Cooking Corned Beef Couldn't Be Simpler

With St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, you can find good corned beef at every grocery store and meat market. By now, many are even on sale making this not only an incredibly easy dinner but also a pretty economical one.

You know that I love to eat but don't like to cook complicated meals. My families favorite foods resemble those our mom's used to make. That is why making corned beef is right up my alley!

The most foolproof way to prepare corned beef is to put it in a crock pot on low for 8 - 10 hours. Cover with either beer or water and make sure to use the little spice packet that comes with the meat. DONE! It's that easy.

As far as serving it, we love it with cabbage, potatoes and carrots on the first night. I cook the corned beef overnight and then use the liquid (from the corned beef) to cook the veggies on low for 8 hours in the crock pot the next day. If you don't have time for that, I'd still recommend using the crock pot for the meat but you could cook the veggies on the stove top using the liquid. Wedges of cabbage should take about 15 minutes, small red skin potatoes or cut pieces of larger potatoes are closer to 30 minutes. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to medium/medium-low.

Equally tasty is corned beef sandwiches the next day. Use a good onion roll, some swiss cheese and thousand island dressing for the best flavor. Serving with cole slaw on the side or on the sandwich is messy but worth it. No thousand island on hand, just mix a little mayo with some relish and a dab of ketchup.

Yes, I'm Irish and so are my little red heads but no luck is needed for this festive St. Patrick's Day dinner.

Baked Pork Chops with Stuffing and Apples

Another simple recipe from the gals at Curves. Nothing like talking food while you're working it off! This is compliments of Sherry's sister and is a simple three ingredient meal (four if you count the margargine!) As usual with these conversational recipes, the amounts aren't really discussed but you'll get the general idea.

Baked Pork Chops Ingredients:
1 package pork chops
1 can apple pie filling
1 box corn bread stuffing mix

Baked Pork Chop Instructions:
Brown the pork chops on both sides in a frying pan. Make the box of corn bread stuffing mix. (mine required margarine and water) Layer in a baking dish, apple pie filling, browned pork chops and pre-cooked corn bread stuffing. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve with a green vegetable or salad and you have a full meal.

Thanks Sherry. Can't wait to try the next one.

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie a la Kristin

When discussing the simple lasagne recipe, Kristin told me about her easy family favorite chicken pot pie recipe. It too is a snap to make and truely enjoyed the the whole family. It's a great way to use up leftover turkey or chicken too. She didn't have any specific quantities so this is showing how I made it. Like most of these homemade recipes, they taste even better when you add your own flair. For instance, if you like more chicken, add it. If you prefer different veggies, go for it. This is what I did to use as a guide.

Chicken Pot Pie Ingredients:
Crust ingredients: 1 tube of buttermilk biscuits, 1/2 t. each parmesan, basil, and parsley

Pot Pie ingredients: cooked chopped chicken or turkey(I used about a cup)
one can of cream of chicken or mushroom soup
veggies (about one cup from bag of frozen veggies)

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie Instructions:
Chop each biscuit into quarters. Put all the quartered raw biscuits into a baggie with cheese and spices and shake. Bake according to biscuit instructions (minus a few minutes )

Warm the chicken, veggie, soup mixture on top of the stove. When warm, place in a casserole dish. Put the biscuit pieces on top. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Lasagne that is Simpler than Simple

The gals at Curves were discussing this recipe and it came out great. The prep time is 5 minutes which is unheard of for real lasagne and the results of this faux lasagne are just as good. It is also easy to modify based on personal preference. Here's how I did it:

Lasagne (faux lasagne) Ingredients:
1 Two pound bag of frozen ravioli
1 jar spaghetti sauce
16 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 pound cooked ground chuck

Instructions for Faux Lasagne:
Cook ravioli according to instructions on the bag. (The type I used cooked at 400 for 40 minutes). Once the ravioli is cooked, layer sauce, cooked ravioli, hamburger, cheese, cooked ravioli, cheese. Cook at 400 for 30 minutes covered and then 10 minutes uncovered.

Sherry made it with an extra 8 oz. of cheese because she likes hers extra cheesy and she didn't put in any hamburger. Some of the other gals thought some slivered vegetables added to the sauce would add a healthy flare. Whatever your preference, go for it since the main part is this easy! Bon Appetit.

White Bean Chicken Chili in a Pinch

We are in the midst of a power outage from the storms that pummelled the midwest. The initial storm was the craziest thing I have ever seen. The skies got black and then within five minutes, we happened to look out as a wall of rain was blasting at us. My son was sitting on the porch under a big golf umbrella (like a fort)and we had to scream at him to run in. He had no clue anything was going on outside. He got in just in time with the rain coming in sideways behind him. (In the meantime, my daughter felt the need to run back out in it to grab her new jelly shoes from Target.) Fortunately, everyone is fine but we have no power.

Since we have a generator, I'm blessed to have a working refrigerator and a couple outlets that I can use. Each morning when I make my pot of coffee, I'm especially thankful! Since I can't use the stove or oven, I decided to find something I could make in the crock pot. I'm at the public library typing this but I think it is going to be a tasty compromise for white bean chicken chili. The main difference is that I had a pound of chicken sausage in the freezer so that is substituted for chicken. Lucky me, I had the rest of the ingredients in the pantry.

White Bean Chicken Chili Recipe
1 can white beans (rinse very well and drain)
1 lb. chicken sausage, chopped into bite sized pieces
2 cans chicken broth
1/2 large vidalia onion, chopped
2 small cans chopped green chilis (found in mexican food aisle at any grocer)
2 T. cumin
1 1/2 t. ground oregono
1/2 t. cayenne pepper

Crock pot for 8-10 on low or 4-5 on high. Serve with tortilla chips, monterrey jack cheese, sour cream and/or salsa.

This should last us a day or two but hoping for power by Friday!

Simplicity of Oven Roasted Pork and Chop Suey

I think one of the real benefits of pork (and chicken) is that they have very little flavor and can pull off just about any combination of seasonings and marinades that you throw on them. It's a major benefit if you cook the pork one day and use in leftovers later that week. That's precisely what I did with a pork roast earlier in the week and it worked out great.

Our barbecue was not hooked up for the holiday weekend so I made the pork roast in the oven on Monday. It was marinating for a couple days which is always helpful but not necessary if you don't have the time. I was a bit nervous when cooking the roast because I found a lot of contradictory information when searching for a guide on how long to cook that 4 pound roast.

One thing that is consistent that I'll share right off the bat. You need to cook pork to an internal temp of 170 but you take it out of the oven when it's about 165 because it continues to cook after you remove it from the oven. Pork is so lean these days that it has a real tendency to dry out if you aren't careful.

I ended up going the slow and easy route and just started early enough so I could cook as long as it needed. Not quite as slow as a crock pot but I allocated 3 hours on 325. It only needed 2 1/2 hours to reach 165 and then we let it set for another 15 minutes before carving.

You can really use any combination of ingredients that you like but I usually use at least one oil (or butter). Here's the scoop:

OVEN ROASTED 4 LB. PORK ROAST
Cook Time: 2 1/2 hours (then let stand 15 minutes)
Prep Time: 5 minutes

Marinade Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil
2 T. lime juice

Rub Ingredients:
2 T.Italian Seasoning
1 T. Coarse Ground Salt
1 T. Coars Ground Pepper

Instructions: Cover the roast with the marinade and then rub with the rub ingredients. Let set for 1/2 hour to 2 days. Bake at 325 for about 2 1/2 hours (oven temps vary so just keep checking with a meat thermometer).

We ate leftovers the next day and then had an entirely different meal yesterday when we chopped up the remaining pork and added some La Choy chop suey vegetables. The pork chop suey was yummy and kept it interesting.

Here's that recipe in a nutshell:
- leftover pork chopped (I had about 1 lb. left)
- 2 cans Chop Suey Vegetables
- 1 can chicken broth
- 2 T. soy sauce

Heat them up in a pan and serve over rice. You can also add those crunchy things (from La choy on top)

Quick Crockpot Tip

This one's for you Lynda! You can convert any of my easy oven recipes to crock pot or crock pot recipes for oven using these simple conversion tips. Of course, all crocks cook a bit differently and so do all ovens so these are just approximate. Use whatever method works best with your timing that day.


Crock Pot to Crock Pot:
Crock pot for 8-10 on low is the same as on high for 3-4 hours.

Oven to Crock Pot:
350 for an hour is about the same as 6-8 hours on low
300 for 30 minutes is about the same as 3-4 hours on low

And you can always cook longer in a crock pot as long as you add plenty of liquid. So, if you've got the whole day, use the crock pot; just an hour or two, use the oven. Either way, throw together a few ingredients and you'll feel like your mom was there cooking for you today.

A 3 Ingredient Crock Pot Garlic Chicken Recipe
1 package boneless, skinless chicken
1 bottle ranch dressing
2 t. minced garlic

Thow in the crock pot and cook on low 8-10 hours. I usually rinse the ranch bottle half full with water and put the water into the crock pot too since my current one cooks on the hot side.

Whip up some 90 seconds Uncle Bens rice (the pilaf is to die for!) and some canned vegies and you've got yourself a home cooked meal. How simple is that?

Baked Chicken in a Snap

I believe half of my cooking is done by throwing several things from my pantry into a dish and enjoying the results. You can almost always be assured you'll like the results when you use your favorite ingredients. I have a few personal favorites that you'll see again and again in these pages and one of them is chopped green chilis. Today's chicken recipe includes that favorite, a standard cream of (anything) soup and some cheese. That's it! Serve with tortilla chips, rice and a green vegetable. I happened to have some leftover corn on the cob (first of spring) that tasted just awesome with it. So, here you have it...

Baked Chicken with Chilis and Cheese
1 package boneless chicken breasts
1 can cream of mushroom, celery, chicken or anything soup
1 small can chopped green chilis
1 cup cheddar cheese
Combine soup and chilis in 9 x 13 pan. Add chicken. Spoon some of the mixture on top of the chicken. Cover with cheese. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

In my case, I had to run out for my sons guitar lessons so I just turned it down to 325, added about 1/2 can of water and cooked for 2 hours.

Great either way! Enjoy the simplicity.

Ham Casserole Recipe one of our great Leftover Ham Recipes

With Easter right around the corner (March 23rd if you can believe it!), it's a great time to post one of our favorite ham casserole recipes so you can use up the leftover ham from your Easter dinner! This is a really easy one. If you cook the noodles ahead of time, you can whip this together in about 2 minutes. To soften the cream cheese quickly, just put it in the microvave for about 15 seconds and then repeat as needed. REMOVE THE WRAPPER FIRST though. But I'm sure you knew that:) Enjoy this simple leftover ham recipe.

Ham Casserole Recipe
Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook time: 25 minutes Serves: about 6
1 ½ cups chopped ham
½ cup parmesan cheese
1 8 oz. brick low-fat cream cheese, softened
1 T margarine
2 cups cooked egg noodles (drain)
1 (15 oz.) can peas
½ package Onion Soup mix

Combine all ingredients except ¼ cup of parmesan. Place in a 9 x 13 pan. Put remaining ¼ cup of parmesan cheese on top. Bake at 350 until heated through (about 25 minutes). Serve with crusty bread and a green salad.

Super versatile chicken or beef recipe

Last night we had chicken using a marinade that doubles equally well for beef. I've especially enjoyed it with flank steak. For the chicken, I combined all ingredients in the crock pot, came back after 5 hours, and voila. Not even an extra bowl messed up - it doesn't get much better than that. Here's the versatile marinade recipe:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup V8 juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 t. minced garlic cloves

I added four frozen chicken breasts and put in the crock pot on high for 5 hours. Very simple and unique. It tastes nothing like what it sounds like!

Enjoy and let us know what you think or other ways you've used it.

Beef Five ways for Five Days

To really simplify a week of cooking, I like to crock pot a large amount of meat and then prepare it five different ways throughout the week. For beef dishes, I like to use stew beef since it's already cut up. Even if it isn't the best cut of meat, it doesn't matter because it will be slow cooked to tender perfection. And for chicken and ham five ways 5 ways for 5 days recipes, check them out on my site at www.pams-hams.com/recipes.

For the crock pot beef, create as follows:
5 lbs. stew beef
4 (14 oz) cans beef broth
2 (4 oz) cans chopped green chilis
Combine all ingredients in crock and stir. Cook on high 6-8 hours. Crock pot tip: If you won't be looking at the crock for more than 8 hours, just add another can of water. Meat will be even better the longer you cook it - you just don't want the liquid to run down.

Monday's shredded beef over rice
Serves 4, Cook time: 3 minutes, Prep time: 2 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked beef mixture (approximately 1/5th of the meat mixture)
2 packages of uncle bens 90 second rice
Reheat beef mixture on the stove top while microwaving the rice for approximately 3 minutes. (90 seconds each rice and then some for the beef.

Tuesday's shredded beef chili
Serves 4, Cook time: 5 minutes, Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked shredded beef mixture (1/4 of the remaining mixture from Monday)
1 can (16 oz) kidney beans
1 can (16 oz.) pinto beans
1 can (16 oz.) corn
1 can (24 oz.) crushed tomatoes
1 envelope ranch dressing mix
1 envelope taco seasoning mix

Rinse beans thoroughly. Drain beans and corn. Combine all ingredients and cook on the stovetop. Stir constantly and serve once heated through.

Wednesday's beef and cheese casserole
Serves 4 Cook time: 15 minutes, Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked shredded beef mixture (1/3 of the remaining mixture from Monday)
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
1/2 small onion chopped and browned
1 small can black olives
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cottage cheese
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 (8 oz.) package Doritos or other taco flavored chips

Combine beef, cooked onion, black olives and tomato sauce (A). Combine sour cream and cottage cheese(B). Layer A then B, then cheddar cheese and chips two times. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Thursday's faux shepherd's pie
Serves 4 Cook time: 30 minutes, Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked shredded beef mixture (1/2 of the remaining mixture from Monday)
1 package refrigerated mashed potatoes (I use Bob Evans)
2 jars beef gravy (I like Boston Market)
1 envelope onion soup mix

Combine beef, gravy and onion soup mix. Spread into a baking pan. Cover with the potatoes. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Optional alternative: only 1 jar of gravy

Friday's beef barley soup
Serves 4 Cook time: 15 minutes Prep time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked shredded beef mixture (the remainder from Monday!)
1 (14 oz) can crushed tomatoes with basil (if possible)
10 cups water
2 cups of chopped cooked celery, onions and/or shredded carrots
6 beef bouillon cubes
½ cup quick-cooking barley
2 T. dry mustard
2T. Worcestershire sauce
1 T. dried basil

Combine all ingredients except barley in large pot on stove top. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add barley. Reduce heat to medium low and cook until barley is cooked through (about 10 minutes). As with all soups, keeping it on low and cooking longer improves the flavor so do that if you have the time. Time saving tip: Buy the shredded carrots. They are much easier to add to soups and look great on salads.

Even the leftover hater in the family will be delighted with this assortment of meals that seem like you cooked for hours. Ciao and enjoy!

Scrumptious Crock Pot Pork Chops and Apples

Here's another super simple main dish recipe made in the crock pot. If you like home cooked food, the crock pot has to be the best invention ever! We'd been eating a lot of creamy sauces so I tried this one with a chicken broth base and it was outstanding. The chili powder spices gave it a nice flavor but didn't make it spicy by any stretch.

Pork Chops and Homemade Applesauce
2 lbs. boneless pork chops (use whatever you have really - this is just what I made)
2 apples quartered
1 14 oz. can chicken broth (or enough to cover pork)
1 cup apple juice
1T chili powder
1 T Emeril's Southwest Essence (includes salt, paprika, chili poweder, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper)

Combine in crock pot. Cook 8 hours on low (or 5 on high). Serve with the apples on the side - awesome.

Tip: crock pot meat is generally not that attractive. If you are serving to guests, take the extra couple minutes to brown the meat in a frying pan before putting it into the crock pot.

I like a lot of the spice mixtures that are combined like the Emeril one above. If you don't have it, just put a bit more chili powder in or one of the other Emeril ingredients like paprika or cumin. My motto is don't ever make a special trip to the store for one silly ingredient - just experiment with alternatives!

What's cookin' this week?

So simple baked pork tenderloin
We had one of our all-time favorite dishes this weekend. It's a baked pork tenderloin (or any cut of pork like roast, loin, chops. Your cook times would just vary depending on the size.) The key is the amazing sauce that it cooks in. It's almost one of those "guess what is in this" type concoctions because it really doesn't taste like what I'm about to describe.

We served it with the 90 second Uncle Bens rice that I always talk about and some lightly fried asparagus. The asparagus was leftover from the night before when we'd served it steamed (whole bunch only takes 7 minutes in the micro if you put just an inch of water at the bottom of a covered microwavable container.) Since we like our aspragus a little crunchy, it still had enough umph after that first day to allow it to be fried the second day. The aspragus was stored in a ziploc bag so I just tossed in some breadcrumbs, salt and pepper and then fried them on the stove top in a little bit of olive oil. Yummy!

Here is the recipe for the baked pork tenderloin:
1 1/2 lbs. pork tenderloin
1 can cream of chicken soup (can be cream of anything really - mushroom, celery, etc.)
coupla squirts catsup (say 2T)
coupla squirts worcestershire sauce (say 2T)
(I've made this a bunch of times with no measurement tool available and coupla squirts worked just fine.)
Bake in a covered baking pan for almost 2 hours at 325. I took the cover off for the last half hour.

I know it doesn't sound good but trust me when I tell you this one is a real crowd pleaser and as simple as can be.

Today in my Crock Pot - Southwest style chicken
We're switching to chicken since we had pork the last two nights. I have great luck throwing all sorts of pantry items into a crock pot for something different each time. Some staples that work well with crock pots are the cream of (anything) soups, chicken and beef broth soups, french onion and golden mushroom soups, cheddar cheese soup, tomatoes (either soup or diced), roasted red peppers, and crushed green chilis. The dried soups or soup mixes like beef bouillon, chicken bouillon, onion soup and taco seasoning are also handy. Of course, your tastes may differ from ours but these are what we keep around and use every week. Today's crock pot chicken is going to have a bit of a southwest flair to it. This is what I'm cooking as we speak:
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 1 can cream of mushroom
- 1 can cheddar cheese soup
- about 2/3 of a 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
- 1 can crushed green chilis
Cook 8 hours on low, or in my case, 2 hours on high and 4 hours on low since I didn't put them in early this morning.

Party in the Planning
Just a few short days after our New Years fun, we're in the process of whipping up more festivities. This time for Kristin who is turning 40 at the end of the month (but SO doesn't look it). She had no desire to have a party but requested a girlfriend weekend with just a couple close friends with the preference of somewhere warm. Since the whole gang won't be able to attend the getaway, we're going to have a fun pseudo-spa night first so everyone can toast one of our youngest friends finally joining our ranks. We're going to follow Kelly's lead and request that one of our local nail places hold evening hours for our group of about 10. We can bring in a couple little simple munchies and some adult beverages (in plastic cups) while sitting around getting manicured and pedicured together. The real bonus in our case is that the salon is right next door to one of our nicer restaurants so we could tie in appetizers or dinner if the group chooses. A fun time should be had by all.

Then a week later, it'll be off to sunny (hopefully) Sanibel Island for a couple days in the sand with our new beach toes. Doesn't get much better than that. Thanks to all the hubbies for watching the kids so we can enjoy this girlfriend time.

If you try any of our party ideas or recipes, let us know what you think.

FUN SNOWMAN FRUIT KEBOBS

Both kids had holiday parties at school so I volunteered to bring the fruit. Since neither of my kids will eat much fruit, I had to make a real display out of it. They both actually ate a kebob and the rest of their classmates were excited with the great big display. You'd have to see it live to appreciate the size but it makes quite a spectacle when you're walking down the halls carrying it. Believe it or not, it took just a little over a half hour to make this. I used a cut-up fruit tray (from Costco) and food coloring markers for the face (from Michaels or other comparable store). Use a pineapple or a half watermelon as the base. These are always a hit no matter how you decorate them.

BEEF BARLEY SOUP A LA PAM

As promised, here's the recipe for the soup I made last week. It really is the best beef barley soup I've ever had.

Prime Rib bones or beef chuck short ribs - about 2 lbs.

10 cups water

1 stalk celery chopped

3 slices onion - chopped fine

14 oz. can crushed tomatoes (I used one with basil)

6 beef bouillon cubes

3 t. dry mustard

2T worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup quick cooking barley

Combine all ingredients but barley. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer about 2 hours. Remove bones from soup. Cut up beef and return to soup. Discard bones. Bring to a boil again and add barley. Cook 10-12 more minutes. This is awesome on day one but even better the next day. This recipe made about 6 heaping adult sized bowls.

Chicken Appetizer and Faux Spaghetti

Here's two great recipes I've used or shared in the last week during this busy holiday season. And, of course, they are easy to make and liked by my family. This first one is a real crowd pleaser appetizer. I had gotten a variation of the recipe from a gal at work years ago and just gave it to Wendy to take to Beth's party. Then multiple friends asked for it at the party. It takes minutes to make and is a real hit when served warm with tortilla chips.

GREAT FOOD GIFT IDEA - Purchase a festive dip with spreader, or a chip and dip set and tape this recipe onto the wrapping paper or place in the card. They'll appreciate the great recipe as much as the cute gift.



Hot Chicken and Cheese Dip
1 large can shredded chicken
8 oz. cream cheese softened
8 oz. mayo
(or 4 each mayo and sour cream)
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 (4 oz.) can green chilis, drained
1 (4 oz.) can chopped jalapenos (optional)

Mix all ingredients. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve warm with tortilla chips.

Jalapenos make it pretty hot so use to desired flame factor. This is a really forgiving recipe. For instance, I’ve used it with just mayo and no cream cheese and it turned out just fine. Keep these items in your pantry for when guests drop by.


And this next one is great for a quick dinner - especially during the holiday crunch when no one wants to make yet another decision . This one was great for our family last week when everyone was racing around. it's even better the next day for leftovers.

Quick and Easy Faux Spaghetti
1 to 1.5 lbs. cooked hamburger (browned and drained)
1 cup uncooked macaroni noodles
2 small cans V8 juice or 1 can tomato soup
1 can cheese soup
1 cup water
1/2 package Lipton onion soup mix
1 t. dried basil
1/2 t. oregono

Mix all ingredients and pour into baking dish (like 9 x 12 pyrex.) Bake uncovered at 350 for one hour. (Is it just me or does it seem like 90% of recipes are baked at 350?). This recipe is a good one to make ahead of time and refrigerate.

Feel free to add chopped green peppers, celery and/or onions. As you know about me, my kids are picky eaters so we don't add a whole lot of added veggies. Also the reason I like to use V8 juice instead of just soup or tomato sauce.

That's it for today. Next up, I'm making one of my all time favorites, beef barley soup. I'll share that recipe as soon as I'm done. We're just finishing up the prime rib now and then that bone is going right into the soup pot.


Ciao for now!