Thursday, March 11, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The cutest nose in the nursery...
It is official... The nurses all unanimously agreed that my baby cutie-pie nephew has the cutest nose in the nursery! Of course we agree but we would rather expand that and declare that he has the cutest nose in at least the state, maybe the whole world. He is completely precious and we are all terribly infatuated :)
Here are a few pics:
A profile of the famous nose...
Perfect fat little cheeks for kissing...
Makes for a very proud and happy Auntie!!
Here are a few pics:
A profile of the famous nose...
Perfect fat little cheeks for kissing...
Makes for a very proud and happy Auntie!!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sweet & Savory Pork Roast
I am in CA for the week, visiting my sister and her family. At this very moment, my new nephew is making his debut appearance at a hospital in Riverside! I am at my sister's house, waiting for the 3 year-old cutie-pie niece to wake up so we can launch into a morning of Curious George, puzzles, a trip to the park and all kinds of fun with the slinky she discovered last night :)
With such excitement abounding, I am sure you are wondering, "Who cares about food??"
Well, since the cutie-pie is still asleep, I thought I would take a second to share the recipe from our dinner last night. It is one of my sister's favorites and since I am probably the "least" of the cooks in my family, that alone should make you pay attention. The recipe was originally for Beef Brisket but Larae and Jonathan like it with pork, either the shoulder or the butt. I laughed last night and thought I was being teased when Jonathan called what we ate a "pork butt." However, he said that is actually what it is called and furthermore, the butt supposedly tastes better than the shoulder. So, siting my blog as proof, you may all confidently approach your butcher and ask for pork butt (and if you can pull that off with a straight face, you are a stronger person than I!)
Sweet and Savory Pork Roast
3 - 3 1/2 lb pork roast
1 c. ketchup
1/4 c. grape or apricot jelly
1/2 envelope Lipton's Onion soup mix
1/2 tsp pepper
Place the roast in a crock-pot. (You may need to cut it in half)
Mix the sauce and pour over the top.
Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
Shred meat and serve in juices.
My sister served this with mashed potatoes and those were wonderful for soaking up the yummy juices!
Despite the fact that this is a cooking/kitchen blog, I am giving you all fair warning that I might not be able to restrain myself from sneaking a picture or two of the new cutie-pie nephew on here. Since it will be his very first few days alive on the earth, I thought it might be excusable to brag about him a bit. Stay tuned!
With such excitement abounding, I am sure you are wondering, "Who cares about food??"
Well, since the cutie-pie is still asleep, I thought I would take a second to share the recipe from our dinner last night. It is one of my sister's favorites and since I am probably the "least" of the cooks in my family, that alone should make you pay attention. The recipe was originally for Beef Brisket but Larae and Jonathan like it with pork, either the shoulder or the butt. I laughed last night and thought I was being teased when Jonathan called what we ate a "pork butt." However, he said that is actually what it is called and furthermore, the butt supposedly tastes better than the shoulder. So, siting my blog as proof, you may all confidently approach your butcher and ask for pork butt (and if you can pull that off with a straight face, you are a stronger person than I!)
Sweet and Savory Pork Roast
3 - 3 1/2 lb pork roast
1 c. ketchup
1/4 c. grape or apricot jelly
1/2 envelope Lipton's Onion soup mix
1/2 tsp pepper
Place the roast in a crock-pot. (You may need to cut it in half)
Mix the sauce and pour over the top.
Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
Shred meat and serve in juices.
My sister served this with mashed potatoes and those were wonderful for soaking up the yummy juices!
Despite the fact that this is a cooking/kitchen blog, I am giving you all fair warning that I might not be able to restrain myself from sneaking a picture or two of the new cutie-pie nephew on here. Since it will be his very first few days alive on the earth, I thought it might be excusable to brag about him a bit. Stay tuned!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Mom's Beef Stew
I was asked recently, "What is your favorite thing to cook?" After some consideration, I decided that it would have to be homemade soup or stew. I love putting on good music and getting into the slow rhythms of chopping and nibbling and measuring and simmering and tasting, etc. In a strange way, I feel very much "myself" when I am puttering around the kitchen and hovering over the stove.
I usually plan my meals for the week on Sundays or Mondays and this week I needed something to last me for the week with enough left over to share with a good friend who is having surgery in several days. I decided to make my mom's beef stew. This dish was staple in our home during all my growing up years and I have lots of warm memories of my family around the table eating this stew with some kind of homemade jumbo muffin!
Mom's Beef Stew
2 - 2 1/2 lbs stew meat
1 pkg mushroom, sliced
1 onion
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup butter
2 T Worcestershire sauce
32 oz beef broth
carrots
potatoes
garlic cloves, minced
seasoning
wine
- Saute mushrooms, onion and garlic. (My mom's recipe called for 2 garlic cloves. I used 4 today. Pretty much, use as many as you want depending on how you feel about garlic!) Remove from pan, saving the juices.
- Coat meat with flour and fry in juices and butter until browned. (I used tapioca starch instead of flour and it thickened my stew beautifully. I also used olive oil instead of butter).
- Also, I learned recently that the secret to nicely browned meat is to not crowd it in the pan. I browned my meat chunks in several batches so that none of the pieces were touching in the pan.
- Put the mushroom/onion/garlic mixture back into the pan with the meat. Add all other ingredients and enough water to just cover the meat and veggies. Simmer until the vegetables are tender, anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours (the longer you go, the more tender the meat will be). Stir often, as the stew will stick to the bottom of the pan.
- About 5 minutes before removing the stew from the heat, add a few splashes of sherry wine or red wine.
- I did not specify a quantity on the carrots or potatoes. Use as many as look good to you.
- I also did not specify the seasoning quantity. This is where you might get irritated with me as a cook. I just add what sounds good to me and keep tasting until it I get it right. In my batch today, I added somewhere around 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp white pepper, several shakes of italian seasoning and about 1/2 tsp of crushed rosemary.
One final thought, as I was eating this for dinner tonight, the thought came to me that just the tiniest bit of bacon added to this would be amazing. It would give the broth just a little bit of a smoky flavor. I would probably cook a couple pieces of bacon first and then cook the mushrooms/onions/garlic in a small portion of the grease and then finish off as usual. YUM!
I usually plan my meals for the week on Sundays or Mondays and this week I needed something to last me for the week with enough left over to share with a good friend who is having surgery in several days. I decided to make my mom's beef stew. This dish was staple in our home during all my growing up years and I have lots of warm memories of my family around the table eating this stew with some kind of homemade jumbo muffin!
Mom's Beef Stew
2 - 2 1/2 lbs stew meat
1 pkg mushroom, sliced
1 onion
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup butter
2 T Worcestershire sauce
32 oz beef broth
carrots
potatoes
garlic cloves, minced
seasoning
wine
- Saute mushrooms, onion and garlic. (My mom's recipe called for 2 garlic cloves. I used 4 today. Pretty much, use as many as you want depending on how you feel about garlic!) Remove from pan, saving the juices.
- Coat meat with flour and fry in juices and butter until browned. (I used tapioca starch instead of flour and it thickened my stew beautifully. I also used olive oil instead of butter).
- Also, I learned recently that the secret to nicely browned meat is to not crowd it in the pan. I browned my meat chunks in several batches so that none of the pieces were touching in the pan.
- Put the mushroom/onion/garlic mixture back into the pan with the meat. Add all other ingredients and enough water to just cover the meat and veggies. Simmer until the vegetables are tender, anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours (the longer you go, the more tender the meat will be). Stir often, as the stew will stick to the bottom of the pan.
- About 5 minutes before removing the stew from the heat, add a few splashes of sherry wine or red wine.
- I did not specify a quantity on the carrots or potatoes. Use as many as look good to you.
- I also did not specify the seasoning quantity. This is where you might get irritated with me as a cook. I just add what sounds good to me and keep tasting until it I get it right. In my batch today, I added somewhere around 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp white pepper, several shakes of italian seasoning and about 1/2 tsp of crushed rosemary.
One final thought, as I was eating this for dinner tonight, the thought came to me that just the tiniest bit of bacon added to this would be amazing. It would give the broth just a little bit of a smoky flavor. I would probably cook a couple pieces of bacon first and then cook the mushrooms/onions/garlic in a small portion of the grease and then finish off as usual. YUM!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
For when too much cayenne pepper jumps out of your bottle...
I learned something really handy yesterday!
I had lunch with my good friend, Sue Ellen and she fixed us this yummy vegetable and bean soup. She warned me though, that when adding cayenne pepper, more came out than she expected and the soup might be a bit spicy. It was! So she cut a lime in 1/2 and we each squeezed the juice into our soup. Aside from the lime juice tasting really good, it noticeably cut the heat. In addition, we had little orange wedges and when I nibbled on one of those after taking a bite, it cooled my mouth right down. Amazing!
So if you accidentally make a dish too spicy, and if the flavors will tolerate it, add a little citrus!
(P.S. If any of you know of other tricks for fixing a dish that is too spicy or too salty, will you comment and let me know?)
I had lunch with my good friend, Sue Ellen and she fixed us this yummy vegetable and bean soup. She warned me though, that when adding cayenne pepper, more came out than she expected and the soup might be a bit spicy. It was! So she cut a lime in 1/2 and we each squeezed the juice into our soup. Aside from the lime juice tasting really good, it noticeably cut the heat. In addition, we had little orange wedges and when I nibbled on one of those after taking a bite, it cooled my mouth right down. Amazing!
So if you accidentally make a dish too spicy, and if the flavors will tolerate it, add a little citrus!
(P.S. If any of you know of other tricks for fixing a dish that is too spicy or too salty, will you comment and let me know?)
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