Pot Roast- so easy it ought to be illegal

My husband's all time favorite meal is beef roast with potatoes and carrots.  That tender beef that has been studded with garlic cloves and is so moist and tender you can cut it with your fork. 
I found a new way to cook a chuck roast that is so easy, it should be illegal.  It comes out of the oven with the gravy already made, and you can not believe how almost fall apart tender it is. 
I really like roast, because I can brown it and stick it in the oven, and then not be stuck in the kitchen watching over things until it's done.  I feel really good when Don comes in the door, and tells me he could smell the yummy roast before he came into the house.  It pleases me to please him!
I have several of my Dad's old cast iron pots.  I love them because they are hand hammered, and have been sized so many times, they are easy to cook  in and clean.  I have one big skillet, that must have been used for chicken frying, or such.  Not quite as deep as a dutch oven, but wider.  That is what I use for pot roast. 
It is a beautiful thing to go to the oven and pull out a roast bubbling in rich gravy and nestled with tender meat flavor infused potatoes. 


Pot Roast and Potatoes

2 T olive oil
1 3 lb (about) chuck roast
4 potatoes peeled quartered longways
1 onion peeled and cut in wedges
2 C beef stock
3 heaping T cornstarch
10 cloves peeled garlic
2 fresh bay leaves
1 stalk fresh rosemary

Salt and pepper roast on both sides.  Make slits in the meat and insert the garlic cloves on both sides.  In a large dutch oven or chicken fryer (oven safe),  brown both sides of the roast in oil.  Remove to a plate.   In the measuring cup, whisk together the beef stock and cornstarch until it is a slurry.  Add to the pan and with a spatula, scrape up the browned bits.  Turn off the burner, and add the roast and vegetables back in.  Tuck a couple bay leaves down into the broth, and top the roast with a whole sprig of rosemary.  Cover and bake at 310*F for two and a half to three hours.

Hamburger Helper Can Kiss My Ass, or Swedish Hamburger Stroganoff?

When we were first married and lived so far from town, we relied on deer meat, antelope, and the beef provided as part of our wages as our protien sources.  When our portion of beef was delivered, I tried to use the best of what we had first, and then the lesser cuts of meat.  This is an old practice so that you are always serving the best of what you have, but also very smart, as the best, highest cost cuts were used before they could get freezer burnt.  The nice steaks, and big roasts were used up, then the brisket, the stew meat, and finally the ground meat. 
The same was true of the wild game we had.  At the end of the meat, while we waited for the next butchering, or for hunting season, we were stuck eating a lot of beans, macaroni and ground meat.
It was tempting to buy prepackaged mixes like Hamburger Helper to use up the ground meat.  You can only eat so much meatloaf, spaghetti and meatballs, and hamburgers before you tire of them.  With little ones, it was nice to have one dish meals that included some kind of pasta and vegetables, and was easy to eat for kids just starting to eat "real" food, instead of baby food. 
I quickly learned that so called convenience food isn't all it's cracked up to be.  It NEVER looks the same as the picture on the package.  It's always over salty, and often the pasta is broken and old.  You can't get whole wheat pasta either, and dehydrated vegetables are just for show, not for nutrition.  With my well stocked pantry, freezer and fridge, I can prepare a much superior fresh product in the same amount of time, and for pennies to the dollar for what prepackaged foods cost.
We had this one dish hamburger stroganoff for supper tonight, and it is very tasty and filling.  after feeding the three of us, we have two quarts of it left over:  one for lunches for Don and the babies, and one to stick in the freezer for nights when I don't want to cook.  Other than the pound of hamburger, I had all the other ingredients either in the fridge or the pantry.  
(I bought the hamburger because it was on sale for $1.99, but I could have used ground turkey, or ground lamb that I have in the freezer.)
This is a method of cooking, you can use this method to make all sorts of ground meat meals.  For instance, I have made it with rigatoni, mixed with a bechamel sauce (milk gravy) and topped with a bolognese sauce (I call it Lasagna Casserole), or you could use taco seasoning, and a sour cream, enchilada sauce type gravy.  It also works with stir fry vegetables and soba noodles.

I can't decide what to name it.  What do you think? 

Hamburger Helper Can Kiss My Ass, or Swedish Hamburger Stroganoff

1 package cooked and drained whole wheat egg noodles
1 pound ground beef
1 onion diced
3 celery stalks diced
4 carrots peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp minced rosemary
salt and pepper
While you make the meat mixture, boil and drain the pasta, and reserve it for later.  In a large dutch oven or skillet, saute the celery, carrots and onions until the onions are translucent.  Add the ground beef, garlic and seasonings.  When the meat is all browned, remove to a bowl and in the empty pot, make a rue.  Add:
2 T butter
2 T flour
Cook flour and butter with a whisk until butter is melted and flour is slightly golden and smells nutty.
Add:
1 1/2 C beef stock
Add the stock a little at a time, whisking to stir out the lumps, and adding more stock as it comes together and tightens up. 
Add:
2 C buttermilk (or regular milk is fine)
1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
Add the milk slowly also.  Cook stirring constantly over high heat until it comes to a boil and thickens to a heavy gravy consistency.  Turn off the heat, and add the meat and vegetable mixture, and add:
1 C light sour cream
1 T worchestershire
3 T chopped fresh dill
Combine with the cooked pasta. 

I hope you'll try it, it's delicious!  It tastes a lot like my mother's Swedish Meatballs.

Turbo Cooking: Meatball Mixture

I like to "turbo cook".  I like to buy bulk items, like a five pound package of ground beef, or a whole pork loin, and make several entrees out of it.  Yesterday, I thawed out a huge package of ground beef I bought this summer when it was on sale.  Out of it, I made a meatball mixture.  Out of this general recipe, I can add ingredients and make several different meals.
My batch of meatball mixture made enough meatballs to fill a jelly roll sized pan for cooking, and extra to make stuffed peppers.  I cooked off all the meatballs, and now that they are cooled, I can put them on a baking sheet, and freeze them, and then pop them in a zip lock bag and they will be seperate instead of frozen in a big lump.  I can pull out just enough for a meatball sub sandwich, or enough to make sweet and sour meatball dinner, or spaghetti and meatballs for a quick supper meal.
I use only grated onion in my meatballs, and I get this using the largest holes on the box grater.  You could certainly just waz up wedges of the onion in the food processor until you have a watery pulp.  It seems to make a moister more delicate meatball than chopped onion.
I usually don't measure when I make meatballs.  The meat is sometimes drier than others, and it is about getting the correct texture of a sticky "dough" that has enough bread crumbs in it to hold together and keep it's shape.  I may start with only 1 cup of breadcrumbs, and gently mix, and then add more breadcrumbs to make it the right consistency.  If you get your meatballs too dry, just add more Worchestershire, or a little beef stock, or more tomato paste. 

Meatball Mother Recipe

5# ground beef
small can of tomato paste, or 1/4 C catsup
3 T Worchestershire sauce
1 yellow onion, grated
2 T minced garlic
2 eggs
about 2 C Italian bread crumbs
1 tsp adobo seasoning
salt and pepper, or I use Mrs. Dash

Mix all ingredients until you achieve a sticky "dough" that will hold it's shape.  Fashion into golf ball sized meatballs, and  place in a greased pan.  Drizzle with more Worchestershire sauce, and 2 C red wine.  You can also top with v-8 or tomato juice.  You only want the liquid to come up no more than 1/3 of the way on the meatballs.  Cover with foil, and bake at 400*F for one hour.

I had about two pounds of meatball mixture left over, after filling a jelly roll sized pan with meatballs.  I can do several things with it: 
Creamy Cabbage Rolls:  I can add raw rice, and more tomato paste, and some marjoram, thyme and red pepper flakes.  I can roll this mixture up in blanched cabbage and cover it  with a can of evaporated milk mixed with a package of onion soup mix and parmesan cheese to top it.  It goes in the oven covered in foil, and bakes at 400*F for one hour. 
Salisbury Steak:  I can form the meat into oblong patties and fry it in the skillet.  This would get topped with a beef and mushroom gravy for Salisbury steak.
Oat Meatloaf with Waterchestnuts:  I can add another can of paste, a C of rolled oats, and a drained can of waterchestnuts that I have chopped to make a great meatloaf. Bake in the oven at 400*F for one hour.
Stuffed Peppers:  Last night, I chose to make stuffed peppers.  I shaved a small bit off the bottom of cleaned whole peppers that I took the tops off of, and filled them with the meatball mix.  After the peppers were full, I added 1/2 inch water to the bottom of the pan.  Cover with foil, and bake at 400*F for one hour.  There are many ways to top these.  I kept the lids intact, with the seed part removed, so I just cooked them with the tops on.  I could have topped them with buttered breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese, or I could have placed a piece of good swiss cheese over them the last few minutes of baking. 

Burgundy Beef Ribs

I have no stamina for shopping any more.  I used to be able to go all day, and still have energy left to burn when I got home.  Now, we go to one or two stores, and I'm done for. 
It didn't help that we went out to lunch yesterday before we went shopping.  We ate at our favorite Chinese place.  They have a buffet at lunch time, so it is a quick lunch with awesome food.  Only problem is, I ate carbs, and was so sleepy by the time we left, I lost my passion for shopping.  I only got half my shopping done for the next couple weeks. 
I'll have to finish up sometime this weekend, which will be tricky, as we are teaching horsemanship at the college.
I like to sit down with the sale circulars on Wednesday, and make my menu and list for shopping.  I have done this for so many years, it is a quick bit of work to get it done, usually.  Sometimes I struggle to come up with ideas for something different, but if I browse through a couple cookbooks, I can usually find something. 
I sometimes make a special trip to another grocery store to pick up good buys on things, but I mostly shop at the Safeway down the street.  I did some cost studies on a typical grocery list a couple years ago, and although I could get items cheaper by traveling to Riverton to buy them, the savings was lost in time and travel. 
At Thanksgiving time, there are some incredible specials, so I made an exception yesterday, and went to another grocery store to get a few things.  They had frozen turkey breasts on sale for $1.89.  We buy a lot of rotisserie turkey at our grocery store, to make sandwiches, and to make stock from the bones.  These frozen ones are significantly cheaper, so I bought as many as I could.  No one wants to cook a whole turkey often, but it is no problem to just cook these breast portions.  They also had leg/thigh portions for cheaper.  They make wonderful turkey enchiladas, and the bones yeild a lot of stock for every day cooking. 
Along with the turkey, they had boneless beef ribs on special sale.  We brought home a family sized package, and I made this dish for supper.  It made way more than we could eat, but it is so tender from long cooking, and I will be able to use the leftovers for more meals. 
I love the flavor of meat cooked in wine.  Luckily, my favorite brand of wine, Bogle is on sale this week, too!  I picked a full bodied Merlot to use for this dish.  Any good red wine that you like to drink would work, too. 

Burgundy Beef Ribs

1/2-1 C flour
1 tsp grill seasoning, or salt and pepper to taste
2 # boneless beef ribs
2 onions sliced thinly
1 bag frozen pearl onions
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1 T minced garlic
2 T Worchestershire sauce
2 1/2 C beef stock
3 C wine
2 T dredging flour
Pasta
Frozen peas

Dredge ribs in flour mixed with grill seasoning.  In a large deep sided skillet, or dutch oven brown ribs well in oil.  Set aside.  Add sliced onions and brown.  In a measuring cup, mix 1 C beef stock with 2 heaping T of the dredging flour.  Whisk until smooth.  Add to pan to deglaze, and scrape up bits.  Add remaining beef stock, and wine.  Heat to boiling, and adjust liquid to make a medium bodied gravy.  Add pear onions, and herbs and garlic.  Carefully slide the browned ribs back into the pot, and cover and move to the oven.  Bake at 350*F for three hours.  Adjust seasoning before serving, as this will change in flavor and salt level during the long cooking. 
I served this with some homemade style pasta.  I placed a half a bag of frozen peas in the colander, and poured the cooked pasta and water over it.  The boiling water is just right for defrosting and warming up the peas without making them taste starchy and lose their color from overcooking.  Top the pasta and peas with the wine gravy, and a couple falling apart tender ribs. 

Corn Beef Hash and Creamed Corn with Poached Eggs

Help!  Comfort food is needed!  We had quite a day here.  One of those where you keep working, and can't seem to make any headway.  I just got a call from my husband, and he's having a similar day.  He won't be home for another three hours.
That kind of ruined the plans I had to eat at our favorite steakhouse!  I cleaned out the fridge today, in preparation of my biweekly shopping day tomorrow, so I hadn't thawed anything out.  I just don't want pizza, we splurged on that last week. 
I was watching Rachel Rae while waiting for my kids to go home, and she was making a Ratatouille with poached eggs on top, and it reminded me of this dish we used to eat often when we were first married, and had chickens and lots of eggs to use up.  It is so easy, and is a wonderful comfort food.  Just what we need!  It will heat up nicely when my husband finally gets here, too!

Corn Beef Hash and Creamed Corn Casserole with Poached Eggs
In a square baking dish that has been buttered, mix a can of corn beef hash with a can of creamed corn.  Bake in a preheated 350*F oven until it gets bubbly, about fifteen minutes.  Top with raw eggs, and return to the oven just until eggs are set.  Serve with boiled cabbage, or buttered dark rye toast. 
Easily doubled, and makes a great brunch for guys who are coming in from the cold.  It really warms up the tummy!

Rocky Mountain Oysters and Homemade Cocktail Sauce

It was a beautiful day to brand today at the homestead.  Not too hot, and just enough breeze to get the smoke to go away from the people.  We had a wonderful time.
I was honored to be given the "spoils of war" as it were, the nut bucket from the branding.
Cooking Rocky Mountain Oysters, or bull calf testicles, is a labor intensive chore, to say the least!  It involves much cleaning, and removal of the outer membrane, and the testicle chords to reveal the tender inner meat of the testicle.  I like to butterfly mine open, soak them in a buttermilk solution, and roll them in Panko.  We deep fry them in lard and serve them hot sprinkled with a little salt and my easy cocktail sauce.

Deep Fried Rocky Mountain Oysters

2 -3 lbs beef calf testicles that have been cleaned and the outer membrane removed, and butterflied open.  Soak in the following mixture for ten minutes:
1/4 C approx buttermilk
1/4 C approx Frank's hot sauce (don't worry, they will be mild, the vinegar in the sauce tenderizes some)
2 heaping T minced garlic
Cracked pepper
While the nuts are soaking, heat enough lard in a large cast iron pan to equal 2 inches of melted fat.  Remove the nuts from the soaking liquid with a slotted spoon, and roll in Panko.  Panko is a Japanese rice bread crumb, but you can substitute regular bread crumbs instead.  Lay out on a baking dish, and season with Mrs. Dash garlic and herb.  Fry in batches for two minutes in the hot oil, or until golden brown and crispy.  Remove to a dish, and salt while hot.  Serve hot with cocktail sauce

Homemade Cocktail Sauce
3 heaping T prepared horseradish
1/3 C tomato ketchup

Braised Sweet and Sour Beef-Sirloin cooked in the oven with a delicious tangy sauce

This recipe is the blending of two into one.  A sweet and sour sauce, and a slow cooked sirloin recipe.  I served it with white rice.  Very easy recipe, and smells amazing in the oven! I happened to have sirloin, but would work equally well with chuck, or a 7 bone roast.  You might need to increase the cook time for a thicker cut of meat.  The sauce becomes sticky and mixes with the beef juices during the long cooking time, and the meat is very tender.  One of my family's new favorites.

Braised Sweet and Sour Beef
2 # sirloin steak
2 yellow onions thinly sliced
6 cracked cloves of garlic
pinch of red pepper flake
Preheat oven to 300 *F.  In a deep sided cast iron pan, sweat the onions, garlic and red pepper in oil on medium heat.  When they become soft and opaque, scrape the oil and onions mix into a medium sized mixing bowl. Place sirloin in pan you cooked the onions in.  
To the mixing bowl add :
1 12 oz can tomato paste
1/4 C brown sugar (I use splenda brown sugar instead)
1/3 C cider vinegar
2 C beef stock
Whisk together until combined and pour over steak.  Season with salt and pepper.  Bake for 2 hours.  In the last ten minutes, top steak with thinly sliced green pepper rings.  Serve meat and sauce with white rice.
Four large servings, or six normal ones

Chianti Braised Short Ribs with Crockpot Mushroom Risotto

When we go to Salt Lake, or to Casper to shop, we usually eat at Olive Garden at least once while we are there.  We discovered their Braised Short Ribs, that are served with a delicious mushroom risotto.  Here is my version I created at home.
Even though it is served at an Italian resterant, it is a typical French type of recipe:  browning meat with bacon fat, and braising in wine.  Much similar to the Coq au Vin I posted in my last entry!

Braised Chianti Short Ribs
4 slices of bacon cut into lardons (cut crossways into little strips)
2 lb beef boneless short ribs
1/2 tsp rosemary
2 cloves garlic
2 C pearl onions (scald in boiling water for 30 seconds, and place in ice water to peel)
bottle of Chianti wine
Dredge ribs in a little flour, salt and pepper.  In a dutch oven, fry the bacon pieces and then brown ribs in the fat.  Add just enough Chianti to come 2/3 of the way up the ribs.  Add dried rosemary you've rubbed to crush in your palm, onions and cracked garlic cloves that are peeled.  Using a spatula, scrape under the ribs to release the brown bits into the wine, and spoon wine over the top of the ribs.  Cover and bake in the oven for two hours at 350 *F. 

The risotto is a slow cooker recipe, but takes the same amount of time as the ribs.  This is not a true risotto, because you don't stand stirring the pot constantly, and adding more liquid in small batches.  It is, however delicious, and easily made in the crock pot!  You just need to stir it about every half an hour, and then every ten minutes the last half an hour.

Slow Cooker Mushroom Risotto
5 C Beef or Chicken Stock
2 C Arborio Rice
1 pkg. dehydrated cream soup mix like mushroom, or cream of chicken
2 C sliced button mushrooms
2 T butter
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp marjoram
right before serving:  add in 1/2 C grated Parmesan Cheese

In a skillet, brown mushrooms in oil until golden.  Place in slow cooker with other ingredients.  Cook on high setting, stirring every 1/2 hour, and then every ten minutes the last half hour.

Chicken Cheep!

I had a couple chicken carcasses left from eating roast chicken this week, so I put them on to make stock on Thursday.  All that was left was the meat left after carving, and the wings from two carcasses, and I ended up with five extra quarts of stock for my freezer, and this wonderful supper for last night. 
If you have not tried the Gnocchi hermetically sealed in packages and found in the pasta isle, you really should.  This is a wonderful product, fluffy light pillows of potato dumpling goodness!  They only take a second to make, so can be a ten minute meal when you drop them in some boiling stock, or as a great side dish cooked in boiling water just until they float, and then toasted with butter and sage in a frying pan. 
Life is what happens when you are making other plans, and Thursday I had the chance to go with my Don to Thermopolis last minute.  Well, as last minute as you can be with two babies, and the need to get supper going in the crockpot! 
I quickly put my chicken and vegetables in the crockpot, and grabbed fruit and yogurt and sandwich supplies, and we headed out the door.  We had a wonderful picnic in Hot Springs State Park, and got to visit with our good friends at The White Horse Country Store.  The kids had great fun sliding and climbing in the park.

Chicken and Gnocchi
1 C cooked chicken, shredded
1 yellow onion diced
1 C celery diced including leaves
4 large carrots peeled and diced
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried basil
2 bay leaves
pinch of red pepper flakes
2 quarts/boxes of chicken stock
Place all ingredients into a cold crock pot,  then make the gravy.
Chicken Gravy:
2 T butter melted
2 T flour
2 tsp chicken and tomato soup base
2 T garlic
cook butter, flour, garlic and soup base in a skillet until it smells nutty and foam subsides.  Add slowly while whisking: about 1 quart of chicken or beef stock, or until a thick pudding like consistency is achieved.  Add 1 C milk, whisk and remove from heat.  Stir gravy into crockpot, and cook on low 10-12 hours.  Add gnocchi during last 1/2 hour of cooking, and right before serving top with chopped parsley. 

Our leftover beef for sandwiches will make a great hot lunch today!

Hot Beef Sandwiches
6-8 slices leftover roast beef
2 T butter and flour browned in a skillet
1 quart/box of beef broth
Toasted Day Old Bread

In a large skillet, brown the butter and flour until they smell nutty.  With a whisk, add the broth a little at a time until a medium gravy is achieved.  Slide the beef into the gravy and heat on medium high until warmed through.  Toast bread, and top with beef and gravy.  I will serve this with steamed green beans, and sliced vine ripe tomatoes with balsamic and oil on them.  A ten minute lunch, and my husband gets his favorite food- GRAVY!

Potato Tomato and Bacon Salad, Some Homemade Dressings, Homemade Custard and a Hamburger Potato Casserole

We got home late last evening from a wonderful weekend away.  I had figured that we might be home late, and knew we would be too tired to really cook, so I had ready a package of minute sirlion steaks, and had my son bake a bunch of potatoes in the oven earlier in the week.  It took no time to grill the steak, and put together this tasty salad.  I used feta cheese, but I think it would be delicious with gorganzola or some other kind of bleu cheese also.

Baked Potato, Tomato and Bacon Salad
4 slices cooked bacon (I used turkey bacon left over) diced in small squares
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
4-5 potatoes that have been scrubbed, greased with Crisco and baked in foil for 1 hour.  Cool and dice
4 fresh tomatoes cut in wedges
1/4 C feta cheese crumbled
In a large bowl place salad ingredients.  Top with dressing and toss.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
Mustard Viniagrette
2 T Mustard
1/3 C red wine vinegar
3 T olive oil
2 tsp grill seasoning
1 tsp dried basil
Whisk together until emulsified, and pour over above ingredients.

I am totally out of dressing for salads, so that is my restocking task today.  Often I make a quick oil and vinegar based dressing right before the meal, but I do like to put salad in Don's lunch, and so I need to have something on hand for that.  If you put the salad dressing in the bottom of the tupperware, a salad stored for lunch will stay fairly crisp, instead of putting the dressing on the top, and having the lettuce wilt. 

Ruby Dressing
1/4 C sugar or splenda
1/4 C cider vinegar
3 T catsup
1 T Worcestershire Sauce
1 medium onion
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
Chunk up the onion, and in a blender or with an immersion blender, combine the above ingredients.  Stream in 1/2 C oil and blend until smooth. 
This dressing is bold enough to serve with a steak salad.  It is also good served over spinach topped with hard boiled eggs and crumbled bacon. This also makes a good dipping sauce for kebabs. 


Orange Avocado Dressing
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
juice from one lemon
juice from one medium orange
1 whole avocado chunked
1/4 C plain yogurt
1/8 tsp dry mustard
pinch of salt and ground pepper
In the blender, or a quart jar with an immersion blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth.  Store covered in the refrigerator with a tight lid.  You can substitute mayo for the yogurt, and if you don't have, or like avocado, you could use zucchini, spinach or even cucumber. 

Tequila Lime Dressing for Fruit Salad
2 T good Tequila
juice from 2 limes and their zest
1 C fresh mint leaves chopped
1/4 C fresh basil (optional)
1/4 C agave nectar, or honey

Mix together dressing and top a salad of watermelon, honeydew melon, or cantaloupe.  You can make it with watermelon, and jicama peeled and cut into small dice.

I need to make snacks for Don's lunch and for the babies during the week.  This is one of my snacks for this week's lunches:

Vanilla Custard
1/4 C sugar or splenda
2 T cornstarch
1/4 T salt
1 raw egg
Mix together in a double boiler.  If you don't have one, place a glass or stainless steel bowl over your saucepan that you have 1 inch of water simmering in.    Gradually stir in 2 C of whole or 2 % milk with a whisk.  Cook over medium heat until mixture boils.  Let it boil 1 minute, and then add 1 T butter, and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and remove from the heat.  Let cool and cover top with a piece of saran right on the custard.  This keeps it from developing a pudding skin.

I lack any real motivation to cook today, as I am tired from my trip.  I love this easy casserole.  I have leftover mushroom gravy, so I will use that, but you could use a can of store bought mushroom soup instead.  I love that you don't have to brown the meat ahead of time in this casserole!

Hamburger Potato Casserole 
1 pound ground meat
1 large onion sliced
1 can/pint of green beans drained of their liquid
2 large potatoes scrubbed and sliced in thin slices
1 1/2 C gravy (I have mushroom) or 1 can cream of mushroom soup
salt and pepper to taste.

In the bottom of a 9x13 pan, or covered casserole, crumble raw burger and season with salt and pepper. Layer green beans, sliced potatoes and onion slices over the beef.  Top with mushroom gravy, and cover.  Bake at 375*F for one hour.   
You could make this with diced butternut squash, sliced eggplant, frozen peas and carrots, or a can of drained stewed tomatoes in place of the green beans. 


 

More of the Week's Menu at a Glance: Caldo y' Pollo, BBQ Lamb Meatballs, Bisquick Pizza, Lamb Dardanella, Chicken Wings

Here are the rest of this week's recipes.  The main lamb dishes, a soup, and my version of chicken wings with less fat, and not fried. 
It has been a great week, as we are down to one ewe left to lamb, and she isn't going to do that for a while yet.  It has been really warm, so it was a trick to get the hay delivered to the pen, as it was soft and muddy from all the snow melt.  I was happy to go get hay, as it meant a rare meal out at the Bull Steakhouse.  They have an awesome prime rib sandwich!
As kids, we all loved it when we had pizza.  Now, I'm not talking about Pizza Hut, or Dominoes.  We didn't have such things here then.  I mean thick crusted hamburger pizza made with bisquick.  We missed having this for eating out, but here is the recipe:

Bisquick Pizza
2 1/4 C bisquick baking mix
1/4 C cornmeal
2/3 C milk
Mix together, and press into a baking sheet  that is coated with oil. Dock, or use your fingers to dent the dough and bake at 450*F for 8 minutes, or until it starts to brown.  Take it out of the oven, and top with tomato sauce sprinkled with a tsp of dried basil, a pinch of red pepper, and coarse salt and pepper. Add your favorite toppings.  Traditionally, we ate this with browned hamburger, onions and mozzarella cheese. Put it back in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

BBQ Lamb Meatballs

3 pounds ground lamb
1 C buttermilk
1 C dry oatmeal
1 C cracker crumbs
2 eggs
1/2 onion grated
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp chili powder
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients lightly.  Form into small meatballs, walnut size, and place in a large roaster, or casserole that has been greased.  Cover with sauce.
Sauce:
2 C catsup
1/2 C brown sugar, I use splenda brown sugar
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1 T minced garlic
1/2 onion grated
1 chipotle chili in adobo finely chopped
In a saucepan, combine above ingredients for sauce, and bring to a boil.  Pour over lamb, and bake at   350*F for one hour.  Great leftover for a meatball sandwich!  Yes, you can substitute beef or ground turkey for lamb. 


Lamb Dardanella
1 large eggplant peeled, diced, salted, and drained
1 large onion diced
2 T olive oil
1 1/2 pounds ground lamb
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp fresh rosemary chopped
1 pint/can of stewed tomatoes
2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 C feta cheese
Heat oven to 350*F.  The original recipe called for American Cheese.  If you like it, go ahead and substitute it for the feta.  After salting, and draining the eggplant, dry it with a paper towel.  This removes any bitter flavor, and keeps it from becoming slimy and too wet in the cooking process.  Brown the eggplant and onion in the oil.  Remove to a casserole, and drain off the oil.  Mix lamb with salt and pepper and rosemary, and form into six patties.  Brown in the skillet, and remove to the casserole.  Top with tomatoes and parsley, and sprinkle cheese over all.  Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.  Serve with flat bread, or potatoes. 

My version of Chicken Wings uses boneless breast and thigh meat instead of the wings.  It is more of a poaching method, and results in very moist morsels without all that fat from frying!

Chicken Wings
2 pounds boneless, skinless breast or thigh meat from chicken
1 C Frank's hotsauce
2 T butter or chicken broth
In a casserole dish with a lid, place chicken meat that you've cut into bite size pieces.  Melt butter in the microwave and mix with hotsauce.  Pour over chicken meat, and season with salt and pepper.  Bake at 400*F for thirty minutes.  You can uncover this, and keep them hot on a low burner on the stove, if your casserole dish is safe for that.  Otherwise, keep uncovered in the oven on low.

Caldo Y Pollo
This soup can be made quickly from leftover cooked chicken.  You could poach the chicken, and shred it to make it from raw chicken also. This is my favorite soup when we go to Sheridan, and eat at Los Agaves.  Here is my version:

2 C shredded  cooked chicken
1 box/quart of chicken stock
1/4 of a yellow onion finely diced
2 tomatoes finely diced
juice of a fresh lime
1 C fresh cilantro leaves
2 Avocados cut in thin wedges

In a stockpot, combine the stock, chicken and vegetables.  Simmer, and adjust for seasoning by adding salt and pepper.  Just before serving, top soup with cilantro, and squeeze  the lime juice.  Add Avocado slices to everyone's bowl. 
 

 

Catch Up Day: Porcupine Meatballs, Lamb Curry, Strata and Spotted Pup

I didn't cook yesterday, so today I am playing catch up.  It wasn't a big deal that I didn't cook, as I had leftover Ballymaloe and my husband treated us to take out pizza for supper.  Those extra meals that I have tucked away in the freezer could have been pulled out and heated up also, instead of eating out.  I wasn't complaining, though. It's nice to eat someone else's cooking once in a while.

When we cook and eat at home, and make homemade lunches for Don, we can have a lot more room in the budget to eat out. We usually we go someplace nice, like our favorite steakhouse, or Chinese or Mexican restaurant rather than eating several times at a fast food place, and eating junk.  

Tonight, we are having breakfast for supper.  I have a whole dozen sourdough rolls that went hard before we could use them, so I needed a recipe that included breadcrumbs or stale bread.  I chose strata, as I had thawed out some turkey sausage to make soup, and it will be delicious with the bread and eggs and vegetables.  

You can use whatever vegetables you like for strata.  Today we will use mushrooms, onions, and roasted red peppers.  

I had hamburger and lamb burger that didn't get used yesterday, so I will make some porcupine meatballs with the beef, and a quick lamb curry for lunch today while I am cooking. 

I am also making some spotted pup.  Spotted pup, or some people call it cowboy pudding, is rice pudding with raisins.  It is a favorite lunch item for my husband to take with him, and the babies love it.  

I make mine with the addition of canned coconut milk, and this time instead of all raisins, I'll be adding in some snipped dried apricots left over from holiday baking. 

It is a good idea when you are turbo cooking many meals at once to pick recipes that have similar ingredients.  For instance today, the spotted pup, the porcupine meatballs and the lamb curry all have rice.  

Often my meals will come from a master recipe.  Like my meat gravy.  I will make a huge batch, and then divide it, and season it differently to make three or four recipes.  I'll make bolognese sauce, sloppy joe filling, taco filling, chili topping for hot dogs, etc...All taste very differently, but have similar ingredients, just different spicing.  Once I've seasoned, I can serve one meal, and freeze the rest in zip lock bags, flat on a cookie sheet, and then store them like books in my freezer.  I can brown three pounds of hamburger , open three cans/quarts of tomatoes, and chop three onions just as easy as one, and so I have saved time in the long run.

Here is my Porcupine balls recipe.  I loved these as a kid, because they come out of the oven with the rice sticking out in all directions, just like a porcupine.  These have a sauce based on grape jelly, and tomatoes.  You can omit the jelly, or in my case, use sugar free.  I might sound weird, mixing catsup and jelly, but you won't be disappointed if you try it! 

Porcupine Meatballs

1-2 pounds ground meat

1/2 C uncooked rice

1/2 yellow onion diced

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp celery salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp pepper

2 T Worcestershire Sauce

1 egg

12-14 crackers crushed (or 1/2 C breadcrumbs, or 1/2 C oatmeal)

Mix together all ingredients.  Form into balls, and place in a 9x13 baking dish that has been greased.  

Top with sauce:

1 C catsup

1 jar grape jelly

add enough hot water to make a thin sauce

Mix with a whisk until well combined and pour over meatballs.  Cover with foil, and bake at 350 F for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  You can also do this in the crock pot on low for eight hours. 

This is my quick curry recipe.  It starts by making a masala of fresh ingredients, blended together in a food processor.  They are then added to browned ground meat.   I am using lamb, but you could use turkey, beef or even cooked fish.  

The stems of fresh cilantro are edible, and extremely flavorful.  They get blended in the masala in this dish, but you could also tie them in a bundle with butcher's string, and add them to soups and stews.  You can also lay them on the cooler side of the outdoor grill when you are cooking meat or vegetables, and let them smoke and add flavor that way. 

Lamb Curry in a Hurry

1 pound ground meat browned

Masala:

2 tomatoes
1 yellow onion
the stems from a bunch of cilantro
1 T or two cloves garlic
1 T garam masala
a pinch of red pepper
1/3 C drained jalapeno chiles
1 tsp curry paste or dried curry

Add all the masala ingredients to a food processor or blender, once it is processed, add it and 1/2 C dried fruit, we used cherries, to the lamb.  Keep on the burner until it is just heated through. Serve this over boiled white rice or for an even quicker version, you can make Couscous with beef broth and a tsp of cumin. 

If you don't have Garam Masala, here is my homemade version: 

Garam Masala

2 T black pepper
4 tsp cumin seeds
1 T coriander seed ground
2 tsp cloves
1  tsp cardamom pods
1 tsp cinnamon

Toast all the spices in a hot dry skillet, and then grind them, or place them in a plastic zip lock when they cool, and smash them with the rolling pin, or a heavy bottomed pan. 

My rock hard sourdough rolls are soaking in a C of buttermilk.  I will crumble them and use them to make my strata.  As long as bread hasn't become moldy, you can certainly use it this way, or bash it into breadcrumbs and store it in the freezer.  

Strata is a great weekend breakfast or brunch, as you can assemble it the night before, and then pull it out of the refrigerator and bake the next morning.  

Strata

1 dozen stale rolls, or enough bread to cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan

soaked in 1 C buttermilk, and crumbled reserving milk

1 pound breakfast sausage browned with

1 pkg sliced mushrooms and

1 diced onion

Add meat mixture to the baking dish and top with

8 eggs scrambled with reserved buttermilk from soaking the bread

Salt and pepper to taste and

Roasted red peppers.

1 tsp dried basil

Bake at 350 covered for one hour. 

I serve this with a hot cheese sauce, a chopped fruit salad and hot fresh coffee. 

Spotted Pup

1 C sugar or splenda

2 C uncooked rice

2 cans coconut milk plus enough regular or canned milk to make 3 quarts

1 pound of raisins 

1 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix all ingredients

I make this in my slow cooker with a plastic liner that I have sprayed with cooking spray.  It needs to cook on low for eight hours.  If would not recommend making it on the stove, as the high sugar content and starch plus milk make for the perfect conditions to scorch.  

You can pour it into a greased 9x13 baking dish, or covered  corning ware casserole, and bake it at 325 F for one hour.  You should put the casserole or covered 9x13 pan in a larger pan and add about an inch or so of  hot water to the larger pan to keep the pudding from scorching.  This is called a Ban Marie.  If you have an oblong crock pot, a roasting rack, and a casserole that will fit in the crock pot, you can add water to the bottom, and cook it in the crock pot Ban Marie style.  Either way, make sure to tightly cover the pudding with foil, or a lid.

Western Rice and Beans, Soup and Sammich, and Using A Raft to Roast

Rice was my Waterloo as a new bride learning to cook for a family.  I usually scorched it, and it came out starchy and clumped together.  Then my wonderful friend and neighbor Grace told me the secret of cooking rice.  It happily has nothing to do with measuring! 
No matter how big the container you are cooking in, nor how much rice you are going to cook, you just need to fill the pot with cold water to cover the rice by 1 inch.  Luckily, we have a handy one inch measuring device close at hand.  That is to say, our thumb from the tip of the thumb to the first joint is one inch.  So, once you pour the water in with the rice, gently shake the pot to level the rice, and measure until you get one inch of water above the rice. 
The next tip she gave me was to really wash the rice in cold running water before cooking.  With the tap running, you fill the pot with water, and carefully pour off the starchy water until the water is mostly clear.  This will ensure your rice cooks up fluffy and not clumpy. 
Once you've rinsed and measured the water, put the pot on the stove on high heat until the water comes to a rolling boil.  Then add a bit of butter and whatever herbs and seasoning you want at this time.  Stir the rice, and cover it with a lid, reducing the heat to a simmer.  Now you need to leave it alone.  Peek after about ten or fifteen minutes, and start testing for doneness.  Once the rice tests done, take it off the heat, and let it sit covered until you are ready to serve.  Then fluff with a fork at the last minute.  If you stir during the simmering process, you will break the rice, and have a clumpy starchy mess.

Managing My Meat Freezer 
We just butchered, so I have put the older meat at the top, and am using it up first.  I have to pay attention to my inventory of meat, and do this rotation, or we will end up throwing out freezer burnt items. I had some bulk turkey sausage packages, so I came up with this Wyoming style version of New Orleans Red Beans and Rice.  All of the ingredients came from either the pantry or freezer, so I will be looking to use this often in my menu planning.

Western Beans and Rice
1 pkg bulk turkey sausage (you could certainly use pork sausage)
1/2 onion
1/2 C finely chopped celery
1 can Pinto Beans with Jalapenos, or you could use pork & beans and a couple pickled jalapenos
2 C V-8 or tomato juice
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp chicken and tomato soup base
Cooked Rice (see above for directions)  I started the rice at the same time as the sausage bean mixture, and they were done about the same time.  I added in 2 T chicken and tomato soup base to the rice, and it came out a rosy color, with really good flavor.
In a large skillet, brown onion and celery in 2 T oil.  Add turkey sausage, and break it up.  When turkey is browned, add tomato juice and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add remaining ingredients, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook uncovered until rice tests done, and liquid has been reduced by 1/3.  To serve ladle hot rice into bowls, and top with meat and bean mixture.  Serve with corn muffins and honey buttah!

Today is soup and sammich day.  I usually have fresh vine ripe tomatoes in a bowl on my counter, and I make this Tomato Bisque when the fresh tomatoes start to get a little soft.  I cut them in half and place them on a baking sheet cut side up, and season with dried basil and salt and pepper.  I drizzle them with olive oil, or spray them with pam, and bake them at 400 F for about fifteen minutes.  They are delicious and once chopped, and added to the tomato juice,  make an awesome deep flavored tomato soup. 
The fresh tomatoes have been crap lately, so I will have to use canned diced tomatoes in their place.

Tomato Soup
4 T olive oil
2 T minced garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp basil
5 whole cloves

1 jug of v-8 or tomato juice
1 large can/quart of diced tomatoes
1/4 C sugar or splenda
salt and pepper to taste
In a large saucepan on medium heat, bring the olive oil and minced garlic up to temperature until the garlic just starts to get golden.  add other spices, and juice and tomatoes.  Add sugar or splenda, and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, and cook for fifteen minutes.
 
The Best Ever Tuna Sammich Filling
2 cans tuna in water drained
1/3 onion grated into the tuna
1 pickle grated, or 2 T pickle relish
1 whole tart apple grated
1/3 C mayonnaise
2 heaping T mustard
handful of caper berries drained
1/2 tsp white pepper
Mix all ingredients and store in an airtight container.  This is better if made ahead.  Today, I will make the sandwiches with spinach wraps, and add thinly sliced red onions, fresh spinach leaves, and some havarti cheese to the filling.  It is really good on dark rye bread with slices of apple, and cream cheese on the bread.

I buy bologna in bulk.  It seems to have a better flavor, lasts a long time, and is so much better sliced fresh.  It is awesome sliced thick and grilled on the grill, but I also like to grind it to make sandwich filling, or for snacking with crackers as an appetizer.  I have a meat grinder attachment to my mixer, but you can certainly use a food processor to make it.
I also use this recipe to use up left over roast or chicken, or salmon.  I just grind the meat the same, and add in the remaining ingredients.  


Cowboy Caviar, or chopped Bologna Sammich Filling
2 C ground bologna
1/2 C shredded or ground cheddar cheese
1/2 onion ground
1 large dill pickle ground
1/2 C mayonaise
3 T stone ground mustard
Store in an airtight container, and use as a sandwich spread, or as a topper for crackers.

Roasting on a Raft
Tonight we are having beef loin.  I had originally thawed out lamb chops to grill, but the weather is nasty, so we will eat this beef loin instead. 
On a shopping day last month, I happened on to a buy one get one free sale of both marinated pork and beef loin wet packs.  I bought several.  With the sale price, I paid only about two dollars for each one.  Since it is wet pack, I will need to drain off the liquid, and pat it dry before browning it.  I will certainly save the liquid to add to the pan later.
To cook it, I will brown it in oil on all sides in my large cast iron skillet.  I will remove it and add in thick slices of onion and the reserved meat marinade juices to the skillet.  This will be the "raft" the meat sits on to roast in the oven. I will then add the browned loin on top, and season with grill seasoning.  This will go in the oven on 450 F for twenty minutes.  I will let it rest for ten minutes before slicing it, and serving it with salad and baked potatoes. 
I could also use other vegetables to make a raft like sliced potatoes, carrots cut in half or celery sticks.  These vegetables will get bathed in meat drippings, and be delicious, and will keep the meat elevated off the surface of the skillet, allowing for more even roasting. 
When I roast a whole chicken, I make it in the skillet on a raft of onions just like this.  I stuff the inside of the chicken with sliced lemons, and season it with thyme, poultry seasoning, and salt and pepper.  It makes a lovely Sunday dinner! 

Spaghetti Western

Today's pantry star is spaghetti squash.  I love them for the fact they keep so long.  I grow enough in our garden to last all year long, and keep them in the cool lower shelf in my under the stairs pantry.  Spaghetti squash is a nutrition powerhouse:  low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol, a good source of Niacin, Vitamin B6, Pantothenic Acid, Potassium and Manganese, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber and Vitamin C.
There are several recipes I make regularly with spaghetti squash.  There are two preparations I use for spaghetti and other hard skinned squash to use in recipes.
Oven baking:
Split the squash lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds with a metal spoon.  Drizzle with oil or a pat of butter and cracked pepper, and place cut side up in a baking dish that has an inch of water in the bottom.  (It keeps the squash from getting over browned).  Bake at 350 F for one hour, or until the squash "squashes" when you squeeze it together.  For spaghetti squash, I let it cool and shred the fibers with a fork, making it look like a pile of pasta.
Microwave steaming:
Place cut and cleaned squash half into a large zip lock bag with a couple of T of water.  Poke the top of the bag to vent steam, and microwave 3-4 minutes until the squash gives to pressure.  Cool and shred with a fork.
I have a few favorite recipes I use:  in a cold salad, to make a vegetarian spaghetti using buttered squash in place of noodles, and our new favorite is a slow cooker chili over the top of the baked spaghetti squash.

Spaghetti Squash Salad
Cooked and cooled squash pulp
2 diced green peppers
1/2 diced red onion
1/4 C cider vinegar
2 T sugar or splenda
2 T corn oil
salt and pepper to taste 
Combine all ingredients, and chill before serving.  Better if made a day before using!

*This next recipe uses enchilada red sauce, made from dried Ancho chiles.  To make the sauce, combine 1 quart/box of low salt chicken stock with 6-8 dried anchos that you have cut in half with scissors, and removed the seeds and stems.  Bring to a boil in a saucepan, and reduce the heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes.  Blend until smooth.  This makes the richest, mild chili with a lot of spice, but not so much heat.  
Spaghetti Western
1 # ground beef
2 cans mexican stewed tomatoes 
1 40 oz. can of pinto beans with jalapenos and it's liquid
1/2 grated yellow onion
homemade enchilada sauce* (above)
Place raw hamburger in the bottom of the slow cooker, and break up with a spoon.  Top with the remaining ingredients and cook on high for 8-10 hours. About an hour before serving, add 1 C salsa (I used tomatillo, as I have homemade on hand). This adds a fresh tang. 
An hour before supper, I put the spaghetti squash in the oven to bake.  I serve a bed of spaghetti squash topped with the chunky beef chili in large soup bowls, with lime and hot sauce.