OK, Enough, Enough, Enough.

It's time to get with the program again. I've been awful as far as putting things on the blog. So, here we go.

Monday for dinner!

We had cod on the grill it was great. Easy, peasy, lime squeazy. Douse it with olive oil, seasoning, grill about 4-5 minutes per side.

I also steamed some brocollini. Yummy and we had a rice blend that I love. It's called Organic Harvest Medley from SunWest it has CalMati Brown rice, Wild Rice, Sweet Brown Rice, and Heirloom Red Rice. I sauteed one onion, three cloves of garlic in olive oil and then added one cup of rice, let it cook in the olive oil for about 5 minutes and then I added 2.5 cups of chicken stock and a handful of grape tomatoes from the garden, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and let it cook for 30 - 40 minutes until all the liquid has evaporated.

Tuesday: I went out for a hike with my friend Cody in the Ruby Mountains so I wanted something easy when I got back. Rob shot a deer two weeks ago and when we butchered it, we had a lovely 2.5 lb. roast. I took the roast, covered it in salt and pepper and then browned it in a skillet. I peeled and cut up 6 medium sized potatoes and half a dozen carrots. I cut up 1 onion into quarters.

In a crock pot place the potatoes, carrots and onions on the bottom and rest the browned roast on top of them. Add 2 - 3 cups of water, you don't want to cover the meat, just have the water touching. Add a packet of beefy onion soup mix. Turn the crockpot on low and let it cook for six hours. That's what I did and it was an awesome roast.

Wednesday:

Beef Potpie the Easy Way

Take the left over roast from the night before, cut into chunks, add the potatoes, carrots, and gravy that was left over. I have a bag of peas in the fridge so I'm using that, too. Heat the mixture, cover with crescent roll dough and put in the oven for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

We are eating artichokes with this meal, or as the appetizer. Trim the stem from the artichoke, put it in water and cook until tender, about 40 minutes, depending on the size of the artichoke.

We dip it in a sauce made of equal parts soy sauce, butter, and lemon juice. It's great!

The Party's Over (Passover is Over)

Passover ended on Tuesday at 8:19 pm. Our last Passover meal wasn't full of matzah, but we had Artichokes with a lemon, butter, soy dipping sauce. This sauce is Rob's mom's recipe. Equal parts of all three, melt the butter, mix it all together and you are set. I don't steam the artichokes, I boil them. It's easier.

Matzah ball soup is the next course. Matah balls are not hard to make.

2 eggs
3 tbs. of cold water
1 tbs of canola oil
between 1/2 and 3/4 cup of matzah meal
1 tsp of kosher salt
pepper to taste.

Mix the eggs with the water and canola oil, add the matzah meal, salt and pepper and mix again with a fork. Place the mixture into the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Take 1 tsp of mixture and form it into a ball with your hands and then put it in slowly simmering chicken broth. Let it cook until it floats to the top, plus five minutes and then serve. This makes twelve matzah balls.

When I make the chicken broth, I use two or three whole chicken carcasses from roast chicken on Friday night. Cover the carcasses with water add one chopped onion, 2 or 3 carrots and celery if I have it, I also season it with salt, pepper, and 21 Seasoning Salute, which is like Mrs. Dash, or something along those lines. I let it come up to a boil, skim off the foam, and then bring it down to a simmer and let it cook until it tastes great. I let it cool, and then skim the fat off the top.

Now you have chicken soup.



We also had cheesy potatoes. This is my sister's recipe. Her husband loves them, so they are really called Kevin's cheesy potatoes. It's a very simple dish, but so totally yummy.

You need:

1 package of obrien potatoes, (I forgot them at the grocery store, so I took two pounds of red potatoes and cut them into small cubes and then boiled them until soft. Cool them if you use the red potatoes.

Because I forgot the obrien potatoes, I diced up a red pepper and added it to a pan with 2 tsps of olive oil, along with 1 diced onion. Saute until soft.

Mix with 8 ounces of cream cheese, and two cups of cheddar cheese. Put into a 9 x 13casserole dish and cover with another cup of cheddar cheese. Bake at 375 for 35 - 40minutes. Again, this is wonerful, particularly if you are Lili as she is a potato-holic.

We also had a roast which I cooked in the style of a brisket. I took the recipe from the The Complete Meat Cookbook . Mediterranean Brisket.

1 8 - 10 lb brisket
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbs of oil from sun-dried tomatoes
3 -4 medium onions thinly sliced
2 cups canned tomato puree
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and chopped.
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme.
2 cups beef stock
2 cups of dry red wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350. Heat the oil in a ductch oven or roasting pan over medium-high heat. Brown the brisket on all sides. Remove the meat and pour off all but 1 tbs of fat. Put in the onions, tomato puree, sun-dried tomatoes, bay leaves, and thyme and stir well to combine. Put the brisket back into the pan and spoon some of the onions and tomatoes over the top. Add the stock and the wine and bring to a simmer.

Cover the pot tightly with aluminum foil and put the lid on to form a tight seal. Bake the brisket for 3.5 - 4 hours, or until it's fork tender.

Remove the meat to a platter and cover loosely with foil. Degrease the sauce and taste for salt and pepper.

Serve it with the sauce. It's quite good and the meat is so very tender.

We had chocolate almond cake for dessert. It was a super final Passover meal.