Christmas came in full swing this year.
The following have been added to my collection:
A meat tenderizer (thanks, little bro)
A mini Cuisinart food chopper (I wanted one of these, but didn't tell anyone)
A second new stock pot, awesomely heavy stainless steel frying pan, cheese grater, silicone brush, and a REGULAR can opener. (I can't tell you how much I wanted a regular darn can opener!)
What do to now?
Chop something, anything, with the food chopper.
Throw away that crazy other can opener (oh wait, I found time to do that Christmas morning.)
Make a meal that requires two stock pots.
Figure out how to use stainless steel fry-ware.
Tonight we're having Roast Beef Sandwiches.
Sliced deli roast beef
Rolls
American (me) and Provolone Cheese (him), sliced
Brown gravy packet, prepared using 1 cup water
Cook brown gravy as directed, adding in sliced beef before simmering. The beef will cook a little. Lay cheese out on open roll. Spoon meat and your preferred amount of gravy. Enjoy. Easy and yum. Pair with some Clausen pickle spears, since they're on sale this week ;)
Monday, December 28, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Noodle Meaty, The Ole' Standby
When I was a teenager, something inspired me. It was one of mom's easy standby's. You know the one: ground meat plus red sauce plus pasta equals dinner.
It inspired me to do two things - Add some sliced American cheese and name it "Noodle Meaty!" Okay, so it sounds ridiculous but I was younger and it made us all laugh.
Back to the story. Place the cooked pasta (usually rigatoni or a spiral variety) on your plate. Place pieces of cheese on top and let the heat begin to melt it. Spoon meat sauce over top and the cheese melts. Yum!
Once in a while in high school, I helped at home by cooking dinner. This was an easy one so I learned how to make it without much problem. (Heat meat, open jar sauce, cook pasta...) So when I had my first friend "in college" I agreed to make a huge quantity and take Septa to visit. Dorm boys and fresh cooked food equals mucho grateful.
Here's today's take.
Cook 1 box Rigatoni, Rotini or similar pasta
Brown 1+ pound of ground turkey with plenty of Italian seasoning and garlic powder
Add in 1 large jar of your favorite sauce (this week, I used strained Rinaldi, since it was on sale and I don't like the little onion pieces.)
Place pasta on plate, shred mozzarella over top. Add meat sauce and enjoy with garlic bread, red wine or a tall glass of milk if that floats your boat.
It inspired me to do two things - Add some sliced American cheese and name it "Noodle Meaty!" Okay, so it sounds ridiculous but I was younger and it made us all laugh.
Back to the story. Place the cooked pasta (usually rigatoni or a spiral variety) on your plate. Place pieces of cheese on top and let the heat begin to melt it. Spoon meat sauce over top and the cheese melts. Yum!
Once in a while in high school, I helped at home by cooking dinner. This was an easy one so I learned how to make it without much problem. (Heat meat, open jar sauce, cook pasta...) So when I had my first friend "in college" I agreed to make a huge quantity and take Septa to visit. Dorm boys and fresh cooked food equals mucho grateful.
Here's today's take.
Cook 1 box Rigatoni, Rotini or similar pasta
Brown 1+ pound of ground turkey with plenty of Italian seasoning and garlic powder
Add in 1 large jar of your favorite sauce (this week, I used strained Rinaldi, since it was on sale and I don't like the little onion pieces.)
Place pasta on plate, shred mozzarella over top. Add meat sauce and enjoy with garlic bread, red wine or a tall glass of milk if that floats your boat.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Soup's On.....ion!
Ahh, French Onion Soup, the soup you get before meals at your favorite pub, restaurant or Friday's. Served hot with gooey, melty cheese and some unknown bread substance, it's an old standby.
Would you like to make this at home? I sure would and believe this recipe was originally from the back of some College Inn beef broth. I bought Progresso, since it was on sale, and they had a variation of the ole' recipe that I found interesting, and will mention later.
Ingredients:
3 medium onions, sliced thin
1/4 cup butter or margarine
3 cans (roughly 13 oz. each) of beef broth
3/4 cup water
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
4 slices of french bread, Italian Bread or even croutons
Parmesan cheese, grated
4 slices Swiss cheese - or American, provolone or Mozerella
In pot, cook onions in butter until tender
Add broth, water, W. sauce, bringing to a boil
Reduce heat, cover, simmer 25 minutes
Spoon into oven or microwave safe bowls
Float bread on top of soup
Sprinkle with Parmesan
Top with cheese
Broil or microwave just until cheese is melted.
ENJOY!
The variation I saw on the back of the Progresso brand broth was "Italian Onion Soup" and contained a bit of differences Italian spices and used Italian bread and shredded Mozzerella over french bread and Swiss.
When I made it last, I used a french baguette (99 cents for a thin one, about 4 slices covered my bowl nicely) and slices mozzarella. It was hand-sliced and a little to thick, so I recommend store sliced or shredded if you must.
Of course if you use Swiss or Provolone, which most of you probably prefer, it will already be sliced.
It's getting colder outside - Soups on!
Would you like to make this at home? I sure would and believe this recipe was originally from the back of some College Inn beef broth. I bought Progresso, since it was on sale, and they had a variation of the ole' recipe that I found interesting, and will mention later.
Ingredients:
3 medium onions, sliced thin
1/4 cup butter or margarine
3 cans (roughly 13 oz. each) of beef broth
3/4 cup water
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
4 slices of french bread, Italian Bread or even croutons
Parmesan cheese, grated
4 slices Swiss cheese - or American, provolone or Mozerella
In pot, cook onions in butter until tender
Add broth, water, W. sauce, bringing to a boil
Reduce heat, cover, simmer 25 minutes
Spoon into oven or microwave safe bowls
Float bread on top of soup
Sprinkle with Parmesan
Top with cheese
Broil or microwave just until cheese is melted.
ENJOY!
The variation I saw on the back of the Progresso brand broth was "Italian Onion Soup" and contained a bit of differences Italian spices and used Italian bread and shredded Mozzerella over french bread and Swiss.
When I made it last, I used a french baguette (99 cents for a thin one, about 4 slices covered my bowl nicely) and slices mozzarella. It was hand-sliced and a little to thick, so I recommend store sliced or shredded if you must.
Of course if you use Swiss or Provolone, which most of you probably prefer, it will already be sliced.
It's getting colder outside - Soups on!
Labels:
cooking,
French Onion Soup,
learning to cook,
recipe
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Restaurant Worthy Vodka..... Rigatoni!
Upon checking out the "index" of meals I have in the back of my cookbook for grocery ideas, Vodka Rigatoni was decided upon. Turns out I have a killer recipe to make it from scratch.
Shit, I don't have vodka! There goes making it on Monday when I had free time.
But here I am on Tuesday. I took a lunch break to grab some vodka and couldn't decide - spend money on a decent vodka that I may drink? Or buy something cheap just to cook. I was inclined to buy better vodka but because I only ever drink vodka if its flavored (and I certainly cant cook with flavored) I decided on Nikoli. It was $8.00.
I'm here to say that since the recipe only called for 2/3 cup vodka and lots of quantity of everything else, it didn't matter one bit the vodka was cheap. Score!
It's a pretty involved recipe but surprisingly didn't take all that long.
Ingredients:
1 pound (I use 1 and 1/3) rigatoni, cooked
1 1/2 sticks butter
2/3 cup vodka
29 ounces tomato sauce (Hunt's plain sauce comes in this size can)
3 cups cream
1 cup grated Parmesan
In a large pot, melt butter until foam forms
Add vodka until liquor "browns" off. AKA - 2-3 minutes
Add sauce, bring *just* to a boil
Add cream, bring *just* to a boil
Add cheese
Add cooked pasta
Stir, let stand a few with heat on low if you'd like.
ENJOY!
(This time I added some plain grilled chicken bits. Yum)
Shit, I don't have vodka! There goes making it on Monday when I had free time.
But here I am on Tuesday. I took a lunch break to grab some vodka and couldn't decide - spend money on a decent vodka that I may drink? Or buy something cheap just to cook. I was inclined to buy better vodka but because I only ever drink vodka if its flavored (and I certainly cant cook with flavored) I decided on Nikoli. It was $8.00.
I'm here to say that since the recipe only called for 2/3 cup vodka and lots of quantity of everything else, it didn't matter one bit the vodka was cheap. Score!
It's a pretty involved recipe but surprisingly didn't take all that long.
Ingredients:
1 pound (I use 1 and 1/3) rigatoni, cooked
1 1/2 sticks butter
2/3 cup vodka
29 ounces tomato sauce (Hunt's plain sauce comes in this size can)
3 cups cream
1 cup grated Parmesan
In a large pot, melt butter until foam forms
Add vodka until liquor "browns" off. AKA - 2-3 minutes
Add sauce, bring *just* to a boil
Add cream, bring *just* to a boil
Add cheese
Add cooked pasta
Stir, let stand a few with heat on low if you'd like.
ENJOY!
(This time I added some plain grilled chicken bits. Yum)
Labels:
cooking,
learning to cook,
pasta recipe,
vodka rigatoni
Monday, November 23, 2009
Bread goes with salad
It's Thanksgiving week and my mom will be hosting. I asked what my contribution should be and she said salad. We both had some kind of funky restaurant style salad in mind (like greens with fruit and nuts) but neither of us are salad experts.
So I bought bagged field greens and baby spinach. I got slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, pears and canned pineapples. I also picked up regular balsamic vinaigrette as well as some kind of raspberry vinaigrette. We shall see how that goes.
Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning my kitchen I found a BJ's circular/magazine and knew there was something I wanted out of it. I tore it out and tossed the rest. It was a soup recipe but also had a recipe for pesto bread sticks.
That's it! In case my salad is a bust, I'll make bread sticks too. They call for bisquick. But I've never used bisquick. I think its time, what with all my new cooking attempts. So I do some googling and find a recipe for cheesy garlic biscuits and decide to try them too.
Pesto sticks:
Water, bisquick.
Pesto ingredients, which I dont need because I have a packet of pesto mix.
Uh oh, no I don't.
Whatever, I'll improvise and mix 3/4 olive oil with garlic powder and italian seasoning. Works for me.
Mix 2 cups bisquick and 1/2 cup cold water. Roll onto greased and bisquick sprinkled cookie sheet to 10" x 8" flatness. Spread part of the "pesto" onto the dough. Cut into 12 strips then cut in half. Twist each and bake on 450 degrees for 12-14 minutes. Dip into remaining oil to eat.
Dry, flakyish, dry. Not very impressive.
Cheesy garlic biscuits:
Stir 2 cups bisquick, 2/3 cups milk and 1/2 cup (or more) of shredded cheddar until dough forms. Drop into 9 lumps on ungreased cookie pan.
Bake on 450 for 8-10 minutes.
Coat with mixture of 2 tbsp melted butter and 1/8 tsp. garlic powder.
I added a little garlic powder to the dough as well as a teensy hint of old bay just to make things interesting. Yum! (Got the idea from the internet. Apparently Red Lobster serves biscuits that people love.)
So for Thanksgiving, biscuits it is! Especially in the case that my salad sucks.
Lesson learned: water plus bisquick = dry and flaky. Milk plus bisquick = soft and moist.
So I bought bagged field greens and baby spinach. I got slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, pears and canned pineapples. I also picked up regular balsamic vinaigrette as well as some kind of raspberry vinaigrette. We shall see how that goes.
Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning my kitchen I found a BJ's circular/magazine and knew there was something I wanted out of it. I tore it out and tossed the rest. It was a soup recipe but also had a recipe for pesto bread sticks.
That's it! In case my salad is a bust, I'll make bread sticks too. They call for bisquick. But I've never used bisquick. I think its time, what with all my new cooking attempts. So I do some googling and find a recipe for cheesy garlic biscuits and decide to try them too.
Pesto sticks:
Water, bisquick.
Pesto ingredients, which I dont need because I have a packet of pesto mix.
Uh oh, no I don't.
Whatever, I'll improvise and mix 3/4 olive oil with garlic powder and italian seasoning. Works for me.
Mix 2 cups bisquick and 1/2 cup cold water. Roll onto greased and bisquick sprinkled cookie sheet to 10" x 8" flatness. Spread part of the "pesto" onto the dough. Cut into 12 strips then cut in half. Twist each and bake on 450 degrees for 12-14 minutes. Dip into remaining oil to eat.
Dry, flakyish, dry. Not very impressive.
Cheesy garlic biscuits:
Stir 2 cups bisquick, 2/3 cups milk and 1/2 cup (or more) of shredded cheddar until dough forms. Drop into 9 lumps on ungreased cookie pan.
Bake on 450 for 8-10 minutes.
Coat with mixture of 2 tbsp melted butter and 1/8 tsp. garlic powder.
I added a little garlic powder to the dough as well as a teensy hint of old bay just to make things interesting. Yum! (Got the idea from the internet. Apparently Red Lobster serves biscuits that people love.)
So for Thanksgiving, biscuits it is! Especially in the case that my salad sucks.
Lesson learned: water plus bisquick = dry and flaky. Milk plus bisquick = soft and moist.
Labels:
biscuits,
bread sticks,
cooking,
learning to cook
Monday, November 16, 2009
2 Ingredient Real Dinner
Tonight's dinner only has two ingredients.
Okay, only two you'll have to buy. The rest you'll have, I promise.
It's a roast. A yummy, hearty, enough-to-feed-a-small-army roast.
It takes little effort, little ingredients and a lot of time just sitting.
Ingredients:
Large Rump Roast
1+ bags of carrots, peeled
Oil (olive or vegetable) - I use half of each
Liberal amounts of Salt & Pepper
2-3 cups water
Bay Leaf
Directions:
1 - Pour just enough oil into a large pot to cover the bottom
2 - Warm it on low, toss in your roast and brown on all sides
*Oil heats VERY quickly and will burn your pot if you burn the oil*
3 - Add in water and spices
4 - Add in carrots
5 - Cover and simmer on low 2-3 hours.
Last time I made this, and when my mom made it (I gave this recipe to her!), it took way less than 2 hours for the meat to cook through. So it's your preference really, as long as the meat is cooked.
Serving Suggestion: Mitzy's noodles
Mitzy is the great aunt of my best friend from childhood, who treated me like her own niece when I practically moved in with them every summer.
Cook egg noodles and drain. Fry in a pot with lots o' butter and bread crumbs until coated.
ENJOY!
Okay, only two you'll have to buy. The rest you'll have, I promise.
It's a roast. A yummy, hearty, enough-to-feed-a-small-army roast.
It takes little effort, little ingredients and a lot of time just sitting.
Ingredients:
Large Rump Roast
1+ bags of carrots, peeled
Oil (olive or vegetable) - I use half of each
Liberal amounts of Salt & Pepper
2-3 cups water
Bay Leaf
Directions:
1 - Pour just enough oil into a large pot to cover the bottom
2 - Warm it on low, toss in your roast and brown on all sides
*Oil heats VERY quickly and will burn your pot if you burn the oil*
3 - Add in water and spices
4 - Add in carrots
5 - Cover and simmer on low 2-3 hours.
Last time I made this, and when my mom made it (I gave this recipe to her!), it took way less than 2 hours for the meat to cook through. So it's your preference really, as long as the meat is cooked.
Serving Suggestion: Mitzy's noodles
Mitzy is the great aunt of my best friend from childhood, who treated me like her own niece when I practically moved in with them every summer.
Cook egg noodles and drain. Fry in a pot with lots o' butter and bread crumbs until coated.
ENJOY!
Labels:
beef,
cooking,
learning to cook,
pot roast,
recipe
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Cheater's Chicken Soup... and that's not all
Even though I've written another post about my Grandmom's red sauce, I'm going to write it again, this time with recipe. (Score!)
The reason? The boy and I decided to have red sauce involved in this week's food and I got a stock pot, which I needed desperately. Bed Bath and Beyond's 20% one item coupon made my Denmark Stainless Steel 8-quart covered stock pot $16 or so bucks. Sweet!
Why not make red sauce? That's what came up when we were pouring over this week's grocery circular to decide what to buy for the week. Surely! But it requires only one carrot and one celery stalk.
Oooh, I know! I'll make chicken soup too!
Here's the red sauce recipe:
1 - Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large pot.
2 - Brown 1/2 medium white onion, 4-6 cloves garlic (both chopped of course) and a Bay leaf? (Maybe it's basil leaf, but it's not what I have in my cupboard.
3 - Add 1 carrot, 1 stalk celery (cut to 1" pieces), 3 large cans of Cento peeled tomatoes with Basil leaf (there it is!) and 1 tiny can Cento tomato paste.
4 - Bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer, covered for 1 hour.
5 - Add 1 lb ground beef, 1 egg, and enough Italian bread crumbs and grated parm to form meatballs.
6 - After the hour, strain the sauce. I use the OXO food mill and this time used the plate/insert with the largest holes and think it's the best so far!
7 - Return strained sauce to pot, drop in meatballs, cover and simmer for 1-3 hours.
(Yeah, I know, 1-3 hours is pretty vague but this leaves you flexibility. Just ensure meatballs are cooked through!)
Now for the main part of this blog - my DELICIOUS (unless I mess up) "Cheater's Chicken Soup."
Disclaimer: This is easy, quick and yum! But it may take a lot of pots
Ingredients:
1 bag of carrots, peeled (Or cheat further, get baby carrots!)
2/3 bag of celery stalks
8-10 pieces of chicken breast tenders (boneless, skinless)
Half bag or more egg noodles, medium is a good size but it's up to you
7 cups chicken broth or 7 chicken bouillon cubes (cheaper too!)
Salt, pepper, garlic, Italian seasoning, bay leaf
*And, most importantly, a ZipLock steamer bag*
1 - Fill the steamer bag with carrots and celery, cut into soup size pieces
2 - Sprinkle in some Italian Seasoning and microwave per directions on bag
? - If using bouillon, boil 7 cups water and dissolve 7 cubes
3 - Add chicken and 1 cup broth covered pan ("Hamburger Helper size pan")
4 - Cover and cook on low-med heat until chicken is cooked through and falling apart
Add in some garlic powder if you'd like.
6 - Cook pasta (this isn't really six, since the pasta kind of needs to be done at this point)
7 - Squish the chicken if need be to make it piece-y
8 - Add chicken, broth, pasta, and steam bag full of veggies to a large pot
9 - Sprinkle lots o' salt, and a pot top surface of pepper, garlic, Italian seasoning
10 - Add bay leaf
11 - Simmer, covered, for as long as you can wait before you die of hunger. Or like 15 minutes.
ENJOY!
Okay, so those directions sucked. How about this
1 - Simultaneously cook pasta, prepare broth (open cans, dissolve bouillon, etc), cook chicken and microwave-steam veggies
2 - Add all of the above into a large pot
3 - Spice, cover and simmer
ENJOY!
PS - this time the soup is PERFECT. Last time, not so much. The culprit? Making sure to use enough spices. That's why I kinda went balls out this time. It worked - I haven't even put the tupperware full into the fridge because I just keep eating more.
The reason? The boy and I decided to have red sauce involved in this week's food and I got a stock pot, which I needed desperately. Bed Bath and Beyond's 20% one item coupon made my Denmark Stainless Steel 8-quart covered stock pot $16 or so bucks. Sweet!
Why not make red sauce? That's what came up when we were pouring over this week's grocery circular to decide what to buy for the week. Surely! But it requires only one carrot and one celery stalk.
Oooh, I know! I'll make chicken soup too!
Here's the red sauce recipe:
1 - Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large pot.
2 - Brown 1/2 medium white onion, 4-6 cloves garlic (both chopped of course) and a Bay leaf? (Maybe it's basil leaf, but it's not what I have in my cupboard.
3 - Add 1 carrot, 1 stalk celery (cut to 1" pieces), 3 large cans of Cento peeled tomatoes with Basil leaf (there it is!) and 1 tiny can Cento tomato paste.
4 - Bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer, covered for 1 hour.
5 - Add 1 lb ground beef, 1 egg, and enough Italian bread crumbs and grated parm to form meatballs.
6 - After the hour, strain the sauce. I use the OXO food mill and this time used the plate/insert with the largest holes and think it's the best so far!
7 - Return strained sauce to pot, drop in meatballs, cover and simmer for 1-3 hours.
(Yeah, I know, 1-3 hours is pretty vague but this leaves you flexibility. Just ensure meatballs are cooked through!)
Now for the main part of this blog - my DELICIOUS (unless I mess up) "Cheater's Chicken Soup."
Disclaimer: This is easy, quick and yum! But it may take a lot of pots
Ingredients:
1 bag of carrots, peeled (Or cheat further, get baby carrots!)
2/3 bag of celery stalks
8-10 pieces of chicken breast tenders (boneless, skinless)
Half bag or more egg noodles, medium is a good size but it's up to you
7 cups chicken broth or 7 chicken bouillon cubes (cheaper too!)
Salt, pepper, garlic, Italian seasoning, bay leaf
*And, most importantly, a ZipLock steamer bag*
1 - Fill the steamer bag with carrots and celery, cut into soup size pieces
2 - Sprinkle in some Italian Seasoning and microwave per directions on bag
? - If using bouillon, boil 7 cups water and dissolve 7 cubes
3 - Add chicken and 1 cup broth covered pan ("Hamburger Helper size pan")
4 - Cover and cook on low-med heat until chicken is cooked through and falling apart
Add in some garlic powder if you'd like.
6 - Cook pasta (this isn't really six, since the pasta kind of needs to be done at this point)
7 - Squish the chicken if need be to make it piece-y
8 - Add chicken, broth, pasta, and steam bag full of veggies to a large pot
9 - Sprinkle lots o' salt, and a pot top surface of pepper, garlic, Italian seasoning
10 - Add bay leaf
11 - Simmer, covered, for as long as you can wait before you die of hunger. Or like 15 minutes.
ENJOY!
Okay, so those directions sucked. How about this
1 - Simultaneously cook pasta, prepare broth (open cans, dissolve bouillon, etc), cook chicken and microwave-steam veggies
2 - Add all of the above into a large pot
3 - Spice, cover and simmer
ENJOY!
PS - this time the soup is PERFECT. Last time, not so much. The culprit? Making sure to use enough spices. That's why I kinda went balls out this time. It worked - I haven't even put the tupperware full into the fridge because I just keep eating more.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Grandmom's Red Sauce
While my wonderful mother always worked and never spent hours in the kitchen, her mother certainly did. (Mom's food is good, but it's always of the "cooked after work" variety. ie.: Ragu.)
Grandmom is from Brazil and married a delightful Italian man from South Philly after moving to the States. She worked as a nanny a lot (pops is a retired macaroni factory worker - no joke) in her later years and was ALWAYS a spectacular cook.
Everyone's favorite thing about Grandmoms cooking is her sauce. I always told her I wanted it and she always told me she'd gladly share once I had a real kitchen. (She was right, it would have never worked in my 4' x 4' kitchen downtown.)
So there I was, visiting on a day that wasn't a special occasion.
"Grandmom, can I get that sauce recipe."
Sure, as we poured over every cook recipe she ever wrote down. One page caught my eye, since it was X'ed out with the word "Joke" over it. The title was Harlot's something. I read it and didn't find a joke. Either I'm slow or it wasn't a joke and Grandmom's the slow one.
Back to the sauce recipe. 20 minutes later we could not find that darn sauce!
So I grab a pen and paper and try to write as she speaks. As if I was asking her how she brushed her teeth, she could not spit out the details. It must be second nature to toss together the sauce, so she tried her best.
"It HAS to be Cento brand tomatoes" my grandpop kept yelling from the living room.
So here we go, heat oil and onions. add one carrot and one celery stalk and the peeled tomatoes. (She said 2 large cans, the man insisted 3, presumably so I'd invite him over to eat too.) Boil and add tomato paste, the little can. Oh and meatballs, this is where I add the meatballs and just leave it for a while.
Wow, speechless.
I, being the internet savvy youngin, decided that I'd browse the Cento website. Surely they have their own sauce recipe posted somewhere. They did, and it was similar to Grandmom's ramblings so armed with some loose directions and a backup on my laptop, I went.
"It's starting to smell like hers!" I texted excitedly to the boyfriend, who knew he'd be enjoying some good stuff tonight.
Success in the form of Grandmom's sauce!
But why not go for broke? I've never made lasagna either.
Check the internet, see what looks good. I like simple. Cheese, meat, sauce, noodles.
The recipe I used did not pre-boil the noodles and my lesson is that Lasagna does work with uncooked noodles, assuming there is a layer of sauce underneath and one completely covering the top!
My recipe called for way more sauce than I was willing to use of my fresh batch. So I supplemented with store brand meat flavored red sauce for half. Worked like a charm! (Hey, what if I screwed up? I wanted some sauce for proof. And there were meatballs...)
The lasagna turned out fabulous, by the way. And at work with leftovers, I asked the toughest food critic to try it. (He smelled mine and went and ordered lasagna take out for lunch, ate his, then tasted mine.) "I would not lie to you, and yours is a clear winner."
ENJOYed
Grandmom is from Brazil and married a delightful Italian man from South Philly after moving to the States. She worked as a nanny a lot (pops is a retired macaroni factory worker - no joke) in her later years and was ALWAYS a spectacular cook.
Everyone's favorite thing about Grandmoms cooking is her sauce. I always told her I wanted it and she always told me she'd gladly share once I had a real kitchen. (She was right, it would have never worked in my 4' x 4' kitchen downtown.)
So there I was, visiting on a day that wasn't a special occasion.
"Grandmom, can I get that sauce recipe."
Sure, as we poured over every cook recipe she ever wrote down. One page caught my eye, since it was X'ed out with the word "Joke" over it. The title was Harlot's something. I read it and didn't find a joke. Either I'm slow or it wasn't a joke and Grandmom's the slow one.
Back to the sauce recipe. 20 minutes later we could not find that darn sauce!
So I grab a pen and paper and try to write as she speaks. As if I was asking her how she brushed her teeth, she could not spit out the details. It must be second nature to toss together the sauce, so she tried her best.
"It HAS to be Cento brand tomatoes" my grandpop kept yelling from the living room.
So here we go, heat oil and onions. add one carrot and one celery stalk and the peeled tomatoes. (She said 2 large cans, the man insisted 3, presumably so I'd invite him over to eat too.) Boil and add tomato paste, the little can. Oh and meatballs, this is where I add the meatballs and just leave it for a while.
Wow, speechless.
I, being the internet savvy youngin, decided that I'd browse the Cento website. Surely they have their own sauce recipe posted somewhere. They did, and it was similar to Grandmom's ramblings so armed with some loose directions and a backup on my laptop, I went.
"It's starting to smell like hers!" I texted excitedly to the boyfriend, who knew he'd be enjoying some good stuff tonight.
Success in the form of Grandmom's sauce!
But why not go for broke? I've never made lasagna either.
Check the internet, see what looks good. I like simple. Cheese, meat, sauce, noodles.
The recipe I used did not pre-boil the noodles and my lesson is that Lasagna does work with uncooked noodles, assuming there is a layer of sauce underneath and one completely covering the top!
My recipe called for way more sauce than I was willing to use of my fresh batch. So I supplemented with store brand meat flavored red sauce for half. Worked like a charm! (Hey, what if I screwed up? I wanted some sauce for proof. And there were meatballs...)
The lasagna turned out fabulous, by the way. And at work with leftovers, I asked the toughest food critic to try it. (He smelled mine and went and ordered lasagna take out for lunch, ate his, then tasted mine.) "I would not lie to you, and yours is a clear winner."
ENJOYed
The Back Drop
On Mondays I cook...
Anyone can cook...
I'm learning to cook...
Mmmm, foood.....
Many people work the 9-5 and I am (was) one of those people until someone decided to have our offices open weekends to serve clients. I now officially work Tuesday through Saturday. Since my significant other and everyone else I know works Mondays, I cook.
And as it turns out, cooking is not all that hard. Or maybe I'm just lucky.
Welcome to my blog, which I hope accurately chronicles my journey to becoming one heck of a cook. Facebook statuses just don't seem long enough to cut it, though former posts include "Timeberland boots go with everything... except burnt, splattered butter" and "Dear Boyfriend, there are onions involved. You will be eating like a King this week."
I find myself to be quite comical, like everyone else on the planet, but you probably will not. I have learned to accept this fact. But if you ever do find yourself chuckling, please comment.
Anyone can cook...
I'm learning to cook...
Mmmm, foood.....
Many people work the 9-5 and I am (was) one of those people until someone decided to have our offices open weekends to serve clients. I now officially work Tuesday through Saturday. Since my significant other and everyone else I know works Mondays, I cook.
And as it turns out, cooking is not all that hard. Or maybe I'm just lucky.
Welcome to my blog, which I hope accurately chronicles my journey to becoming one heck of a cook. Facebook statuses just don't seem long enough to cut it, though former posts include "Timeberland boots go with everything... except burnt, splattered butter" and "Dear Boyfriend, there are onions involved. You will be eating like a King this week."
I find myself to be quite comical, like everyone else on the planet, but you probably will not. I have learned to accept this fact. But if you ever do find yourself chuckling, please comment.
Apple Sauce and Lil' Kim p**sy
On Mondays I cook...
Today I'm making homemade apple sauce and it felt incredibly weird to hear the lyric "Little Kim P**sy, how preposterous is that?" while doing so.
Home made apple sauce, Lil Kim, apple sauce, Lil Kim....
My inspiration for cooking comes from pretty usual places - restaurants, family recipes, seasonal standards, etc. Today's apple sauce idea comes from the boyfriend's mom, which is probably the most common.
"You just fill a pot with enough water to cover the bottom, add sliced apples a boil. Last time I made it, my husband and I were sitting on the porch and I forgot about it. When I came back, it was ready. Then just add in sugar and cinnamon to taste."
My mind was made up - eating apple sauce is easy and making it sounds easy too.
I even found whole bags of red delicious apples on sale for 99 cents at Shop Rite today!
And then I got home... apparently apples are not very easy to peel. But I think most people can figure it out so I'll proceed.
No-measure Ingredients:
Water
Apples
Sugar
Cinnamon
Steps:
1.) Add enough water into a pot to cover the bottom
2.) Toss in as many chopped apples as you'd like to eat
3.) Consult with internet - to cover or not cover pot
4.) Cook over medium heat until boiling, turns out covering is optional
5.) Marvel in the smell once the water boils, cover and continue boiling
6.) Stir occasionally
***Shoot, the water disappeared and I see burnt apples in my future. I just added another cup of water and reduced the heat to a low medium. The apples are getting soft though***
Okay so maybe I can't just boil until it looks like mush.
7.) Mash apples with fork or potato masher, adding a little water if needed
8.) Lower heat and simmer, covered.
9.) Once you're happy with the consistency, add sugar and cinnamon to taste.
ENJOY
Today I'm making homemade apple sauce and it felt incredibly weird to hear the lyric "Little Kim P**sy, how preposterous is that?" while doing so.
Home made apple sauce, Lil Kim, apple sauce, Lil Kim....
My inspiration for cooking comes from pretty usual places - restaurants, family recipes, seasonal standards, etc. Today's apple sauce idea comes from the boyfriend's mom, which is probably the most common.
"You just fill a pot with enough water to cover the bottom, add sliced apples a boil. Last time I made it, my husband and I were sitting on the porch and I forgot about it. When I came back, it was ready. Then just add in sugar and cinnamon to taste."
My mind was made up - eating apple sauce is easy and making it sounds easy too.
I even found whole bags of red delicious apples on sale for 99 cents at Shop Rite today!
And then I got home... apparently apples are not very easy to peel. But I think most people can figure it out so I'll proceed.
No-measure Ingredients:
Water
Apples
Sugar
Cinnamon
Steps:
1.) Add enough water into a pot to cover the bottom
2.) Toss in as many chopped apples as you'd like to eat
3.) Consult with internet - to cover or not cover pot
4.) Cook over medium heat until boiling, turns out covering is optional
5.) Marvel in the smell once the water boils, cover and continue boiling
6.) Stir occasionally
***Shoot, the water disappeared and I see burnt apples in my future. I just added another cup of water and reduced the heat to a low medium. The apples are getting soft though***
Okay so maybe I can't just boil until it looks like mush.
7.) Mash apples with fork or potato masher, adding a little water if needed
8.) Lower heat and simmer, covered.
9.) Once you're happy with the consistency, add sugar and cinnamon to taste.
ENJOY
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