The recipe is from cooksillustrated.com

You have to suscribe with a yearly fee to access, so I can’t post the specific recipe here. Cook’s Illustrated is based in Brookline, MA and accepts NO advertising for it’s bi-monthly magazines or it’s website. Along with the Utne Reader, it is a subscription I keep going even when money is tight. Some “fancy-shamcy” stuff, but lots of great ideas and recipes, as well as totally unbiased food, cookware, appliance, and utensil reviews.

Anyway – minestrone soup is basically chopping up a modest variety of veggies, using fancy or regular bacon or a good quality hard cheese rind to boost the flavor, and adding pesto (basil or rosemary) for a final kick. YUM!!!!

It calls for some diced potato, and there is a version with rice or pasta, but none of those freeze well, and I like to freeze portions. The potato actually seemed okay after freezing in the last batch I made, but this time I used corn for the starch since I had three ears in the fridge that were nearing their end of usefulness. 🙂

The recipe also calls for canned cannellini beans. In the directions, it says not to add the beans or pesto until ready to eat- implying that, if freezing, don’t add beans or pesto until defrosted. …Well, that’s too complicated for my lifestyle since I want to freeze a couple of 4 cup portions!

I froze this soup with both the beans and pesto last time, and it was fine.

I have to get back into serious meal planning because I now work outside of the home on Tues and Thursdays and don’t get home until around 8:00 pm (!) I need to make sure I have VERY quick and easy meals ready for those nights. Hopefully, I’ll get back to posting more regularly as I do my meal planning and experimenting with good “freeze for later” meals.

🙂

Yes, this recipe includes the insidious cream of mushroom soup that so many pork chop recipes call for, but it sounds pretty darn good, anyway. I liked the idea of stuffing instead of rice, too. I have a brown bag that I put all my bread ends in, and most are whole grain, so the stuffing will have more fiber than white rice – albeit not as much as brown rice… but, any rice just gets TOO gooey and gloppy for my taste when cooked with pork chops in the traditional way. Even with added veggies, such as carrots, I just don’t like it anymore.

I’m basing this on a recipe I just came across at recipezarr.com, but will be varying a bit by making my own stuffing, and using yogurt instead of sour cream. And, as I usually do these days, I’ll reconstitute regular or low-fat evaporated milk for the amount of milk called for by the recipe.

….a few hours later….YUMMMMM!!!!! I like this. Here is the URL for the original recipe:

https://www.recipezaar.com/181810

I guess I didn’t change it that much – I kept thinking it called for 4 chops and I had five, but the recipe calls for six…How that would fit in a 9×13 pan, I don’t know! I used a …10X15? Whatever the next step up is. But, because I was thinking I was using one more chop than called for, I made a bit extra stuffing, used 4 big tomatoes, 4 small zucchinies…and, I used cheddar (only 1/2 cup) instead of mozzarella cheese… The recipe didn’t specify, but I used bone-in chops.

Instead of using two pans, one to saute the zuc and one to brown the chops, I did the zuc first, then the chops in the same pan – then the tomatoes briefly, as called for.

Anyway, after cutting off almost all the fat from the chops, this came out tasting light, moist, and really good. The chops were VERY moist and tender. The zucchini was still a bit crisp, my husband didn’t even add salt (!) – a keeper. Nice one-dish meal, too. Well, one-dish for the final product!

Make sure you keep washing up dishes as you cook! … I will be forever thankful to my Mom for teaching me the value of taking a minute here and there while cooking to wash any dishes and utensils used as you prepare a meal. It is wonderful to have dinner cooking in the oven and have the kitchen and sink area nice and clean so you only have the after dinner dishes to deal with after you eat. (Now, if I could only emulate my Mom’s so sensible approach to overall housekeeping…I got the kitchen sensibility gene – except for keeping the stovetop clean – but I totally missed out on the the housecleaning genes…)

Making my own stuffing added time – use store bought stove top for a quicker meal. I was happy with my homemade stuffing, though. Here is the link for the recipe I used:

https://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1626,151186-252198,00.html

We each had a chop and veggie/stuffing topping this evening – and I have one in the fridge with the veggie and stuffing topping for leftovers, and froze two chops with the veggies/stuffing topping, adding some of the juices left in the pan. Hopefully, it will reheat well after freezing. (

As noted above, this was a light meal, considering. The juices didn’t seem to have much fat – I guess I’ll know for sure when I see the leftovers after being fridged and frozen!

Geez, I don’t think I ever blogged the amazing minestrone soup I made last month. Cooks Illustrated recipe. Fantastic. I am making it again tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll get around to blogging about it. Life gets busy – but I am still cooking – blogging or not!

Okay, probably not big news to most of the world (those who eat pork, anyway) but what a REALLY inexpensive way to flavor up pea soup when you haven’t recently baked a ham!

I used my usual pea soup recipe, except that I pre-cooked the 1.5 lbs of neck bones first. I wasn’t sure if they’d have long enough to cook in the usual recipe – 15 minutes, I believe.

BUT, with these neck bones, better to precook and get all the bones out before adding the other ingredients. I pressure cooked them in the 8 of the 9 cups of water I use in the recipe for about 10 minutes and 10 minutes natural release. Then, quick-released the rest of the pressure under cold water, strained the liquid into my 8-cup measuring cup, and used the broth, plus a cup+ of water to make the 9 cups total liquid. Then, I let the necks cool down a bit, and picked off all the meat, discarding much of the fat, of which there was a lot!

I am really glad that I didn’t just stick the neck bones in with the rest of the ingredients! It would have been a disaster with all the tiny bits of bones and the fat – picking it all out of the finished pea soup would have been a nightmare.

There was plenty of meat for the soup, though. It was great! (Well, still is, since we have a bit more in the fridge and I froze a few containers. Not sure how it will be when defrosted…I seem to remember reading that things with potatoes in them don’t freeze well… Hell, I bet it will still taste good – but perhaps the texture and looks won’t be “fit for company.”

So, while ham hocks make for an economical alternative for pea soup when you don’t have a leftover ham bone, and is easier since you can just pop them in when you make the soup, the necks are even less expensive and add great flavor, albiet the extra cooking step.

Hmmm, now that I think of it, I should buy those necks whenever I see them and do the broth and “pick the bones” thing on a lazy afternoon and freeze it all for a quick pea soup dinner on another night.

Okay, gotta go…time to do some cleaning and organizing. Scary but necessary. If only I were as good at getting housework done as I am at cooking… Where’s the maid?

I had a smallish zucchini…and tomatoes…. I remembered a really delicious, albeit VERY rich (high fat, etc.) recipe for a summer squash casserole from Frances Moore Lappe’s Recipes for a Small Planet.

Well, all it takes is lots of breadcrumbs and a modest amount of olive oil and grated cheese to turn a bunch of fresh veggies into a totally comfort food creation.

Let’s see…one smallish zucchini, 2 medium tomatoes, about 1/2 medium green pepper, 1 medium onion, 4-5 large mushrooms, and, I also had about 1-2 cups of uncooked broccoli florets leftover in the fridge. Preheat oven to around 350, chop the veggies into one inch or so chunks or slices (a bit smaller for the onion) mix up and put in a casserole dish and drizzle/mix with a few tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle with some dried parsley (or whatever you like.) Bake uncovered for around 20-25 minutes until the squash is tender. Mix in a few more tablespoons of olive oil, maybe a cup or more of coarse bread crumbs * and 1/2 cup or so grated cheese (I used cheddar) and then top with more bread crumbs and more grated cheese. Bake for around 10 more minutes or until it looks like you want it to look. You can hold it in a warm oven for a while, too, if your spouse suddenly decides that there are a few more things that HAVE to be done to the sailboat in the backyard before dinner. Don’t ask….

Now, no excuses for the plethora of zucchini and tomatoes in the New England summer! And what a comfort food… for me and my husband, anyway. 🙂 You can vary this by using different combinations of veggies, adding rice or potatoes, and trying different seasonings. Perhaps a touch of vinegar for an Italian essence – or add rice or taters and create a baked curry dish. Um, I don’t think I’d use mushrooms if I went with the curry flavor… hmmm….

I also pressure cooked some chicken leg/thigh pieces in 2 cups of water and a slight tablespoon of dried oregano. 8 minutes high, 4 minutes natural release, then did the quick release under cold water, opened the cooker, then shut it again to keep it hot until we were ready to eat. I am saving the liquid since it is basically oregano seasoned chicken broth or stock.

I usually serve pressure cooked chicken with butternut squash, but that’s more for fall and winter.

Anyway, the casserole was really tasty.

Oh, I never blogged my first time making homemade minestrone soup this past weekend! Got the basic recipe from the Cook’s Illustrated site (one of my few subscriptions) and went from there. I made a bunch of veggie stock and some chicken stock that day, too. Nothing like a four day weekend to give you time to spend a whole day cooking! I need more four day weekends…

* – the bread crumbs. I actually save ends of bread in a brown paper bag and make my own. For fine, a food processor works pretty well. But, if you want bigger crumbs, just select the dried bread you want (I used all whole wheat for this recipe) from your paper bag, put them in a plastic bag (even the ones they give you for produce work fine – you don’t have to ruin a zip lock for this) and pound with the bottom of a glass (make sure you pick a glass with a totally flat bottom – some indent in the middle of the bottom) until you get the desired consistency. I wanted some big chunks, this time.

Thank goodness for this blog. Even if no one else reads it, it gets me to jot down stuff that I would never remember, otherwise. Or, not be able to read my handwritten notes. I had done this before, but had forgotten to write it down and had to do the Internet search all over again.

Broiling sausages (the raw kind)

Cover the bottom of the broiler pan with water, about 2 or 2 1/2 cups for my pan. I found instructions for 5-6 inches from the flame. I think I was further than that with the pan in the lowest slot. The instructions said 10 minutes each side, but check at 7 minutes. Somewhere between 7 1/2- 8 minutes worked for the chicken sausages I just broiled. If you do it, watch closely the first time and then write down what works for you. Actually, these chicken sausages were a bit less in diameter than standard sausages I get from Farmland or from Shaws, so 10 minutes might be okay for them.

With the water in the bottom of the pan, you get pretty close to the crispness you get if you cook them on the grill.

I was actually planning to roast a chicken tonight, but I forgot to brine it earlier! Tomorrow again. 🙂

The last time I made a roast beef dinner was when I was in my teens – and it came out great. But, I never got around to trying it again until now. Just not sure of what cut to use – or didn’t want to buy an expensive cut and risk messing it up, etc. And, I hadn’t even considered it over the years until I got married about three years ago and started really learning about cooking meat.

BUT – I had a chance encounter at Shaw’s while shopping the other day that got me to buy a roast. There was another woman looking over the roast cuts and we got into conversation, both noting the neither of us were sure of the best cut for a roast beef, at least for a smaller dinner crowd. Then, one of the butchers showed up and we asked him. Turns out semi-boneless rib roast was on sale and, while only steak cuts were out, he told us that another butcher was cutting some roast cuts. 4.49/lb versus 8.49 or so per pound, regular price. I wandered away and when I came back there was a 2.30 lb cut there and the butcher (same one still there) said it would be perfect for two and some leftovers. I grabbed it. WELL, it was a great cut at a great deal.

It looked like a REALLY thick steak cut – wider than high, but too thick to think about grilling or broiling. I checked around for roast cooking instructions and decided to go with 450 degrees for 20 minutes, then using 13-15/lb at 325 for the rest of the time.

I also made a rub of minced garlic, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and crushed dried rosemary and let the roast sit at room temperature for about and hour and a half with the rub on it before putting it in the oven. Then, after the first 20 minutes of the high temperature, I added quartered red potatoes and some chunks of onion that had been tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper – but I could have added them at the beginning, since I had to cook them further after the roast was done.

I checked the roast after another 20 minutes at 325 and the instant read thermometers (I have an analog and a digital and don’t trust either of them!) were reading lower than 100, so I let it go another 15 minutes or so after that. My instant read thermometer was then reading pretty high – in the 140s or more, but the juices were still red and, after slicing in to check, I deemed it done. And, it was great. A nice pink in the middle, tender, etc. And, given that it was not very thick, the pink middle was actually most of the meat. But the outside was nicely browned.

After the meat was done, I put it on a board covered with foil to rest and put the taters and onions back in the oven. I also added sliced fresh mushrooms and covered the pan with foil and turned up the heat back to 400. After 20 minutes, they were all cooked, but I drained the juices into a sauce pan so they could dry roast for another 20 minutes. I drained the meat juices from the cutting board into the saucepan, too. That made a nice light sauce for the meat and potato, onions, and mushrooms when I served. I steamed some asparagus at the end, and it was a lovely meal. Easy prep, good price since the roast was on sale (reminder to self – go get another roast or two to freeze while it is still on sale!) and easy clean-up, since there was only the roast pan and two easy-clean saucepans for the asparagus and the sauce.

So, next I will try some other cuts for roast beef – more economical when at regular price, and see how that goes. I wonder what cut my Mom always used….I know it had to be an economical one! But hers always came out great. Have to check out her recipe box…

Well…. between a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated, a tip my husband learned from his Dad, and one of those meatloaf pans with an insert so the fat drains out that my friend Lori gave me, a last-minute decision to make meatloaf for the first time in over 10 years turned out a culinary delight! As in YUM!

My guess is that the recipe was not all that different from your average meatloaf recipe. It did call for “meatloaf mix” or 1 lb ground beef and 1/2 lb each of ground pork and ground veal, but a lot of recipes call for that. I grew up with all beef meatloaf. I loved my Mom’s meatloaf. She kept it moist by poking a number of holes in it and pouring milk over it just before baking. But, Steve told me I should use 1/3 ground pork to 2/3 ground beef and boy, did that make a difference! Cheaper than the three-meat mix but mighty tasty. The good folks at Farmland in Wakefield ground/mixed the pork and beef for me right on the spot, for 2.79/lb.

Steve is allergic to eggs, so I used the blender to mush up flax seeds with water (about 1:3 or so flax seed to warm water and then some more water so it would pour out of the blender) to replace the eggs, and I also added about 1/2 cup grated carrots. Sauted onion and garlic, added 2/3 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup yogurt, and Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, tabasco, thyme, salt and pepper…and fresh parsley leaves (1/3 cup)

350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours…it was really good! I served it with swiss chard and corn on the cob. I was going make mashed potatoes but figured the corn was starch enough – and was way easier to prepare since, once the meatloaf was in the oven, I wanted to do other things.

Anyway – it’s a keeper for this household. Economical, easy, oatmeal and carrots for fiber, etc., and lots of fat drains out in that handy meatloaf pan with the insert – and it was still really moist. I love it when a whim turns into a great meal!

I can’t believe its been more than a month since I last posted! Having a part-time job outside of the home put a damper on my cooking – and writing about cooking. I do, however, have my priorities straight – I just gave my notice at that job…Time to get more freelance clients. 🙂

I can sure understand how difficult it is for some folks to do a lot of home cooking. Once you get into a groove, home cooking, even the “all from scratch” kind can be quicker than you think, but it takes planning to get into a groove and if you have a lot of commitments outside of the home, you can be thrown off the groove more easily. It sure saves a lot of money, though. And it sure tastes good. 🙂

Pork Braised in Milk and Capers – from The Complete Meat Cookbook. This is AMAZING!!!!! Just AMAZINGLY delicious!!!! I made it a few weeks ago with a 7-rib roast. I think boneless. I know I prepared a boone-in 7 rib roast since I’ve been blogging, but I think I did an apple and onion thing with it. This was a “strap-on” 7 rib boneless roast I used the first time in the braising recipe. From what I could tell from Internet research (I STILL don’t know my cuts of meat very well) the rib roast is part of, or is similar in properties to any loin cut.

Today I used a 1/2 boneless loin with strap-on. Whatever strap-on means….Is it fat? Is it membrane? I left it on the first time with no chewy or gross “too-fatty” effects – and left some of it on today.

Anyway – this method of preparation totally infuses the meat with flavor. And, this recipe has really cool flavors. Fennel, sage, and I also added rosemary both times. Capers are always lovely. And, I used the shallots both times, instead of onions. Its says to use either, but I keep reading that professional chefs tend to use shallots – and that can be the reason restaurant food has that “something different that you can’t put your finger on” flavor. So, I use shallots whenever they are an option.

Oh – I just did a search to see if this recipe was online anywhere. Didn’t find it, but see this link and scroll down for a review of the meat cookbook – it even refers to this braising recipe.

https://weeklywire.com/ww/11-30-98/austin_food_feature1.html

I highly recommend braising pork loin – at least in milk. I read that leaner cuts of pork (and loin is somewhat lean, I think) don’t do well with braising, unlike beef. Something about collagen or lack thereof…. But loin sure does great with milk…

If you have this cookbook and try the recipe and use a cut of loin significantly less than the called for 4 pounds, do NOT cut the braising liquid amounts! My first try – the sauce, while very tasty, didn’t turn the “nut brown” called for and the curds didn’t get dark brown. Not enough liquid to give it enough time before it reduced too much.

This time, it seems to be getting there – but I halted the process and will finish the sauce later. But, it definitely has reduced nicely so far and looks like it will end up the right color once I degrease it and finish it off. But, it will taste great no matter what. The flavor combination of the recipe is just an all-round winner.

Another tip. I would have used a 5-quart dutch oven, if I had one, the first time when my roast was just over two pounds. I ended up browning it in a cast iron deep sauce pan (they call the style a “chicken fryer,” I believe) and then finished off this stovetop recipe in regular sort of pot – Revere Wear, or the like – but not a heavy pot.

This time, my loin cut (just under 4 pounds) was too long for that pot. I used the cast iron “fryer” for the whole show and it worked great.

NOW – next time I find pork loin on sale (this was a pretty good deal at 1.99/lb – and hardly any waste) I think I do a braise again, but perhaps try a different flavor base… curry goes well with milk-based things – that would be interesting….only a smaller cut, though – just because my husband isn’t a huge fan of curry flavor. He’ll eat it, but I can tell he doesn’t love it because he won’t eat leftover curry-flavored things for lunch the next day. BUT, if I serve it with basmati rice, he’ll enjoy it for a dinner meal. 🙂

Well, I guess that’s it for now. Now I have to start planning what I’ll prepare for an upcoming party for volunteers of the Linden Tree Coffeehouse. http://www.lindentreecoffeehouse.org Yikes, that is next weekend!!!!

Well, it is not so bad if you’ve already served a bunch of the ham to company on Easter! But, here it is Wednesday and we are having ham again… This time, I am going to lightly stir fry some green peppers, mushrooms, and brocolli (we had a lot of raw veggies leftover that were sliced for veggies and dip) toss dice ham in for a quick heat, then mix it with cooked pasta and grated cheese and sprinkle with the home-ground parmesian-reggiano I have leftover from the asparagus I served on Easter, and bake it until browned and bubbly. OR, maybe just make a quick white/cheese sauce and serve it over pasta. But, I think I want to go the casserole route, tonight.

And that will be it for ham for now. I froze a few chunks to slice for sandwiches or dice for another casserole, and I have the bone and more chunks/scraps for pea soup in the freezer.

Ham is quite economical if you catch a good quality one on sale. This Cook’s brand ham (spiral cut bone-in) was 1.79 a pound (I’ve gotten it on sale for 1.29 a pound other times but they didn’t slash the price as much with it being Easter and all) so for 17.00, I served dinner for 13, brought some over Steve’s Dad’s on Sunday where we munched on it with cheese and crackers, and had it for dinner Monday and Tuesday night – AND tonight in a casserole. With a few sandwiches and pea soup to come.

You know, I had at one time thought about being a Home Economics teacher. But, although I’d be great at the cooking part, I don’t have the patience for sewing. I should just start offering cooking classes on my own. Such fun! And, since we all have to eat and do some kind of food prep, it would be extra fun to make it fun for others.

The Easter gathering was a success – EXCEPT – if you are going to serve asparagus, plan on 1/2 pound per person when you buy it! We all had a serving, but none leftover! I had only prepared 4 pounds as bought (less, of course, after snapping off the ends) and it JUST served 12 folks with a modest serving each.

I have yet to really think about the potatoes – I did a “prepare the day before with added cream cheese” sort of thing. I ended up adding some yogurt, too. I liked them, but need to taste some of the leftovers again – I think adding a sour flavor was not the best thing but need to taste again to make sure of what I will do next time.

Everything else was fine. I cooked the 9.5 bone-in ham for about two hours at 325 degrees, then kind of ad-libbed after that. My only flub was that I did not read the glaze recipe carefully – I should have prepared it an hour before I wanted to use it. I thought I had done the simmer of vinegar and sugar long enough, but it never really carmalized. Tasted good, though! Some guests noticed it sitting on the stove and used it like gravy and really liked it.

Oh – (I am adding this later) I think the potatoes would have been better without adding yogurt, but my husband loves them! He is still raving about them – luckily, since we still have some left over. 🙂

The tarragon chicken was really tasty, as was the green bean and tomato salad. I used a lot of recipes for the first time for this meal and lucked out!

You know, I have no idea if anyone besides my friend Lori reads this blog, but, feel free to email me if you want a recipe. That will get me to type them up and post them via a link, here!