A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Kitchen of Light: Vodka-Marinated Pork Roast

 Last weekend I played around with a couple of new cookbooks. This pork roast recipe came from Kitchen of Light by Andreas Viestad of the PBS cooking show of the same name. The cookbook is just as fun to read as it is to cook from so far so I'll be making more dishes from it soon.

One of the things I liked about this recipe is that the vodka based marinade seemed to more effectively carry the herb flavors into the center of the meat than other oil/acid marinade combinations I've used in the past.  There was no taste of vodka or alcohol but the fresh herbs seemed brightened by the alcohol as a base.

There was a cute story attached to the recipe where Andreas said he made it for the show Scandinavian Cooking in Svalbard, an Arctic island north of Norway.  He said that out of all their supplies to prepare the dish, the only thing that didn't freeze was the vodka.  I'm thinking he's lucky he had any left for the recipe. I think in the Arctic I'd be downing the hooch to warm up.

One Roast/Two Meals: Roast with Veggies & Shortcut Beef Stroganoff

 

As much as we all love to cook and as much as we all like to make everything from scratch, let's face it, sometimes life intervenes and we have to settle for using a shortcut or two.

Last week, when I worked several days in a row, I happily chose crockpot and some low maintenance cooking over fast food and/or ordering out.

Take this combo, for example.  One roast equalled two great meals, and great leftovers for my lunchbox.

For years, we've all raved about my cousin Ann's pot roast, so rich and flavorful.  One day she told Aunti Miranda and I her secret weapon:  Heinz Beef Gravy.  A jar. Not kidding.  It's wonderful and so quick.  It's this simple:  throw the roast in an oven safe covered roasting pan with salt and pepper and whatever veggies you want: onions, potatoes, carrots, garlic, green peppers, etc.  And top with the jar of Heinz gravy (mushroom works well too).  Bake @ 300 degrees, low and slow, for 45 minutes per lb.  (Most directions say for 25 minutes/lb but we like ours falling apart.)

That's dinner #1.

The next night I took the leftover meat and cut it into bite-sized chunks (about 3 cups) and then whizzed the leftover gravy and vegetables together in the blender.  Placing the meat and gravy/veggie mix into a pot on the stovetop,  I stirred in a 6 oz. container of plain Greek-style yogurt, and reseasoned to taste with a little salt and pepper.  This I served over cooked egg noodles.

Perfect for dinner #2 with plenty of leftovers to take with me to work.

Sometimes it's all about real life.

A Weekend's Worth of LunchBox Ideas that Equal Good Eatin'

I don't know about you, but one of my biggest problem areas for eating healthily is WORK.  It's just to easy to let the stress and middle-of-the-night caffeine jonesing take over and suddenly I've racked up 500 calories of nothing good.  Not to mention that the hospital crapeteria sucks.  Maybe during the day it's great but all nights gets is the leftovers warmed up, half a salad bar, and sandwiches.

I've recommitted myself to taking lunch and making sure I have plenty of healthy snacks available. Another of my weaknesses is my tummy. I have a really touchy stomach, especially after going eight or nine hours without food between leaving the house for work and lunch time at 2am.  Around 11pm or midnight is when the siren song of the vending machines usually stomp all my good intentions to the ground.

Below is the food from the last of the three nights worked and it is a winning combination.  I had the pasta with broccoli, vegetable juice, and fruit for lunch, but the other three I doled out to myself before and after lunch and , for once, avoided the middle of the night nausea and/or vomitting.  Yeah, I know. Vomitting isn't a pleasant subject on a food blog but it's a problem for me and I have more than a couple of times thrown up from acid stomach in the middle of the night and then gone back to whatever I was doing.  I'd like to stop that little game and this worked for me the other night so I'm going to continue with the good snacks.

 

Niece Jordan's Birthday Party

 

It might seem a little odd that most of the family parties are at my house but I think it's about me being the oldest of our five kids and our mom having passed away 20 years ago. I've become the matriarch of my little family, sort of Grandma by Proxy.  So for many years, the niece and nephews have all expected to have their birthday parties at "Aunt Gonnie's". 

Since I make the cakes and do most of the cooking, it's very convenient for me.  I've always felt a little guilty that I'm the one who learned to cook but, being the oldest, I was the sergeant-at-arms in my mother's kitchen for as long as I can remember, and my little sister, Jordan's mom, being six years younger was mostly kicked out to go play.  Lucky her in ways!  Not that she's a bad cook, she just didn't get the same experience I did in the large family/trial by fire way I did.

  

Jordan requested her menu, which is our tradition, Ziti "with pepperoni" and "strawberry cake with strawberry buttercream and blue roses".  I can dig it.  Ever since Jordan was a toddler her favorite meal has been spaghetti but as she's gotten older she's added the spicy pungency of pepperoni to her favorites and strawberry cake has won her heart since she was a baby.  That I bought strawberry cheesecake ice cream to go with it was like a strawberry sugar nirvana shared by all.

The menu board to the left is a little freebie bank whiteboard give-away we got years ago that's always been my little party cheat sheet. It's on the fridge so that I, and anyone in the kitchen helping me, can consult to avoid the common after dinner "Oh crap! We forgot the ___" moment.

 

I'll give the recipe below. We found the Ziti with Pepperoni to be an excellent choice for a crowd, easy to prepare in advance and a hit with everyone. 

It is also my entry in this week's Presto Pasta Nights, created by wonderful Ruth at Once Upon a Feastand hosted this week by Sara of I'm a Food Blog .  On Friday of this coming week, be sure to stop by to see all the pasta doings going on.

Additionally on the menu:

 

Basic spring salad of leaf lettuces, chunked zucchini, celery, spring onions, tomatoes, shredded carrots, and edible flowers from the garden:  Sweet William and Purslane.

Accompanying the salad was a host of bottled dressings for the timid and a home-made lemon vinaigrette for Auntie Miranda and I, made from lemon balm and parsley fresh from the garden.  The recipe for this also, is below.

Later this week a post a few pics of the "garden", not traditional rows or square foot, my garden is a fairly ambitious collection of pots on the back porch...I'll also write a separate post on the cake with more behind the scenes pics of making the gumpaste flowers.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful, vivacious, growing-up-way-too-fast, fabulous niece, Jordan!

Doctor's Kitchen Monday: Glenna's All Day Spaghetti 3-Meat Sauce (Low & Slow w/Lots of Veggies)

 

In keeping with the goals I've mentioned before of dieting and reining things back in my life, I've been thinking I'm going to start posting more of my daily menus, of course hoping it will inspire me more and more to keep fighting the good fight when it comes to food. As in REAL food, not processed crap.  Sure, there will be days when I eat out or drive through a "thru" or screw up (translation: soda!)  but all in all I'm feeling pretty rejuvinated. It's amazing to me how many of our choices in life, bad choices in life, are made because we feel bad.  Do you know what I mean? I'm finally, after months of respiratory infections and fighting my asthma, starting to feel like myself again.  The odd thing to me is how much feeling better has perked me back up in terms of not only my attitude but in my food choices and what I'm physically able to do.  I'm not "living" on sugar and caffeine anymore.  Isn't it the ultimate irony that when the body feels crummy we tend to take the easiest way out and feed it crap from a box or a window when that's the most important time we should be concentrating on healthy, vibrant, nutritious foods?  Crazy but human. It's just too easy these days to grab bad food when we feel bad and save cooking for when we feel better.  Sad, but true.

But hey, I'm back, and today I made my new favorite all day spaghetti sauce that's actually packed with, yes three meats, but also tons of fresh veggies and isn't overloaded with fat.  This sauce is not your average hamburger and tomato sauce sauce. It has three meats:  sirloin (chunks and ground), pork chops, and Italian sausage.  It's finished out with five vegetables and a host of seasonings. Normally, I'm not a huge meat eater, not because I don't like the taste but because I don't like the texture. This one is different.  From being simmered so long, the meat has the softer texture of a really good slow-cooked chili or vegetable beef soup.  With about a 40 minute prep, if you can handle two pots at once, it's a great recipe to throw into the crockpot to finish simmering while you work during the day, or sleep to us nightshifters.

This is my entry for this week's Presto Pasta Nights, created by the very cool Ruth of Once Upon a Feast, and hosted this week by Patsy of Family, Friends, and Food.  Check out both blogs on Friday to see the round-up of great pasta dishes across the blogs this week.

Halushki

 

Gene and I were watching Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives a few days ago on Food Network and we were both struck by this dish served at a diner owned by a Polish family.  We both kept trying to get the name of it so I could Google it but the best we could come up with was that it rhymed with "push-key".  So instead I Googled "egg noodle and cabbage recipe" and Halushki popped up. Damn, I love the internet!

I ran to the store to get the ingredients, popped out an email to Auntie Miranda inviting her over for an "experiment" supper on her way from work, and it's now become a regular addition to our dinner repertoire.

I researched several versions of the recipe and found that the four common ingredients in all of the recipes are:  butter, onion, cabbage, and egg noodles.  You can make it from that simple vegetarian one pot meal (vegan if you sub out the butter), or you can add a few simple things to jazz it up a bit, like potatoes and/or bacon, thin-sliced cooked pork loin, chop, or ham.  I happened to have some proscuitto that needed to be used so that's what I picked and it was lovely.  Gene's comment was "Wow! I can't even taste the cabbage! I was a little worried about that!"  Okay, that made me laugh but he was right. It doesn't have an overwhelmingly cabbage-y taste.  The cabbage mixed nicely with the onions to create a simple sweetness to the noodles. Very comforting and homey.

It's also the perfect dish for my new quest for simplicity:  it's easy, quick, yummy, healthy, and cheap.  It doesn't get much cheaper than a $ .59 in cabbage, $ .25 egg noodles, $ .10 onion, and a few strips of bacon or in my case, some leftover proscuitto and the entire cooking time was maybe a half hour and most of that was cooking down the onion and cabbage.  The finished one pot meal fed the three of us and Gene and I had leftovers for lunch the next day.

Mama Always Said "Eat Your Vegetables!"

 

This is now my favorite secret weapon for getting all my veggies in each day which is harder than it looks, as we all know.  Four is no problem but when you try to up it to six or eight servings it's more of a struggle unless you're really on your toes.  This is one of those quick, easy, flexible soups that is making its way into my home lunches and work lunches with ease.

On this particular day I used bagged frozen vegetables of green beans, carrots, peas, and corn, but I've also used a mix of broccoli and cauliflower, lima and green beans, and whatever I happen to have in the freezer.

I like this soup because it's super quick, only 3 ingredients really and they're right there in the pantry all the time, very filling, and it tastes good on top of sneaking in an extra 2 servings of vegetables. 

Quick Veggie Pasta Soup lunch for ONE:

Recipe by Glenna Anderson Muse

In a medium sauce pan, bring to boil:

1 15 oz can no fat, low sodium chicken or vegetarian broth plus 1/2 cup water

Add in 1 cup frozen vegetables of choice

Season to taste with salt & pepper, and Cavender's if you have it.

Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Add in 1/4 cup alphabet or other tiny pasta

Simmer for an additional 5-8 minutes.

Top with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese if desired.

Serving:  1

Calories per serving:  225    Carbs:   29      Fat:  1    Protein: 9  Fiber:  5.5

Weight watchers points:  4

 

Congratulations to Ruth on reaching her 100th Presto Pasta Nights!  This week's historical round up will be posted tomorrow on Ruth's blog Once Upon a Feast at www.onceuponafeast.blogspot.com.  Go say "Hi!" to Ruth and see all the great pasta dishes from week.

Quick and Easy with High Rewards: Pasta with Oven Roasted Vegetables

The other night when rummaging through the fridge for an easy dinner I cobbled together a pasta dish that will now be in my routine regularly:  Oven Roasted Veggies over Pasta.

Literally, everything but the pasta was leftover from the night before when we'd had grilled chicken breasts and roasted vegetables in the oven.  All I had to do was boil the angel hair, toss the veggies and chunked chicken around in a skillet, and then top with a wee bit of olive oil and nice Fleur de Sel and we were set for a wonderful dinner that could have taken all day but didn't.

I've been roasting vegetables once a week since the new year and from now on I'll be making sure there are leftovers for this quick dinner or lunch.  This is also my entry for this week's Presto Pasta Nights, created and hosted this week by the talented Ruth at Once Upon a Feast.  She'll be posting a round up of all the great pasta meals of the week on Friday, to add your own, email her at ruth@4everykitchen.com

On a completely different subject, I have a mini poll of sorts. I took chili to work last week along with a peanut butter sandwich. Gene and I always eat PB with soup.  When questioned by a co-worker about the combination I said "It's a school lunch. Didn't your lunch ladies serve peanut butter sandwiches with chili and vegetable beef soup in elementary school?"  His blank look made me laugh but a couple of other co-workers jumped in and said "Yeah! They did!"  Interestingly, to me, the ones who associated peanut butter sandwiches with chili and vegetable soup were all around my age, including my husband, even though we all went to different schools in southwest MIssouri.

Here's my question:  Peanut Butter Sandwiches served with Chili and/or Veggie Beef soup--part of your childhood memories or you'd have to be on crack to even try it? (And where did you grow up? Maybe it's a Midwest thing.)

Naked Fresh Pasta

 

Remember the Chicken and Spinach Cannelloni I made last week with the fresh home-made parsleyed pasta?  The leftover dough became fettuccine which then became my lunch.  All I did was cook it, and drop a little butter pat in the middle of it.

Delicious!!!!!!!

Fresh Pasta for Dinner: Chicken & Spinach Cannelloni

   

I don't know why I thought making pasta was hard.  I've been making home-made noodles for Chicken noodle soup for years, literally since I was a kid in my mom's kitchen, but throw the Kitchen Aid pasta accessories at me and suddenly I'm intimidated.  WAS intimidated. Now I'm going to be a pasta makin' fool!  So all of you folks out there who've been making your own pasta for a while just smile gently and nod your head.  I GET it now.  Wow.  Huge difference between fresh from my counter and dried from the store. HUGE.

The cannelloni wasn't hard to fake either. I've had it at several different chain restaurants:  Zio's (love it), Macaroni Grill (love MG, was neurtral about that dish so will go back to ordering the lobster ravioli), Pasta House (uh...not good).  How hard can it be?  Chicken, spinach, cheese, alfredo....it's not hard.  You do have to prep a few different things but once you get the filling put together and the pasta dough has rested, it's all downhill from there.

Guess who loves her Auntie Miranda so much she made an extra small pan and froze them so Auntie could have some when she gets home from her business trip?

 The Chicken & Spinach Cannelloni is my entry in this week's  Presto Pasta Nights started by the wonderful Ruth Daniels at Once Upon a Feast, hosted this week by the lovely Nilmandra of Soy and Pepper.  Nilmandra's round up of all the great pasta dishes from the week will appear on her blog tomorrow. Go check them out for new pasta ideas!