Nourishment for your next mission!

4 lbs. fresh tomatoes, peeled and diced
2.5 quarts water
1 small turnip, peeled and diced
2 cups diced onions
1 teaspoon celery salt
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons basil leaves
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 lb. eggplant, peeled and diced
4 cups diced cabbage
1 cauliflower, cut into flowerets
2 12 to 15 oz. cans of sweet corn
2 cups of diced carrots
4 small zucchini, peeled and sliced
2 cups white potatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup parsley flakes

(1) in a large pot, combine tomatoes with water and bring to a boil. Add turnip, onion, celery salt, bay leaves, salt, HALF of the basil leaves, garlic, sugar and pepper. Cover. Cook one hour.

(2) add remaining vegetables and cook for another hour.

(3) add remaining basil leaves and parsley flakes

(4) serve with long loaves of freshly-baked french bread, broken into chunks.

Makes 12 servings!




Tags: seal team, navy seals



Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and Dave Lucas are properly cited. Permission to reprint any comments below is granted only for those comments written by Dave Lucas and staff.

Navy Seals Soup

LOOKING TO MAKE A GREAT DINNER THIS WEEKEND? GET OUT YOUR SHOPPING LIST AND ADD ANY NEEDED INGREDIENTS! SORRY, THE ROAST TASTED SO GOOD NOBODY THOUGHT TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE FINISHED DISH! LOL!

Cook's says: "There was a time when a Sunday roast and a family gathering was a weekly event. Depending upon what part of the country you lived in, it was either a prime rib or a big cut of pork. A beef roast is pretty easy to cook; a pork roast, however, is not. All the fat has been bred out of commercial pork and the lean meat quickly dries out in the oven. Is there a particular cut that doesn’t dry out? Are there any tricks to keeping it roast pork moist and flavorful?"

Test Kitchen Discoveries

* Skip lean loins and use deep-flavored, amply marbled, and very inexpensive pork shoulder or Boston butt. The fat renders as the meat roasts and keeps it moist.

* For a classic roast pork spice rub, blend garlic, pepper, rosemary, sage, and fennel seed.

* Cook the roast in a low (300-degree) oven for a whopping 7 hours. The combination of long cooking time and low heat renders the fat and softens the tough connective tissue.

* The roast won’t slice neatly fresh from the oven, so it must be refrigerated overnight until firm, after which neat, clean slices are perfectly possible. Dress the slices with a sauce prepared from the drippings mixed with a little apple cider and jelly and heat in the oven.

STOP! Before you continue ::: this is a 2-day cooking process. I recommend preparing your roast the way I did, starting on Saturday and finishing up on Sunday. It was easy to plan cooking around the other events / activities scheduled for my weekend!

Before I send you off to check out the recipe, here's how to make it easier on yourself:

(1) The roast I bought (for a mere $3.78 at Hannaford) was a little over 3.75 pounds, and it was already tied with twine, right in the package! That's the way to go - who has twine around the house anyway, right? Use the same cooking time for a larger roast. It doesn't hurt a bit!

(2) Instead of all the spices involved in the inigtial preparation steps, I remembered having a small jar of McCormick's Turkey rub. I used it a couple of Thanksgivings ago and it was NOT a hit, at least not on the bird! HOWEVER, the ingredients contain the spices called for in the Cook's recipe! All I added to the rub was garlic powder!

(3) After about 5 of the 7 hours had elapsed, I checked the meat to find it had BARELY rendered any 'drippings,' so I added 1/2 cup apple cider by pouring it over the roast. When it was time to take it out of the oven, once again there were barely any renderings, so when I placed the meat in the galss baking dish to refrigerate overnight, I again added apple cider to the container of renderings. ALSO: the meat seemed very dry, and I did pierce it with a fork while transferring from pan to baking dish and it struck me as perhaps being more tough than tender.

(4) SKIP the vinegar entirely! Use Apple Cider or a little Cola or Ginger Ale!

Here, step-by-step, is how to make this succulent dish, fully illustrated!
Thanks, Butteryum Blog!

Tags: Old-Fashioned Roast Pork, Cook's Country Roast Pork

Cook's Country version ::: Old-Fashioned Roast Pork!

Here's a really easy and inexpensive dinner you can put together for about USD$5! Perfect for a couple expecting a single guest or for a one-child family. This is something that's going to sit in the oven for awhile, so it's good if you have other things to do around the house or in the backyard.

Digressing ::: Sometimes it seems I am busier and have much more work to do when I'm home than when at work! That's what this weekend seems like, although I am putting this post together around 0800 Sunday morning, I've accomplished so much in the last 24 hours that I'm carrying that "good feeling" --- you know, the feeling you have when you've gotten a lot of things done and find yourself "ahead of schedule." I've been up since 0400 and still have a few items left on my weekend "to-do" list. I just made some fresh banana muffins and coffee for myself and a few friends who are stopping by before religious services. As always, you are welcome here along with your comments and suggestions! I hope you enjoy this little recipe!

You will need:

1 lb. of boneless ribs (beef or pork, as per your preference) [I paid just $1.99 for the package of meat I used inputting this meal together.]

2 cups of any brand cola

1 of each ::: [I always keep, in the bottom of the fridge, bottles of ketchup and BBQ sauce that have just enough left in the bottom that makes it hard to get the stuff to come out] ::: A bottle of nearly empty ketchup and a bottle nearly empty of barbecue sauce

1 medium sized onion

1 regular-size can of beans OR sauerkraut OR peeled tomatoes

..........

(1) MARINATE the meat in 2 cups of cola for 90 minutes
(2) finely slice that onion while the meat is marinating
...after 90 minutes... turn the oven on to pre-heat (350 degrees)
(3) drain off and discard the cola [I used the same Pyrex dish to marinate and then bake in]
(4) layer the sliced onion on the bottom of the dish
(5) salt both sides of the meat, then place it atop the onion bed - place the remaining onion slices and pieces on top the individual cuts of meat.
(6) take 1 cup warm or hot water, pour it in the BBBQ sauce bottle, shake well, then pour that mixture into the ketchup bottle. Shake well.

Pour the mixture over the meat and into the pan.

Now, add 1 cup or more of fresh cola. You want the liquid to be at the same level but not covering the top of the pieces of meat.
(7) tightly cover the baking dish with foil
(8) Bake at 350 degrees F
...after baking for about 90 minutes...
(9) Lift the foil off, spoon the contents of the can of beans or whatever around the SIDES of the meat. It's okay to add a little more cola or tomato juice if the liquid level is low---it shouldn't be. Place the foil back on the dish.
(10) continue cooking for 30 additional minutes.

This is great with rice or noodles. You may also serve a can of peas or corn as a side dish.
We had an inexpensive bottle of wine in the rack, so we served that with the meal. I know, it's not the greatest picture of the finished product- truth is- I forgot to take a picture of the serving dish or even a plate, so this illustration represents the leftovers, which were immediately covered with plastic cling wrap and can be / will be re-heated in the microwave for lunch later in the week!

I cooked this Saturday afternoon. You don't have to watch it too closely, so I was able to multi-task away. I followed it up when it was done with one of those freezer-to-oven Dutch Apple pies, which became our dessert!

Tags: frugal cooking, frugal dining

Dinner for three - $5!

Shoko Tan isn't the only one with a taste for kittycats: Police in Buffalo picked a guy up who was transporting a cat in the process of being marinated. Read only if you're not squeamish!

Digging into the history of Spanish cookbooks, you’ll find a famous — and oft-quoted — recipe for roast cat in Ruperto de Nola’s* fifteenth-century opus: Libro de cocina compuesto por maestre Ruberto de Nola cocinero que fue del sereníssimo señor Rey don Hernando de Nápoles …,** thankfully also known as El Llibre del Coch for short, a much more manageable mouthful. (The link leads to the 1580 version.)

The recipe goes like this:

Fluffy Friday, NOT!