Yeah!

Yeah we've moved on to a new month!  I am not a negative person, and I love all the seasons, but I always get a little thrill when Jan. is over.  Just last General Conference there was a talk that struck me.  It was a talk by Elder M. Russell Ballard where he talked about the beauty of fall and then the "cold austere beauty" of winter.  His talked made me think of a favorite song I have at Christmas time.  It's called, "In The Bleak Midwinter".   Those words all sound so dreary and..........cold, but they describe January perfectly.  They are excellent adjectives to describe the first month of the year.  I always love moving on to Feb.  Maybe it's because March is right after, and most snow drifts have melted by March 19th at my home.  It's just a little sign of hope that life will appear again.  But I will admit my fireplace, big fuzzy socks, sweaters and an inherited down coat are delicious this time of year!

Last Sunday we had the most perfect January Sunday dinner.  You can call it stew, but we prefer to call if Beef Bourguignon.  It just sound a little more Sunday-ish with a good Julia Child title.  I received a fun gift for my birthday this year from my mom.  Actually she gave me money and I bought it.  Thanks Mother-Dearest!!  An electric pressure cooker.  It's fantastic.  I've made split pea soup in 1 hour, barbecue pork sandwiches in 1 hour 15 mins,  and this beef stew in 1 hour and 15 mins. as well.  Keep in mind this is from the time I pull a very frozen white package of meat out of my deep freeze to eating the tender, fall apart meat.   It's a miracle!  I'm hooked.  I just followed the recipe that came with my new toy, and added a big scoop of garlic mashed potatoes in the middle of the bowl.  Dinner was adored and it afforded me a nice little Sunday nap with the time I saved!  Yeah!!!

In making the recipe you will notice the addition of some spirits.  I have always felt if I'm going to add this then it might as well be on Sunday.  Just kidding!!!  I am totally kidding.  Actually you can replace the wine with beef stock or even apple juice.  If you do just add a little vinegar at the end.  You'll like it.  I didn't add any potatoes to my Beef Bourguignon since we were topping it with some mashed potatoes, but if you're not in the mood for dirtying a potato pot as well, just add some cubed potatoes with the other veggies.  Some Great Harvest Asiago Sourdough bread goes fantastic with this stew as well.  Sorry, that's my shameless plug for you to buy more bread:)  Enjoy!

Classic Beef Stew (Courtesy of Cuisinart)

Makes 8 cups

(PS- if you don't have a pressure cooker just put it in your crock pot for 4-6 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.)

3 pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 11⁄2-to 2-inch pieces

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper 

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped 

1 medium carrot, finely chopped 

1 celery stalk, finely chopped 

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 cup dry red wine (I have no idea what a "dry" wine means.  They're all wet to me.)

2 tablespoons tomato paste 

1 bay leaf 3⁄4 cup beef broth (I never add bay.  I hate them!)

2 cups baby-cut carrots 

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened 

1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour 

1 cup frozen peas

Season pieces of chuck roast with salt and pepper and reserve. Place the olive oil in the cooking pot of the CuisinartTM Electric Pressure Cooker. Select Browning. When oil begins to sizzle, add pieces of chuck in a single layer – do not crowd. Continue browning meat in batches until all meat is browned. As meat is browned transfer to a plate. Select Sauté. Stir the chopped onions into the pot. With a wooden spoon scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan that have accumulated while meat was browning. Sauté for 1 to minutes, until onions start to soften and are translucent. Stir in the carrots and celery. Sauté vegetables for about minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the chopped garlic and Sauté for an additional minute.

Once vegetables are soft, stir in red wine, again scraping any brown bits that have accumulated on the bottom of the pot. Cook until red wine has reduced by half, then stir in the tomato paste.

Add the reserved beef, bay leaf, and beef broth to the pot. Select High Pressure. Set timer for 10 minutes. When audible beep sounds use Quick Pressure Release to release pressure. When float valve drops, remove lid carefully, tilting away from you to allow steam to disperse. Add carrots to the pot and select High Pressure. Set timer for 6 minutes. When audible beep sounds use Natural Pressure Release to release pressure. When float valve drops, remove lid carefully, tilting away from you to allow steam to disperse.

To thicken stew, strain the solids from the stew liquid, reserving both. Remove and discard bay leaf. Blend softened butter and flour to make a paste (buerre manié). Return liquid to pot and bring to a boil by selecting Brown. Once liquid comes to a bowl whisk in the butter/flour mixture. Select Simmer. Once liquid thickens, stir the meat and carrots back into the pot. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper accordingly. Just before serving, stir in peas.

Nutritional information per serving (11⁄2 cups): Calories 340 (32% from fat) • carb. 16g • pro. 35g •fat11g•sat.fat 4g•chol.103mg•sod.98mg • calc. 49mg • fiber 4g

Chinese Pork Roast

Part 2 of Sunday's birthday celebration. This fantastic recipe comes from my Granny's "Sister's Favorites" cookbook. I have found over the years that the best cookbooks are those made by people you know and love. I have a handful of these well worn cookbooks that when ever I'm in doubt, they always pull through. I love my sis-in-law Kristy, granny's cookbooks. She makes the best candy, and bread sticks. I love my neighbor Colette's family cookbook. It's huge and seriously 2/3 maybe even 3/4 of the book is sweets and treats. You'd think they'd be ziggy piggy's, but alas they are all thin little girls who are fantastic cooks. My ward put out a cookbook a few years ago, and it is amazing. I wish I would have bought tons of them. Oh ya! I did, but I gave them all away. Secretly I have 2 stashed away, and you can not get me to part with them. They are that good. And how about the new one I got from a friend for my birthday. It's from a girl at the bank who's mother wrote it. It has an amazing Banana Bread. And I can't forget about the Herff Jones employee cookbook. It's wonderful! These are all my favorite books. I take them to bed with me sometimes! There's nothing like getting your taste buds going at 9:45 pm.

The Chinese Pork Roast recipe is one of those great recipes. It is definitely James' favorite meal. It is quite easy and just requires a little preparation ahead of time. I love to make gravy with the pan drippings when the roast is done. It has a very sweet and sour flavor. I serve with boiled potatoes and veggies. My favorite thing to do with this roast though is the leftovers. I really hate leftovers unless you can change their identity. If you turn it into something completely different then I love them. The leftover roast makes perfect Sweet and Sour Pork a few nights later. I just chunk up the roast and throw it into the wok with the veggies and pineapple and saute away. Served over rice and it is one of my favorite meals. So James likes the roast and potatoes, and I like the Sweet and Sour. It's a win-win.

Granny's Chinese Pork Roast

1 3-4 lb. Pork Loin Roast

4 T. sugar

1 t. salt

1 1/2 T. honey

1 T. soy sauce (AKA Bug Juice)

1 c. chicken broth

3 T. vinegar

1/4 c. water

Combine sugar, salt, honey, soy sauce broth and vinegar. Place roast in a large Ziploc bag and pour sauce over meat and let marinate for at least 1 hour. (I've done it overnight too.) Pace in a roasting pan. Bake in a 350' F. oven for 2 1/2 -3 hours. Baste sauce if you have time. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. The roast will be a darker brown than you're accustomed to. Take roast out and allow to rest for a few minutes. Cut and serve. I save the dripping and thicken to make a gravy. Serve with boiled red potatoes. YUMMY!

My Idea Of A Sunday Dinner

I do believe that it is Sunday Dinner's in general that started me loving food. Sunday's were the one day a week that we sat in the dining room with the fancy dishes. Hollie and I learned early how to set the perfect table, and we all had our assigned seats. I sat to the right of my dad every Sunday the entire time I was growing up. Sitting to the right of your dad is a great place to sit. I would eye his plate as each item was passed. The potatoes at 12 o'clock, the meat at 10, broccoli with Velveeta at 3, and finally the carrots or yams at 6. Sunday dinners were always like this. Then the gravy was passed and the perfect sprinkling of pepper and my dad had created a masterpiece. I copied everything he did, down to the perfect pepper sprinkle. My dad's plate always looked so appealing and downright delish. My mom did a great job of having a variety of colors on the plate too. Thank you parents of mine for fostering a little food creativity into me. I will always love Sunday dinner at my mom's house.

Now that I'm the mom though our Sunday dinners are sometime a little less traditional. I do like a good Sunday roast beast and potatoes, but in all actuality there are other things I like tons more! I don't especially like mashed potatoes, or meat. I'm not a vegetarian, but to me, turkey at Thanksgiving is only a side dish. It is meant to be there for the leftover sandwiches and a token slice to be eaten very last after all the other good stuff is gone. I like other special Sunday Dinners. Yesterday was one of those days. I knew I had a hit when J kept making the comment, "This is sooooo good! Oh this is dang good Lis." I love that man. Especially when he had coconut noodle soup on his nose. It was that good.

My photo from dinner yesterday, and the photo from the magazine. I'm working on getting better.

(Now if you saw this picture as a full page photo in a mag wouldn't you start to salivate? I thought it looked absolutely beautiful. I had to make it. Thank you Bon Apetite!)

Spicy Curry Noodle Soup with Chicken and Sweet Potato

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons chopped shallots
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced lemongrass (from bottom 4 inches of about 3 stalks, tough outer leaves discarded)I don't use this.
• 2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger I use a bit of ground ginger instead.
• 2 tablespoons Thai yellow curry paste
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon hot chili paste (such as sambal oelek)
• 2 13.5- to 14-ounce cans unsweetened coconut milk, divided
• 5 cups low-salt chicken broth
• 2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce or soy sauce or just salt(such as nam pla or nuoc nam)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3 cups snow peas, trimmed
• 2 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled red-skinned sweet potato (yam; from about 1 large)
• 1 pound dried rice vermicelli noodles or rice stick noodles
• 3/4 pound skinless boneless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 red Thai bird chiles or 2 red jalapeño chiles, thinly sliced with seeds
• 1 lime, cut into 6 wedges

PREPARATION

• Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add next 4 ingredients; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in curry paste, curry powder, and chili paste. Add 1/2 cup coconut milk (scooped from thick liquid at top of can). Stir until thick and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add remaining coconut milk, broth, fish sauce, and sugar; bring broth to boil. Keep warm. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Refrigerate until cold, then cover and keep chilled.
• Cook snow peas in large pot of boiling salted water until bright green, about 20 seconds. Using strainer, remove peas from pot; rinse under cold water to cool. Place peas in medium bowl. Bring water in same pot back to boil. Add sweet potato and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Using strainer, remove sweet potato from pot and rinse under cold water to cool. Place in small bowl. Bring water in same pot back to boil and cook noodles until just tender but still firm to bite , about 6 minutes. Drain; rinse under cold water to cool. Transfer to microwave-safe bowl. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 hour ahead. Let stand at room temperature.
• Bring broth to simmer. Add chicken; simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add sweet potato; stir to heat through, about 1 minute. Heat noodles in microwave in 30-second intervals to rewarm. Cut noodles with scissors if too long. Divide noodles among bowls. Divide snow peas and hot soup among bowls. Scatter red onion, green onions, cilantro, and chiles over soup. Garnish with lime wedges and serve.
  
  
  **When I make this soup I saute the garlic, and shallot until soft and then I just throw everything into the pot except for the snow peas. Throw them in the last couple of minutes. You have to make this recipe a little simpler and I think it tastes just as good.

I found this recipe a few years ago in a Bon Apetite magazine. It may seem a little complicate, but if you've been to the local Asian market and bought some of the Thai staples that I've written about before, then you're set. (That would be you Angie! I know you've got $80 of Thai ingredients just waiting to be use in something. This would be a good recipe for that extra bottle of coconut milk.) The Sunday Coconut Soup was delicious. The kids even loved it. We did have to make homemade ice cream and apple crisp to top off the night, but heck it's Sunday and I don't have to diet again until Monday.

Super Fast Sunday

This morning at 7:25 am I am laying in bed thinking I really needed to get going for church. Soon I hear little flip flop feet walking into my room and there is Seth peering over the top of my really tall bed completely ready for church.  He looked as handsome as can be.  Now this is not typical since Seth's favorite choice of clothing is PJ bottoms and no shirt every minute of the day if he could.  I just looked at him astonished, told him he looked so handsome and how come he was all ready for church.  His response was priceless.

"Mom don't you remember what you told the kids last night? You said it was a "fast" Sunday not a slow Sunday, and I didn't want to be slow today so I got ready really fast.  All you have to do for me is comb my hair."  What a kid.  I love his stinkin' little guts!