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Monthly Archives: February 2012

Dinner’s Gone to Pot (Roast)

17 Feb

Today’s dinner is another one of my all-time favorites (and it’s already cooking by the way, since it does take some time). I love pot roast; it was always one of my favorite meals growing up. The best thing about pot roast is that shouldn’t even have to slice it. Just leaning a knife or fork up against it should make it fall apart (we always called it “the meat that falls apart” when we were growing up). The nice thing about pot roast is that it’s nearly impossible to overcook it. if you don’t think it looks right to you, leave it in a little longer. I’ve tried a few different recipes over the years, but this one from an old America’s Test Kitchen cookbook seems to give me the best results. I have cooked it in the slow cooker before and it comes out just fine also, but I like the gravy that comes out of this one better.

Simple Pot Roast

1 boneless chuck roast (about 3 1/2 pounds)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped medium

1 small carrot, chopped medium

1 small rib celery, chopped medium

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons sugar

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup beef broth

1 sprig fresh thyme

1-2 cups water

1/4 cup dry red wine

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 300 degrees. Thoroughly pat the roast dry with paper towels; sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed Dutch Oven over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Brown the roast thoroughly on all sides, reducing the heat if the fat begins to smoke, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the roast to a large plate; set aside. Reduce the heat to medium; add the onion, carrot and celery to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and the sugar; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chicken and beef broths and thyme, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits. Return the roast and any accumulated juices to the pot; add enough water to come halfway up the sides of the roast. Place a large piece of foil over the pot and cover tightly with a lid; bring the liquid to a simmer over medium heat, then transfer the pot to the oven. Cook turning the roast every 30 minutes, until fully tender and a meat fork or sharp knife slips in and out of the meat, 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

Transfer the roast to a carving board; tent with foil to keep warm. Allow the liquid in the pot to settle about 5 minutes, then use a wide spoon to skim the fat off the surface; discard the thyme sprig. Boil over high heat until reduced to about 1 1/2 cups, about 8 minutes. Add the red wine and reduce again to 1 1/2 cups, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Using a chef’s knife or carving knife, cut the meat into 1/2-inch-thick slices, or pull apart into large pieces; transfer the meat to a warmed serving platter and pour about 1/2 cup of sauce over the meat. Serve, passing the remaining sauce separately.

Yum, yum. There are variations of this recipe, of course. One adds root vegetables such as carrots, small red potatoes and parsnips after the roast is done. Just strain the liquid after you remove the roast, pour the liquid back in the pot, return the roast and the new vegetables to the pot and continue to until the vegetables are almost tender, about 20 to 30 minutes. Then remove the roast, add the wine and boil the vegetables over high heat until fully tender, about another 10 minutes. Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon, and you are good to go.

I like to serve pot roast with mashed potatoes instead of putting potatoes in the pot with the roast. I love the mashed potatoes with the gravy produced by this roast. I have made mashed potatoes a few times on this meal plan, but if you would like the recipe, you can just click here to see it from an earlier posting.

I was going to make green beans to go with the pot roast, but when I got Adams Farms yesterday, Brussels sprouts were on sale, so I am making those instead. I love Brussels sprouts, but I admit they are an acquired taste. A lot of people don’t care for them, but we eat them regularly in our house. One of my favorite ways to cook them is to make them in a skillet with some bacon and shallots, which is what I am going to do tonight.

Skillet-Braised Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Shallots

4 ounces bacon (4 slices), chopped fine

2 shallots, sliced thin

1 pound Brussels sprouts, stem ends trimmed, discolored leaves removed, and halved through the stem

1/2 cup water

Salt

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Pepper

Cook the bacon and shallots together in a large skillet over medium heat until the bacon is crisp and the shallots are browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.

Add the Brussels sprouts, water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the skillet and increase the heat to medium-high. Cover and simmer until the Brussels sprouts are bright green, about 9 minutes. Uncover the pan and cook until the liquid has evaporated and the sprouts are tender, about 5 minutes longer.

Off the heat, stir in the bacon mixture, butter and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.

You really need to halve the sprouts when you are braising them like this. If you leave them whole, they are just too dense and won’t cook well all the way through, making them mushy outside and nearly raw inside. Cooking them this way also eliminates the aroma sprouts can give off that seems to turn a lot of people off to them.

So that’s today’s meal. If they are any leftovers, you can make a great open-faced sandwich with the pot roast and gravy with some mashed potatoes on the side. We have tomorrow marked as a leftovers night for dinner, so we may have that ourselves. We have the meal plan for next week just about finalized, so I will be writing about that tomorrow. I will say that all the meals for next week are going to be one pot meals and two of them are specifically slow cooker meals. Check it out tomorrow to see what you have to look forward to for dinners. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to pass them along here. Thanks again for checking the blog out. I am pretty happy with the way things are going with it so far, so we’ll keep going! Enjoy your day and enjoy your meal tonight!

 
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Posted by on February 17, 2012 in Beef, Cooking, Dinner, Potatoes, Vegetables

 

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Fryin’ Up a Mess O’ Catfish (Well, Oven-Fried Anyway)

16 Feb

I made it over to Adams Fairacre Farms in Newburgh today (if you live in this area, go there, it’s worth the trip) and they did have the catfish I wanted today, and at a very reasonable price I might add. I also ended up picking up a whole cut-up fryer chicken for $3.00 (which could be great for stock, or a few meals, I haven’t decided yet) and some slab bacon that they make themselves that I can cut and freeze and will probably last a long time in this house, and only cost $6.00 for a 2 1/2 pound slab, so it’s worth the effort to cut it yourself at that price. Anyway, now I can make the recipe I wanted to, which is Oven-Fried Catfish.

Oven-Fried Catfish

3/4 cup dried breadcrumbs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

4 skinless catfish fillets (6 to 8 ounces each)

Salt and pepper

Lemon wedges (for serving)

Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Spread the bread crumbs in a shallow dish. Mix the eggs, mustard, thyme, basil, garlic powder and cayenne together in a separate shallow dish. Pat the catfish dry with paper towels then season with salt and pepper. Working with one piece of fish at a time, dip it into the egg mixture, then coat with the bread crumbs. Press on the crumbs to make sure they adhere to the fish. Lay the coated fish on a wire rack set over a foil lined baking sheet.

Bake the fish on the wire rack until the coating is golden and the fish flakes apart when gently prodded with a paring knife, about 12 to 15 minutes. Serve with the lemon wedges.

A couple of keys when oven frying not just fish, but poultry as well. Using a dried breadcrumbs does seem to help over the traditional flour, egg and fresh bread crumbs. The dried bread crumbs make it a little crisper and since they are pre-cooked it helps ensure that you won’t overcook the fish to get a crunchy coating. Second, using the wire rack in the baking sheet is important with oven frying. You want to be sure that air can circulate all the way around so you get crisp on all sides and not just crisp on top and soggy on the bottom.

I was going to make just plain white rice tonight, which is fine, but I thought I would mix things up a bit and mae a simple Rice Pilaf instead. This is an easy version, with few ingredients to it, but just as tasty.

Rice Pilaf

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 onion, minced

Salt

1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice, rinsed and drained

2 1/4 cups water

Pepper

Rinse the rice in a colander under cold running water until the water runs clear. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and 1 teaspoon of salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the drained rice. Saute until the edges if the rice begin to turn translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in the water and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 17 minutes. Transfer the pot to a cold burner or trivet and let the rice stand for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Rinsing the rice before cooking it removes some of the excess starch to help make the rice a little fluffier, and toasting it for the 3 minutes helps to bring out some of the nuttiness of the rice, which is great for a pilaf. This recipe also uses a little less water than the standard 2:1 ratio usually called for when making rice, but this also helps to make the rice fluffier, more tender and not mushy and sticky.

Tonight’s vegetable dish is a Green Herb Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette. It’s something different and refreshing, and only has a few ingredients to it, but the taste and smell of the fresh herbs is wonderful. This would be great in the spring and summer if you grow your own herbs and can use them, but I think it will work just as well now. If you can’t find Champagne vinegar, (and I had trouble finding it around here) you can always use rice vinegar instead.

Green Herb Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon minced shallot

2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1 head butter lettuce, leaves separated and torn into bite-size pieces (you could really use whatever type of lettuce you like here)

1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1/2 cup fresh chervil sprigs

In the bottom of a salad bowl, combine the olive oil and shallot. Add the vinegar, salt and pepper and mix well with a fork. Top with the lettuce, parsley, cilantro and chervil. When ready to serve, toss well.

You could use arugula, spinach or romaine in this salad, or add other green herbs like mint, or in smaller quantities oregano or thyme or maybe add a cheese like Gorgonzola or Stilton or blue cheese.

That covers tonight’s meal. We didn’t get go over next week’s meal plan yet, but I hope to do that tonight so I can get started on that. I am thinking of adding a slow cooker meal to our routine so we could have at least one of those meals each week. This would allow me to set things up in the slow cooker and just let it go for the day. What do you think? I know lots of people use slow cookers pretty regularly. Is there a slow cooker recipe you would like to see or one that you use that would be good? Just let me know. Tomorrow night is Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes and Carrots for dinner, so tune in for that recipe (which I have done in the slow cooker before, and it comes out nice). Until then, enjoy your day!

 

 
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Posted by on February 16, 2012 in Cooking, Dinner, Rice, Salad, Seafood

 

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Calling For Some Cauliflower Soup

15 Feb

After last night’s elaborate meal (which was very tasty by the way; there’s not much left in the way of leftovers- a little bit of soup and steak, that’s it), we get back to an easier meal today. Today’s Cauliflower Soup is our meat free meal of the week and promises to be quite delicious. This recipe is very easy and doesn’t have a lot of ingredients to it. You can make it in about 30 or 40 minutes as well, so it works well as a mid-week meal when things can get busy.

Cauliflower Soup

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 yellow onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 cups chicken broth

1 head cauliflower, trimmed and coarsely chopped

1/4 cup heavy cream

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1/2 tsp. paprika

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until nearly translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the broth and cauliflower, increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently, uncovered, until the cauliflower is tender, about 20 minutes. Using a food processor or blender, process the soup to a smooth puree. Return the soup to the pan. Place over medium heat, stir in the cream and re-heat to serving temperature. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls, sprinkle with the paprika and serve immediately.

This recipe doesn’t make a lot of soup (this one serves 4), so if you want more, you can always double the recipe. You could also easily use broccoli in this one instead of the cauliflower, if that’s your preference. The biscuits we made the other night would go well this meal, or a nice salad of some mixed greens to add to the soup and fill out your meal. Either would go well with this dinner.

Wow, that was a really quick entry today. One pot, quick cooking and easy clean up – just the way I like it! Tomorrow’s dinner will be Oven-Fried Catfish with rice and an Herbed Salad with a Champagne Vinaigrette. I plan to go to get the fish in the morning tomorrow, so hopefully they have catfish, or we’ll be changing up the meal tomorrow night with a different fish. We also be talking about the meal plan for next week tonight, so hopefully I will be able to put that up as well. If you would like your own meal plan to follow, print out the one I use right here:family_meal_planner. We’ll be making some good hearty meals over the next few days as we have Pot Roast on Friday and Roast Leg of Lamb on Sunday, so make sure you check in for those. They are going to be good. If you have any questions or comments or something you would like to see a recipe for, please leave me a not here or feel free to send me an email at IguanaFlats@msn.com. I hope you all have a wonderful day (it’s a little gloomy here in New York today, but not cold) and enjoy your meal, whatever it may be, this evening!

 
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Posted by on February 15, 2012 in Biscuits, Cooking, Dinner, Salad, Soups & Stews, Vegetables, Vegetarian

 

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Repas de Saint-Valentin (Okay, A Valentine’s Day Meal)

14 Feb

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone out there. There’s nothing more romantic than a quiet dinner with your sweetie, whether it’s out at a restaurant or at home.This dinner menu, which I got from Williams-Sonoma, is French-themed and requires a little more work than what we have cooked lately, but not much, and the rewards will be worth it. I have also included a dessert today, which I don’t normally do, but heck, it’s a special day, so why not?

The first course is a Riesling onion Soup with Herbed Croutons. It’s a variation on the classic French Onion Soup. It takes a little bit (about an hour in total) to prepare and cook, but it’s a nice touch to start off the meal and you could always make the soup a day ahead of time and re-heat it when you are ready to serve it for your meal.

Riesling Onion Soup with Herbed Croutons

3 tablespoons butter

4 large yellow onions, thinly sliced

2 leeks, including pale green tops, sliced

1 garlic clove, chopped

2 tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves, chopped

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups Riesling (use a dry Riesling, not “late harvest”) 6 cups chicken stock (I am using homemade, find my recipe here)

Salt and pepper, to taste

For the Herbed Croutons:

1/2 baguette, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons mixed fresh herbs, such as tarragon, parsley, thyme or rosemary, in any combination 1/2 pound of Italian fontina cheese, cut into small cubes

In a large, wide saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onions, leeks, garlic and tarragon and cook, stirring often, until the onions are soft and golden, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes more. Pour in the wine, bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Pour in the stock and return to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered, until reduced slightly, about 45 minutes.

To make the herbed croutons, preheat an oven to 300 degrees. Arrange the baguette slices in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. In a small bowl, stir together the olive oil, butter and herbs. Lightly coat each bread slice on both sides with the oil mixture. Toast the bread in the oven, turning occasionally, until crisp and golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. (The croutons can be made up to 24 hours in advance and stored, tightly covered, at room temperature.)

Preheat a broiler. Arrange individual ovenproof bowls on a baking sheet and ladle soup into the bowls. Top each serving with 2 or 3 croutons and an equal amount of the cheese. Place the baking sheet under the broiler 7 inches from the heat source and broil until the cheese melts, about 1 minute. Remove from the broiler and serve immediately.

This recipe is for a service of 6, so you may want to cut it 2/3 if you are only making it for 2.

For the entrée, I am making Steaks with Shallot-Red Wine Sauce. I have made this before and posted the recipe in an earlier blog, so if you want to check it out, just click here and you can see the recipe for it. It’s very tasty and the only difference this time is that I am using bone-in ribeyes instead of boneless, but you can whatever cut of steak you like best.

I am making two sides with tonight’s meal. The first is Sautéed Spinach with Pine Nuts. I am making a slight variation of this, as pine nuts are quite expensive and I won’t use them very often. A good, cheaper alternative is slivered almonds, so I am going with those instead.

Spinach Sautéed with Pine Nuts

1/4 cup pine nuts (I am using slivered almonds instead)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

2 pounds spinach leaves, tough stems removed and leaves well rinsed (this sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t. Spinach cooks down significantly when you saute it)

Salt and pepper to taste

If desired, toast the pine nuts (or almonds) by heating them gently in a dry, small, heavy fry pan over medium heat, tossing them every so often as they become golden and fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. Watch the nuts closely as they can burn very easily. When toasted, immediately pour them onto a plate.

In a fry pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onion and saute lightly until golden, 5 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute more. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

Put the spinach with just the rinsing water clinging to the leaves in a saucepan over medium-high heat, cover, and cook until the spinach is bright green and wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and drain well in a colander, pressing the spinach with the back of a spoon to remove excess moisture. When the spinach is cool enough to handle, chop it coarsely.

Add the spinach and nuts to the onion and garlic in the fry pan and return to medium heat. Stir until the spinach and onion are heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot or at room temperature.

To go with the steak and spinach, I opted for Twice-Baked Potatoes tonight. You could easily go with roasted potatoes or mashed potatoes, but the twice-baked sounded like something different to try and you can use a variety of toppings, if you like.

Twice-Baked Potatoes

2 russet potatoes (7 to 8 ounces each), scrubbed, dried, and rubbed lightly with vegetable oil

2 ounces sharp cheddar cheese , shredded (about 1 cup)

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup milk

1 tablespoons butter , room temperature

2 medium scallions , white and green parts sliced thin

1/4 teaspoon salt

 Ground black pepper

 Put an oven rack to upper middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake the potatoes on foil-lined baking sheet until skin is crisp and deep brown and skewer easily pierces the flesh, about 1 hour. Setting the baking sheet aside, transfer the potatoes to a wire rack and let sit until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Using an oven mitt or folded kitchen towel to handle the hot potatoes, cut each potato in half so that the blunt sides will rest on work surface. Using a small dinner spoon, scoop the flesh from each half into medium bowl, leaving a 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch thickness of flesh in each shell. Arrange the shells on a lined sheet and return to the oven until dry and slightly crisped, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mash the potato flesh with fork until smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients, including pepper to taste, until well combined.

Remove the shells from the oven and increase the oven setting to broil. Holding the shells steady on a pan with an oven mitt or towel-protected hand, spoon the mixture into crisped shells, mounding slightly at the center, and return to the oven. Broil until spotty brown and crisp on top, 10 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm.

You can always use a different cheese instead of cheddar to change things up for yourself and the shells should come nice and crispy, not soggy, in this recipe.

Finally, on to dessert. I am not a dessert person and very rarely make them myself, but tonight I will give it a shot and this recipe is pretty easy to use and great for the chocolate lovers. You need to use a double boiler for this recipe, but if you don’t have one(and I don’t) you can use a makeshift one. Choose a saucepan and a heatproof bowl(preferably glass) that rests securely in the top. Fill the saucepan with water to a depth of about 1 to 2 inches. Once the bowl is placed atop the pan, the water must not touch it. Remember that boiling water bubbles up, so check the water level before setting the bowl in place. Bring the water to a boil, set the bowl in place, and reduce the heat so the water simmers gently. If the water bubbles up and is hitting the bowl, you’ll get condensation in the bowl, your chocolate will end up seizing, and you’ll end up having to start over.

Warm Molten Chocolate Cakes

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

4 egg yolks

6 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder, sifted

1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest (optional)

3 egg whites, at room temperature

Preheat an oven to 400°F. Lightly butter six 3/4-cup ramekins and dust with cocoa powder. Set the ramekins on a small baking sheet.

In the top pan of a double boiler, combine the chocolate and butter. Set the pan over, but not touching, barely simmering water in the bottom pan and melt the chocolate and butter, then whisk until the mixture is glossy and smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and salt. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks, 3 tablespoons of the sugar, the cocoa powder and the orange zest on medium-high speed until thick. Spoon the chocolate mixture into the yolk mixture and beat until well blended. The mixture will be very thick.

In a bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until they are very foamy and thick. Sprinkle in the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar and increase the speed to high. Continue beating until firm, glossy peaks form. Spoon half of the beaten whites onto the chocolate mixture and whisk in until just blended. Add the remaining whites and stir gently until just blended. Spoon into the prepared ramekins, dividing evenly.

Bake the cakes until they are puffed and the tops are cracked, about 13 minutes. The inside of the cracks will look very wet. Remove from the oven and serve immediately in the ramekins. Or run the tip of a small knife around the inside of each ramekin to loosen the cake, then invert the cakes onto individual plates.


You could serve these with a little dusting of powdered sugar and some raspberries or strawberries and maybe a dollop of whipped cream or creme anglaise (which I’m not adventurous enough to make, but some might be), or even a little vanilla ice cream with some shaved chocolate.

Okay, that’s it, my Valentine’s Day meal. It’s not as hard as it may seem, trust me. It’s just a matter of organizing your time and space so everything is done on time. You could even have everything set up to make the dessert and make it after you finish eating the dinner if you want. Enjoy your meal and your time with your special someone, have a nice glass of wine and snuggle by the fireplace. Tomorrow’s meal is back to simplicity with Cream of Cauliflower Soup. It’s our meat-free meal of the week so feel free to check it out. If you have any questions, comments, would like to let us know what you are making or eating tonight, please do! Have a great day everyone!

 
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Posted by on February 14, 2012 in Beef, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Dessert, Dinner, Potatoes, Soups & Stews, Vegetables

 

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A Mighty Nice Chicken Rice Soup

13 Feb

It’s been kind of a hectic Monday so far, so I am glad that tonight’s dinner is something of a simple one to make. Chicken rice soup is very easy to make and doesn’t take long to cook at all. The other nice thing about it is that you can add lots of different things to it to make it more interesting (it can be a great way to empty out the fridge).

Chicken Rice Soup

6 cups chicken stock (I am using homemade. If you want my method, check it out here.)

1/2 cup white rice

1 carrot, thinly sliced

1 celery stalk, thinly sliced

1 cup raw or cooked chopped boneless, skinless chicken, or more

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Put the stock in a large, deep pot over medium-high heat. When it is just about boiling, turn the heat down so it bubbles, but not too vigorously. Stir in the rice, carrot and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are all tendered, about 20 minutes.

Stir in the chicken. If it is raw, cook until it is cooked through, another 5 to 8 minutes.  If it is cooked, cook 2 or 3 minutes, until it is hot. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Garnish with parsley and serve.

It’s a very simple soup to make. I am adding some leftover vegetables we have to the pot, but some good ones to add might be onion, zucchini, parsnips,potato,sliced mushrooms, corn kernels, peas, thinly shredded cabbage or other greens. You could make it Chinese style by adding some garlic and ginger when you add the chicken and then add some peas and sliced mushrooms, and season with a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce. Other things that might be good to add would be any fresh herbs, or spices, croutons for a garnish, barley or quinoa instead of rice, cooked tortellini or other small pasta or add  some small pieces of rind from Parmesan cheese (along with the stock) or grated cheese for garnish.

You could just leave this as a one pot dish, but I’ve decided to add some biscuits to dinner. You can always buy some and just heat them up, or use Pillsbury or Bisquick and make some, or you could try this quick and easy recipe and have some homemade in 30 minutes.

Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for the counter

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in the cream with a wooden spoon until the dough forms, about 30 seconds. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and gather together into a ball. Knead the dough briefly until smooth, about 30 seconds.

Pat the dough into a 3/4-inch-thick circle. Cut the biscuits into rounds using a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter or 8 wedges using a knife. Place the biscuits on the parchment-lined baking sheet. (The baking sheet can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 hours.) Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

The key to these biscuits, like any quick bread, muffin or scone, is to not overwork the dough. The more you mix the dough. the more you develop protein in the flour and the tougher the biscuit will become.

That’s the meal for tonight. You could add this one to the quick and easy column for the meals we have made. Tomorrow will not be so quick and easy. We’re going to make a nice French-inspired, romantic meal for Valentine’s Day tomorrow. We’ll start off with some Riesling Onion Soup with Herbed Croutons, then have some Ribeye Steak with Shallot-Red Wine Sauce, Sauteed Spinach and Pine Nuts, Twice Baked Potatoes, and Warm Molten Chocolate Cakes. It’s going to be a great meal, and it really isn’t as much work as you may think. As always, if you have any questions, comments or recipes, feel free to leave a comment here and I’ll get back to you. Enjoy your soup and have a great night!

 

 

 
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Posted by on February 13, 2012 in Biscuits, Breads, Poultry, Rice

 

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This Week’s Meal Plan

12 Feb

We made it home from Saranac Lake. Winter Carnival was lots of fun and we had a great time visiting everyone, but we are all pretty tired tonight, so they’ll be no cooking tonight. Tonight we rely on the delivery of Planet Wings to feed us. They have good wings and burgers and we don’t have to leave the comfort of our home to enjoy it, so that’s what we are going with today. if you want to check out Planet Wings, you can visit their website here. We did, however, go shopping and have the meal plan in place for this week. Since it is going to be a bit chillier this week, we are going with two soup dinners for the week to war us up:

Monday: Chicken and Rice Soup

Tuesday: A special Valentine’s Day meal: Riesling Onion Soup with Herbed Croutons, Rib Eye Steak with Red-Wine Sauce, Spinach Sauteed with Pine Nuts, and Warm Molten Chocolate Cakes (I know, a dessert! Well it’s a special occasion)

Wednesday: Cream of Cauliflower Soup (our meat-free meal of the week)

Thursday:Oven-Fried Catfish with Potatoes and an Herb Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette

Friday: Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans

Saturday: We have down as a leftovers day.

Sunday: Roast Leg of Lamb, Roasted Potatoes, Carrots

You’ll need a few things that you may not normally buy to make some of these recipes, like the Riesling wine for the onion soup, cocoa powder for the chocolate cakes, pine nuts for the spinach, champagne vinegar for the vinaigrette, catfish, and leg of lamb. We’re doing some entertaining this week since Sean is off on Friday, we’ll entertain for Sunday dinner, and Valentine’s Day will be a special weeknight meal, so we do have some more labor-intensive recipes this week, but none of them are very difficult or time consuming. Even though the pot roast takes several hours to cook, once it’s prepared, it pretty much takes care of itself, and you could do it in a slow cooker if you prefer. You’ll also need lots of chicken stock this week since we are really making 3 soups, so if you had a chance to make some of your own stock, you’re in luck. I’ll have to make some more stock of my own to cover everything for the week.

Well, sorry, it’s a short post today, but I am tired from all the driving (it’s a 4 hour trip back from Saranac Lake) and I am going to eat some wings 🙂 Tune in tomorrow to start off the week with a nice, simple recipe of Chicken and Rice Soup. if you have any questions, comments or just want to say hello, please do! I look forward to any input at all. Have a great night and we’ll start cooking again tomorrow!

 
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Posted by on February 12, 2012 in Cooking, Dinner, Meal Plan Menu

 

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Carnival Chicken Corn Chowder

11 Feb

 

It’s Winter Carnival day here in Saranac Lake. There was a little bit of snow last night, and it’s pretty cold here, but the kids are all having a good time and gearing up for the parade to start soon. I brought my Chicken Corn Chowder up for a meal today, and it will taste pretty good on this chilly day. For this recipe, I used the frozen corn kernels, since fresh corn this time of year is not nearly as good as the summertime. When using the frozen corn, you don’t need to use the flour in this recipe (which is good since I wanted this one to be gluten-free for my sister Kerry).

Chicken Corn Chowder

10 ears fresh corn, husks and silks removed, or 2 pounds frozen corn kernels

4 slices bacon, chopped fine

1 onion, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (if using frozen corn, omit this)

3 cups chicken broth

2 cups milk

3 medium red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch cubes

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried

1 cup heavy cream

 1 1/2 cups cooked, diced chicken

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Salt and pepper

Standing the corn on one end inside a large bowl, cut the kernels from 4 ears using a paring knife. Grate the remaining 6 ears over the large holes of a box grater into a separate bowl. Using the back of a butter knife, scrape any remaining pulp from the cobs into the bowl with the grated corn. (If you’re using frozen corn, which I am, puree one pound of the corn in a blender with all the broth until smooth. You’ll omit the flour in the next step and use the pureed frozen corn in place of the grated corn).

Cook the bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Stir in the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the flour (if using fresh corn; if using frozen, see above) and cook for 1 minute. Slowly stir in the broth and milk,scraping up any browned bits. Stir in the potatoes, bay leaves, thyme, and grated corn. Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are almost tender, about 15 minutes.

Stir in the remaining corn kernels and cream. Continue to simmer until the corn kernels are tender yet still crunchy, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken and continue to simmer until the chicken is heated through, about 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.

You can easily make this a meat-free meal by eliminating the bacon and the chicken, and if you want it vegetarian, use vegetable stock instead of the chicken broth. It is a nice, hearty soup to warm you up on a cold winter day.

There’s not much more to add today, since we are getting ready to watch the parade. We’ll be on our way back home to Harriman tomorrow, and probably won’t get home until the afternoon, so I don’t know if I’ll be cooking tomorrow night or not, but I do know that we’ll be discussing the meal plan for next week, so I will definitely be writing about that tomorrow. until then, we’ll enjoy the Carnival and you enjoy your day!

 
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Posted by on February 11, 2012 in Cooking, Dinner, Poultry, Soups & Stews

 

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Making Some Homemade Staples (No, Not the Metal Kind…)

10 Feb

Since we’re going to be heading out to the Winter Carnival in Saranac Lake today, I won’t be cooking any dinner. I thought today might be a good day to show a couple of simple recipes to make some of the homemade ingredients I use on a regular basis, like breadcrumbs and broth. None of these recipes are hard to make, and while the broth can take a little time to accomplish, it is absolutely worth it to have around and tastes so much better than store-bought. Making your own chicken broth can be accomplished in a couple of ways. One method uses a left over chicken carcass from a whole roasted chicken. This method can take hours and I do this when I know I have the time to let it sit on the stove. The second method I use is much quicker and tastes just as good. For this method I use some drumsticks for making the stock.We’ll just cover the quick one today.

Chicken Broth

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 pounds chicken legs

1 onion, quartered

1 carrot, cut into chunks

1 rib celery, cut into chunks

 2 quarts water

2 teaspoons salt

2 bay leaves

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until smoking. Brown half of the chicken on both sides, about 10 minutes total. Transfer to a large bowl. Repeat with the remaining chicken and transfer to the bowl. Pour off the fat from the pot. Return all the chicken to the pot and stir in the onion, carrot and celery. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the chicken releases its juices, about 20 minutes. Stir in the water, salt and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until the broth is rich and flavorful, about 20 minutes. Strain the broth into a large container, and let stand for 10 minutes before skimming the fat. Remove the meat from the bones and reserve separately.

Chicken legs are relatively inexpensive and great for using to make some stock if you don’t have the chicken carcass. They also give the broth, a nice, rich, meaty flavor and you can save the meat off the bones to use for soup if you like. This broth can be easily frozen and will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.

The next stock to make would be some shrimp stock. This is probably the easiest stock to make out of something you would normally throw away without thinking twice. You can use this as a good substitute when recipes call for a fish stock.

Shrimp Stock

Shells from 1 to 2 pounds shrimp

1/2 onion, sliced

1/2 carrot, sliced

1/2 celery stalk, sliced

Combine all the ingredients and add 4 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to very low, cover and cook for 15 minutes.. Cool slightly, then strain, pressing on the shells to extract as much juice as possible. Use immediately or refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to a few weeks.

After chicken and shrimp, you can always make some vegetable broth. Again, it’s a very simple process using what you already have in the house and doesn’t take long to complete.

Vegetable Stock

4 large carrots, sliced

2 large onions, chopped

1 large potato, sliced

2 celery stalks, chopped

5 or 6 cloves of garlic

10 to medium button mushrooms, trimmed and sliced (optional)

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

Freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients and add 14 cups of water and some pepper. Bring to a boil and adjust the heat so the mixture simmers steadily but gently and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are very tender (Longer is better if you have the time). Cool slightly, then strain, pressing on the vegetables to extract as much juice as possible. Use immediately or refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Finally, I do occasionally make my own beef stock. If you have any meat bones to use, or scraps or inexpensive cuts of meat, you can do this at home. I find store-bought beef broth is okay, as long as you get the lower sodium, but if you can make it, then why not?

Beef Stock

3 to 4 pounds meaty beef bones, like shank, shin, tail or short ribs

2 medium onions, chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon salt, plus more to taste

3 cloves

10 peppercorns

Rinse the bones well under cold running water. then transfer to a large stockpot and add the remaining ingredients. Add about 16 cups of water, enough to cover by a couple of inches. Bring just about to a boil, then partially cover and adjust the heat so the mixture sends up a few bubbles at a time. Cook, skimming off any foam that accumulates at the top, until the meat falls from the bones and the bones separate from one another, 2 to 3 hours. Cool slightly, then strain, pressing on the vegetables and meat to extract as much juice as possible. Taste and add salt if necessary. Use immediately or refrigerate (skim off any hardened fat from the surface) and use within 4 to 5 days or freeze up to 3 months.

Other than stock, the other staple I make at home is breadcrumbs. I use breadcrumbs a lot for coating, binding or as a crunchy topping. They are really simple to make and the only work on your part is pulling out the food processor. I prefer to use white bread for breadcrumbs; it seems to have the best texture.

Homemade Breadcrumbs

Tear pieces of sandwich bread into quarters and pulse in a food processor to coarse crumbs, about 8 pulses. One slice of bread should yield about 1 cup.

If you want dried breadcrumbs, you can either just use some stale bread in the food processor, or take the fresh breadcrumbs you made, sprinkle them on a baking sheet and bake in a 300 degree oven until dry, about 15 to 30 minutes.

Dried breadcrumbs can be stored in a zip-lock bag or container at room temperature for about 1 month, while fresh can be stored for about 1 week. You could freeze either one for about 3 months, just allow about 30 minutes of thawing at room temperature before you use them.

So that’s it for the staples for today. They are quick ways to get some fresh, homemade ingredients that you’ll find yourself using quite often. Tomorrow I’ll be posting my Chicken Corn Chowder recipe that we brought for Winter Carnival, and good thing since it’s about 10 degrees up here! See you tomorrow!

 
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Posted by on February 10, 2012 in Beef, Cooking, Pantry, Poultry, Soups & Stews, Vegetables

 

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Serving Up Some Shrimp Stir Fry

09 Feb

Today will be the last meal of the Sean choices for the week. I was a little surprised he opted to go for this one, but he knows that one meal has to be a seafood meal, and he likes shrimp, so he opted to go for this one. Today’s dinner will be Shrimp with Hoisin Sauce and we’ll be having Fried Rice again, but will just be using the leftovers from last night’s stir fry dinner (which was delicious by the way, not much left in the way of leftovers for Michelle’s lunch today. I try to use fresh shrimp as often as I can. You can usually find a sale on it somewhere during the week, so buy it the day of cooking or the day before at the most. If you want to buy frozen, which I do on occasion, buy shrimp that are already deveined and shell split, it will make your life a lot easier as far as cleaning.

Shrimp With Hoisin Sauce

1 pound medium-sized fresh shrimp, shelled and deveined

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 thin slices of fresh ginger root, peeled and minced

1 clove garlic, crushed 3 scallions,

cut into 1-inch pieces

Mix the water, cornstarch, soy sauce, and hoisin sauce in a bowl and set aside. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ginger root and garlic and stir continuously until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Turn the heat up to high, add the shrimp and stir-fry until they turn pink, about 5 minutes. Add the scallions and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the sauce mixture and coat the shrimp, stirring and mixing; cook for about 2 minutes and serve over rice.

The cooking time for this meal is only about 10 minutes. Remember, don’t cook the shrimp too long (or any fish for that matter) or they will get tough and rubbery. if you’ve never deveined a shrimp before, take the time to do it. Starting at the head of the shrimp, make a shallow cut with a knife all the way down the middle of the back. Hold the shrimp under cold running water to rinse out the dark vein, or just pull it out yourself and rinse the shrimp off when you are all done. if you don’t want to use shrimp, you could scallops or another fleshy fish, or I think chicken would work nicely in this dish as well.

We’ll be using the same fried rice as we had last night, so if you want to check yesterday’s blog recipe for it, please do so, or you can use plain white rice instead. I think either will work well here. While I won’t be making these tonight, Sean came across a recipe for Fortune Cookies that we are going to try one night when we have a group over for dinner. It will be more fun to do the fortunes with other people around, but here is the recipe if anyone wants to try it out.

Fortune Cookies

1 cup margarine, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Combine margarine, sugar, egg and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add the flour and baking powder and stir everything together to form a ball of dough. Lightly flour a wooden cutting board or flat counter surface. With a rolling pin, roll half of the dough very thin. Use a circle-shaped cookie cutter or the top of a large glass (about 2 1/2 inches wide) to cut circles in the dough. Put a fortune in each circle, off to one side. Fold the circle in half, and then in half again. Pinch the edges to seal the dough. Re-roll leftover scraps of dough to make more cookies out of them. Then roll and make cookies from the other half of the dough. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes on a baking sheet in the oven until they are lightly browned. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Part of the fun of this, of course, is being creative in making up the fortunes for each cookie. They can be predictions, lottery numbers, old sayings, or just fun, goofy things. You can print out 25 or so fortunes on a piece of printer paper and cut them into strips to use for the cookies. i would suggest about 2 inches long, at the most, so they fit nicely in the cookie.

More easy recipes for the day and that wraps up Sean’s week of dinners. We had a lot fun choosing and cooking everything and they were all quick, easy and tasty meals with little clean up. We haven’t picked next week’s meal plan yet, but that will be tonight’s chore after dinner, so I will post it tomorrow. If you want to print your own meal planner, here’s the document:family_meal_planner We are off to Saranac Lake tomorrow for Winter Carnival, so I won’t be cooking for Friday and Saturday, and most likely Sunday as well since we’ll be getting home Sunday, but i do plan to post some things. I’ll be bringing Chicken Corn Chowder up to Saranac Lake with us, so I will post that recipe on Saturday. if you have any questions, comments or just want to say hello, feel free to leave a comment and I will reply as soon as I can. Enjoy your day today (it actually feels like winter here in New York for a change today) and enjoy your dinner!

 
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Posted by on February 9, 2012 in Cooking, Dinner, Rice, Seafood

 

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Pork, Peppers and Pineapple- Positively Pleasant

08 Feb

It’s day three of the Sean dinner choice week, and so far so good. Sean liked the soup last night, which was very tasty and flavorful. I really think the homemade broth made a difference in this one, so if you can make it yourself, you should. One thing I did notice this morning when I was packing the leftovers for Michelle’s lunch today is that the polenta really set once it was chilled, so if you want to re-heat the leftovers, you may want to add some extra stock or water to it before you heat it up. Anyway, the next to days are 2 more stir fry meals that Sean wanted to try. The first one is Pork, Peppers and Pineapple and we are having fried rice with this one. Actually, I am going to make enough fried rice so we can have it again tomorrow night when we make the next stir fry, saving me some work tomorrow (sometimes it pays to think ahead). Tonight is another good night to make the fried rice since we are using pork in the main dish. We can take some of that pork and re-purpose it into the fried rice as well. Both recipes are very simple and not at all time-consuming. You could easily have both dishes done in 20 minutes if you make the white rice ahead of time or are using extra rice leftover from another night (One good thing about getting Chinese takeout is you often have a little container of white rice leftover. Just add a little warm water to it to loosen it up and it’s good to go for your fried rice recipe).

Pork with Peppers and Pineapple

1 1/3 pounds lean pork (I am using pork loin that could be used for a roast. You could use tenderloin here too)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup pineapple juice (you can use the juice drained from the pineapple chunks, or pineapple juice on its own)

3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup chopped peppers (mix up the colors if you like, I am)

1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots

1 cup pineapple chunks

Slice the pork thinly (it’s easier to do if the meat is a little frozen). Combine the soy sauce and 1 tablespoon cornstarch in a bowl. Add the pork to this mixture, stir, and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining cornstarch with the sugar and 1/2 cup of pineapple juice. Set aside.

heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork to the skillet and stir fry for 4 to 7 minutes, or until the pork is white all the way through. Remove 1/3 of the pork from the skillet and set aside (we’re going to use this for the fried rice). Add the pineapple juice mixture to the remaining meat and blend thoroughly. Remove the pork from the skillet and set aside.

If necessary, add up to 2 tablespoons of additional oil to the skillet. Stir fry the peppers, carrots and pineapple chunks for about 3 minutes, until crisp-tender. Add the pork back into the skillet and blend thoroughly for 1 minute. Serve.

If you wanted to use this as a meat-free dish, you can easily adapt it by eliminating the pork and increasing the amounts of peppers, carrots and pineapple, and maybe throwing in some extra vegetables as well. Either way, I think it will go nicely with the fried rice.

Here’s the thing about fried rice. I’ve tried a bunch of recipes, and most of them seem to use either way too much soy sauce, or not enough soy sauce. It’s kind of a personal thing as to which you prefer. This recipe seems to use just the right amount, but I still use low-sodium soy sauce and I think you could probably cut it down a little if you think it’s too much. Also, if you are making this meat-free, simply eliminate the pork from the recipe.

Simple Fried Rice

2 cups white rice, cooked and chilled

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 eggs, beaten

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 inches fresh ginger, minced or grated

1/3 pound cooked pork, diced

1/2 cup shredded carrots

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/3 cup soy sauce

Heat a large non-stick skillet over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the pan and swirl. Add the eggs to the hot oil and break into small pieces as it scrambles. When the eggs are scrambled, remove the eggs from the pan and set aside. Wipe the skillet clean, return the skillet to the stove over medium-high heat and add the remainder of the oil. Add the garlic and ginger to the skillet and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the pork to the pan and heat through, about 2 minutes. Add the carrots and scallion and quick stir-fry, about 2 minutes. Add the rice to the skillet and combine with the pork and vegetables, mixing thoroughly. Fry the rice for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the peas to the rice mixture and stir fry 1 minute. Add the soy sauce and stir into the rice for 1 minute. Add the eggs back to the skillet with the rice and mix in thoroughly and heat through, about 1 minute, then serve.

AS is true with just about all stir fries, you can add or subtract whatever you like to either the pork recipe or the fried rice recipe. Using shrimp instead of the pork in the fried rice will make that a meal on its own. if you like. You could easily do the same with chicken or beef, or just use all vegetables, the choice is yours.

Tomorrow’s recipe is another Sean pick, and it is our seafood meal for the week. We’ll be making Shrimp in Hoisin Sauce, and we’ll be having leftover fried rice with it as well. I am hoping we can start picking out meals for next week’s meal plan tonight as well, so I may have that ready to add to the blog tomorrow as well. If you want to start your own meal plan, you can always follow along on the planner I use here:family_meal_planner. As always, any questions, comments, additions or recipes are always welcome and appreciated. You can leave a comment here or send me an email at IguanaFlats@msn.com. Hopefully you all have a pleasant and wonderful day and enjoy whatever your meal is tonight!

 
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Posted by on February 8, 2012 in Cooking, Dinner, Pork, Rice, Vegetables

 

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