Both UT and ACC have reported students who are infected with coronavirus. Neither cancelled classes. Kid 1 goes to UT. Kid 2 goes to ACC. I get to doomsday prep.
For two years I have resisted purchasing a second freezer. For two years I have only bought enough frozen groceries for a week at a time. Well, not more. With the possible quarantine looming, I have fallen off the wagon. I asked Gordon to buy me a 7 cubic foot stand up freezer. For a grand total of $250, I now have a magic cold box that stores my meat in the garage. And I have filled it!
Que demonic laughter: Muhahahahaha!
Okay, so I didn’t fill it all the way, but there are meats in there.
With that in mind, I wanted to share a simple recipe with you. This is one of the easiest recipes to make, and it’s my officially designated cook-when-sick recipe. To be assigned this designation, a recipe must meet strict criteria.
- It must be simple to prepare. Best if it involved throwing all the ingredients into a pot and turning the heat on.
- It must not include any easily perishable ingredients like fresh mushrooms or avocados. Pantry ingredients are best.
- It must make decent leftovers, because nobody wants to continuously cook.
Slow-Cooker Carnitas.
Christian Geischeder
- 1- 1 1/2 lbs pork carnita meat. It’s usually just chunks of pork shoulder roast.
- 1 tsp garlic powder or three large cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp Rustic Italian herbs or 1 /2 tsp dry oregano, 1/2 tsp dried basil. You can fiddle around with this, but basically you want dry aromatic herbs
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp of cinnamon. Go easy on the cinnamon, a little goes a long way when it comes to pairing it with meat.
- 1 tsp salt
- If you want your carnitas a bit spicier, you can toss 1/2 tsp of chill powder in there or not
- 2-3 bay leaves
- 2 cups chicken broth or water
Put the bay leaves on the bottom of the slow cooker. In a large bowl combine all of the spices and mix them together. Add pork and mix until the meat is thoroughly coated. Transfer meat to a slow cooker. Pour water into the bowl to get whatever spices are left and carefully pour it around the sides of the meat in the slow cooker, taking care not to rinse the spices off the pork. Cover.
Now you have options. Some people cook it on low for about 5 hours, flip the meat over, and cook it for another 5. I don’t have that kind of patience. I cook it on high for about 2-3 hours, then flip it over, and then cook for about 3 hours more. If you don’t want to mess with it at all, you need to chop pork into smaller pieces and make sure that water just barely covers it. It smells awesome while it cooks.
Once the meat is down, shred it with a fork, pick out and discard the tough bits, and add a little bit of liquid to keep it nice and moist.
You can serve the meat in soft tacos. You can serve it by itself with a baked potato. If you want it to go an extra mile, add some BBQ sauce and serve it on a bun. I’ve also shredded it, added BBQ sauce, and popped into the oven for about 20 minutes at 375 to get the sauce cooked a bit more with the meat.
Please feel free to share your own cook-when-sick recipes in the comments. If we are all stuck at home, at least we can have yummy food.
You need a Joule (sous vide ) to do the job.
Awesome! Thank you
Put boneless skinless chicken breasts in crockpot. Sprinkle on packaged fajita seasoning mix, if desired and if already in the pantry. Pour over chicken two jars of prepared salsa – I like one of these to be a black bean- corn salsa. Cook in crockpot. I think I usually do high heat for four hours – whatever my crockpots default setting is. Near the end of the cook time, shred meat and stir and let it finish cooking. Serve with lettuce, cheese, sour cream (your favorite taco-type fixings) on tortillas, chips, or lettuce wraps. Chicken can start frozen or thawed. It smells good while cooking and reheats well.
(This was a favorite of my daughter and her roommate while they were in Med school.)
The leftovers from this are great to add to your favorite tortilla soup recipe. They also freeze well.
This sounds really nice – and very easy. I’ll give it a go – seeing as I’m ill and on a 7 day self-isolation (I’m certain I just have a cold, but that’s the government guideline here in the UK at the moment so they can prioritise testing).
This is similar. You can also use it for the base of a chili recipe.
Crock pot Beef brisket
Original crock pot recipe book
4-5 pound brisket
Powdered garlic and onion
1/4 cup liquid smoke, hickory
1/4 cup A-1 sauce
1/4 cup Heinz 57
1/4 cup red wine
Place a large sheet of aluminum foil in crock pot.
Place brisket in it and sprinkle with spices.
Mix liquids together and gentle pour around roast.
Securely roll foil down.
Cook for 8 hours.
Serve in slices or pull it apart.
Like I said, it’s also a great base for a rocking chili!
I cook it the night before and then cut it up and add chili ingredients.
You can freeze some vegetables too, the vitamins are important 🙂 We are stocking too, not executively, but for a week or two, we are trying to quarantine ourselves preemptively not to spread it too quickly, so stay home and stay healthy. Pray for Europe. Hope it goes away soon.
I live is coastal Virginia so I had already started collecting hurricane supplies so I’m a little ahead of the curve already. Ironically, this is the weekend I planned to get some toilet paper. ????
Ahaha, so funny, sorry, couldn’t stop from laughing, we buy it at big numbers, and already had a lot, so for now all set. I wonder why people buy so much flower thou, it is not like a lot of people bake or use it. Maybe they are meaning to learn how.
Shredding, all this meat shredding. For years I used forks to shred meat. Works, but I would often get cramps in my hands, especially shredding chicken breast meat. A colleague told me recently that she uses her hands to shred the meat, which works great, but not if the meat is hot. I did some research and found bear paw shredding claws. THEY ARE AMAZING. Love them. <$15 on amazon.
Your Kitchenaid mixer does an amazing job of shredding chicken. Just pop the cooked chicken in the bowl with the standard mixing paddle on low.
I laughed when a colleague told me this. Then tried it. Mind blown.
I have them! They are awesome 🙂
Love those things!
Thanks for the recipe!! Spunds delicious! And don’t worry about your doughters too much (i know easier said than done). They will survive a potential corona infection with a 99.99% probability (according to current statistics).
LOW EFFORT VEGGIE CHILI
(Everything should be low or no salt, if possible). If not, omit the salt from the spices. Also, it’s pretty spicy. Omit any hot spices you don’t like)
Ingredients:
1 onion, peeled and diced (any type you like)
2 cans Rotel
14 oz can of crushed tomato
2 cans black beans
1 can dark or light red beans
1 can corn
1 canned adobe pepper in sauce, chopped
1 bell pepper, diced. (Green, red, yellow, it doesn’t matter)
1 cup uncooked quinoa or rice or farro or {cooked} fake hamburger) again, whatever you like. If using impossible or beyond burger, lightly brown them first.
2-3 C veggie broth or water
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 tsp Cayenne or red chili flakes (optional)
Instructions:
Dump everything into a crockpot and stir it to mix well. Add more broth or a bottle of beer if it’s too dry. Cook on low for 5-7 hours (high for 3-4).
This is my interpretation of a recipe from gimmesomeoven.com (Yes, I like mine better LOL, but check her out, she has good stuff).
This can become tacos, or burritos, or nachos, or dress up any sort of potato, or just chili with fixins. Lasts 3 days in the fridge. A month in the freezer.
Your Kitchenaid mixer does an amazing job of shredding chicken. Just pop the cooked chicken in the bowl with the standard mixing paddle on low.
I laughed when a colleague told me this. Then tried it. Mind blown.
If I’m sick enough, I send the man for takeout. However, with St. Patrick’s Day coming up, here’s what I’ll do with the slow cooker (not the first time):
layer of carrot pieces on the bottom
corned beef brisket on top of the carrots
cut up potatoes around the sides of the brisket
sliced cabbage over top of the brisket to level with top of the pot – it will cook down
cup of water over the whole thing – including spice packet if there is one; your favorite spice mix if not
Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours. Alternatively, you can start with an hour on high and reduce heat to low for 4-6 more hours, which works really well.
This is sometimes called New England boiled dinner, and is prime comfort food.
Oh man, That brings back memories. My Dad made just this on Sundays once in a while. I loved it. And haven’t thought of it in years until you printed this. Excellent. Thank you.
Thank you all for the recipes.
On another note, “Both UT and ACC have reported students who are infected with coronavirus. Neither cancelled classes” DOES NOT sound responsible. What happened to ‘flattening the curve,’ people?
My daughter attends IU Bloomington. Spring Break starts tonight, and then all classes are remote-only for at least the first two weeks following, and the last report I saw had zero cases on campus. (Two students studying overseas reported presumptive-positive tests, but they did not return to campus; best wishes to all.) My thanks go to IU administration for taking this issue and their students’ health seriously.
3 chicken breasts & 1 jar salsa verde in crock pot for 4 -5 hours on low.
Tacos or nachos – shred, perfect straight out of the crock, you know what to add
Soup – add chicken stock and leftover veggies, maybe noodles
Stew – add less chicken stock, veggies, and lots of rice
White chili – add chicken stock, white beans, potatoes, your fave chili spices
BTW – loved your Coming to America story!
Montana doesn’t have any cases yet, but the paranoia is rampant. coworkers have calmed down since yesterday when they were concerned for TP and Milk. we are used to stocking up because of Snow storms etc, so all I could come up with to buy another jar of peanut butter, oatmeal and cream cheese. oh and of course CHOCOLATE!! Have lots to read and reread, March is a good month, Patricia Briggs, Shelly Laurenston, Linda Howard, Jennifer Estep ALL have books coming out this month!! Woo Hoo! and thanks for the recipes.
I hope Gordon bough a NON frost free freezer. If you are going to store food in a freezer, a frost free freezer allows the temp to get over freezing, sucks the air out and then drops the temp again. This is what causes freezer burn, dry meat, all those ice crystals in bags.
A non frost free chest freezer is better, uses less electricity and they come in a variety of sizes. Add a couple milk crates and sorting isn’t too bad either. I have a large chest freezer in my garage and a stand alone upright in my kitchen but then I live in the country and when I go beef shopping I buy either a half or whole cow. For pork, always a whole pig.
Much cheaper and better.
Please take care of yourselves, you guys are my favorite authors.
We have a similar recipe: 3-4 chicken breasts, 4 cans rotel, cook all day on low. Shred/chop chicken. About 30 minutes before serving, add 1 can corn and 1 can black beans (or ranch style beans). Eat with baked potatoes, pasta, or as taco salad. Or add broth to make chicken soup. Or add cheese to make cheesy spaghetti.
I recommend pasta e ceci, so a soupy pasta and chickpea mix. Easily scalable, can be made from pantry ingredients and is, in my view, tasty. And lasts a few days!
https://smittenkitchen.com/2017/10/quick-pasta-and-chickpeas-pasta-e-ceci/
This is my go to because it’s embarrassingly easy. Put chicken in slow cooker. Pour in spaghetti sauce. Cook for a few hours. I use Bertolli Organic. Perfect sick recipe. Serve with rice. If you’re not sick, it’s easy to make the sauce from scratch and let it cool with the chicken. You can add fresh or canned mushrooms.
I have a very similar recipe but it’s even simpler only because it has less ingredients. It consists of the pork and lots of garlic cloves along with lime juice and cilantro and a bit of sea salt and olive oil but not a lot of olive oil. It has to cook on a low heat for a really long time in the oven or crockpot, until it falls apart and it’s very fragrant and flavorful. This can be used as taco meat or it can be used as a base for a BBQ meat for sandwiches. It can be eaten just as it is in salads or with a baked potato or rice. It’s a great base meat for Caribbean recipes.
UT grad student TA here. UT has extended spring break by one week so that faculty and staff can get everything ready to go online. What this means to me is that once all professors are ready/ have found ways to facilitate getting their materials online or making it possible to get their stuff done online in some way that they will move to online only.
We have a week after spring break so basically 2 weeks to get this done.
Personally I willbe working via conference calls or Skype with my fellow TAs to get our lab materials ready for online submissions with accompanying podcast style directions to accompany the power points.
UT closed today for everyone but emergency personnel. This tells me its disinfect time. I also heard from a friend that there are barriers in front of several buildings.
Dont worry UT will shut it down and started to do so today!
My go to recipes really consist of chicken soup or other soups I can make then freeze and have at my leisure! Even though freezer space is limited.
It’s good to read these ideas. A favourite of ours is a classic British dish. Put ground beef (aka mince) Into the slow cooker and toss through some flour, salt and pepper and whatever herbs you want (I usually use mixed herbs and/or rosemary) to lightly coat the ground beef/mince. This will thicken the gravy as it cooks without being lumpy. Add potatoe , chopped onion, veg of your choice (eg carrots, sprouts, leek.-whatever), beef stock and optionally a dash of red wine and Worcestershire sauce. Put it to cook (I use the auto setting on my crockpot), and it is a complete meal ready to go. I don’t necessarily even peel the potatoes – sometimes I just give them a scrub, chop them into sections (like for boiled or roast potatoes). It’s a great comfort food, and very easy.
And slides down easily when you have a sore throat!
Easy food from freezer/pantry. Large pot of salted water add pasta portions for however many you are feeding. Frozen prawns/pack of smoked salmon/ tin of salmon/ smoked haddock (never tried it with tuna) but it might work – heave pack into sink of hot water and rinse to get rid of the salty water. When the pasta still has bones in the middle chuck half a cup of frozen peas/petit pois in on top and bring back to boil. When the pasta is done drain in large colander. Put the pan back on the heat with a couple of table spoons of the pasta cooking water. Count people again, and for each of them add quarter of a pack of cream cheese or a couple of table spoons double (heavy) cream or some of each and half a teaspoon of pesto. Add pepper to taste, half a teaspoon of hot English mustard and a heaped table spoon of grated hard cheese per person. Parmesan is best but any will do. Throw in the fish and bring to the boil, and then heave the pasta and peas back in. Stir and let it simmer for about 2 minutes. Serve in bowls. Note, it is very filling.
My other tip is bulk buy mince of whatever variety you like, I use turkey thigh or pork. Brown in a hot pan with onions, garlic, salt and pepper. Add a large dollop of cooking sherry and cook till done. Freeze in convenient portions. Add what ever you like to turn it into chilli, lasagne, mince and tatties, spag bol, cottage pie or whatever.
I am now going to cook supper – a sort of multi veg frittata with a bit of shredded cooked ham. It is tasty and will keep in the fridge for two or three days so leftovers can be eaten hot or cold.
Pasta with cream cheese, lemon and smoked salmon is one of our favourites too. Seriously easy and tasty.
Baked Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
• 1 tbsp Butter
• 1/8 cup Flour
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth
• 2 cups cooked chicken shredded (can use Rotisserie if available)
• ½ tsp Salt, to taste
• ½ tsp Pepper, to taste
• 1/8 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 Dry Italian Seasoning Packet (0.6 oz)
• 1 cup Milk
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 cups long grain rice – cooked
• Fresh parsley – optional
Directions:
• In large pot, melt the butter
• Mix in flour until smooth
• Slowly pour in chicken broth, whisking until no lumps remain
• Add chicken, seasonings and Italian salad dressing mix and bring to a boil
• Reduce heat and simmer for 12 minutes
• Add milk, lemon juice and parsley if desired
• Reduce heat to low, add the cooked rice
• Cover and simmer until rice is warmed through.
Fantastic flavor as specified! I don’t have to add anything else to it, just what the recipe calls for.
I am a fan of Ilona Andrews and a Professor at ACC and would like to clear up some misinformation. Yesterday, ACC announced that classes would be moving completely online after spring break. Everything closed down this morning for spring break. ACC announced, “At this time, there are no known reports of COVID-19 cases associated with ACC.”
Here’s one we’ve enjoyed:
Balsamic Roast Beef Recipe https://addapinch.com/balsamic-roast-beef-recipe/#easyrecipe-4453-0
Author: Robyn Stone | Add a Pinch Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
1 (3-4 pound) boneless roast beef (chuck or round roast)
1 cup beef broth
½ cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Instructions
Place roast beef into the insert of your slow cooker. In a 2-cup measuring cup, mix together all remaining ingredients. Pour over roast beef and set the timer for your slow cooker. (4 hours on High or 6-8 hours on Low)
Once roast beef has cooked, remove from slow cooker with tongs into a serving dish. Break apart lightly with two forks and then ladle about ¼ – ½ cup of gravy over roast beef.
Store remaining gravy in an airtight container in the refrigerator for another use.
Notes
If you prefer a more pronounced flavor, once the roast beef has been removed, use a fat separator on the gravy and then pour the gravy into a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until the gravy has reduced by half.
BEST POST EVER! So many great ideas! 🙂
A tack on for your carnitas – Pozole from carnitas leftover
Recipe:
1-2 cups of carnitas meat
1 48oz bottle of tomato juice, V8 juice or spicy V8
2-4 cloves of garlic minced
1 onion chopped but on small size
2-3 potatoes chopped on small size (recommend red potatoes or Yukon gold)
1 small can of corn drained or 1/2 cup of frozen corn
1 can of hominy (white or yellow) drain and rinse
1-3 tsp of chilis ground (best is whole guallijo minus seeds ground in a spice grinder, next would be ground ancho chilis, third would be plian chili power)
1/2 tsp Mexican oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
combine and place in a crock for 2-4- hours or bring to a boil and them simmer on a stove for 2 hours. If you do a stove top version you can sweat onions and garlic before adding the other ingredients.
Enjoy…..
This Quick and Easy Chili is stupidly easy but really good.
1 lb. ground beef, turkey or chicken
1 chopped onion
1-28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1-15 oz. can of black beans
1-15 oz. can of white (navy or cannelloni) beans
1-15 oz. can of corn (NOT creamed)
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 packet taco mix
Or if you don’t have packets, just use some chili powder, cumin, ground cloves and smoked paprika, which is what I usually do.
Brown ground meat with the chopped onion. Once browned, stir in the spices/packet mixes and cook for about 1 minute. Add canned tomatoes, beans and corn (do not drain). Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes. Add salt to taste and serve with favorite accompaniments.
I’ve been working for 3 weeks straight (days, nights, weekends) trying to get my company ready to send 200,000 people to work from home. I would love anyone to make these meals for my family. I haven’t even had time to read. #exhausted
I bought a pork shoulder too. Someone at Sprouts was smart enough to put them on sale for $1.47 a pound.
I do a very basic cider braise. I sear the pork then I put aromatics (I use onions and anise bulb) in with either a peeled chopped orange or apple in there. I add 22oz of Hard Cider, salt and pepper and 1 bay leaf. And I braise in my large dutch oven for about 3 hours or until it’s fork tender.
The nice thing about this is it doesn’t have any strong seasonings. So it can be used for multiple meals and the seasonings can easily be adjusted based on the meals.
So I can add BBQ sauce for braised ‘pulled pork’ sandwiches. I can add it a tomato sauce for a ragu. I can add it to my borscht. I can add it to canned vegetarian chili for nachos. I can add cumin and some other spices to turn it into carnitas for tacos, burritos or add it to huevos rancheros. I can serve it as is, as braised pork shoulder with some rice or potatoes or polenta.
That way we usually get 2-4 meals out of it. And they don”t all taste the same.
I love our slow cooker. My favorite is ham and beans – I keep smoked ham hocks in the freezer, and bags dry of white beans on the pantry shelf. You soak the white beans overnight, rinse and put in the slower cooker, add the ham hocks and shove to the bottom, fill with chicken broth, can add some water as well, take a bag of baby carrots and shred them in the food processor and throw that in too. If you can’t get out for ham hocks, chop up a package of bacon instead. Cook on high for six hours or more. This is best with corn bread I think, that’s how my Gran always served it. My Dad and husband pour syrup on top as that’s how THEIR Grand served it but I think that is terrible. It’s even better the second day and freezes or cans up great.
Other easy recipes
1. Huevos rancheros; Corn Tortillas, canned refried beans (Trader Joe’s has the best one for this recipe but Amy’s Refried beans with chiles is also good). One fried egg for each tortillas, your favorite bottled or canned salsa ( I like Herdez Salsa Verde or a red ranchero sauce) You can try the tortillas, microwave the beans, put them on the tortillas, top with eggs and add salsa on top.
2. Buccatini pasta with onions and panchetta. Pancetta keeps a long time and so do onions. So while they aren’t pantry ingredients I always have them in the house. I keep browned onions in my freezer. You can make a great onion dip, any type of Persian stew (I’m Persian), make this pasta, or add browned onions to other recipes (they are great in meatloaf or meatballs). It makes this, which is a super easy recipe even easier. If you don’t have them already browned, you just need to chop one medium-large onion and then add it to a hot pan with 4ox of chopped pancetta and brown them both until the onions are golden brown. The pancetta rendering will provide the oil for that. A one cup of chicken broth to it. Add the cooked buccatini and toss with parmesan, grand padano or pecorino (whatever you like). Add salt and pepper to taste and you are done.
This is a dish I make with leftover meat or just vegetarian if I don’t. So this works with cooked Turkey, Chicken, or Pork. You can use frozen pie crust, make your own savory pie crust, or use frozen puff pastry. So start with chop potatoes and carrots and onions (you can omit the potatoes for cauliflour). Saute them until the onions are soft then add the meat, madras curry to taste (you may need to add some water or broth to get this all mixed up well), turmeric and gram masala. I add either raisins or dried cranberries and, if I have them, some frozen peas. Then you put the mixture in the middle of the puff pastry to the pie crust. And bake them. They end up looking like this: https://www.thespruceeats.com/thmb/iKDUoE02WdTnlZ2anKrbfEXhtN8=/960×0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/currypuff-small-589d57363df78c4758e17ee1.jpg These are great as lunches.
I have a very simple soup that I love and is a comfort food…many may turn their nose up at it though…
************
1 can diced tomatoes
1 box macaroni noodles
salt and pepper to taste.
boil noodles until soft do not drain .Add tomatoes. Season to taste.
************
I call it Macaroni and tomatoes because I am that clever….or my grandma was.I am not sure if this is an actual dish or one of those things made from rations on an Indian reservation. It has a very simple pallet which is easier to stomach with a queasy tummy. My aunt would add ground beef to it as an option. I don’t care for the addition though.
Have finally worked out that Rotel are flavoured tomatoes. My first search told me they were high end audio equipment made in Japan. 🙂 Good to share food ideas from round the world in difficult times. Has given me things to try, so thank you.
A very forgiving, flexible crock pot spaghetti recipe (Originally from Better Homes and Gardens Crockery Cookbook, 1994). With lots of cooking notes (You should see the original cook book page )
Zesty Herbed Mushroom-Tomato Sauce
*If you want a heartier main dish, add 1 pound of browned ground beef or mild Italian sausage. Brown the meat with the garlic for extra flavor boost.
2 – 28oz cans of diced tomatoes
Mushrooms ( Fresh, canned or jars are fine. 8oz fresh, diced, or pour in 2 cans of 4oz mushrooms, drained)
2 – 6oz cans of tomato paste (A tube of the tomato concentrate will also work)
Large onion, diced (I haven’t tried frozen diced onions yet. I picked up a bag to try in case of quarantine)
2 bell peppers, diced (I’ve been looking for a bag of frozen bell peppers. So far they all have additional ingredients to go with the peppers)
2 cloves of garlic, minced (Minced garlic in a jar is what we use. If using dried garlic powder, use one half tsp)
2 tbsps grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for topping your spaghetti (Any hard Italian cheese is fine. Blocks of hard cheeses also freeze well)
2 tsps dried oregano
2 tsps brown sugar
1 and a half tsps dried basil
one half tsp salt (optional) We usually use sausage in this and don’t need the salt. If using ground beef or vegetarian, you may find you need salt.
one half tsp fennel seed, crushed or ground (optional)
one quarter to one half tsp crushed red pepper flakes
one or two bay leaves
one pound of your favorite pasta, cooked and drained
Put everything in a crock pot (A larger oval crock pot is recommended. This makes a lot. This recipe is relatively easy to halve if you don’t want to eat spaghetti for several days): undrained tomatoes (you want the tomato juice for this recipe), mushrooms (drained if canned or jar), tomato paste, onion, peppers, garlic, cheese, herbs, spices, sugar. Meat, salt and fennel if using.
Cover. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. High for 4 to 5 hours.
Discard bay leaf/leaves. Serve over pasta and cheese.
Crockpot French Dip (takes about 5 minutes to assemble)
2 to 3 lb chuck roast (buy on sale and store in freezer)
1 sprig rosemary (or 1 tsp dried)
1 sprig thyme (or 1 tsp dried)
5 to 6 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup soy (NOTE below)
1 1/2 cup water
Place meat in crock pot. You can either dump the spices in loose (and strain later out of the au jus) or put in a cheesecloth sachet (cut a piece and tie with cooking twine) or use a tea or spice infuser (my preferred method). Pour in the soy and water. If liquid does not cover the meat add more in about the same ratio (1:3). Cook until tender (depending on your timing this could be high for 3 hours or low for 8). Pull meat out. Use your potato masher to “shred”. Serve with au jus and good dinner rolls. Good for a crowd, good for leftovers.
Hi
I live in Romania and here all the schools are closed for at least 2 weeks.
A recepie that we all love:
500 gr pene rigate ( pasta)
400 gr sour cream
1 garlic ( the whole garlic)
300 gr Praga ham ( here that is what is called, I have no ideea how it is called there)
300 gr mushroms champignon
You boil the pasta for 10 minutes,
In a big pan you put some oil and the smashed garlic and the mushroms and leave it for a few minutes stirring from time to time. Them add the ham and stie again until everything is done, at last you add the sour cream and boil it for a minute all together. Season it with salt and pepper and then mix it with the pasta.
Bon apetit ????
Freezers run more efficiently when full.
CDC recommends having 1 gal/person/day of water on hand.
Gallon jugs of water are convenient ways to fill empty freezer space.
This “Cheesy Egg Muffins” recipe is my favorite. You can double the recipe and make 24. You can add diced ham, crumbled cooked bacon, any kind of cheese, cooked crumbled sausage meat, the combinations are endless. After freezing, you take 2 out, place on microwave safe plate (I top with cheddar cheese) and heat in microwave on high for 1min 25sec. Let cool and eat. Yummy!!
Cheesy Egg Muffins
1 dozen eggs
1/2 tsp sea salt
nonstick cooking spray for pans
1 cup frozen or frsh spinach
1 heaping cup thin sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup thin sliced green onion
1 1/2-2 cups shredded cheese(cheddar or parmesan)
Preheat oven to 350. Crack eggs large measuring cup or pourable bowl. Whisk eggs and salt.
Grease a 12 cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Divide spinach, mushrooms, green onion and cheese between each muffin cup, then carefully pour eggs over tops until tins are almost full leaving 1/4 in space.
Bake 20-25 min or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean. The egg muffins will look like souffle at first but will sink after a few minutes. Let them rest in muffin pan for a few minutes. Use a rubber spatula to carefully remove each one.
Serve immediately or let cool and transfer to resealable bag. Refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for a month.
Spicy Dr Pepper Pork is one of our favorites from the Pioneer Woman. (It’s easily found in an online search.) I revised it slightly to suit me.
2 large onions, peeled and quartered
1 whole pork butt (pork shoulder roast) 5-7 lbs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
One 11-ounce can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
24 oz Dr Pepper (so, two 12 Oz cans)
6 packed tablespoons brown sugar
Preheat your oven to 325 F
Get out your Dutch oven (covered oven safe pot). Place onion quarters in the bottom of the pot.
Salt & pepper all sides of the pork (I use food prep gloves to help keep my hands clean). Put the pork (fat side up!) on top of the onions in the pot. Pour the can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce over the pork. Sprinkle the brown sugar over top of it all then pour the Dr Pepper over that to dissolve & distribute the sugar.
Cover the pot, put in the oven and cook for *at least* 5 hours (depending on the size of your pork), flipping the roast 2 times during the cooking process.
You’ll know it’s done when the pork is easy to shred. If it’s not like warm butter when you poke a fork in it, it’s not done yet so put it back in the oven. When it’s done, shred it completely. I’m lazy, so I (carefully) shred it in the pot. Otherwise, you can take it out of the pot, shred it, then put it back in the pot with the yummy spicy liquid.
I often make it then make tacos using plenty of cilantro, sour cream, avocados, Mexican style cheese, slaw mix (quick & easy way to toss some veggies in), and jalapeños. I have also served it over rice (even cauliflower rice) or potatoes (sweet or baked) or even salad. It freezes well so it’s perfect for doomsday prep. ????
Another of our new favorites (if you can eat corn) is a deconstructed Mexican style corn (originally from Chris Santos on Food Network, but again, I changed it a bit.)
Deconstructed Spicy Mexican Style Corn
Chipotle Salt:
3 tablespoons chipotle powder
1.5 tablespoons kosher salt
Corn:
19 Oz Birds Eye SteamFresh Family Size Super Sweet Corn (frozen)
1/2 yellow onion, minced
1 tablespoon Avocado oil (you can also use vegetable oil)
1 package of Queso Fresco (can use Cotija instead if you prefer)
3/4 cup of your favorite Mayo (I use Hellman’s)
4 tablespoons cilantro, roughly chopped
Zest of 2 limes
Combine the chipotle powder & salt in a small container. Store it in an airtight container.
Toss the corn in the microwave (Seam side up!) and cook for 5 minutes.
While the corn is in the microwave, crumble or finely chop the Queso Fresco. Put aside.
Heat the oil in a large skillet (I used a 12 inch skillet with high sides) over medium to medium high heat.
Sauté the onions until translucent, about 5 minutes.
Open the bag of corn & add to the pan with onions. Stir occasionally for about 3-5 minutes.
Season the corn & onion mixture with about a tablespoon of chipotle salt (obviously, use less if you prefer it to be less spicy).
Add about half the cheese and stir it in, allowing it to melt. Add mayo, cilantro, and lime zest. Combine well.
Add most of the remaining cheese, leaving a small amount aside to sprinkle later if desired. Stir occasionally until the cheese is well incorporated or mostly melted.
Taste test (carefully! It’s hot) and add more chipotle salt if desired. Squeeze some lime juice over it if desired.
I served it with shrimp tacos on Friday. My husband said the Deconstructed Mexican Style Corn eats like a meal all on its own. ????
Quiche Lorraine
Mix 150g flour with 50g water and 75g butter to form a dough
Flatten dough in pan for the oven
4eggs, 50g milk, 100g creme fraiche
Mix
Put 200g bacon Bits on top of dough
Pour mixture on top
Sprinkle cheese on top
Into oven, 180 degrees celsius, 25 min
Delicious!
Thanks – I have been wanting to make this.
Wow! Amazing delicious and I don’t even know the words to describe the awesomeness of your recipe Ilona! I made your pork today and it was amazing!! Thank you
I lived in the basement of my dorm. In the last year I lived on campus we had so many students they turned the broom closets into single student dorm rooms! Us basement dwellers LOVED it! They no longer used the kitchen area so the students in the basement where it was located were allowed to us the kitchens for their private cooking! We got together and made our favorite comfort foods for us underground dwellers! 🙂
Favorite Hamburger Mac Casserole-
1.25 pound ground chuck
1 med onion, finely chopped
1/2 med yellow pepper finely diced
1/3 box seashell macaroni, prepared al dente in well salted water
1- 10 3/4oz can Campbells tomato soup
garlic salt to taste
Oregano to taste
Worsheshire to taste
2 cups or more Kraft or Sargento Mozarella cheese- finely grated (to top)
In my trusty electric fry pan I fry hamburger, onion and yellow pepper together till burger is browned and onion transparent. Add soup, spices and precooked shells and allow to heat together. Pour into 9X13 casserole pan and top with cheese. Place in 350 degree oven just until cheese is melted. Serve with garlic bread and spinach salad-or just pig out on it alone!
Hamburger with Shells-
1.25 pounds ground chuck
1 medium sweet onion finely chopped
1/2 large yellow pepper, diced
1-10.34 oz can Campbells tomato soup
1 tbsp. garlic salt
1/2 tbsp. oregano
Worchestersire sauce to taste
1/3 box shell macaroni, cooked al dente
2 cups or more finely grated Sargento or Kraft Mozrella cheese
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
In my trusty electric fry pan I crumble the burger and add the onions and peppers and fry until meat is brown and onion transparent. Mix in tomato soup and add seasonings and cooked shells. Mix together and heat casserole. Pour into 9X13 pan sprayed with olive oil spray and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake in 350 degree oven just until cheese melted. Serve with broccoli or salad and lots of garlic bread! YUM!
Linguini with Red Clam Sauce
1 – can baby clams with juice
1 – 3 oz. can tomato sauce
1 – 3 oz can mushrooms, drained (optional)
1 tsp white pepper
1 1/2 T. parsley (dry or fresh)
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 – 16 oz package linguini
4 tsp. minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
olive oil
Cook linguini according to pasta directions, when you start the water to boil, in a small saucepan (1 1/2 quart size) cover the bottom with olive oil and add the minced garlic, at low heat, around 3 on an electric stovetop. Brown the garlic, once browned add in all other ingredients, except linguini. Keep on low heat and let cook itself. Drain the cooked pasta and serve with the sauce.
Well, not sure how this will go over, but you asked for easy and this definitely is…lol! One of my family’s favorite cook-when-sick meals is chicken tortilla soup and it’s really easy – you just open a few cans! Best part is that it can be changed up depending on your preferences/dietary requirements.
The basic “recipe” calls for a can each of chunk chicken, beans, chicken soup, diced tomatoes&chilis (like Rotel’s), and chicken broth. Mix without draining juices in a large pot and simmer for about 30 minutes and it’s done. It’s best served with tortilla chips and grated cheese but can be eaten “as is”. It’s even better the next day after chilling overnight in the fridge. For a really large pot double up on the cans.
And it’s so customizable – add your desired heat in the tomatoes and chilis, go with chicken noodle or chicken rice or chicken vegetable soup, pinto or black beans, add in a can of hominy, use pepperjack instead of cheddar cheese, add some seasoning, go with low sodium varients, etc.
Or if you like beef you can make it with hamburger meat (cook before adding cans) and add minestrone soup instead of chicken soup and use beef broth. My father does this version when he’s out deer hunting – start it in a crockpot in the morning and it’s ready by lunch. It’s also a great way to clear out your pantry a bit.
It more a quick comfort food snack than a one pot meal but I love this Granny Smith Apple Dipping Sauce.
Warmed cream cheese (15 -30 secs in microwave)
Brown sugar to taste &
Granny Smith apples to dip.
I sent my husband to buy some pork shoulder to make your recipe and he came back with a 9 pound package of meat! He says it was because all of the smaller packages were gone but I think he just wants more tacos.
Yesterday, March 16, I enjoyed my last eat-in breakfast at a local diner. While there, a neighbor asked me ‘What can I make for dinner tonight?’
Enthusiasticly, I brought him to this blog. A huge smile lit his face.
Thank you, Ilona, for cultivating a warm, safe, informative, and caring international community. We have physical distancing, but not social. Thank you, BDH, for your neighborly comments, which I really enjoy.
Basic plain old chicken soup. I just cut whatever raw chicken meat I have into easy bite size bits. Usually I have between one and two cups cut up of chicken. Saute or brown it lightly in a little olive oil..If you have leftover cooked chicken , forget cooking again, chop it up, and toss it in the pot. Add about 4 coups chicken broth, homemade or not. Juice from half a lemon, a smashed good sized clove of garlic and a handful of bruised, not chopped parsley. Bring it to a boil and add broken pasta like fettucine or whatever you have on hand. I usually fish out the parsley before serving as my family is deeply suspicious of “little green bits.” Go figure. Fast, easy to eat and digest, Good luck and bon appetit. If I really feel crummy toast goes well with it.
This has become known as “That Onion-Spaghetti Stuff” and my picky crew asks for it at least every other week. Warning: the aroma lingers, but worth it! 🙂
1/4 C olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, thinly sliced
5-6 large cloves garlic
coarse black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/8-1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, depending on the palate of the diners
1/2 cup Marsala wine
Saute the onions in the olive oil; as they begin to soften and turn translucent, add the seasonings and garlic. Allow them to carmelize a bit before adding the Marsala for a really yummy sweetness. Cover and reduce the heat to low.
Prepare one package of spaghetti according to directions, AL DENTE per favori!!
Drain and toss well with the onion/garlic/wine sauce to coat thoroughly. After plating the pasta, load it up with freshly grated Parmesan.
Great without any meat added, but leftovers tossed in would be tasty! Feeds five or six easily, especially with rolls and salad.
Thanks for sharing and y’all keep calm now, y’hear!
Idk if you’ll ever see this because it’s so far down, but instead of pouring water in with my carnitas, I pour a whole jar of pickled jalapeños in. The juice gives it a great flavor!
Every comment is emailed to me. I see everything. Just not right away.
Super quick and easy. Prep maybe 10 minutes, cooks 20 minutes, feeds a lot of people.
Chop one onion, maybe celery if you have it, cook in a little oil until onion is starting to brown. Take 4 cups chicken stock, add the onion and celery, and bring it to a boil in a big soup pan with a lid. Add 2 12 ounce cans of cooked chicken, fine chopped carrot it you have it, and some frozen or leftover peas if you have them. A teaspoon of poultry seasoning or dried marjoram or basil or oregano, a shake of dried garlic, whatever. In a mixing bowl mix 1 cup of milk with 3 cups of Bisquick, and try to mix it to the point there aren’t floury lumps. Your stew should be boiling. Spoon the dumpling mixture on top, covering most of the stew. Lower the heat and cook 10 minutes. Cover and cook 10 minutes more. Serve at least one dumpling to each person and spoon a ladle full of stew alongside. The stew will probably have some dissolved dumpling in it, and that’s fine. If anyone is still hungry they should have made a salad while you were cooking.