ljgeoff

I've been working an overnight this weekend, so the boys are at their mom's for supper tonight.

Monday: Chicken Tamale Pizza

Tuesday: Spaghetti

Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner/Dinner out for Luke (15th birthday!)

Thursday: Pot stickers with fried rice

Friday: Chicken and Garden Veggies Quinoa Skillet

Saturday: ham hocks with beans, cornbread

Sunday: Shepherd's pie

Moroccan Inspired Pork Stew

I've got left over pork roast, a butternut squash, and several tomatoes from the garden, so this is going into the crock pot -- From Yummly:



Ingredients
2 T Paprika
2 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Finely Grated Ginger
1 tsp Course Sea Salt
1 Approx. 3lb Pork Shoulder Roast
1 Med. Butternut Squash, cubed
1 15oz can Chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 pint water
1 28oz can Diced Tomatoes
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 tsp Black Peppercorns

Instructions

Combine Paprika, ginger, cumin, and sea salt in a small dish. Rub pork shoulder roast with spice mixture, coating well and using about half. (I'll be cubing my left-over roast) Add squash, chickpeas, tomatoes (with their juice), and water to bottom of slow cooker, leaving a small well in the center for the roast.

Place roast on top, sprinkle with peppercorns, and add the cinnamon stick. Cook on med-high for 4 hours or until pork roast falls apart easily. (I'll cook on low for maybe three hours, or just until the squash is soft). Remove roast to a plate or cutting board, shred meat using two forks, and add back to crock pot. Retain bone and excess fat to make pork stock, discard cinnamon stick.

Edit: This was really good!

note to self: here's that recipe for crock pot BBQ Chicken and Quinoa that sounded so good.

As I've mentioned, I have a ton of broccoli plants with great big stems that honestly didn't produce much broccoli florets this year. So, I'm on to pickles. This week I'm going to pull all the plants and make pickles from the stems.

I'm going to do two different kinds of pickles; fermented dills and processed bread and butter. I've cobbled together some recipes that I think will work. Note that broccoli stems have the same vitamin content as the florets, and that the fermenting process doesn't destroy the vitamins and may actually enhance them.

( Fermented Broccoli Stem Dill Spears )

( Bread and Butter Broccoli Chunks )

I've got tons of stuff coming out of the garden! Here's the vegetable soup recipe I'll be making tonight:

Ingredients

4 teaspoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves
2 diced onions -- medium yellow
8 cups broth
1/2 cup barley, the long-cooking kind
2 teaspoons hungarian paprika (sweet)
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon Ms. Dash original flavor
quality salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
2-3 cups sliced carrots
2 cups chopped collard greens - chopped in dime-sized pieces
2 cups of peas
3 cups chopped broccoli
2 cups kernel corn (I use frozen)
3 ribs of celery with greens, chopped
1 diced zucchini
4 cups of peeled, seeded fresh tomatoes (4 to 8, depending on size)
1 can garbanzo beans, well rinsed

Directions:

Put the olive oil, onions and garlic in a large pot and sweat on medium-low heat, stirring now and then, until the onion is translucent. Add the broth and salt to taste. Add the rest of the spices and barley, and bring to a low simmer. After 20 min, add carrots and collard greens. Bring back up to simmer and after another 15 min. Add the remaining vegetables and garbanzo beans. Now bring it up to a high simmer and cook another 15 min or so. Give it a taste and add more salt if needed.

I usually chop stuff up in between, like, while the barley is cooking, I'll chop the carrots and collard greens. Also, quinoa can be substituted for the barley and any kind of bean is good. Lentils, too. I'll freeze half of this in two separate containers to bring up for a quick meal. This soup is great served over sweet potatoes. Or sprinkle some course parmesan or romano, and a dash of Louisiana hot sauce. Yum!

My garden supplied the peas, broccoli and collard greens -- no tomatoes or zucchini yet.

We have our holiday dinner on Christmas eve, and then a special Christmas morning brunch. The dinner on Christmas day is very laid back, munching on leftovers and such.

The 2014 Christmas Smörgåsbord

Ham
Swedish Meatballs
2 small Savory Rice Rings, one with broccoli in the center, and one with buttered rutabaga
Little Smokies wrapped in crescent roll
Roasted Brussels sprouts
Sweet Potatoes
Apple Salad
Strawberry Pineapple Jello
Fresh bread
Spice Cake for dessert

What are some of your traditional holiday foods?

I only worked 11a-2p, so most of the day was free. It was nice. I got to hie off to the coffee shop for two hours, and that alone/down time really made a difference. Mike is putting up new window blinds in the front bay window -- the kids had destroyed the mini-blinds -- and I made a banana triple-berry swirled coffee cake. It's cooking right now and smells amazing. The original recipe doesn't call for jam.

( Jam Swirled Banana Streusel Cake )

Edit: it came out really yummy! I'm not completely sold on the banana and jam combo -- it's a little sweet for me. I was just thinking that a nutella filling with the banana coffee cake would be amazing. Well, that would be sweet too, but I love a banana/chocolate mix.

I've got the simmered grapes in the cheesecloth. Looks like I'll get about 8 pints. I also have 6 heads of cabbage and an unfortunately large zucchini on the counter. I work tomorrow and then we're heading to the UP on Wed, so the cabbage and zucchini are gonna have to wait. But here's a recipe so I don't loose it: cabbage rolls -- a super-simple recipe. If I have the time/energy, I might try Emeril's cabbage roll recipe.

Out of curiosity, I just looked up how to make balsamic vinegar. It's pretty insane.

We're heading to the park today with our family -- Jerome, Trentyn and Zari, Luke and his friend Aaron, maybe Aaron's mom, Mike's gf Sylvia, our beloved Lois who has been like a mother to Mike, and me and Mike. So, five or six adults, and four kids.

We're cooking out at the park: brats, hamburgers and chicken, potato salad, calico beans and watermelon.

Have a recipe!

Lisa's Calico Beans (which are only different from other calico bean recipes because I'm not fond of kidney beans)

Ingredients

4 ounces bacon, diced
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green and red sweet bell pepper
1 can (21 ounces) pork and beans
1 can (16 ounces) butter beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (16 ounces) black beans rinsed and drained
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon salt

Directions

- In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels to drain. Pour drippings into can for later use.

- In the same skillet, cook beef, sweet pepper and onion over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink; drain. Combine the beef mixture, bacon, beans, brown sugar, ketchup, vinegar, mustard and salt. Spoon into a greased 2-qt. baking dish.

- Bake, uncovered, at 325° for 45-60 minutes or until the beans are as thick as desired. Recipe can be easily doubled for a larger group. Yield: 8-10 servings.

- Or place in a crock pot and cook on high for one hour, simmer on low or warm as long as necessary, adding water when needed. (be careful not to stir too vigorously or it will turn into refried beans)


For my own reference: shopping list

bacon
butter beans
sweet pepper
paper plate holders
plastic forks
charcoal