Healthy Family Lunch

In my quest to be more French, I have been making a big Sunday lunch so, as a family, we can eat leisurely, spend time together, have fuller bellies, and then enjoy a small dinner later on.  However, Sundays are the earliest day of the week for me as I need to prep my Sunday school classroom and have choir practice all before our 8:30 am church service.  That means if I want to have a nice lunch prepared, I need to pull out my trusty crock pot.  This past Sunday I made Apple-Cranberry Pork Roast that I adapted from my new favorite cookbook, Fix it and Forget it:  Big Cookbook.  I threw everything in the crock pot at 6:30 am, right before I ate breakfast, and it was ready to go for lunch at 12:30 pm!  Right before serving, I quickly sauteed some spinach and garlic for a healthy side dish.  I am sending this recipe over to Michelle at What's Cooking for her Healthy Family Dinners which is the January theme for Monthly Mingle.  Isn't the picture pretty too?  Another one of my hubby's.  Enjoy!

Apple-Cranberry Pork Roast with Homemade Apple-Cranberry Sauce by Joie de vivre.  Adapted from Fix it and Forget it:  Big Cookbook

Ingredients:

2 lbs. pork tenderloin

2 Tbls. olive oil

3 c. low sugar apple juice

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped, or just chopped if you like a more rustic applesauce with the peels

1 c. frozen cranberries

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

Directions:

1.  Heat a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the olive oil and brown the pork tenderloin on all sides.

2.  Add the pork tenderloin to the insert of a 4-5 quart crock pot.  Add all the other ingredients.

3.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.

4.  Remove pork tenderloin and let rest 5 minutes on a cutting board before cutting.

5.  Remove apples and cranberries to a bowl with a slotted spoon.

6.  Mash apples and cranberries adding liquid from the crock pot as necessary to achieve desired consistency.

7.  Serve apple-cranberry sauce alongside sliced pork.

Sauteed Spinach with Garlic by Joie de vivre

Ingredients:

10 oz. spinach, washed and dried

1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1-2 Tbls. olive oil

balsamic vinegar.

Directions:

1.  Heat a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add olive oil and saute garlic for about 30 seconds. 

2.  Add the spinach and stir with tongs until completely covered with oil.  Cover the pot for 2-3 minutes to let the spinach wilt.

3.  Remove the spinach and sprinkle lightly with balsamic vinegar.

Green-Tomato Mincemeat, The Recipe!

After my previous post, a few of you asked what mincemeat was, and a couple of you asked for the recipe.  I was answering these questions one by one, but it may be easier to just post the recipe.  Thank you all for reading my blog and for asking those questions!  

Mincemeat originally was a combination of meat, fruit, and spices (hence the name) but has morphed into a sweeter creation minus the meat.  Some recipes still contain meat or suet, but most don't anymore.  It often has apples, raisins, currents and sometimes nuts, combined with spices.  The resulting mixture is sweet and gooey with lots of spice and texture.  My recipe is modified from my favorite canning cookbook Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda J. Amendt.  This cookbook is on my counter continuously from June through September as it is just jam packed with great (and safe) recipes for canning produce.

Green-Tomato Mincemeat adapted from Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda J. Amendt

Makes about 5 quart jars

Ingredients:

8 cups chopped green tomatoes

1 Tbls. salt

4 cups boiling water

10 cups tart green apples, chopped

4 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed

2 cups raisins

2 cups currants

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

3 Tbls. orange zest, finely chopped

1 Tbls. lemon zest, finely chopped

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground allspice

2 Tbls. unsalted butter

1.  Place tomatoes in a bowl and sprinkle with the salt.  Let stand for 1 hour to draw excess moisture out of them.  Rinse and drain well.  Pour boiling water over tomatoes and let stand for 5 minutes.  Drain well.

2.  In an 8-10 quart pan, combine the drained tomatoes and all of the remaining ingredients in the order listed except for the butter, stirring gently after each addition.

3.  Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.  Reduce the heat and simmer until the apples are tender when pierced.  Stir frequently to prevent sticking.  Stir in the butter.  Remove the pan from the heat.

4.  Ladle the mincemeat into hot and sterilized jars.  Remove as many air bubbles as possible.  Leave 1/2 inch head space.  Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth.  Cover with hot and sterilized lids and apply screw rings.  Process quart jars in a 200F water bath for 30 minutes.

Mincemeat Pie

Last night, we had dinner over at my in-laws so I got a night off from cooking!  My mother in law went all out with a lamb roast, mashed potatoes and lamb gravy, and homemade muffins.  I supplied the dessert.  Last summer, when apples were in season and the last of the tomatoes were hanging green on the vine, I canned some green tomato mincemeat for use in future pies.  It came in handy last night.  After church, I bought a refrigerated pie crust (I know, the shame right?), laid out the bottom crust in the pie pan, scalloped the edges and pricked it all over.  Then, I added the jar of green tomato mincemeat.  For the top crust, I found a smallish cookie cutter (I could only find my little man cookie cutter), cut the top crust into the shapes and laid them over the filling.  To get the shapes to stick together, I gently wet the bottom of the pieces before laying them on top of the other pieces.  This was super easy to do, only took a little extra time, and really upped the wow factor of the pie.

Sunday dinner with the folks

Sunday is the busiest day of the week for me.  I wake earlier than any other day to set up my classroom for Sunday school before choir practice starts at 8am.  It's these days (oh, who am I kidding, it's everyday!) that I relish using my crock pot to get dinner prepared and not have to think about it.  This past Sunday, we had my in-laws and my husband's uncle over for dinner so having the ability to make a lot of food in the morning, without having to check on it all day was a plus as I scurried around making the house presentable.  I happened upon this recipe in the Fix in and Forget it Big Cookbook, as I do periodically in order to try fresh ideas, I randomly opened to a page in the book and made what was on that page.  I opened to Reuben Chicken Casserole and it was a winner.  Leftovers were equally delicious last night.  

In a second crock pot I made something called Just Peachy, from the same cookbook, which was an easy cobbler type recipe.  I had my mother-in-law bring vanilla ice cream to top this with and we stored it outside during dinner since I was running out of freezer space and it was colder outside than it was in my freezer!  Both recipes follow.  Enjoy!

Reuben Chicken Casserole adapted from Fix it and Forget it Big Cookbook

Makes 8 servings

Prep time:  20 minutes

Cooking time:  4-6 hours on LOW

Ingredients:

2- 15 oz. cans sauerkraut, rinsed, drained and slightly squeezed to remove excess moisture, divided

1 cup Russian salad dressing, divided

8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, divided

3 Tbls. dijon mustard, divided

1.  Spray slow cooker insert with non-stick cooking spray.

2.  Place half the sauerkraut in the slow cooker.  Drizzle with 1/3 cup Russian dressing.

3.  Top with 4 chicken breast halves.  Spread half the mustard on top of the chicken.

4.  Top in order with remaining sauerkraut, another 1/3 Russian dressing, the remaining chicken and the remaining mustard.  (save the remaining dressing for serving)

5.  Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours.

6.  To serve, place a breast half on each plate.  Divide the sauerkraut over the chicken.  Top each with a drizzle of the remaining dressing.

Just Peachy adapted from Fix it and Forget it Big Cookbook

Makes 8 servings

Prep time:  2-3 minutes

Cook time:  4-6 hours on LOW

Ingredients:

4 cups sliced canned peaches, drained, reserve juice

2/3 cup rolled dry oats

1/3 cup all-purpose baking mix

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup reserved peach juice

1.  Spray inside of slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  Place drained peaches in slow cooker.

3.  In a separate bowl, mix together all dry ingredients.  When blended, stir in 1/2 cup reserved peach juice until well mixed.

4.  Pour batter into slow cooker and stir into peaches.

5.  Cover and cook on LOW 4-6 hours.

6.  Serve warm topped with vanilla ice cream.

Sunday night comfort food

I've been on a vintage cookbook kick for a little while now.  You gotta love eBay and the books you can find for dirt cheap.  I justify my cookbook obsession in terms of entertainment.  For $0.99 plus shipping, I get a week of reading entertainment.  You can't beat that.  Sometime in the spring, I bought The Meat Stretcher Cookbook by Better Homes and Gardens, copyright 1974.  Although overall it didn't offer too much inspiration outside what to cook in the future for two ravenous teenager, I was introduced to recipes for cuts of meat that in 1974 were cheap, and now, almost impossible to find.  Of course, my desire to try the weird and wonderful from cookbooks lead me on a non-intensive search for some of these cuts of meat, like beef heart and tongue and tripe.  A few weeks after reading this cookbook, I was ambling through the slim spring pickings of the farmers market, when I happened upon a beef rancher who was selling these cuts of beef.  I settled on an oxtail thinking I would find some way to cook it, and put it in the freezer.  There it has languished since spring, calling my name ever so quietly.  The recipes I was finding for oxtail were very uninspiring to me.  I just couldn't bring myself to make the unappetizing sounding Oxtail Gumbo (from the same Meat Stretcher cookbook) or the Oxtail Stew from a 1965 Betty Crocker vintage called Dinner in a Dish.  It wasn't until I was perusing The Gastronomy of Italy by Anna Del Conte that my inspiration came to me, Coda alla Vaccinara (Braised Oxtail).  The picture looked so comforting and homey, I was salivating and knew I had found the recipe.

Oxtail is a very tough and gelatinous cut of meat and needs the long cooking time that braising gives.  Sadly, when I mentioned to my neighbor that I was making oxtail, she said that oxtail is her Filipino father's favorite dish but she had always been too afraid to try it.  Go ahead and try it!  It is well worth it.  Since I started this dinner Saturday morning for a Sunday night supper, it made the big family dinner extremely easy come Sunday.  My mother-in-law called it a keeper.  I'll definitely be making it again.

Coda alla Vaccinara (Braised Oxtail) adapted from Gastronomy of Italy by Anna Del Conte

You need to make this dish a 1-2 days before you are planning on serving it to let the flavors meld.

2 1/2 lbs. oxtail

1 lb. pork belly (unsmoked bacon)

3 Tbls. olive oil

1 Tbls. chopeed fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

scant 1 cup dry white wine

2 Tbls. tomato paste diluted with 1 cup beef stock

salt

2 cups thickly sliced celery 

freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.  Cut the pork belly into 1 inch strips.  Put the pork belly, olive oil, parsley, garlic, onion and carrot into a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven and saute until soft.  Add the oxtail and fry gently for a few minutes longer.  Splash with the wine and boil rapidly to reduce, turning the meat over a few times.  Add the diluted tomato paste and salt to taste.  Cover the pan and place the casserole in the heated oven.  Cook for about 2 hours unti the meat is tenter, turning it over 2 or 3 times.  Remove the pot from the oven and leave to cool, then put it in the refrigerator until required.

On the day you are serving the dish, remove and discard the solidified fat (it was all solidified for me so I couldn't remove anything, everything in moderation right?) from the surface.  Put the Dutch oven on the stovetop and bring to a boil.  Add the celery and cook, covered, for 20 minutes longer.  Add a generous grinding of pepper, taste and check salt before serving.