So, it's been a strange couple of weeks, and yesterday I think I walked my feet off at the Tulsa State Fair. But the cooler weather is dropping in, and that means soup weather. There are thin soups, thick soups, weird soups, and old comfort food soups. Chicken Noodle Soup always makes us feel better, whether you believe it helps your body or just your mind. (Science tells that it actually helps us reduce mucus generation so we aren't as stuffed up, Gramma says it's just good for you. And frankly, anything that reminds us of the love Gramma has--can't be bad.)
Also, I make this by the truckload, and freeze it. So, here are my quantities. Also, the first list of ingredients is more geared toward the fact that I just need to look out the door to fine next Sunday's chicken dinner! (Ok, last weekend, all the chickens got processed, but you get the idea). Also, it takes a while, but it is so worth it.
Chicken Noodle Soup
Stage 1
1 Chicken, rinsed (especially if you buy this at the grocery store)
Water to cover
3 Carrots, scrubbed
3 Ribs Celery, including tops, scrubbed
1 Onion
Stage 2
2 - 3 Carrots, scrubbed, and sliced in about 1/4" slices
2 - 3 ribs of Celery, scrubbed, sliced in about 1/4" slices
however many cloves of garlic your family can stand, minced
1 16oz package of egg noodles (I use thin, OR make my own pasta)
salt and pepper to taste
1. Place chicken in a large pot. Cover with water. Rough chop the carrots and celery into about 3 pieces each. Quarter onion. (NO peeling necessary). Toss vegetables in with chicken.
2. Bring to a boil, put lit on pot. Allow to simmer for at least 2 hours. This is where your stock comes from, don't skimp on it. I usually like to leave it about 3 hours. By this time the chicken should just about be falling off the bones. Carefully remove chicken from the stock, and put on a plate; allow to cool.
3. Strain stock. That is sometimes harder than it sounds. Place a colander over another large pot, and carefully pour the stock and veggies thru the colander, so you save your stock, but remove the veggies. Pick out any chicken that actually DID fall of the bones. The veggies are compost heap fodder at this point, but that's ok.
4. It can take between 30 minutes to an hour for the chicken to cool enough to handle. When it is, strip the chicken clean, discarding skin, connective tissue and bones. You should be left with a mound of chicken. Rough chop it if you wish.
5. Slice carrots, celery, mince onion. Put chicken and veggies into the freshly made chicken stock. Check seasoning, add a little salt and pepper to taste.
6. Bring to a boil and add noodles. Simmer until noodles are cooked, and serve. I like to put a little dollup of sour cream or shave a little cheese over each bowl.
7. Watch the smiles light up everyone's faces.
Short Cut Chicken Soup
But, but, I don't have TIME to cook all day............ok, yeah I hear ya. You know you can make a huge amount any day you are home, right? Complete everything up to and including step 4, then add chicken to broth, and freeze. Remove from freezer and thaw in refrigerator. Then finish as above.
But the real shortcut:
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked
3 carrots, sliced 1/4"
3 celery ribs, sliced 1/4"
1 16oz package egg noodles
garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1 quart chicken broth, or water
1. Cut up chicken breast.
2. Put everything EXCEPT noodles in pan. Adjust salt and pepper. Keep in mind, if you are using store-bought broth then you will probably have enough salt in there already.
3. Bring to a boil, add noodles, cook 10 minutes or until noodles are done. Serve.
Variations
Change up the veggies in Stage 2. Add potatoes instead of noodles.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Easy Breezy Cover Girl....
So, in the last two nights I have made my EBCC Smashed 'Taters, and fresh pasta. I haven't worked out the pasta thing real well yet, so you get EBCC Smashed 'Taters this week. Again, this is not gonna be one of your cookbook recipes. I can't tell you how many potatoes to use, or even the weight, as everyone's family has different needs. I use 8 oz of cheese for approximately 2 to 2.5 pounds of potatoes. Use the garlic to your families preference, I'm telling you we love garlic, so can use up to double of what I call for here. But we are garlic lovers.
The pasta was Mario Batali's recipe from the Foodnetwork website, if you want to go experiment on your own. I don't have a great rolling pin, so my noodles were pretty thick. It goes without saying that I don't have a pasta rolling machine. However, they were eaten completely gone to rave reviews from my family.
Easy Breezy Cover Girl
enough potatoes for your crew
8 oz grated cheese of your choice (I've used sharp cheddar, Monteray Jack, and Colby Jack all with good revies)
1/2 to full stick butter
2 - 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
milk
Scrub your potatoes, peel if you wish. We don't, but what ever your family will eat. Cube your potatoes into about 1/2" chunks, toss into salted water, and boil until fork tender. Drain, and put the pan back on the stove. Roughly chop the butter, so that you don't have to deal w/ huge block of butter, put in pan. Toss the now drained potatoes back in. If you feel you need to, you can turn the fire on under the potatoes to dry them off, but ours are usually just fine. Toss the cheese, and garlic in. Using a very stout spoon (utensil type, not eating type), stir the cheese, garlic and butter into the potatoes, smooshing the potatoes as you do. When you have things worked thru, add enough milk to get the potatoes the consistency you like, always smooshing the potatoes against the pan wall.
These EBCC Smashed 'Taters are not smooth as a baby's butt, unless you wanna grab the electric beater and make 'em that way. But they are yummy, and there are never any left overs. Makes my lunch plate VERY sad, let me tell you.
One option is to melt the butter in another (small) pan, and saute the garlic in it for a sweeter garlic-y taste. Then once you've dumped your potatoes back in the pan, just pour the garlic butter over the cubes.
Change up cheeses, add green onions, add sour cream, cream cheese...really, make this your own specialty. If you don't get rave reviews, send me the offending family members for re-education. I think I know where my cast-iron skillets are.
The pasta was Mario Batali's recipe from the Foodnetwork website, if you want to go experiment on your own. I don't have a great rolling pin, so my noodles were pretty thick. It goes without saying that I don't have a pasta rolling machine. However, they were eaten completely gone to rave reviews from my family.
Easy Breezy Cover Girl
enough potatoes for your crew
8 oz grated cheese of your choice (I've used sharp cheddar, Monteray Jack, and Colby Jack all with good revies)
1/2 to full stick butter
2 - 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
milk
Scrub your potatoes, peel if you wish. We don't, but what ever your family will eat. Cube your potatoes into about 1/2" chunks, toss into salted water, and boil until fork tender. Drain, and put the pan back on the stove. Roughly chop the butter, so that you don't have to deal w/ huge block of butter, put in pan. Toss the now drained potatoes back in. If you feel you need to, you can turn the fire on under the potatoes to dry them off, but ours are usually just fine. Toss the cheese, and garlic in. Using a very stout spoon (utensil type, not eating type), stir the cheese, garlic and butter into the potatoes, smooshing the potatoes as you do. When you have things worked thru, add enough milk to get the potatoes the consistency you like, always smooshing the potatoes against the pan wall.
These EBCC Smashed 'Taters are not smooth as a baby's butt, unless you wanna grab the electric beater and make 'em that way. But they are yummy, and there are never any left overs. Makes my lunch plate VERY sad, let me tell you.
One option is to melt the butter in another (small) pan, and saute the garlic in it for a sweeter garlic-y taste. Then once you've dumped your potatoes back in the pan, just pour the garlic butter over the cubes.
Change up cheeses, add green onions, add sour cream, cream cheese...really, make this your own specialty. If you don't get rave reviews, send me the offending family members for re-education. I think I know where my cast-iron skillets are.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Feasting on Friday
Yes, I know. It's only noon, yet here I am, writing in the recipe blog. Last weekend, we put up about 60 pounds of ground lamb, and 3 chickens. It would have been more chicken, but we were tired and still had the lamb to grind up. This week, there's an awesome sale on ground beef, so I will be taking advantage of that, and doing some work this weekend putting away some semi-prepped meals in the freezer. This makes my life MUCH easier (as long as I remember to grab a meal out of the freezer to defrost.)
This weeks recipe is lamb again. But we enjoyed the heck out of it.
Lamb Chili-like Object
2 lbs ground lamb
1 can Ranch-style beans
1 can Baked beans
2 - 3 TBSP Chili powder
1 - 3 tsp cumin
1 - 3 tsp salt
*some* red pepper flakes
Brown the lamb. Add the salt as you are browning, as this will flavor the meat best. Add both cans of beans, chili powder, cumin and red pepper. Heat to simmer. Simmer for as long as you desire, but a minimum of 30 minutes.
Notes
You can serve this over oven-baked fries and put shredded cheese on it for chili-cheese fries. We go heavy on the chili, for a great meal.
Be aware that the canned baked beans are sweet. If you don't want that in your chili, use a second can of Ranch-style beans instead.
Use however you would use *regular* chili--on burgers, fries, over tortilla chips or fritos.
Using lamb instead of beef just gives the chili some more depth, but you can use whatever meat/meat combination you choose. I have to say, that the lamb burgers, and the chili have changed my husband's opinion of lamb! For that I'm truly grateful, as I LOVE it, and we have two pregnant ewe's in the field!
This weeks recipe is lamb again. But we enjoyed the heck out of it.
Lamb Chili-like Object
2 lbs ground lamb
1 can Ranch-style beans
1 can Baked beans
2 - 3 TBSP Chili powder
1 - 3 tsp cumin
1 - 3 tsp salt
*some* red pepper flakes
Brown the lamb. Add the salt as you are browning, as this will flavor the meat best. Add both cans of beans, chili powder, cumin and red pepper. Heat to simmer. Simmer for as long as you desire, but a minimum of 30 minutes.
Notes
You can serve this over oven-baked fries and put shredded cheese on it for chili-cheese fries. We go heavy on the chili, for a great meal.
Be aware that the canned baked beans are sweet. If you don't want that in your chili, use a second can of Ranch-style beans instead.
Use however you would use *regular* chili--on burgers, fries, over tortilla chips or fritos.
Using lamb instead of beef just gives the chili some more depth, but you can use whatever meat/meat combination you choose. I have to say, that the lamb burgers, and the chili have changed my husband's opinion of lamb! For that I'm truly grateful, as I LOVE it, and we have two pregnant ewe's in the field!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Friday Comes Around Once A Week
And yet again, Friday has reared it's head. Friday is payday. Friday is mortgage day. Money comes in, money goes out. *Sigh* isn't that always the way. So, what should we make this week?
Brat's Burgers
2 pounds ground meat (use beef, pork, veal, lamb or a combination)
1/2 small onion, minced very finely
approximately 4 ounces of cheese (grated block cheese, or crumbled up blue or feta cheese, whatever your family likes)
seasoning salt to taste (I use Lowry's)
1 egg
bacon, according to your family's taste
4 burger buns
1. Mix the meat, minced onion, egg, and seasoning salt. Form into eight patties.
2. Divide cheese evenly between four of the patties. Top with the remaining patties, and squeeze the patties together, sealing the cheese inside.
3. Fry up your bacon, to the desired point of doneness, drain on paper towel.
4. Cook your burgers however you prefer them. The cheese will be all melty inside of the burger and tasty to boot!
5. Put them on the buns with your family's preferred toppings, and serve with what you all like.
Variations
By changing the cheeses, spices and meats in these burgers, you can infinitely change the taste. You can grill them, pan fry them, or broil them. I've been known to add liquid smoke, garlic or onion powder, or just about anything in my spice drawer.
I serve burgers with oven baked fries.
*Edit 09/09/09*
I made these again last night with ground lamb, and blue cheese. I just layed the onion in with the cheese. My husband couldn't say enough good about them. I just sprinkled the outside w/ Lawry's Seasoning Salt as they were hitting the pan. I forgot about egg/breadcrumbs...and think that would have helped a bit.
Couple of things to realize: 1. This make for thick burgers. No wimpy, skimpy burgers HERE. 2. Homemade buns (a la Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day) are the bomb. 3. You have to make the patties THIN and WIDE. That helps with the thick thing. Make them about 1/2 inch wider than your bun to account for shrinkage. That could be more or less, depending on what meat you are using and the fat content.
Brat's Burgers
2 pounds ground meat (use beef, pork, veal, lamb or a combination)
1/2 small onion, minced very finely
approximately 4 ounces of cheese (grated block cheese, or crumbled up blue or feta cheese, whatever your family likes)
seasoning salt to taste (I use Lowry's)
1 egg
bacon, according to your family's taste
4 burger buns
1. Mix the meat, minced onion, egg, and seasoning salt. Form into eight patties.
2. Divide cheese evenly between four of the patties. Top with the remaining patties, and squeeze the patties together, sealing the cheese inside.
3. Fry up your bacon, to the desired point of doneness, drain on paper towel.
4. Cook your burgers however you prefer them. The cheese will be all melty inside of the burger and tasty to boot!
5. Put them on the buns with your family's preferred toppings, and serve with what you all like.
Variations
By changing the cheeses, spices and meats in these burgers, you can infinitely change the taste. You can grill them, pan fry them, or broil them. I've been known to add liquid smoke, garlic or onion powder, or just about anything in my spice drawer.
I serve burgers with oven baked fries.
*Edit 09/09/09*
I made these again last night with ground lamb, and blue cheese. I just layed the onion in with the cheese. My husband couldn't say enough good about them. I just sprinkled the outside w/ Lawry's Seasoning Salt as they were hitting the pan. I forgot about egg/breadcrumbs...and think that would have helped a bit.
Couple of things to realize: 1. This make for thick burgers. No wimpy, skimpy burgers HERE. 2. Homemade buns (a la Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day) are the bomb. 3. You have to make the patties THIN and WIDE. That helps with the thick thing. Make them about 1/2 inch wider than your bun to account for shrinkage. That could be more or less, depending on what meat you are using and the fat content.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Darn it all.......
Friday passed me by, again. Sorry, I picked up chicks for the homestead yesterday, and then dealt with a migraine last night. But here's your recipe for this week.
It's quick, it's easy, and it's very adaptable to your own likes.
1 1/2 pounds imitation seafood
8 ounces cheese
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup mayonaise
salt to taste
1 loaf french bread
butter
1. In a mixing bowl, put the mayo, curry powder and salt. Mix well.
2. Break up the seafood, or chop it into smallish bits.
3. Mix the seafood into the mayo mix. Set aside.
4. Slice the french bread down the middle longways, so you have a top and bottom half. Butter the bread.
5. Put the bread in a 250 degree oven for about 10 minutes.
6. Grate the cheese.
7. Pull the bread out of the oven, top with seafood mix and then cheese. Put it back in the oven for about 10 minutes or so, until cheese is melted and starting to turn golden.
Variations:
I told you this is adaptable. Switch out meats, change your cheeses around. Vary the spice flavor you use in the mayo. Here's what WE had last night: imitation seafood, curry mayo, Monteray Jack cheese on Wal-Mart's everything wheat sub rolls. Those things are the BOMB!
I made this up one day standing in WM, trying to figure out something quick and easy for dinner. It was late, and I wasn't feeling very enthused about getting dinner on the table. 1 French bread loaf feeds our family of four dinner. No, it's not all the food groups. And no, we don't eat this very often. You can add a salad, if it makes you feel better! We do sometimes. But this is my go-to if we aren't getting home until 9:30 pm on a Friday and I don't have anything premade in the house.
It's quick, it's easy, and it's very adaptable to your own likes.
1 1/2 pounds imitation seafood
8 ounces cheese
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup mayonaise
salt to taste
1 loaf french bread
butter
1. In a mixing bowl, put the mayo, curry powder and salt. Mix well.
2. Break up the seafood, or chop it into smallish bits.
3. Mix the seafood into the mayo mix. Set aside.
4. Slice the french bread down the middle longways, so you have a top and bottom half. Butter the bread.
5. Put the bread in a 250 degree oven for about 10 minutes.
6. Grate the cheese.
7. Pull the bread out of the oven, top with seafood mix and then cheese. Put it back in the oven for about 10 minutes or so, until cheese is melted and starting to turn golden.
Variations:
I told you this is adaptable. Switch out meats, change your cheeses around. Vary the spice flavor you use in the mayo. Here's what WE had last night: imitation seafood, curry mayo, Monteray Jack cheese on Wal-Mart's everything wheat sub rolls. Those things are the BOMB!
I made this up one day standing in WM, trying to figure out something quick and easy for dinner. It was late, and I wasn't feeling very enthused about getting dinner on the table. 1 French bread loaf feeds our family of four dinner. No, it's not all the food groups. And no, we don't eat this very often. You can add a salad, if it makes you feel better! We do sometimes. But this is my go-to if we aren't getting home until 9:30 pm on a Friday and I don't have anything premade in the house.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Where Does The Time Go? It's Friday Already!
Well, hello again, and welcome back for another weekly installment of my recipe blog. I wish I could say that I thought long and hard about what I was going to put out here for you guys, but.....yeah, right. My life is crazy busy with the farm, and 2 kids that are homeschooled. My grading folder is WAY fatter than it should be. So, before I set myself to grading papers, here's a recipe for today.
Pulled Pork
1 pork shoulder roast (I get about 6 or 7 pounds)(bone in is fine, boneless is easier. Butt roast is good too)
1 package of McCormick BBQ Pulled Pork Seasoning
about 1 cup ketchup
about 1 cup brown sugar
about 1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 package of your favorite mexican seasoning mix OR 1 TBSP Chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1. Place the pork in a slow cooker that is large enough to hold it. Mine is a 6 quart Rival. Note: if your pork roast is netted, remove the netting before you put it in the cooker.
2. Mix the seasonings, ketchup, brown sugar, and vinegar until blended and pour over the pork. Put the lid on.
3. Cook for 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH. This will make your roast nice and tender. I recommend the low setting rather than the high setting. Take the meat out of the crockpot, and put it on a large plate or platter.
4.Shred the pork, using 2 forks. It is very tender, and should pull apart fairly easily. You can control the size of your shreds, too. Put the pork back in the slow cooker and mix with all the nice juice. Make sure it's all nice and hot and serve. Makes great sandwiches! Take your leftovers, freeze them in dinner sized portions (making sure there is juice in your package), and you have dinner all ready for another night.
Variations: Change up your seasonings. The vinegar and the sugar to make the pork all tender, but you can reduce the amount of sugar used. The McCormick website has several seasoning packages that would be wonderful. I've used 2 packages of Wal-Mart's house brand Fajita seasoning instead of the all the rest of the seasonings, and it comes out just fine. My family loves this recipe.
Bon Appetit!
Pulled Pork
1 pork shoulder roast (I get about 6 or 7 pounds)(bone in is fine, boneless is easier. Butt roast is good too)
1 package of McCormick BBQ Pulled Pork Seasoning
about 1 cup ketchup
about 1 cup brown sugar
about 1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 package of your favorite mexican seasoning mix OR 1 TBSP Chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1. Place the pork in a slow cooker that is large enough to hold it. Mine is a 6 quart Rival. Note: if your pork roast is netted, remove the netting before you put it in the cooker.
2. Mix the seasonings, ketchup, brown sugar, and vinegar until blended and pour over the pork. Put the lid on.
3. Cook for 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH. This will make your roast nice and tender. I recommend the low setting rather than the high setting. Take the meat out of the crockpot, and put it on a large plate or platter.
4.Shred the pork, using 2 forks. It is very tender, and should pull apart fairly easily. You can control the size of your shreds, too. Put the pork back in the slow cooker and mix with all the nice juice. Make sure it's all nice and hot and serve. Makes great sandwiches! Take your leftovers, freeze them in dinner sized portions (making sure there is juice in your package), and you have dinner all ready for another night.
Variations: Change up your seasonings. The vinegar and the sugar to make the pork all tender, but you can reduce the amount of sugar used. The McCormick website has several seasoning packages that would be wonderful. I've used 2 packages of Wal-Mart's house brand Fajita seasoning instead of the all the rest of the seasonings, and it comes out just fine. My family loves this recipe.
Bon Appetit!
Friday, August 14, 2009
OOOOPS......Is It Friday Already?
Oh, geez, Friday snuck up on me. I've given you some pretty hearty options over the last two weeks, so let's get a bit naughty! Ok, dessert time!
Ice Cream Cake
3 cups Vanilla Ice Cream, soft enough to spread
3 cups Chocolate Ice Cream, soft enough to spread
1 box 'Nilla Wafers (or graham crackers)
Hershey's Chocolate syrup
Kahlua
6 Skor or Heath Bars
1. Crush wafers so you have about 1 1/2 cups of crumbs total.
2. In a 8 or 9 inch spring form pan, put 1/2 of the crumbs in the bottom to cover.
3. Put chocolate ice cream in the pan. Spread evenly to cover crumbs. Should be about 1 inch thick.
4. Drizzle with 1 TBSP Kahlua, 2 - 4 TBSP chocolate syrup, and 3 crushed candy bars.
5. Top this with remaining wafer crumbs.
6. Spread the vanilla ice cream over this crumb layer. Repeat the Kahlua, syrup and candy bar treatment.
7. Place in freezer for a couple of hours to harden up.
8. To serve, remove the springform ring, cut and serve!
Kahlua is optional, but it adds a great layer to this wonderful dessert! The type of crumbs you use is up to you as well. For a change up, crush chocolate wafers, or whatever floats your boat.
Play with it, change the ice creams and the extra nummys you put in there. I really love it like this, but I'm gonna use mint-chocolate chip one day. Really!
Ice Cream Cake
3 cups Vanilla Ice Cream, soft enough to spread
3 cups Chocolate Ice Cream, soft enough to spread
1 box 'Nilla Wafers (or graham crackers)
Hershey's Chocolate syrup
Kahlua
6 Skor or Heath Bars
1. Crush wafers so you have about 1 1/2 cups of crumbs total.
2. In a 8 or 9 inch spring form pan, put 1/2 of the crumbs in the bottom to cover.
3. Put chocolate ice cream in the pan. Spread evenly to cover crumbs. Should be about 1 inch thick.
4. Drizzle with 1 TBSP Kahlua, 2 - 4 TBSP chocolate syrup, and 3 crushed candy bars.
5. Top this with remaining wafer crumbs.
6. Spread the vanilla ice cream over this crumb layer. Repeat the Kahlua, syrup and candy bar treatment.
7. Place in freezer for a couple of hours to harden up.
8. To serve, remove the springform ring, cut and serve!
Kahlua is optional, but it adds a great layer to this wonderful dessert! The type of crumbs you use is up to you as well. For a change up, crush chocolate wafers, or whatever floats your boat.
Play with it, change the ice creams and the extra nummys you put in there. I really love it like this, but I'm gonna use mint-chocolate chip one day. Really!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Cooking Ahead
Our schedule during the "school year" is crazy. We leave home at 6:30am and arrive home between 8:30pm and 9pm. Then the kids have to eat, shower and get ready for bed...and do their chores. Not much time, huh? I could come home and spend an hour or more cooking something from scratch, which puts them in bed at about midnight, or I could do the bulk of my cooking on the weekend, still eat well during the week, and let the kids hit the sack at a more reasonable time. Guess whick I pick?
This week's menu consists of Shepherd's Pie, Chili Baked Potatoes, and Meat filling over rice or pasta.
Here's what I did. And by the way, this took about 2 hours start to finish, and I have five meals in my fridge and freezer.
Ingredients, in no particular order
5 pounds ground meat
3 Vidalia onions
2 cans kernel corn
10 pounds potatoes
salt
pepper
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 packet fajita seasoning
1 15 ounce can Ranch-style beans
8 ounces cheddar cheese
2 sticks butter
5 cloves garlic
1/2 cup milk
1. Chop the onions finely, grate cheese. Peel 5 pounds of potatoes, cut in cubes and start cooking them in salted water.
2. While potatoes are cooking, brown the ground beef in a large skillet. Season it up with some salt. Be careful, as too much salt now can make things problematical later.
3. In another skillet, melt 1/2 stick of butter, toss in your onions, and press the garlic thru a garlic press into the pan. Saute until translucent. This just brings out the sweetness in the onions and garlic. Set aside, it will cool on it's own.
4. When beef is free of pink, pull about a pound and put it in a small bowl or pan. To this add fajita seasoning and can of ranch beans. Mix completely. Put in quart sized freezer bag. Label and freeze. One down.
5. When potatoes are fork tender, drain them. Put them back in the pan and dry cook them to make sure all the water cooked off. About 30 seconds or so. Add 1 1/2 sticks of butter. Stir to melt butter into potatoes. What I did was stir it a little, then put the lid back on, and walked away for 7 minutes (set the oven timer). By the time I had recovered a bit, and the timer went off, the butter was all melted. Stir in the butter. Add milk, and grated cheese. Stir until a nice consistency is reached. No mashing required! Cool, huh? I had nice creamy, cheesy potatoes and all I did was stir in all my goodies.
6. To the rest of the ground beef, add the corn, tomato sauce, some salt and stir it all up. I used a slotted spoon out the beef into another deep pan (5 qt or more) and then poured about half the ground beef juices into the now fairly dry beef. Test your seasonings now, as we are putting 3 of these together.
7. In 3 8x8x2 square pans (or whatever you have) put a layer (1/2 way up) of ground beef mixture. Then top with mashed potatoes. Done. 3 more dinners out of the way. Make sure every thing is cool before you put it in the freezer. Cover the casseroles with plastic wrap, label and freeze. (Ok, I put 2 in the fridge. One for tonight, and 1 for tomorrow). WOWEE, now we have 4 dinners done.
8. Put the remaining ground beef in a gallon sized freezer bag, squeeze out the air, label and freeze. Mine was cool enough at this point to freeze.
Eating Day
1. Shepherd's Pie. Thaw in fridge overnight. Put in a 350 degree oven (I never preheat) until potatoes are golden brown on top, and meat part is bubbly. It's a complete meal in one pot.
2. Chili Baked Taters. Thaw in fridge overnight. Scrub and bake enough potatoes for your crew. Warm up beef mixture in a small pan and check your seasonings. Grate a bit of cheese (only you know how much you guys want, for us, about 6 ounces is about right. We love cheese.) When potatoes are done (I use the microwave, it's quick), split them in 1/2 lengthwise and put on serving plates. Split the beef evenly between the potatoes, top with cheese, sour cream if you want and serve.
3. Leftover meat filling and rice or pasta. Thaw in fridge overnight. Kinda depends on what we have available. I actually have both this week, but we'll figure it out later. Make enough rice for your crew, while that's cooling warm up the beef mixture. Serve beef over rice.
Discussion.
Ok, just because I'm eating 3 Shepherd's Pies this week doesn't mean you have to. Properly covered, it will keep in the freezer for a couple of months. You can freeze the meat and potatoes separately, thaw and assemble the day of cooking. You can cook one right away if you want.
I used beef today, because guess what, that's what I have. You can use beef, buffalo (VERY low fat), lamb, pork, venison or any combination of the above. You can't beat a mix of pork, venison and beef....that is just pure yum on a plate.
I adjust my seasonings as I go. I know how my family likes things. You don't have to use salt and pepper, you can use any of the green dried herbs you want in the Shepherd's pie mixture (tarragon, basil, parsley, cilantro, oregano, sage, you get the idea). This dish NEVER tastes the same way twice, especially since I tend to make it with what I have in the house. The ingredients I gave are what I had on hand, except the beef, cheese and potatoes. I had my husband buy that yesterday. I try to maximise the different uses out of the minimum of ingredients. You can make 3 different kinds of shepherd's pies, just by seasoning up enough filing for one at a time. I didn't, but I have in the past. Frozen or fresh veggies (thaw the frozen ones first) work just as well as canned, I just had the canned available.
Variations:
1. Serve the chili mix over tortillas instead.
2. Use cornbread batter to top one of the shepherd's pies.
3. Use your imagination!
So, enjoy. Sorry I'm a couple of days late, but I hope you think it's worth it! One of these days, I'll actually remember to take pictures.
This week's menu consists of Shepherd's Pie, Chili Baked Potatoes, and Meat filling over rice or pasta.
Here's what I did. And by the way, this took about 2 hours start to finish, and I have five meals in my fridge and freezer.
Ingredients, in no particular order
5 pounds ground meat
3 Vidalia onions
2 cans kernel corn
10 pounds potatoes
salt
pepper
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 packet fajita seasoning
1 15 ounce can Ranch-style beans
8 ounces cheddar cheese
2 sticks butter
5 cloves garlic
1/2 cup milk
1. Chop the onions finely, grate cheese. Peel 5 pounds of potatoes, cut in cubes and start cooking them in salted water.
2. While potatoes are cooking, brown the ground beef in a large skillet. Season it up with some salt. Be careful, as too much salt now can make things problematical later.
3. In another skillet, melt 1/2 stick of butter, toss in your onions, and press the garlic thru a garlic press into the pan. Saute until translucent. This just brings out the sweetness in the onions and garlic. Set aside, it will cool on it's own.
4. When beef is free of pink, pull about a pound and put it in a small bowl or pan. To this add fajita seasoning and can of ranch beans. Mix completely. Put in quart sized freezer bag. Label and freeze. One down.
5. When potatoes are fork tender, drain them. Put them back in the pan and dry cook them to make sure all the water cooked off. About 30 seconds or so. Add 1 1/2 sticks of butter. Stir to melt butter into potatoes. What I did was stir it a little, then put the lid back on, and walked away for 7 minutes (set the oven timer). By the time I had recovered a bit, and the timer went off, the butter was all melted. Stir in the butter. Add milk, and grated cheese. Stir until a nice consistency is reached. No mashing required! Cool, huh? I had nice creamy, cheesy potatoes and all I did was stir in all my goodies.
6. To the rest of the ground beef, add the corn, tomato sauce, some salt and stir it all up. I used a slotted spoon out the beef into another deep pan (5 qt or more) and then poured about half the ground beef juices into the now fairly dry beef. Test your seasonings now, as we are putting 3 of these together.
7. In 3 8x8x2 square pans (or whatever you have) put a layer (1/2 way up) of ground beef mixture. Then top with mashed potatoes. Done. 3 more dinners out of the way. Make sure every thing is cool before you put it in the freezer. Cover the casseroles with plastic wrap, label and freeze. (Ok, I put 2 in the fridge. One for tonight, and 1 for tomorrow). WOWEE, now we have 4 dinners done.
8. Put the remaining ground beef in a gallon sized freezer bag, squeeze out the air, label and freeze. Mine was cool enough at this point to freeze.
Eating Day
1. Shepherd's Pie. Thaw in fridge overnight. Put in a 350 degree oven (I never preheat) until potatoes are golden brown on top, and meat part is bubbly. It's a complete meal in one pot.
2. Chili Baked Taters. Thaw in fridge overnight. Scrub and bake enough potatoes for your crew. Warm up beef mixture in a small pan and check your seasonings. Grate a bit of cheese (only you know how much you guys want, for us, about 6 ounces is about right. We love cheese.) When potatoes are done (I use the microwave, it's quick), split them in 1/2 lengthwise and put on serving plates. Split the beef evenly between the potatoes, top with cheese, sour cream if you want and serve.
3. Leftover meat filling and rice or pasta. Thaw in fridge overnight. Kinda depends on what we have available. I actually have both this week, but we'll figure it out later. Make enough rice for your crew, while that's cooling warm up the beef mixture. Serve beef over rice.
Discussion.
Ok, just because I'm eating 3 Shepherd's Pies this week doesn't mean you have to. Properly covered, it will keep in the freezer for a couple of months. You can freeze the meat and potatoes separately, thaw and assemble the day of cooking. You can cook one right away if you want.
I used beef today, because guess what, that's what I have. You can use beef, buffalo (VERY low fat), lamb, pork, venison or any combination of the above. You can't beat a mix of pork, venison and beef....that is just pure yum on a plate.
I adjust my seasonings as I go. I know how my family likes things. You don't have to use salt and pepper, you can use any of the green dried herbs you want in the Shepherd's pie mixture (tarragon, basil, parsley, cilantro, oregano, sage, you get the idea). This dish NEVER tastes the same way twice, especially since I tend to make it with what I have in the house. The ingredients I gave are what I had on hand, except the beef, cheese and potatoes. I had my husband buy that yesterday. I try to maximise the different uses out of the minimum of ingredients. You can make 3 different kinds of shepherd's pies, just by seasoning up enough filing for one at a time. I didn't, but I have in the past. Frozen or fresh veggies (thaw the frozen ones first) work just as well as canned, I just had the canned available.
Variations:
1. Serve the chili mix over tortillas instead.
2. Use cornbread batter to top one of the shepherd's pies.
3. Use your imagination!
So, enjoy. Sorry I'm a couple of days late, but I hope you think it's worth it! One of these days, I'll actually remember to take pictures.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Spring Rolls, Better Late Than Never
So, I did promise to put my spring roll recipe here for you guys. But I was playing in the kitchen, and gave you Tex-Mex instead.
We love Asian food in general, Thai food in particular. I was having a craving for Thai, but the places we have gone in the past were either sliding down on the quality scale, or we couldn't afford the trip to the restaurant. So, armed with a Thai/Vietnamese cookbook, I took another foray into yet another unknown frontier.
Spring Rolls w/ Dipping Sauce
6-inch rice wrappers
shredded carrots and jicama
rice vermicelli
assorted meats for filling
Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup fish sauce
1/2 cup rice vinegar
3 - 6 cloves garlic
1/2" to 1" ginger, peeled
2 - 4 T sugar
1. Making dipping sauce early. You can make it the night before if you like. It does get better. Place fish sauce and vinegar in a small bowl. Mince garlic and ginger into sauce. (Or do what I did, put them thru your garlic press!) Add enough sugar to counter the saltiness of the fish sauce. Let the flavors mingle for at least 2 hours before serving
2. Prepare meat. Let me tell you, we had quite the adventure here. We had a week of spring rolls, and they weren't the same any night, just by changing up the meat. Cook and slice 1 chicken breast (yes, for 4 people) or 1 country style beef rib (yes, 4 people again!). Steam or boil shrimp. (I used about 3/4 lb of shrimp boiled in salt water for about 5 minutes. Then I chopped it up finely.) Your imagination is the limit here.
3. Boil about 2 cups of water, and add about 3 ounces of rice vermicelli. No need to be very exact here. Turn off heat. Let the noodles sit for about 10 minutes until soft. Drain. I put them back into the pan tossed with a little sesame oil to keep them from sticking to each other.
4. You need a pan with about 1/2 inch of HOT (110 degree) water. This is to soften those wrappers. Slide the wrapper in, making sure it dunks under the water. It will take 5 to 10 seconds to soften. Remove from water, and place on your working surface. I used a clean cutting board. Put a small amount of your meat, shredded veggies and rice noodle about 1 1/2 inches above the bottom curve of the wrapper. Fold the bottom over the filling, and hold tight. Fold the sides in, and then roll toward the top. Put seam side down on a plate and serve with dipping sauce.
The package of wrappers I got had about 50 rice wrappers in it. That's a LOT of spring rolls, hoss! We made 1 each for the kids, and 2 each for the adults. Served with jasmine rice (THIS is the absolute bomb-diggity, btw), even to Mr. Unstoppable Metabalism, this was plenty of food. These spring rolls aren't HUGE, either. Honestly, we probably ate less in calories, WAY less in fat, and were totally full.
Enjoy!
We love Asian food in general, Thai food in particular. I was having a craving for Thai, but the places we have gone in the past were either sliding down on the quality scale, or we couldn't afford the trip to the restaurant. So, armed with a Thai/Vietnamese cookbook, I took another foray into yet another unknown frontier.
Spring Rolls w/ Dipping Sauce
6-inch rice wrappers
shredded carrots and jicama
rice vermicelli
assorted meats for filling
Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup fish sauce
1/2 cup rice vinegar
3 - 6 cloves garlic
1/2" to 1" ginger, peeled
2 - 4 T sugar
1. Making dipping sauce early. You can make it the night before if you like. It does get better. Place fish sauce and vinegar in a small bowl. Mince garlic and ginger into sauce. (Or do what I did, put them thru your garlic press!) Add enough sugar to counter the saltiness of the fish sauce. Let the flavors mingle for at least 2 hours before serving
2. Prepare meat. Let me tell you, we had quite the adventure here. We had a week of spring rolls, and they weren't the same any night, just by changing up the meat. Cook and slice 1 chicken breast (yes, for 4 people) or 1 country style beef rib (yes, 4 people again!). Steam or boil shrimp. (I used about 3/4 lb of shrimp boiled in salt water for about 5 minutes. Then I chopped it up finely.) Your imagination is the limit here.
3. Boil about 2 cups of water, and add about 3 ounces of rice vermicelli. No need to be very exact here. Turn off heat. Let the noodles sit for about 10 minutes until soft. Drain. I put them back into the pan tossed with a little sesame oil to keep them from sticking to each other.
4. You need a pan with about 1/2 inch of HOT (110 degree) water. This is to soften those wrappers. Slide the wrapper in, making sure it dunks under the water. It will take 5 to 10 seconds to soften. Remove from water, and place on your working surface. I used a clean cutting board. Put a small amount of your meat, shredded veggies and rice noodle about 1 1/2 inches above the bottom curve of the wrapper. Fold the bottom over the filling, and hold tight. Fold the sides in, and then roll toward the top. Put seam side down on a plate and serve with dipping sauce.
The package of wrappers I got had about 50 rice wrappers in it. That's a LOT of spring rolls, hoss! We made 1 each for the kids, and 2 each for the adults. Served with jasmine rice (THIS is the absolute bomb-diggity, btw), even to Mr. Unstoppable Metabalism, this was plenty of food. These spring rolls aren't HUGE, either. Honestly, we probably ate less in calories, WAY less in fat, and were totally full.
Enjoy!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Tortillas, How I Love Thee
I know, I know, I promised Spring Rolls. And I promised Friday...but life got in the way, and these tie in so nicely to last weeks bonus recipes, that I don't feel bad. Much.
We love Tex-Mex. I have my own quesadilla recipe, the base of which serves as the base for much of my cooking. Chili, fajitas, quesadillas, you name it. Anything Tex-Mex-y is fair game. But you know, tortillas form the base for much of what we use that recipe on, in and around. We love flour tortillas, but frankly, buying by the 8 pack is cost prohibitive. Honestly, these things are just flour and a bit of other stuff, so why do I have to pay so much for them? I decided to stop making the tortilla company rich, and make my own.
So, I did what I always do. Scoured the net for recipes to adapt to my way of thinking. Unfortunately, there are 2 camps for tortilla making. One camp uses a decent amount of lard or Crisco, the other uses almost no fat what-so-ever. Ever being the scientist, I decided to perform the experiment. I hypothesized that the low-fat tortillas would be blah, and not what we wanted, and the ones made with Crisco would be yummy.
Next step, design the experiment. Simple enough, make two sets of tortillas. Eat them. Decide which are better. This is subjective, and perhaps not quite scientific, but hey, it's about food, right? Pure science this is not.
Here are the two recipes, adapted for our use, with their notes. Don't let the "F" word scare you. Fat, in moderation, is no more a problem in one's diet than anything else.
Low-fat or Texas-style Tortillas
2 cups all-purpose flour (I routinely use unbleached, personal principle)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt (I use Kosher, again personal principle)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil (cheap stuff here)
3/4 cup warm milk (whole milk, I'd use raw if I had it)
1. Mix the dry ingredients together. Add vegetable oil. Slowly add milk. Stir until a loose, sticky ball forms.
2. Knead for 2 minutes on a floured surface. The resulting ball will be firm and soft.
3. Place dough in a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap or damp cloth. Let rest for 20 minutes.
4. Divide dough into 8 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball. Cover once more with plastic wrap or damp cloth, rest for 10 minutes.
5. Heat griddle. You want this thing hot, but don't burn down your house.
6. While griddle is heating, roll out first ball of dough. In my experiments (I made this recipe twice), six to seven inches is about as big as I can get it and keep it round. I have a lousy rolling pin. Flour the pin and rolling surface lightly to prevent sticking.
7. Place tortilla on hot griddle.
8. Roll out next tortilla. Flip the tortilla on the griddle as it browns on the underside and starts bubbling as the air inside expands. Cook on second side for about 30 or so seconds until desired brownness is achieved. Remove from griddle and set aside to cool on a rack.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 until you are finished.
10. Serve as desired.
Oh, my goodness, these were so good. Chewy, delicious. Filled with refried beans and the aforementioned Tex-Mex base, grated cheese and sour cream....Yummy!
Fat Version
2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Crisco or lard (I used Crisco. The local grocery doesn't carry lard.)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup warm water.
1. Mix flour, salt and baking powder.
2. Cut in Crisco
3. Follow the directions as above. Really, it's simple.
These roll out to 8 inches fairly easily, and 10 inches is do-able. They were not as nice a texture as the Texas version was, and needed some more salt. Adjust to your taste. I will have home-rendered lard this fall, so that may make a bit of a difference.
Rest assured, I will be conducting more experiments to determine the best ratios for our tastes. Use the base, adjust according to your tastes, really. It's not rocket science. And 99.99% of the time you can eat your mistakes! They may not be perfect, and honestly, I very, very rarely have anything come out so bad as to not be repeated. Ever. Twice in 10 years of marriage. Not a bad thing, really. There have been many things I've told my husband he is not to make again. Ever.
We love Tex-Mex. I have my own quesadilla recipe, the base of which serves as the base for much of my cooking. Chili, fajitas, quesadillas, you name it. Anything Tex-Mex-y is fair game. But you know, tortillas form the base for much of what we use that recipe on, in and around. We love flour tortillas, but frankly, buying by the 8 pack is cost prohibitive. Honestly, these things are just flour and a bit of other stuff, so why do I have to pay so much for them? I decided to stop making the tortilla company rich, and make my own.
So, I did what I always do. Scoured the net for recipes to adapt to my way of thinking. Unfortunately, there are 2 camps for tortilla making. One camp uses a decent amount of lard or Crisco, the other uses almost no fat what-so-ever. Ever being the scientist, I decided to perform the experiment. I hypothesized that the low-fat tortillas would be blah, and not what we wanted, and the ones made with Crisco would be yummy.
Next step, design the experiment. Simple enough, make two sets of tortillas. Eat them. Decide which are better. This is subjective, and perhaps not quite scientific, but hey, it's about food, right? Pure science this is not.
Here are the two recipes, adapted for our use, with their notes. Don't let the "F" word scare you. Fat, in moderation, is no more a problem in one's diet than anything else.
Low-fat or Texas-style Tortillas
2 cups all-purpose flour (I routinely use unbleached, personal principle)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt (I use Kosher, again personal principle)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil (cheap stuff here)
3/4 cup warm milk (whole milk, I'd use raw if I had it)
1. Mix the dry ingredients together. Add vegetable oil. Slowly add milk. Stir until a loose, sticky ball forms.
2. Knead for 2 minutes on a floured surface. The resulting ball will be firm and soft.
3. Place dough in a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap or damp cloth. Let rest for 20 minutes.
4. Divide dough into 8 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball. Cover once more with plastic wrap or damp cloth, rest for 10 minutes.
5. Heat griddle. You want this thing hot, but don't burn down your house.
6. While griddle is heating, roll out first ball of dough. In my experiments (I made this recipe twice), six to seven inches is about as big as I can get it and keep it round. I have a lousy rolling pin. Flour the pin and rolling surface lightly to prevent sticking.
7. Place tortilla on hot griddle.
8. Roll out next tortilla. Flip the tortilla on the griddle as it browns on the underside and starts bubbling as the air inside expands. Cook on second side for about 30 or so seconds until desired brownness is achieved. Remove from griddle and set aside to cool on a rack.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 until you are finished.
10. Serve as desired.
Oh, my goodness, these were so good. Chewy, delicious. Filled with refried beans and the aforementioned Tex-Mex base, grated cheese and sour cream....Yummy!
Fat Version
2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Crisco or lard (I used Crisco. The local grocery doesn't carry lard.)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup warm water.
1. Mix flour, salt and baking powder.
2. Cut in Crisco
3. Follow the directions as above. Really, it's simple.
These roll out to 8 inches fairly easily, and 10 inches is do-able. They were not as nice a texture as the Texas version was, and needed some more salt. Adjust to your taste. I will have home-rendered lard this fall, so that may make a bit of a difference.
Rest assured, I will be conducting more experiments to determine the best ratios for our tastes. Use the base, adjust according to your tastes, really. It's not rocket science. And 99.99% of the time you can eat your mistakes! They may not be perfect, and honestly, I very, very rarely have anything come out so bad as to not be repeated. Ever. Twice in 10 years of marriage. Not a bad thing, really. There have been many things I've told my husband he is not to make again. Ever.
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