Category: HELPFUL HINTS

ABC Pork Roast ~ Apricot Bourbon Cranberry Pork Roast

1/2 cup fresh cranberries (cut in half if fresh plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar) or craisins
1/2 cup dried apricots, diced
1 cup bourbon, divided
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
3/4 cup minced walnuts
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
2 teaspoons minced garlic (jar) or 2 fresh cloves
1 Jumbo egg, beaten
4-5 pound pork roast
1/4 cup chili sauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup white zinfandel
2 cups hot water
2 Tablespoons beef granules

In a small saucepan, cover the apricots and cranberries with 1/2 cup of the bourbon and bring to a simmer over a medium heat. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until tender and gooey.

In a large mixing bowl combine the fruit mixture, orange juice, bread crumbs, walnuts, garlic and green onions. Season with the salt and pepper and mix well. Add the beaten egg until well blended.

Untie the pork roast and pack with stuffing mix, roll and re-tie. Generously smear the chili sauce over entire roast and then pack all the brown sugar over the chili sauce. Place the roast in the bottom of your slow cooker.

Mix together the wine, 1/2 cup bourbon, 2 cups hot water and beef granules until granules are dissolved. Pour around edges of roast.

Cook on low 6-8 hours. Keep covered tightly. Baste Roast with pan juices periodically.

Slow Cooking Thursday is hosted by Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.


Streusel Coffee Cake

CAKE
2 cups Bisquick baking mix
2 tablespoons sugar
1 Jumbo egg
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons oil
STREUSEL
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup Bisquick baking mix
2 tablespoons cinnamon
8 tablespoons cold butter cut into 32 pieces

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Grease an 8×8 pan
  • Mix together the cake ingredients until smooth. It will be a little gooey. Spread it evenly into pan.
  • Mix together the baking mix, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut cold butter pieces into it and then spread on top of cake batter.
  • Poke holes down into the cake batter randomly. As cake bakes streusel will form tunnels through the cake.
  • Bake 2 minutes or until cake tester comes out of cake clean. Be sure not to test in streusel or it will never come out clean.

Broccoli Slaw Salad

1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
1/2 head shredded red cabbage
2 bunches green onions, sliced
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup sunflower seeds (shelled)
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 pound bacon cooked crisp and crumbled
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar*

In a large mixing bowl toss the broccoli, red cabbage, onions, seeds, raisins and bacon together. In a small mixing bowl, blend the mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar together until smooth. Pour over the vegetable mix. Toss well and chill 24-48 hours before serving.

*can use pineapple juice instead

Tuesday's Romance of Cookery and Housekeeping

Lemon Sauce
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon flour+
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon butter
Mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the water and beat vigorously. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice and butter. Cook 2 more minutes. If too thin sprinkle in a bit more Wondra flour until desired consistency is reached. Serve immediately over grilled fish. I grilled Mahi Mahi and it was really delicious.

Recipe (page 253) adapted from ‘A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband’ by Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron

Favorite Ingredient Friday ~Easter Edition~Heavenly Hash

My entry is actually for after Easter, what do do with those leftover ham scraps.
hosted by Overwhelmed with Joy

1 – 2 pound package frozen diced hash brown potatoes
1 can cream of celery or cream of mushroom soup
2 cups diced ham
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
3 cups grated sharp or longhorn cheddar cheese (about 12 ounces)
1 cup sour cream
1 bunch green onions, finely diced
1 cup crushed potato chips

Mix soup, sour cream and thyme until smooth. Add the ham and green onions. Add in the cheese and blend well. Fold in the hash brown potatoes. Bake until top is slightly golden, about 1 hour. Sprinkle with crushed potato chips and bake an additional 10 minutes.

I like to serve this with fluffy scrambled eggs.

Great for brunches or large groups.

Freezer Food Friday ~ Chili

hosted by mjpuzzlemom

3 pounds hamburger
2 large white onions, chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 cans Rotel original tomatoes
2 – 4 oz. cans diced green chiles
3 cups V-8 juice
4 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 teaspoons jar garlic or 3 cloves fresh

In a large stock pot, brown the hamburger and onion together. Drain the fat off. Mix in all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil. Turn down to a low simmer for 3-4 hours. After dinner separate the remaining chili into 4 freezer containers, label and freeze for future meals.

BBQ Chicken Casserole

1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts or thighs, diced
2 cups Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup orange juice
1 cup dried apricots, diced
1 small white onion, diced
1 1/2 cups long grain rice

Mix all together and put into slow cooker. Cook 6 hours on low.

As a variation I like to add leftover charred kielbasa sausage.

Slow Cooking Thursday is hosted by Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

Tuesday's Romance of Cookery and Housekeeping

Celery Seed Dressing
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed
  • 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 4 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1 cup salad oil


Blend together in small food processor for 3 minutes. Chill. This is a thick dressing so shake vigorously before serving. I spooned a small portion into a bowl and microwaved it for a few seconds and served it warm. It thins out dramatically when warmed. It was yummy!


Keep bottled in refrigerator

Recipe (page 85) adapted from ‘A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband’ by Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron

CHICKEN FRIED CHICKEN with PEPPERED GRAVY

Chicken Fried Chicken

2 large boneless chicken breasts
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2-4 tablespoons butter(enough to keep chicken from burning~add as necessary)

Rinse and pat dry the chicken breasts. In a shallow glass pan, pour buttermilk over chicken 1-2 hours prior to cooking. Make sure to coat chicken well and turn at least once during soaking. Drain, but do NOT rinse the buttermilk off.

In a medium sized fry pan melt the butter over medium heat. As butter melts and begins to very slightly sizzle, prepare breasts.

In a small ziploc bag mix together the flour, salt and pepper. One at a time, put each chicken breast in bag and coat well with flour mix and then into sizzling butter. Cook on one side until edges begin to bleed and then turn. About 6 minutes each side depending on plumpness. Keep chicken warm.

Peppered Gravy

3 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons Wondra flour
1 1/4 cups whole milk
3/4 cup whipping cream
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Black pepper + (to taste)

Melt butter into bottom of pan you just cooked the chicken in. Scrape up any of the chicken pieces and mix into new butter. Add flour slowly, stirring until absorbed by butter and golden brown. Slowly add first the milk and then the cream. Stir constantly until thickens. If necessary sprinkle in more Wondra until desired thickness is reached. Serve over chicken and mashed potatoes.

Freezer Food Friday Spinach Stuffed Manicotti

hosted by mjpuzzlemom

MJ over at MJPuzzlemom recently left me a comment which indirectly let me find this wonderful new meme that the she hosts, Freezer Food Friday. I’ll join in this week by recycling this great updated freezer recipe of mine for Spinach Stuffed Manicotti Shells.

1 1/2 pound ground beef
1 medium finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic or 2 teaspoons minced jar garlic
1 box chopped frozen spinach (thawed & drained)
salt & pepper to taste
14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 can Contadina tomato paste
10 ounces beef broth (I use granules and make my own)
2 tablespoons Classico sun-dried tomato peso
1/4 cup butter
2-8ounce shredded mozzarella cheese packages
1 box organic pasta Manicotti Shells (prepared al dente, very al dente)
  • Brown hamburger. Add garlic and onion about half way through. When the hamburger is browned, add spinach and heat through. Salt and pepper to taste. Drain off fat.
  • Mix all other ingredients together except the shells and cheese and bring to a simmering boil. Add one third of the sauce to the meat mixture.
  • Stuff the shells with the meat mixture. Continue until all shells are full. This recipe serves 4, but at this point since there are just 2 of us I try to think ahead and prep meals to freeze for easy cooking on the nights we’re busy with appointments, but still need a home cooked meal. This Manicotti recipe is great for that. The shells come in a box with 2 layers of plastic protectors. I make sure to save one to protect the shells I’m going to freeze. I prepare the recipe like normal, but split it in half before baking and freeze half. As you can see it all slips easily into a gallon size ziploc bag. After removing everything, I roll the bag up and stick in the freezer door until the next time I prep the whole recipe.
  • In a small greased casserole layer some sauce on bottom. Lay in half the shells, pour more sauce over top reserving half the sauce for the freezer. Put that sauce in a quart size ziploc. Top with the cheese. Cover with foil and bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove fol and return to oven for an additional 20 minutes.
  • In the gallon sized ziploc bag slide the extra tray of shells into it. Slide the bag of sauce on top of that as well as the second bag of mozzarella cheese. Zip shut and freeze. You now have a home cooked meal for another night.

Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala

  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

  • 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

  • 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – pounded 1/4 inch thick

  • 4 tablespoons butter

  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small white onion
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

  • 1/2 cup Marsala wine

  • 1/4 cup sweet cooking sherry
  1. With a mortar and pestle grind the oregano. Sift together the flour, salt, pepper and oregano. Coat the chicken pieces well.

  2. In a heavy skillet, heat oil and butter. Slice onion into rings and separate. When oil and butter is hot saute’ onions until just carmelized. Set aside and place chicken breasts in skillet and brown on both sides about 6 minutes per side over medium heat. Remove and set aside.
  3. to the skillet, add the wine, lemon juice and sherry. Stir, reduce heat, and cook for about 10 minutes until the sauce is partially reduced and begins to thicken.

    Return chicken breasts to the skillet. Spoon sauce over the chicken.

    Cover and cook over low heat for about 5-10 minutes or until chicken is done.

Hubby doesn’t care for cooked mushrooms, but you hardly miss them. If you want to add the mushrooms back in, slice 1 cup mushrooms and add at the same time as the wine and sherry.

Tuesday's Romance of Cookery and Housekeeping

White Cakes (cupcakes) and White Mountain Cream Icing

CUP CAKES
1/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk
2 cups sifted flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Cream the butter, add the sugar and continue creaming. Alternately add the dry ingredients. Add the milk. Beat well and add flavorings. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Fill well greased muffin tins 2/3 full or use muffin papers*. Bake 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven to cooling rack for 5 minutes before removing cakes. Carefully remove and cool completely.

ICING
1 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup water
1 egg water

In a saucepan pour the water, sugar and cream of tartar without stirring! Remove from heat as soon as syrup forms strings when dropped from a spoon. Pour very slowly onto the stiffly beaten egg white. Beat vigorously until cool. Add vanilla and blend in. Spread immediately. If icing gets too hard to spread add a little war water and beat again.

*The original recipe calls for baking the entire mix in a 13 x 9 pan on wax paper and then cutting into decorative shapes with fancy cutters after the cake is cooled.

Recipe (page 24) adapted from ‘A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband’ by Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron