.

BTW...yes, I felt much better....remember Chicken Soup for everything. Chickens must have something...and the warm vapor is good for the nasal congestion.

So Sage, Sausage

So sensible, so wise.

It was a perfect time to bring out the sausage platters that we had developed from the Sunshine Chickens.

Why so? We were in the company of family and friends.

1st stop: In Santiago City, Isabela. Family on Doc Rey's side had the usual Christmas party. Served on the drinking table for pulutan. I didn't think it will be rated well and delicious as we centered on taste buds of the Metro folks. The men liked it.

Next stop: Last night's Cheese and Wine with my forever friends from Maryknoll high school yet. For a cross section, we invited my mother's best friend in her 70s, and Mr. Zac Sarian of Agriculture Magazine. It rated very well with Tita Pilar and Zac. I gifted Father Mon, our parish priest, some sauasages and fresh eggs last week, and Tita Pilar said that Father Mon raved about it infront of other parishioners.

My 20yr old son, Rocky, also joined the group. He is a health buff and watches his diet so well. His likes was taken into consideration when we developed this.

My friends...oh they will always be critical to a fault...but its always for the good of everyone :) They all said it was great, but lacking in blah blah black sheep hahahhahha. But, no negative reactions...,.,which means it was so good already, knowing them!

I was prepared with my camera, but as always in good times, I forget to take photos!

Discussion centered on the reasons for developing the product. It started with planning for value added products aside from the dressed chickens. Brainstorming about other business ideas, beyond the raising...where else and who else can earn from the endeavors? The clamor for healthy products. The segment of the ready to cook food had to be looked into.

Repeat. We had APDC of BAI develop these so sage sausages for us. We were both equally ecstatic about reinventing meat processing without preservatives.

I texted Salve of APDC first thing this morning to congratulate her as it met the taste buds of the cross section of our target market. It faired well with all ages and cultural slices.

So sage...it has a nice ring! I should use it as branding! ...what do you think?

Sunny, Ang Manok Sa Damuhan

Signs are being started by my contractor today...last minute changes by me this morning....

Meet Sunny, Ang Manok Sa Damuhan .... you like his name?


Last night was really good:

1) We got two (2) repeat customers
2) The others were first timers, BUT, referred by others from the night before

As Native

Some growers have found a niche in selling to the local market. "HOORAY" for them!

It may sound surprising to the marketing man how a perceived expensive and high end commodity now has penetrated the local market...as in the markets in the locality of the grower.

Years of work and patience for consumer awareness to eating tasteful and healthy....and more so, bringing back to your area the income by giving work to the farmhelp (if not self employment), to the ladies instead of giving the dressing machine a spin and business to yourselves :) Educating the housewife about deciding on what is rightful spending....getting value for your money!

Think about health benefits, work for the locals, TASTE oh yes the taste....and as a cook, notice that our Sunshines don't shrink when cooked because no chemicals to make them bloat. That in itself is a lot of savings that translates to maybe equal almost in pricing to the industrial chickens.

They say that they have a quick turnaround amongst the local market because it is PARANG NATIVE. I quickly caution them, to tell the truth and be proud about their product being LASANG NATIVE.

Salad Dressings

Now thinking about the healthy food bar that EDSA Garden House is opening, the everything PHP35...I remember the salad bowl she had. Fresh, healthy veggies and we were discussing different salad dressings. I gave her an input for fruit based ones.

Today I thought about making Chicken Sandwich and hey, why not make mayo from scratch, using eggs from our grass fed hens?????

That will be a great sandwhich and salad base. Use our Sunshine eggs to make healthy and delicious dressings.

Everything PHP35

I think that was how I understood Adela Ang of EDSA Garden House in her newest venture, back to her first love, food preparation.

Saw her over breakfast during yesterdays Agri Kapihan, after Kaularan sa Agrikulutura. She asked about dressed Sunshines and she was going to get a rotisserie. "I have a brandnew one, never been used....go use it". So last night, we delivered the dressed Sunshines she will marinade.

She was busy in the kitchen making iced coolers. She made me taste the banana con lanka con macapuno..sweeted with sugar cane juice...SARAP! There was another variant using Ube instead of Bananas. That treat will be priced at PHP35. She brought in fresh greens with salad dressing, PHP35 too. Our Sunshines will be roasted and cut, served with veggies for PHP35. Adela said all PHP35...but then she mentioned juices at PHP10 : She should have served it in a large tumbler and priced it at PHP35.

If I understood her properly..it will be like the fair chits style. You prepay chits that will be used to pay for food you purchase, w/c is almost all priced at PHP35. That way, she eliminates a lot of personnel.

She toured me to her kitchen...you see the little girl grinning with glee in her new playhouse.

You should support her new vision: giving you simple, healthy, well priced food. Plus, her best reward is, she gets to do what she loves most...cooking.

She will start operation on February 26.

Going Around

Eating the regional delicacies and learning about the place's articrafts, used to be a sidetrip whenever we go around for seminars or when joing friends in farm visits.

Lately, because of Organika and our other weekend markets, we find ourselves looking forward to going to the local markets and sourcing new ideas and products to sell.

Interesting to buy a few of food items that takes my fancy. Finding out sources, how it is made, ingredients that go into it. Taking small bites, then bigger mouth fulls :) Tasting the difference and relishing the taste. Wanting to distinguish it from all the others of the same name.

I have to blame this sourcing for all the weigh gain. As if I didn't have my saddles even before all these trips!

Pulled Chicken Meat

For people who want to eat healthy food, preparing them may be the factor that inhibits them.

One should be able to enjoy salads with pulled meat from chicken that had been roasted, smoked, barbecued, cooked in turbo, steamed etc. You can cook in bulk and prepare them, packed in small quantities, frozen and ready to use for salads or for chicken sandwich spreads :)

The use of the bones will be another post...