Cook Wannabee

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I happen to love pickles of all sorts.

Gherkins, sweet pickles, dill pickles, polish dill pickles, pickled onions, pickled beets, pickled cantaloupe, pickled watermelon rind,…..I guess you get the idea here.

Not only do they do good on a juicy burger (that is another story), they are good by themselves. When I have a sore throat and nothing seems to help it, sucking on a pickle just like a lollipop will ease the pain in my throat. Of course you cannot always tell people to go suck on a pickle when they talk about their throats, though. They might think that you are weird or something.

I don’t care, I like pickles.

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Yup, I am talking about breakfast here. Of course you could also use this for a church luncheon, a meal at home, almost anything. Putting it in a casserole dish makes it handy.

6 eggs beaten
8 ox thinly sliced ham, chopped up
1/2 onion grated
1/2 lb. cheese cubes broken up
5 medium potatoes thinly sliced, not quite like hash browns

Fry the potatoes, onion and ham in the same pan until done, drain. Place in a baking dish that has been greased. Mix in the cheese, pour the ggs over the mixture, stir gently.

Bake in a 350′ oven for 15 minutes. YUM

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2 c sugar
1/2 c oleo
1/2 c milk
pinch salt
mix above in sauce pan over low heat, stirring often Boil 1 1/2 min.

3 c Quick Cooking Oats
1 tsp Vanilla
6 heaping Tbsp Cocoa
1 c. Cocoanut (optional)
Remove pan from the stove, add the rest of the ingredients, blend well.
Drop by spoonfuls onto greased pan or wax paper and let cool.

YUM

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I love the taste of stuffed peppers. I do not like all of the mess that goes with it. So, I cheat when I decide to make them.

2 bell peppers
1 1/2 lb ground meat
1 onion finely diced
1 regular jar of spaghetti sauce (any brand, though I like Ragu)
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. uncooked oatmeal

Clean and dice the bell peppers and the onion ( I like the stronger flavored yellow onion)
Mix eggs and raw ground meat, add onions and bell peppers. Add half of the spaghetti sauce, save the rest for topping.

When the meat mixture is thoroughly mixed, add the oatmeal and mix again.
Place the mixture in a pan, form it into whatever size loaf, top with the remainder of the spaghetti sauce. Place into oven
Bake at 375′ for approximately 35 minutes to 45 minutes

I know that some people would called this meatloaf, but with the amount of green peppers in it, it tastes like wonderful stuffed bell peppers. It is easy to portion out for family meals, and is very tasty.

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Do you have a crock pot? This is an important question. I have two. The first crock pot that I ever had is only 1 quart. Not much that can be done with it until you get experienced with crock pots. The second and my favorite crock pot is a 5 quart. BIG difference. I have been having fun.

The title of this blog tells it all. Wannabee means that I would like to do more, but….not just yet.

Well, I got a hold of a great piece of pork butt roast. Some fat, a little marbling, nice hunk of meat. My first thought was crock pot roast. YUM.

I started by cheating. I put a little water in the pot with one chicken bullion cube. Then I took 6/7 regular carrots, trimmed and washed. Cut the carrots into chunks and dumped them into the pot which was already getting warm on high. I got 2 beautiful yellow onions and cut them into chunks, dropped them into the pot also. Took the piece of roast (5 1/2 lbs) rinsed it off and placed it in the pot on top of the ingredients. I let the veggies ease up the sides a little, but had no room for potatoes. I added enough water to be just barely visible around the meat and veggies. Oh well, the potatoes can come later. I put the top on the crock pot and walked away for 5 hours. Later a wonderful smell was in the house.

I then got7/8 small to regular potatoes, washed them and then cut them into chunks, too. I leave the peeling on for the vitamins that are in the peelings. Put the potatoes into a separate pot with 2 beef bullion cubes. There was enough water to barely reach the top of the potatoes. Turned on the heat and let them cook until just tender. Let them cool.

I took the roast and its veggies out of the cock pot and left the juice in it. Drained the potato water into the crock pot and then made thick flour water. Stirred it all together and let it continue to cook. I added white ground pepper and a touch of salt. We have to limit our salt because of health problems. When the mixture was thick enough, the meal was served. Roast on a plate, with the veggies - carrots, mushy onions, and potatoes; then gently pour gravy oveer the entire things. EAT It was an easy meal, not at all hard to fix, and easy to clean up. We ended up with a lot of gravy left which was put into the freezer and some put into the fridge. There is a lot of roast and veggies left for more meals that only need to be heated up.

INGREDIENTS

51/2 lb pork butt roast
6/7 regular carrots - cleaned and cut into chunks
2 yellow onions - I like the flavor, white onions would be milder
6/7 white potatoes - cleaned and cut into chunks
1 chicken bullion cube
2 beef bullion cubes
water
crock pot
regular pot for potatoes
flour to thicken the gravy

It is an easy meal and leaves you time to relax and be with your family, go shopping, what ever you desire to do. When it is all done, you will have more than one meal out of it depending upon the size of your family gathering. The left overs will be easy to heat up and enjoy again.

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Egg Rolls can be used as appetizers, a side dish, or even if you like them a lot, as a main dish.

I used to wonder how they were made and how hard they could be to do. My Texas sister showed me one day. We had some canned meat (pork, chicken, turkey, shrimp seem to work best) that we shredded. She had me shred a head of regular cabbage (we didn’t want to get fancy and use Chinese cabbage). She also had some Chinese veggies in a can and bean sprouts in a can.

The shredded cabbage was slowly cooked in a pan with a little oil and seasoned with soy sauce when mostly done. The Chinese veggies and bean sprouts were also drained and then added when the cabbage was almost done. Mix it thoroughly to get all of the juices mixed. Fold in the shredded meat, add more soy sauce to taste. You could also add finely ground pepper if you want. When the cabbage is fully cooked, set the pot aside to slightly cool. When you get used to making these, you can vary the veggies used, and the flavorings used to have fun. Imagine chicken, bell peppers, onions. They would almost be like fajitas. You could add shredded cheese when rolling them up. YUM

Then get the packages of egg roll wrappers out of the fridge make a paste of flour and water for sealing the egg rolls them selves.

Sit all of this on the table and prepare to make egg rolls, and a mess.
Place a wrapper on a plate, place a spoonful of the mix on it. Slightly fold over two opposite corners on top of the spoonful of mix. Tuck a third corner over and around the mix, then roll up the egg roll until the wrapper has completely gone around. If it won’t go around, you have used too much stuffing mix, and might have to remove some in order to shape the egg roll. Use a dab of the flour paste to seal the last end onto the roll, set aside the completed roll and start on the next one.

Heat up some oil in a frying pan until it is hot. Gently place egg rolls into the pan to fry. Turning occasionally to avoid burning. When they are golden brown, they are done. Remember that the stuffing is already cooked, you are just cooking the wrapper.

These egg rolls can be frozen when cooked completely and microwaved later to heat them up. Each batch of egg rolls will make quite a few, if you have a big family, they can help with the preparation, and will probably have fun doing so. Imagination would be the only limit. Left overs could also be used when making these. With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, left over turkey is handy.

I wonder if this can be done with fruit, too? Good thought…..

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Since I had mentioned chopsticks in a previous article, figured that i would mention Chinese Food next.

I know that lately there have been multiple cases of things from China being dangerous, or messed up. However, the food that we can find in many restaurants is truly tasty. I do enjoy good egg rolls, General Tso’s Chicken, Sweet & Sour dishes, Fried Rice. I especially like the way the vegetable are not soggy and limp but have some crunch left to them so they still have a lot of their vitamins in place. Broccoli Beef, and Pepper Beef have good flavors, too. My husband has to be careful when he eats Chinese food, because he is allergic to Ginger and a lot of its relatives, too. We have found out from experience that a lot of Chinese food has ginger in it.

I use soy sauce in a lot of cooking just to season the meat. It does not have to be oriental cooking for it to be used. It is a very flexible alternative to using Worcestershire sauce when you do not want the food to be too spicy.

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Eating utensils come in a lot of different shapes and sizes. I have a favorite of course, don’t we all? My favorite utensil is a pair of chopsticks. Two items that are very easy to clean and carry with you, if you want. When every we have the money to go out to our favorite Chinese Restaurant, they always have chopstick handy for those who prefer them. I am one of those who do use them. It is easier for me to use the chopsticks sometimes, than a fork and knife. Yes, I will sometimes cut items up to make them easier to eat, but with chopsticks, I eat in a neater manner.

How about the infamous SPORK? A combination of spoon and fork that cannot do either job very well. I wonder who thought that one up? It won’t hold stuff like a spoon, It won’t pierce things like a fork. Yet fast food places seem to like them.

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Yes, the thing that I want to write about is soda.

There are so many brands of soda these days, that if you cannot find one you like, it is unusual. My favorite is club soda. It has no taste, color, sugar, calories, or caffeine. Of course with all of that lack, it also has no vitamins. With club soda, you have something that is very flexible in its uses.

One thing that I like to do is take my favorite type of drink powder, add it and some packets of sweetener to get a flavor that I like, with out any calories, that is. 2 packets of drink powder, and enough sweetener packets to make it sweet enough for my taste. I have even used cranberry juice concentrate to make fruit punch with other flavors mixed in. I know that some people would like to have alcohol in a punch when they are having a party, club soda lets you be inventive. When something has been spilled on a carpet, sometimes club soda can be used to help bubble it out and clean up the mess. After all wet is much better than stained. Especially if you live in an apartment.

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