I wanted to make something easy and fast tonight; some nights we're a little more tired, right? So, tonight, it's Pork chops with rice.
Ingredients:
Pork chops, thin or thick cut, one per person you plan to feed
1 cup rice
1 qt tomatoes
1 1/2 cups water
1 tbs basil
1 tsp rosemary
salt & pepper
one onion, chopped
Heat your skillet, and rub the fatty edge of the pork chop on the heated surface to grease it. Brown both sides of your chops (while browning, chop your onion). When your pork chops are browned on both sides, place, still quite raw, on a plate to the side. Turn heat to low, and put rice, tomatoes, water, basil, salt, pepper and onion in pan, then carefully lay your browned pork chops on top. Put a lid on it and let it just barely simmer for 30 minutes, turn the heat off, let rest for ten. I discovered that it's really delicious with soy sauce drizzled over it when you're ready to eat it, but that's optional. Makes great leftovers, too!
Enjoy!
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Breakfast Hash Browns with Egg
A classic that you can make for two people for under $2 in less time than it takes to drive to McDonald's.
Ingredients:
butter or lard
three potatoes
onion
salt & pepper
egg
optional: garnish (I used a piece of basil for the photo)
Put a large cast iron skillet on the stove and turn the heat on medium. Now get your ingredients ready:
Rinse three potatoes, and cut them in half, lay the cut sides down. Cut each half into thin slices and hold each slice in place as you go, don't let it fall apart into pieces, (like when you cut an onion so you don't cry from the exposed flesh giving off fumes that make your eyes tear up). Now turn the halves 90ยบ and repeat the slicing. You'll wind up with nice matchstick pieces in just a few minutes. Do the same to your onion.
Put two tablespoons of butter or lard (not the kind with preservatives, get it from a local farmer) in your skillet and put the potatoes and onion in. Stir it like a stir fry for half a minute, then go make your coffee or tea. Read the news for five minutes, stir it again.
It'll cook fast because you sliced everything thin and small, it's all about surface area (chemistry class, woo!): the more surface area, the faster things cook. :)
When your potatoes are soft enough to eat, take them from the pan and put them on a plate. Now crack an egg in your pan, and cook it how you like it, scrambled or fried. When it's done, put it on top or to the side of your potatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper if desired.
Enjoy!
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Salsa
I admit it, I'm lazy. If technology can make it faster, I'm all for it. With that said, I use my blender to make my salsa.
Ingredients:
•1 qt of tomatoes •1 large onion (I prefer vidalias for this, but any kind will do)
•1 clove of garlic
•1/4 tsp cumin
•1 jalepeno (seed it if you want it less hot)
•1 whole dried chipotle or 1/4 tsp dried
•1/2 tsp salt
I find that cutting the onion into quarters before putting it in the blender helps.
Put all the ingredients in a blender and puree. Pour into a bowl and eat with your favorite chips. I prefer organic blue chips.
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
•1 qt of tomatoes •1 large onion (I prefer vidalias for this, but any kind will do)
•1 clove of garlic
•1/4 tsp cumin
•1 jalepeno (seed it if you want it less hot)
•1 whole dried chipotle or 1/4 tsp dried
•1/2 tsp salt
I find that cutting the onion into quarters before putting it in the blender helps.
Put all the ingredients in a blender and puree. Pour into a bowl and eat with your favorite chips. I prefer organic blue chips.
Enjoy!
Chili
Chili is great on those winter days when you're snowed in and you didn't have time to go to the grocery store to stock up ahead of time.
Ok, yes, it's true: it takes hours to simmer, but you can do all sorts of stuff while it sits there doing its thing, the actual time you're involved in making it isn't that much, really.
One should always have dried goods around, and I keep mine in mason jars; they're airtight and store foods perfectly. I keep on hand a variety of legumes, like pinto beans, kidney beans and black beans to name a few. Those are what goes in chili most of the time.
Ingredients:
•One onion, any kind, chopped.
•two cloves garlic, minced •Dried beans (see above), how much is up to you, I used four cups to make a big pot for leftovers.
•bay leaf
•red pepper flakes, cayenne, chipotle powder (or whole dried), jalepenos, whatever you've got laying around or want to buy, don't be shy with the heat, it's chili, it's supposed to be spicy hot!
•tomatoes (I used two quarts of the tomatoes I'd canned in the fall, but you can use any kind, whole, canned, whatever).
•cumin (I used 1tsp)
•salt (1 tsp)
•1 tsp chili powder (less if you're not cooking this much, but leftovers can be frozen, too!)
First, get a large pot, and put your beans and water to more than cover them in it. Either soak overnight, or do a quick soak: bring to a boil and let sit for an hour. Drain and Rinse. Put the beans and enough water to more than cover them back in the pan, and bring to a boil, cook for an hour, use a lid if you like, it uses less energy that way, but make sure to turn the heat down so it doesn't boil over! Drain them and rinse them again. Now they're ready to cook. (yes, you can use the canned ones, but they're more money, and have preservatives most of the time).
Put the drained and rinsed and cooked beans in your pot again, add the tomatoes, and cook it on a low to medium heat, enough to make it just barely simmer. (again, a lid will keep the heat in, and you can turn your burner down and use less energy, saving money for other things).
Meanwhile, cut the ends off your onion. Make a shallow slice down the outside, and peel off the dried skin. Cut it in half, lay the open cut sides down on your cutting board. Make long slices and hold them next to eachother so the onion's oils don't make your eyes water. Now cut at a parellel to your first cuts and you have perfect cubes of onions without crying. so easy. Put the onion in the pan with the beans and tomatoes. Mince your garlic, add that to the pan. Add the bay leaf, whatever peppers you want (start with 1/4 tsp of each and taste, work your way up to your individual spicy heat tolerance). Add the cumin, chili powder and salt. Set a timer for a half hour and go do something else with your time. When it goes off, stir it up so it isnt' sticking to the bottom (it shouldn't be), set another timer, another half hour, go back to what you were doing. The idea is, give it a minimum of attention (stir it, check on it, add water if it boils off too much, etc), and watch a movie, do laundry, whatever while it cooks for the next two hours or so. Taste it once in a while, add what you think it needs (remember a little bit at a time, you can always add more, but you can't take it out!). When the beans are nice and soft, serve some up and eat it. I like to put cheddar cheese in mine, or vinegar and crackers.
Enjoy!
Ok, yes, it's true: it takes hours to simmer, but you can do all sorts of stuff while it sits there doing its thing, the actual time you're involved in making it isn't that much, really.
One should always have dried goods around, and I keep mine in mason jars; they're airtight and store foods perfectly. I keep on hand a variety of legumes, like pinto beans, kidney beans and black beans to name a few. Those are what goes in chili most of the time.
Ingredients:
•One onion, any kind, chopped.
•two cloves garlic, minced •Dried beans (see above), how much is up to you, I used four cups to make a big pot for leftovers.
•bay leaf
•red pepper flakes, cayenne, chipotle powder (or whole dried), jalepenos, whatever you've got laying around or want to buy, don't be shy with the heat, it's chili, it's supposed to be spicy hot!
•tomatoes (I used two quarts of the tomatoes I'd canned in the fall, but you can use any kind, whole, canned, whatever).
•cumin (I used 1tsp)
•salt (1 tsp)
•1 tsp chili powder (less if you're not cooking this much, but leftovers can be frozen, too!)
First, get a large pot, and put your beans and water to more than cover them in it. Either soak overnight, or do a quick soak: bring to a boil and let sit for an hour. Drain and Rinse. Put the beans and enough water to more than cover them back in the pan, and bring to a boil, cook for an hour, use a lid if you like, it uses less energy that way, but make sure to turn the heat down so it doesn't boil over! Drain them and rinse them again. Now they're ready to cook. (yes, you can use the canned ones, but they're more money, and have preservatives most of the time).
Put the drained and rinsed and cooked beans in your pot again, add the tomatoes, and cook it on a low to medium heat, enough to make it just barely simmer. (again, a lid will keep the heat in, and you can turn your burner down and use less energy, saving money for other things).
Meanwhile, cut the ends off your onion. Make a shallow slice down the outside, and peel off the dried skin. Cut it in half, lay the open cut sides down on your cutting board. Make long slices and hold them next to eachother so the onion's oils don't make your eyes water. Now cut at a parellel to your first cuts and you have perfect cubes of onions without crying. so easy. Put the onion in the pan with the beans and tomatoes. Mince your garlic, add that to the pan. Add the bay leaf, whatever peppers you want (start with 1/4 tsp of each and taste, work your way up to your individual spicy heat tolerance). Add the cumin, chili powder and salt. Set a timer for a half hour and go do something else with your time. When it goes off, stir it up so it isnt' sticking to the bottom (it shouldn't be), set another timer, another half hour, go back to what you were doing. The idea is, give it a minimum of attention (stir it, check on it, add water if it boils off too much, etc), and watch a movie, do laundry, whatever while it cooks for the next two hours or so. Taste it once in a while, add what you think it needs (remember a little bit at a time, you can always add more, but you can't take it out!). When the beans are nice and soft, serve some up and eat it. I like to put cheddar cheese in mine, or vinegar and crackers.
Enjoy!
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