Sweet & Spicy Asian Pork Shoulder

Pork shoulder that was supposed to be chicken thighs. Leftover rice. Sweet & Spicy. Sounds like a winning combination!

Sweet & Spicy Asian Pork Shoulder

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 Tbs chili garlic sauce
• 1 Tbs ground ginger
• 1 Tbs granulated garlic
• 1 tsp Chinese 5-spice
• Salt, to taste
• 2 1/2 lbs. pork shoulder

Directions:

Salt (and pepper, if you must) the pork shoulder to taste.
Whisk together soy sauce, brown sugar, orange juice, ginger, garlic, and 5-spice in a large bowl. Add pork shoulder and turn it in the mixture until it is well coated. Put pork shoulder into slow cooker and pour remaining sauce over the roast. 
Cook on low 7-8 hours (high, 4 hours).
Serve over rice or noodles.

I'm going to roast asparagus to serve alongside this, but if I didn't have the fresh asparagus I would roast some Chinese vegetables - maybe Bok Choy, carrots, mushrooms, onions, and sweet pepper.

If the sauce isn't thick enough, I may pull some out of the cooker and thicken it up with cornstarch.

Thai Peanut Curry Sauce

INGREDIENTS:
1 can of coconut milk
2 Tbs Thai red curry paste
1 Tbs chili garlic sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbs soy sauce
juice of 1/2 a lime
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut in bite-sized pieces
salt
cabbage, shredded
cooked rice or noodles

DIRECTIONS:
Heat coconut milk in a small pot over medium-low heat, stirring to make sure it doesn’t stick. Once warm, add curry paste and chili garlic sauce, whisk until thoroughly blended.
Add fish sauce, peanut butter, brown sugar, soy sauce, and lime. Continue to whisk. (Add additional garlic chili sauce if you like it spicier.)
Salt chicken pieces to taste and fry in pan until cooked through. Add chicken to sauce, cover, and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
Lightly steam the cabbage, and place a bed of it on rice or noodles. Cover with sauce, and garnish with finely chopped peanuts and/or green onion.

This recipe is still a work in progress. I had it for the first time years ago at Royal Thai restaurant in Bowling Green. I’ve tried to find a recipe on the internet that is as good, but haven’t had any luck. Since I’m not known for my great recipe-following skills it only makes sense that I’d try to come up with a recipe on my own. :) This is very, very close.

This recipe is adapted from Praram Long Song (Thai peanut curry sauce) at Subverting Solitude.

~ Enjoy!

Shrimp Étouffée for Mardis Gras!

 It all started with the King Cake...

(Yes.  This is the last piece.)

On a whim, I bought a King Cake from Tea Squares in Bowling Green.  I haven't had a good King Cake in years and the ones they sell at Kroger are sorely lacking.  My ability to make anything requiring yeast is also sorely lacking.  It was a no-brainer to order this delicious treat and bring it home for dinner.

And with King Cake for dinner, what else would you serve but Crawfish Étouffée?!

I've never made this at home.  Ever.  I've never even thought about making it at home.  Yet, after perusing a hundred different recipes (Immediately ruling out any that used canned cream of whatever soup - how can they use that and call a recipe 'authentic'?) I realized that making this it home would actually be easy.

If it weren't for the ice storm.  Thankfully, I had shrimp on hand in the freezer (we take our shrimp seriously around here) and chicken stock to sub for the seafood stock.  I also had to leave out the green onions, but I left them in the recipe because I would much have preferred to include them.

I forgot to get a picture of the finished dinner, but isn't this picture of the vegetables pretty?  The original recipe called for green peppers, but I really hate green pepper.  The red, yellow, and orange add such beautiful color, not to mention taste much better.  I had an orange pepper in the fridge, but next time I would be tempted to use yellow for more color.
 

Shrimp Étouffée

• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup chopped orange bell pepper
• 1/2 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1 pound cooked shrimp, peeled and de-veined

      Cajun Seasoning Mix

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (more if you like it spicy)

1. In a small bowl, thoroughly combine the seasoning mix. Set aside.
2. In a large heavy skillet or dutch oven, make a roux by heating the oil over medium high heat.
3. Add the flour, whisking until smooth. Continue whisking until a peanut butter roux is achieved, about 3-5 minutes.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add onions, celery and bell pepper; cook 2 minutes.
5. Add green onions, garlic and seasoning mix; cook an additional 5 minutes.
6. In a separate saucepan, bring the stock to a boil.
7. Gradually add boiling stock to roux mixture, whisking with each addition until dissolved. Return to a boil, stirring often.
8. Reduce heat to low; cook 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
9. During the last few minutes of cooking time, place the butter and shrimp in a microwave-safe dish. Cover loosely and microwave on high for 2 minutes, or until the butter has melted. Stir to combine.
10. Gently fold shrimp mixture into stock mixture.

Serve over hot rice with French bread and hot sauce.
Serves 4.


While this is my own recipe, follow the links to my inspiration:
Crawfish Étouffée
Simple Cajun Seasoning Recipe


This is the best new recipe I've tried in ages.  And so simple!  Even my non-shrimp-eating picky eater loved it, although she just ate the sauce over rice without the shrimp.

And the King Cake was the Best. Ever.   Nothing like fresh from the bakery. :)


~ Enjoy!




Merissa at Little House on the Prairie Living hosts an Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange every Tuesday.  If you have a recipe to share you can link your blog post or you can post in the comments.  CLICK HERE to go to this week's exchange!

 

Go ahead, you know you want to look!

All American (gluten-free) Meatloaf

My family loves meatloaf. In fact, I'd say that next to macaroni and cheese it's their favorite comfort food. Unfortunately, our love of meatloaf collided with my daughter's need to eat gluten-free.

Who knew you could make meatloaf with oats? This is my first attempt at gluten-free meatloaf and it's adapted from Maridele's All American Meatloaf shared on allrecipes.com (I have such a love/hate relationship with that site!)

All American (gluten-free) Meatloaf

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 4 slices Cheddar cheese, halved

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Mix ground beef, quick oats, onion, milk, eggs, 1/4 cup ketchup, garlic, garlic powder, salt, basil, and black pepper together in a large bowl until thoroughly combined; pat the mixture into a 9x5-inch-ish loaf in a baking dish
3. Bake meatloaf in the preheated oven for 50 minutes. An instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the center of the meat loaf should read at least 160F
4. Remove from oven, spread 2 tablespoons ketchup over loaf, and top with Cheddar cheese slices; return to oven and bake until cheese has melted, about 5 more minutes

It was delicious and very filling.  I'm sure all that extra garlic is what makes it so delicious!  Now that I've had success with oatmeal in place of bread crumbs I'm looking forward to adapting my other meatloaf recipes.

~ ENJOY!

Merissa at Little House on the Prairie Living is hosting a weekly Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange every Tuesday.  If you have a recipe to share you can link your blog post or you can post in the comments.  CLICK HERE to go to this week's exchange!

 

Go ahead, you know you want to look!

Midwestern Goulash

Midwestern Goulash?

The truth is, I hesitate to call it goulash because the recipe my family has made my entire life looks nothing like other goulash recipes I've read online and in cookbooks.  But, we call it goulash.  So what else am I supposed to call it?

I don't know for sure where this recipe originated, either.  I don't remember either of my grandmothers making it.  Come to think of it, I don't remember either of my grandmothers COOKING.  Except for the corned beef and cabbage or ham hocks and beans my Irish grandmother made with much regularity.  Of one thing I'm sure, it's origins do lie somewhere in the midwest between South Dakota and Illinois, in the many places my mother lived while growing up.  By the time I came along, this dish was well established in my family's rather odd culinary history.


MIDWESTERN GOULASH

Ingredients

• 1 lb elbow macaroni
• 1 lb ground beef (I like to use extra lean 92/8)
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tbs sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1 - 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 - 6 oz can of tomato paste
• 1 - 14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Prepare macaroni according to directions.  (I start boiling the water for the macaroni, then assemble my ingredients to make the sauce.  My goal is for the macaroni to finish shortly after the sauce is ready.)
2. Spread the ground beef out on a large plate and sprinkle with the paprika.  (You can also add salt to taste at this point.)
3. Brown the spiced ground beef in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add the onions and garlic, lower heat to medium and continue to cook until they are soft.
4. Stir the can of tomato paste into the ground beef mixture, cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.  Stir until tomatoes and sauce are well mixed in the ground beef.  Simmer until macaroni is ready.
5. Add macaroni to the skillet and carefully (this spills easy!) incorporate that macaroni into the sauce. Cover and cook over low heat for ten minutes.

This is how my kiddos and I make it today.  I know that my mom added ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, but somewhere along the line we stopped doing that at my house.  We also serve this topped with shredded cheddar cheese, which would never have happened at my mom's table. Maybe because cheese was too expensive?

ENJOY!


Merissa at Little House on the Prairie Living is hosting a weekly Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange every Tuesday.  If you have a recipe to share you can link your blog post or you can post in the comments.  CLICK HERE to go to this week's exchange!

 

Go ahead, you know you want to look!

The Stew that Almost Wasn't

I'm craving chicken stew, specifically the Homey Chicken Stew recipe on Page 44 of  America's Test Kitchen's Slow Cooker Revolution. 


I started out with the best intentions of following this recipe to a T (REALLY!) because the picture looked so incredibly yummy in the book.    And then I realized I was out of onions.


A bag of pearl onions was found in the freezer and substituted for the two chopped onions.  Things were going well, when I went to add the spice.  Thyme.  Everybody has thyme in their spice stash, right?  Wrong.  No thyme left for me...  (heh-heh)


No problem!  A quick internet search turned up that while there is no exact substitution for thyme, oregano will work in a pinch.  Assuming you have oregano.  Yea, that's right.  I used the last of the oregano Saturday making Sunday Gravy.


At this point I'm getting a little slap happy, so I just used the spice I thought smelled like how I wanted my stew to taste.  Enter stage left:  ROSEMARY!  I love the smell and taste of rosemary, couldn't go wrong with this choice, right?


This wasn't the end of it.  The recipe calls for flour.  Crap.  I had planned to make gluten-free biscuits with Pamela's Gluten-free Baking & Pancake Mix to serve this over, for my kid who is trying to eliminate wheat from her diet.  So, why not use that baking mix as a flour double?  I know there are better substitutes, but I had to roll with what I have on hand.

It smells go SO FAR!

Looks pretty good, too!

Elizabeth's Variation of

HOMEY CHICKEN STEW

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
• 1 bag frozen pearl onions
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 T tomato paste
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1/4 c Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix
• 1/2 c dry white wine
• 4 c chicken broth
• 4 potatoes, cut into ½ inch pieces
• 4 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 c frozen peas

Directions

1. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until just smoking. Lightly brown the chicken on both sides. Transfer chicken to a bowl.
2. If needed, add another tablespoon of oil to the pan (I used 2 Tbs butter). Add onions, garlic, tomato paste, and rosemary. Cook until onions are softened and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in baking mix and cook for one more minute. Whisk in wine, scraping up any brown bits in the pan. Whisk in 1 cup broth, smoothing any lumps.
3. Toss potatoes and carrots with 1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil in a glass bowl and microwave 5 minutes on high.
4. Transfer onion mix to a slow cooker along with the potatoes, carrots and remaining chicken broth. Nestle browned chicken with any accumulated juices into the slow cooker. Add the bay leaves.
5. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
6. Transfer chicken to a large casserole dish and allow to cool slightly. Using 2 forks, shred into bite size pieces. Remove bay leaves from the slow cooker. Stir in chicken and frozen peas. Allow to heat through, about 5 minutes. 

Stay tuned!  At this point, I may try to make the biscuits on top of the stew in the slow cooker.  I read another recipe this weekend that does that and I'd like to marry that idea to this stew.  I made the dough for the dumplings according to the recipe for drop biscuits on the back of the Pamela's bag and dropped them into the stew.  The original directions said 35-40 minutes to cook the dumplings but it took about 55 minutes on high for ours to cook on top.

Meanwhile, there is a post about this Homey Chicken Stew recipes on a dash of cinnamon, complete with pics. Her version is much closer to the original than mine, although there is at least one minor change.

~ ENJOY!

Merissa at Little House on the Prairie Living is hosting a weekly Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange every Tuesday.  If you have a recipe to share you can link your blog post or you can post in the comments.  CLICK HERE to go to this week's exchange!

 

Go ahead, you know you want to look!

Indonesian Chicken Curry

I found this recipe for Indonesian Chicken Curry in Saveur's The New Comfort Food: Home Cooking from Around the World.  I love the magazine.  I love the website.  I *really* love this cookbook!

I live in rural Kentucky and finding odd Asian spices isn't going to happen without an hour plus drive, so I made some adaptions to adjust to my pantry.  The original recipe is linked above, what follows is my adaption.

INDONESIAN CHICKEN CURRY in KENTUCKY

• 1 Tbs ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp crushed red chili flakes
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 Tbs Gourmet Garden squeezable ginger
• 3 Tbs coconut oil
• Zest of one lime
• 5 - 4" sticks of cinnamon
• 1 Tbs Gourmet Garden squeezable lemon grass
• 3 lbs mixed chicken legs and thighs
• 1 can coconut milk
• kosher salt (to taste)
• 4 cups cooked brown rice, for serving

Put coriander and crushed red chili flakes into a blender with garlic, onions, and ginger; purée to a paste. Add 1–2 tbsp. water, if necessary.(It was necessary!)
Heat oil in a 5-qt. Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add paste; cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, 5–7 minutes. Add lime zest, cinnamon, and lemongrass. Cook, stirring occasionally, until cinnamon is fragrant, about 2 minutes. 
Increase heat to medium, add chicken, and cook, turning once, until golden brown, 8–10 minutes. 
Stir in 1 cup coconut milk, 1 1⁄4 cups water, and salt. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until chicken is tender, 40–50 minutes. 
Add remaining coconut milk; cook for 2 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes before serving with the rice. 


The house smelled DELICIOUS while this was cooking, but the actual curry was blander than we were expecting.  When I make this again (and I will!), I will probably double the ginger, lemon grass, and lime zest.  This is the first time I've tried the Garden Gourmet products and after I'd already cooked dinner I discovered that the paste is milder than the real deal.

In a perfect world, I'd get all of the ingredients fresh and make it EXACTLY as the recipe is written.  Okay... maybe not exactly, but I'd definitely use the Kaffir lime leaves (mostly because that would be easier than zesting a lime!), fresh ginger, and stalks of lemon grass bruised and tied in knots.

~ Enjoy!

Operation Clean Out the Freezer - Day #3

For the first time in AGES we had the WHOLE family at the table for dinner.  It's much more common for this to happen at breakast.  On Friday.  But this is a Tuesday and it's dinner.  What a special treat!

Given the monumental event, I decided to thaw the pork tenderloin roasts.  My friend Bethany posted the recipe for Jen's Chicken in the comments of my first post.  I just happen to know Jen, too. How cool is that?  As fate would have it, my Scramble buddy, Angela (who also knows Jen AND Bethany :p), also posted online that she'd used this marinade on pork chops the same day Bethany posted on my blog.  Fate?

I served this with potato pancakes, sour cream cucumber salad, and roasted asparagus.  Most awesome dinner!

Jen's Chicken marinade (which I used on Pork Tenderloin)

6 T. olive oil
6 T. soy sauce
6 T. honey
3 T. vinegar
1 1/2 t. thyme
1 1/2 t. paprika
1/4 t. cayenne
1/2 t. allspice
1 t. pepper
2 - 1 lb (ish) pork tenderloin roasts.

Preheat oven to 425F.
Whisk together all ingredients except pork tenderloin.
Brown pork tenderloin roasts in a heavy pan over medium high heat.  (I coated my pan with coconut oil.)
Place browned pork tenderloin roasts in a baking dish and pour about half of the marinade over them.  Bake for 15-20 mins (until internal temp is 145F) basting every five minutes.  Before the final five minutes (it took 20 for mine to cook), poured the rest of the marinade over the top and turned the meat.

Jen used a whole tablespoon of pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne in her recipe, but my family isn't too keen on pepper or spicy so I cut those down to suit our tastes.

Everyone loved this!  Next time I'm actually going to use it over chicken, like the recipe was intended. :)

Operation Clean Out the Freezer - DAY #1

This is what I made the first day of Operation Clean Out the Freezer. I needed to choose something quick and easy, since I'd spent the afternoon cleaning out the freezer. The icky, sticky nasty stuff on the walls and in the drawers. And rearranging all the bits that were hanging out into manageable places.

I had two packages of these meatballs hiding under leftover chicken pieces and freezer-burned vegetables. I also had an extra mouth for dinner. Score! Generally, I use these for weekday dinners when the husband is traveling and there are only four of us. With six for dinner, I used both packages and we had no leftovers.

Red Sauce and Meatballs

(2) packages Aidells Zesty Italian Style with Mozzarella Meatballs

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1/2 medium onion, chopped finely
2 tsp salt
1 can tomato sauce
1 can chopped tomatoes
pinch of allspice
scant 1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup red wine (I used Merlot)

Add extra virgin olive oil and chopped garlic to pan. Turn heat on medium high. When garlic starts to sizzle, turn heat down to medium and add chopped onions to pan. Cook until onions are translucent. (If garlic starts to burn, turn down heat.) Add to the pan the tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes, allspice, and sugar, then stir everything together. Add packages of meatballs to the pan and simmer until meatballs are done.

Serve over your favorite pasta.

I don't always chop my onions and garlic finely, but for this sauce I wanted them to cling to the meatballs. The tomato sauce and chopped tomatoes were in cans the size of a typical can of soup - since marketers keep changing the size of the can I have NO idea how many ounces they are. Fifteen maybe?

I served this with Parmesan cheese for sprinkling and ricotta on the side. It was a big hit and a nice way to end a fun weekend.

Enjoy!

I heart Paula Deen OR the best. potroast. ever.

Pot Roast

Ingredients
1 (3 to 4-lb) boneless chuck roast
Seasoning mix **
4 Tbs butter
1 large onion, sliced thinly
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 can golden mushroom soup
1/4 cup red wine
2 Tbs Worcestershire
1 scant Tbs Tone's Beef Base
3/4 cup water



Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Rub seasoning into the roast on both sides. Heat butter in a large skillet and brown the roast, searing it on both sides. Place the meat in a roaster pan. Add onions and garlic to skillet for 1 to 2 minutes to absorb leftover roast juice. (I added a little extra butter because the pan was dry.) Place into roaster pan with meat.
Combine the golden mushroom soup, wine, Worcestershire sauce and beef base into a bowl. Pour over the roast. Add water.
Cover pan bake for 3 to 3 1/2 hours or until tender.

** seasoning mix (based on Paula Deen's House Seasoning: 4 parts salt, 1 part white pepper, 1 part granulated garlic

This recipe is modified from Paula Deen's Pot Roast recipe to fit what I had on hand in the pantry. Well, that, and that niggling little character flaw that compels me to change recipes.

The roast was moist, falling apart and incredibly tasty. No need for ketchup with this pot roast! I also peeled and quartered six medium sized potatoes and cooked them on top of the meat and gravy. Can't have gravy without potatoes, right? Although, I think this dish would be just as awesome served over wide egg noodles.

ENJOY!

(And yes, once again I forgot to take a picture, so I borrowed the photo above from pauladeen.com!)

Penne Franco

I could eat at this place every day! UNFORTUNATELY, there isn't one within an hour of my house.

This weekend the craving hit with a vengeance. I had to have Carrabba's Penne Franco!

Picture from Between Blue & Yellow blog, link below

Okay, maybe it was just the kalamata olives and pasta I was craving, but why stop there, right? Thankfully, a quick google search of 'Carrabba's Penne Franco' gives me 9,690 sites to peruse. Complete with recipes and pictures.

I started with the recipe for Penne Franco at Between Blue & Yellow, but as usual I didn't have all the ingredients on hand (a sad reality of living in the boonies) and I had to improvise.

PENNE FRANCO (Veggie Version)

Ingredients~
1 box penne pasta
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can artichoke hearts, quartered
3 tbsp olive oil
1 pack of mushrooms, sliced
kalamata olives (as many or as little as you want)
5 garlic cloves, chopped
Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Salt & pepper to taste


Preparation~

• Cook pasta according to package directions.
• Pour olive oil into large pan, and saute garlic for 1-2 minutes over med-high heat. Add in mushrooms, tomatoes, artichokes, and olives. Saute for several minutes, stirring frequently.
• Toss with the cooked pasta. Stir until heated through, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with grated parmesan.

I'll be completely honest. I would have much preferred sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil) and GRATED, fresh parmesan, but those would be the two ingredients I didn't have on hand. To make up for the lack of sun-dried tomatoes, I doubled the amount of mushrooms. Actually, I'd double the mushrooms anyway... we're a mushroom lovin' family. :) I also added more garlic and a tad bit less olive oil than the original recipe.

Also, you can add cooked chicken or shrimp into the pasta to make this a main dish. I love, love, love to order it at Carrabba's with SHRIMP! Alas, I'd already promised the hubby beer can chicken, so we had the pasta as a side/vegetable dish.

ENJOY!

Greek-Style Garlic Shrimp over Rice

I modified this from the Greek-Style Garlic Shrimp and Orzo in Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats -- A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners; It is #149 on page 133. I didn't have orzo or enough cherry tomatoes to make the recipe as written, so I improvised with GREAT success.


1 lb shrimp, deveined and peeled, tails removed.
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 small onion, chopped finely
1 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
6 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1 Tbs dried oregano or 2 Tbs fresh, chopped
8 oz feta cheese, crumbled
Cooked rice

Add the 1/4 cup EVOO, onions, garlic, and red pepper flakes to your skillet.  Turn on the heat to medium high and cook until the onions are translucent. 
And the shrimp to the skillet and cook for a minute or so - make sure you stir and coat the shrimp with the mixture.
Add the can of diced tomatoes, olives, and oregano to the skillet.  Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.  Cook until the shrimp are firm and pink, then turn off the heat.

Serve over cooked rice (I started with about 2 cups of dry rice) and sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese.

This was INCREDIBLE!  And so easy.  I think it's good enough to make without the shrimp.  I think I would let it cook longer, though, to give the juices some time to reduce.

Christmas Dinner ~ A First for the Decade

What?  A first?  Yes, this is the first year I have cooked Christmas Dinner all by myself.  I picked the menu, assembled the recipes, bought the ingredients, and managed the workforce.  The end result?  Three buffet dishes for breakfast at the relatives and dinner for my brood and some friends.

BREAKFAST

Cheddar-Sausage Breakfast Quiche
Sweet Ricotta Breakfast Quiche
Baked Brie with Apples & Cranberries

 

DINNER

Baked Ham
Au Gratin Potatoes
Paula Deen's Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Beans
Cranberry Orange Salad
Deviled Eggs
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie

Cooking is the area I am best at expressing my creativity.  It was a wonderful gift for me to be able to pour so much of myself into this simple meal.  Why, then, is the the first Christmas Dinner I've cooked this decade?  Simple.  My mother is usually in my kitchen for the holidays and I learned a long time ago to just let her do it her way.  If I want to change my mother's cooking habits all I have to do is tell her how I do it and guaranteed she will do the opposite.  In the interest of family peace, I live with the same, old bland and boring holiday food every year.  (Well, except for the homemade noodles.  My mother makes exceptional noodles!)  This year she and my sisters stayed in Missouri and we stayed in Kentucky.  Really a win-win if you ask me!

Best New Recipe of 2008

This recipe gets the award for being beautiful to look at, simple to prepare, and incredibly tasty. It is the entire family's new favorite on our menu.

Noodles with Broccoli and Meat (Cambodia)
Kuy Tew Cha (goi dieu chah)
Serves 4

Cook according to package directions:

• 8 oz. Chinese noodles or thin spaghetti (250 g) (I use spaghetti.)

Drain. Add 1 T. oil (15 ml) to keep noodles from sticking together, cover, and set aside.

In separate saucepan, cook or steam until tender-crisp:

• 1 1/2 c. broccoli, cut in pieces (375 ml)

Meanwhile, in separate frypan saute 8-10 minutes in 1-2 T. oil (15-30 ml):

• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• 1/2 c. pork, cut in small pieces (125 ml)


• 6-8 shrimp, shelled and deveined

Add broccoli to meat along with:

• 1-2 T. soy sauce (15-30 ml)


• 1 t. sugar (5 ml)


• 1/2 t. salt (2 ml) (optional)

Toss with noodles and serve with additional soy sauce as desired.

Note: We make substitutions for the meat frequently, with great results. We've used pork, chicken, beef, and frozen imitation crab each on and its own or in combination with one of the other meats. I love that I can make it with whatever I have on hand.

— from Extending the Table: A World Community Cookbook by Joetta Handrich Schlabach, 1991, Herald Press.


Not only is this dish tasty, it's very easy to make and only dirties one frying pan. Our family eats this at least once a week now!