Meaty Red Sauce for Italian Recipes

This meaty pasta sauce recipe has come to be my husband's FAVORITE red sauce.  It's become my favorite as well.  Each time I make it, I innocently think I've made enough to make two full meals.  The flavors that come out of this sauce reach down to our inner child and make us ask "Please sir, may I have some more?"  Sadly, we will eat up so much at dinner that there is just enough for a light lunch the next day. But oh what a lunch it is.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES
Makes about 4 cups of red sauce, enough for a pasta dinner for four friends.

• 2 tablespoons bacon drippings
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 10 whole garlic cloves
• 2 heaping teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon rubbed sage

• 1 pound fresh ground pork

• 1- 28 ounce can of San Marzano Whole Tomatoes
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

In a dutch oven over medium heat, melt bacon drippings.  Add onions, garlic cloves, oregano and sage.  Cook until the onions begin to soften, stirring constantly about 5 minutes.

Add in ground pork and continue to cook until meat has browned and there's no sign of pink.

Using a hand blender, puree the whole tomatoes until smooth.  Pour sauce over cooked pork.  Add salt and pepper.  When tomato sauce begins to boil, REDUCE heat to medium low, cover with lid and simmer for 30 minutes.  Stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and use with any pasta.

This sauce keeps very well in the freezer.  It would be very handy to double this recipe and put up half the sauce in the freezer for a future meal.

Creamy Chicken Hash

For those us who gave up canned cream of chicken soup but still wish we had a natural, delicious alternative. Creamy Chicken Hash comes to the rescue.  It's a main dish not a soup; Creamy Chicken Hash is loaded with leftover roasted chicken, chopped and baked into a creamy, lightly textured, custard sauce.  It's a simple recipe to bring together in under 30 minutes.  I served it with Duchess Potatoes; the oven was already hot and I baked them together.  Dinner was ready in no time.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon yellow onion, minced
• 2 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup cream or whole milk
• 2 to 3 cups roasted chicken, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 to 2 tablespoons Sherry (optional)
• 1/2 cup grated cheese

Preheat oven to Low Broil.

Heat butter; add onion and cook over low heat until soft but not browned.

Add flour and stir until blended; slowly add stock and stir over low heat until thick and smooth; add cream and chicken; season to taste.

Slowly add a little hot cream sauce to the beaten eggs (to temper the eggs); add tempered eggs to remaining chicken mixture, stirring constantly.  Add sherry.

Turn into buttered shallow casserole dish or deep-dish pie plate; sprinkle with grated cheese.

Heat under broiler until brown and bubbly, 10 to 15 minutes.  Keep watch over it.  Makes 6 servings.

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I apologize for not having a photo.  I didn't have good light at dinner time, so I thought would save back some to photograph tomorrow.  My family at it all.

Creamy Carrot Soup

This Creamy Carrot Soup is a completely different experience from the Curried Carrot and Apple Soup I cooked up last week.  This Creamy Carrot Soup is satisfying much in the same way as the Homemade Creamy Tomato Soup I enjoy so much.  It's simple.  There's just enough potato in it to mellow that earthy carrot flavor that can be off putting at times.  Even though I love carrots, I have to admit that carrots are not always delicious cooked just any old way.  And because carrots come with different levels of sweetness and earthiness, they are often lumped into one "I don't care for carrots" category from those that are indifferent to eating them.  Some carrots are not all that great. And if you've purchased a bag that doesn't possess you favorite flavor, well then, what can you do?
Make this soup.

I genuinely like this soup. Period.  The first time I tasted it, before adding the cream, I knew I could have eaten it just like it was, anytime, anywhere.  With a crusty slice of buttered toast, maybe Parmesan toast or garlic toast, on the side.  It could be spiced up or left alone.  Yea, this one is a natural, comfort soup that could stand the test of time.

HERE'S ALL THERE'S TO IT

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 medium-large potato, chopped
• 1 1/2 pounds carrots, chopped
• 2 teaspoons crushed fresh ginger root
• 4 cups chicken stock, warmed
• 1 cup water, warmed
• 7 tablespoon whipping cream or whole milk (see my Cook's Notes)
• 1/8 teaspoon dried nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Chop the potatoes and carrots to be the same size so they will cook evenly.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a dutch oven, add onion and celery, then cook for 5 minutes until soften.

Stir in the potato, carrots, ginger, chicken stock, and water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover with lid. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender.  Remove from heat.

Using either a blender, food processor or immersion blender, carefully puree mixture until smooth.  Return soup to the pan.  Stir in the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir in cream or milk.  Reheat gently, but do not allow the soup to boil or the cream will curdle. (not attractive)  Feeds 6 hungry folks with healthy 1 cup servings.

COOK'S NOTES

The ginger root adds a bright note to this soup, but if you don't have any on hand, don't sweat it.  This soup could please a crowd without it.

I planned to use this soup recipe for my make ahead lunches.  I figured the 7 tablespoons of whipping cream would not hold up to reheating and possible boiling in the microwave.  I didn't want to ruin the soup, SO... I divided it.  I measured out the soup and came up with roughly 6 cups.  Three cups received 3 1/2 tablespoons whipping cream - this half was the soup I would eat right away.  The remaining three cups of soup received 3 1/2 tablespoons whole milk- this half went into 1 cup portions and into the freezer for my made ahead lunches.  Milk can handle coming to a boil better than heavy cream.  I'll let you know later in the comment section how the soup held up through reheating.

This recipe was stirred from a new inspiring cookbook, Soups; Includes Delicious Recipes for Appetizers and Salads.

Support SDR and grab your copy from Amazon.

Soups; Includes Delicious Recipes for Appetizers and Salads

Simple White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

In all the twelve years Charlie and I have been married, I've NEVER baked his all time favorite cookie from scratch.  (I can hear the air being sucked out of the room.)  Of course, I love my husband!

While I'm confessing,  I guess it's high time I let you know where I get all my cookie recipes.  The book that is my absolute favorite cookie slash sweet craving cookbook.  I turn to it EVERY TIME I want to bake something sweet for family and friends and it has never let me down.

HERE IT IS, MY SECRET BOOK TO BAKING SWEETS

No, it's not hoity toity.  It's probably not even fashionable to mention in the least little bit, but I don't really care.  This book works for me! I've laughed to myself, many times, when folks have eaten the treats I make from this book and think, I'M the BEST cook ever.  HA! I was only following the directions.

Although I love listening and gathering bits of information about the science behind cooking, the science of baking makes my brain go numb, and my mind's eye glazes over at the thought of experimental baking.  I don't have the time & resources to set myself up for such failures.  When my family wants something to sweet to eat, I go for the traditional favorites first and grab my gal, Betty.

So when Charlie sent me the text message that he was having a rough day at work, I knew I needed to have something comforting for him to come home to, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies.  I turned to Betty and she came through for me in the most delicious way.

HERE'S ALL IT TOOK

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 package (6 ounces) white baking bars, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch chunks
• 1 jar (3 1/2 ounces) or 2 bags (2.25 ounces) macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Heat oven to 350º F degrees. Beat sugars, butter & shortening in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Mix in vanilla and egg.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, chopped white chocolate and nuts.  With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture a third at a time until all is flour is moistened or absorbed.  Do not over stir.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls (use a 1 inch scooper) about 2 inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake 9 to 11 minutes, until LIGHT, light brown on the edges.  Cool 1 to 2 minutes BEFORE removing from the cookie sheet.  Continue cooling on wire rack.

NOTE: It's important to bake these cookies on the light side.  They should look under cooked in the center and light brown on the edges.  They will finish setting as they cool on the cookie sheet and have a smoother finish.  I didn't learn this until I baked the last batch of cookies.  As you can see from the photo above, the cookies have cracks.  This does NOT affect their flavor at all.  But I noticed that the last batch of cookies baked for 9 minutes had a creamier texture than the cookies baked for 12 minutes. The smooth 9 minute cookies are shown below, they were eaten immediately after the photo was taken.

By now, all the cookies are gone.  No one cared about or even mentioned the cracks, they just kept going back for more cookies.  The extra chopped nuts really make these cookies hard to put down.  They weren't so rich that one cookie was enough.  Unfortunately.

Great Cooks County Fair

With all the wonderful folks in one place over at Great Cooks Community.com (GCC), we couldn’t help stir up something new and fun for our community.

Our good friend, Lisa Rohner of ChefMomCooks has stepped up to be our GCC Food Events Coordinator. We are thrilled to have her experience, creative style, and enthusiasm leading us to a whole new level of fun and fellowship.

The Great Cooks County Fair (GCCF) will begin by sponsoring one food event each month. Participants will have an opportunity to show off their delicious home cooking, rally their friends and family to vote for their recipe entry, promote their homeblogs (if they're food bloggers), and win a prize or award ribbon! But that’s not all folks…

As Great Cooks Community members, we will show our support to our fellow food bloggers by using our favorite social bookmarking sites, such as Stumble Upon, del.icio.us, etc. to promote the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winner’s winning recipes posted on the winner’s homeblog (if they're food bloggers).

Think about this my food blogging friends… Today, we have 177 members in our community. Imagine 177 people Stumbling your blog! Consider the amount of traffic. I sure hope the winner's servers can handle the load.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW

First, go join the Great Cooks County Fair Group.

Second, go read the rules for participation. VERY IMPORTANT STEP HERE.

Third, go back to your homeblog(s) and write a post about this terrific new food event taking off! Tell your readers they don’t need a blog to post a recipe or vote for your recipe entry. They just need to be a member of Great Cooks Community.

Spread the word on every food forum you hang out on, other food community networks, Facebook, Stumble the Great Cooks County Fair group page, email every food lover you know.

FOR HEAVENS SAKES- DO NOT SPAM JUST EVERYONE YOU KNOW. Remember this is a food community, we want to enrich it with folks who have a serious interest in cooking, baking, preserving food, food photography, food writers, recipe swappers. It's VERY IMPORTANT that we keep the comfort and joys of membership a positive experience for all.

There are opportunities to become Hosts and Moderators for the Great Cooks County Fair food events. Please contact Lisa Rohner, the GCC Food Events Planner, from her Great Cooks page.
We look forward to seeing everyone participating and coming together for all the awesome fellowship, recipes, encouragement and traffic building opportunities.

Have FUN!

Beans n’ Cornbread

"Beans, beans, the musical fruit!..."

The other night, we had friends over to the house.  For dinner, we ate baked ham, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. -- I heard that! Yes, I know I served two starches. Half the crowd consisted of children that I knew would not touch the sweet potatoes. So technically, I served one starch to each age group.

Anyhoo. I naturally planned to cook a big pot of pinto beans using the leftover ham bone. We eat pinto beans every other week or so. Sometimes, I only make enough to cover one dinner and one lunch. Other times, like this one, I wanted to take full advantage of the flavor of that ham. Unfortunately, my pressure cooker wasn't big enough. I had to cook these bad boys the long, slow way and it was worth the 3 hour wait.

HERE'S HOW TO COOK GREAT BEANS

• 4 cups dried pinto beans, washed clean
• 1 leftover ham bone
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2-3 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder

In a large pot, fill with pinto beans and enough water to cover one inch higher/deeper than the beans. Bring water to boil, boil for 2 minutes: remove from heat. Cover and let stand, 1 hour.

Come back and drain off any water remaining. Toss in ham bone, onion, and seasonings. Add enough water to beans to cover the bone. For good measure, I make the water about 2 1/2 -3 inches higher/deeper than beans. Heat to boiling: reduce heat. Cover and simmer until tender. 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Check the water at the first hour mark and give it a good stir while you're there.

Serve with your favorite rice and cornbread pancakes.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED ABOUT COOKING BEANS

• Having enough water is key to getting those beans tender. Always have at least 2 1/2 inches of water above the beans.
• Salt! It makes the world go round. Get it in in the beginning and at the end.
• Fat adds depth to the beans. I always have bacon drippings stored tightly in the refrigerator. So normally, I use 1/4 cup to season 3 cups of beans.
• Cooking beans in a pressure cooker is awesome! I still do the first boil for 2 minutes, drain off, then start fresh. Pinto beans will cook tender in 50 minutes!

SUBSTITUTIONS

Instead of the ham bone, 4 ounces of salt pork (with rind), diced, or 6 slices of bacon, cut up, will do the job.

GOT LEFTOVER BEANS?

Turn them into refried beans and make burritos! Try using them in the Chipotle Burrito recipe. They also make a great topping for nachos and chalupas.

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

This is an easy chicken pot pie recipe that anyone can bake.

Homemade chicken pot pie is a favorite comfort dish for my whole family.  This particular recipe came from my Memaw, she was a comfort food queen!  (Man, I miss her cookin'.) You will want to plan a whole morning or afternoon in the kitchen, but it's all worth it in the end. In the past, I've broken up the work into two days of short tasks, when I didn't have a whole afternoon to dedicate.

Usually, I bake this recipe in a 13x9x2 dish or slightly larger pan.  It makes quite a bit, which is awesome for leftovers.  If you have a family of 4 to 6, don't bother freezing the leftovers.  It will all vanish in a couple of days.

This time, I purchased aluminum mini loaf pans and baked individual pot pie servings.  The recipe filled 8 mini pans.  I planned only to have a top crust, to lower the calories and leave more room for vegetables.  These pies turned out beautifully, and I was able to share them with a dear friend.

START WITH CHICKEN & BROTH

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 onions, quartered
• 2 stalks celery, cut into large pieces
• 1 teaspoon dried basil, thyme, oregano, sage
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 bay leaf

Place all the ingredients in a large stock pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Remove chicken from broth, reserve all the broth.  When chicken is cool enough, remove skin and bones, then shred in large bite size pieces.  (Chicken bites will get smaller after stirring them in later.)

PREPARE THE FILLING & CRUST

• 3 cups potato, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
• 1-2 cups sliced carrots
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 stick of butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cup Land o'Lakes No Fat Half-n-Half
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 packages of refrigerated Pillsbury Pie Crusts

Cook celery, carrots and potatoes in butter until crisp tender.  Add flour and stir until smooth, cooking for 1 minute.  Gradually add reserved broth and half & half while cooking over medium heat, until sauce thickens and bubbly.  Stir in shredded chicken, frozen peas, salt, pepper.  If sauce looks too thick, keep adding broth.  It's good to keep the sauce on the slightly soupy side, because it will keep thickening as it bakes.

Now, you're ready to assemble the pie(s).  If you want a bottom crust, then use one package (both dough rolls) to line the bottom of casserole pan.  Fill with chicken mixture and cover using second package of pie crusts. Use scraps to decorate top, if you feel fancy.   Be sure to pierce the dough where needed.  Bake at 400F degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

When I assembled the individual mini pans, I used one package of pie crusts and only covered the top. (As shown in photos.)

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