Macaroni Stew

This recipe is so simple and so flavorful. Tomato allergy or not, it is one of my all-time favorites and I always brave the stomachache and eat some. You can make this stew on the stove or in the slow cooker. And like chili, it's even better the next day!

You will need:

1 pound lean ground beef or turkey
1 medium onion
1 cup chopped carrots
2 cans green beans
1 cup (or 1 can) corn
1 small can tomato sauce
1 small can tomato paste (I like the kind with roasted garlic)
1 envelope Lipton onion soup
2 cups water
salt and pepper to taste
********************
8 oz cooked elbow macaroni



Saute the meat with the onion and carrots until all traces of pink are gone from the meat. If you meat is super lean, you might need to add 1T of oil. (My carrots look strange because all I had were those matchsticks carrots for salads. Someone--and I won't name names--ate all my baby carrots.)



Stir in the rest of the ingredients, except the macaroni. Do not drain the canned veggies.



Bring to a boil and then lower the heat. Cover and simmer for at least an hour, but the longer the better.



If you plan on eating the entire pot in one night, then you can add the macaroni to the pot. If not, then add a handful of macaroni to each bowl before topping with stew. Pasta has an annoying habit of swelling and then breaking down in the stew pot. The stew will be nice and hot and will warm the macaroni immediately.





Stir and enjoy! (Ignore the magically changing bowl...I forgot to take a picture in the white bowl before hubby started chowing down.)

Ina Garten's East Hampton Clam Chowder

I've always wanted to try my hand at making clam chowder and finally decided to tackle the soup after reading one of Ina Garten's cookbooks. Her recipe sounded lighter than the thick, heavily creamy recipes I have found elsewhere. I did change some things, though. I added just half of her recommended butter because I did not buy enough clam juice. I got two bottles, 8 oz each, then came home and found that the recipe called for a full quart. Oh well. I LOVE how this soup turned out! It was rich, but not too rich. Creamy, but not overly so. It is definitely more of a gourmet soup than the thick, white stuff you get from a can. My picky eater, Goose, did not like it at all. She had a PB&J. My clam chowder lover, Tinker Bell, liked it but still prefers the white canned stuff. My hubby had three bowls!

I've added a link to Miss Barefoot's recipe so I will detail how I did it and what I changed. That way you can compare the two recipes and then tailor the soup to your taste.

Ingredients:

2 bottles of clam juice
1 (10 oz) can of baby clams (use fresh if you can, about a cup and a half)
5 small potatoes, chopped into small pieces
3/4 cup diced carrots (about a handful of baby carrots)
1 onion, chopped
4 slices bacon (I used low sodium)
1/2 cup sliced celery (I forgot to put that in the picture)
2 bay leaves
salt (I used Kosher)
pepper (to taste)
6 T butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup skim milk
1 cup half & half



Ina's recipe does not call for bacon, but after reading the reviews on Food Network I followed the reviewers' advice that the bacon would give the recipe much needed flavor. And my mom told me to add it. :) I used a pair of kitchen shears and cut up four slices of bacon and cooked them over medium high heat until brown and crispy.



Then I removed the bacon, leaving the fat in the pot...



and added the onion. I cooked it until it was soft and had a little bit of color.



I threw the bacon back into the pot and added the rest of the chopped veggies.



I added 2T of the butter to the pot and cooked the veggies over medium low heat for about ten minutes.

While they were cooking I drained the clams, but reserved the juice. You might want to skip ahead here...baby clams may be the ugliest creatures ever.



I actually called my mom and asked her if they were supposed to be that ugly. She assured me that I had not gotten a bad batch. She also suggested chopping them up a bit since clams tend to be chewy and Tinker Bell has braces. It makes it hard for the poor angel to chew sometimes. So, I put them in my mini food processor and gave them a few pulses. (I was glad I did. There was clam in every bite!) Put them in a bowl and stick them in the fridge. You won't need them until a few minutes before you are ready to serve the soup.

After the veggies were almost tender, I added the bay leaves, the two bottles of clam juice, and the juice from the can of clams. Bring it to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.



After about 15 minutes, melt the remaining 4T of butter in a pan and whisk in the 1/4 cup of flour.



Whisk constantly while cooking over low heat for 3 minutes. Then whisk in one cup of your soup broth.



Add that mixture to your pot of soup.



Simmer until the soup thickens up a bit. Then stir in the skim milk and half & half. I also added about 2 tsp of Kosher salt and a few shakes of pepper. Try adding one tsp of salt, taste, and then add more if necessary. I thought the clam juice would be saltier, but it really wasn't salty at all. The soup definitely needed the added salt.



At this point Miss Ina adds her clams, heats through, and serves. I was not ready to serve it yet, so I left out the clams, turned the burner to low, covered the pot, and left it alone (except for the occasional stir) for a couple of hours. Ten minutes before we were ready to eat, I added the clams and cranked up the heat to a 5, or about medium. When it was as hot as we wanted it, we ate!




This chowder is buttery and absolutely delicious. The kind of clam chowder you get in a nice seafood restaurant. It is not at all like the stuff from the can. We ate this soup with a few oyster crackers and salads.

Orange Chicken?

I was looking online for a recipe for orange chicken and couldn't find one that I liked or that I had all the ingredients for until I stumbled on this one. But I don't think you can call this orange chicken. It's good, really good, especially on a salad, but orange chicken it is not. :) It's very simple, though, and I bet you have all of the ingredients on hand.



1 cup orange juice
1 T soy sauce (I used reduced-sodium)
1 envelope Lipton onion soup mix
1/2 tsp garlic powder
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts



I cleaned the chicken, cut it into strips, and put them into a plastic bag. (I use kitchen shears to cut up chicken and like the smaller pieces because they cook more evenly.) I mixed together the oj, soy sauce, Lipton, garlic powder and poured the mixture on top of the chicken. I let it marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours, but you could leave it alone all night or for just 30 minutes. I lined a 9x13 inch glass dish with foil and poured the chicken and marinade into it.



Bake at 375, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until the sauce has thickened a bit and the chicken is cooked through. I served it over brown rice for hubby and the girls, but I ate mine on a salad.



In my salad I had iceberg and romaine lettuce, carrots, the chopped up chicken with a bit of the sauce, pumpkin seeds, and a honey dijon vinaigrette.

Split Pea and Ham Soup

So, you bought a big ham for Easter and have exhausted your recipes but still have a bunch of ham stuck to the bone. What to do? Throw it in the Crock Pot!



You'll need to rinse a bag of split peas, but because they will cook overnight in the pot, there is no need to soak them.



Just dump them right onto the ham...



Add 2 quarts of water, put on the top of the Crock Pot, set on Low, and go to bed. (Don't, however, do like I did and start the soup at 1am because you were waiting for some overnight cinnamon rolls to rise and they were being difficult. That leads to mistakes because you are tired, such as turning the Crock Pot to Warm instead of Low. Not a good thing.) In the morning you can either keep the soup in the Crock Pot or transfer it to a pot on the stove. If you put it on the stove: after adding all ingredients, bring to a boil, turn down heat to low, cover, stir often, and cook all day or at least 3 hours. If you keep it in the Crock Pot: after adding all ingredients, turn pot to high for one hour, then turn down to low, and cook for at least two more hours or all day.

I put it on the stove, but it really doesn't matter. You'll need an onion, carrots, celery, and a small potato. I put my carrots in my tiny food processor and chop them until they cry uncle.





Do the same thing with the onion and celery. OR you can just chop and add. I mutilate the poor veggies in order to fool my oldest daughter, a veggie-phobe, into thinking they aren't there. Chop the potato into tiny pieces and add. It will break down in the soup and help to thicken it. Now toss in a couple of bay leaves. I was going to take a picture of them, but I'm embarrassed by how old and desiccated my leaves look. :) Now here's my secret ingredient...don't tell anyone.



Cavender's. It's a greek seasoning, but I use it in everything, especially on turkey at Thanksgiving. In fact, since I grew up using it, I don't like to eat turkey without it! But, if you don't have access to Cavender's, it is basically a blend of salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, onion powder, and parsley. I would suggest using salt and pepper to taste, a couple of shakes of garlic powder, onion powder, and celery salt, and maybe a few parsley flakes. Then taste and see what you think. Here's the finished soup:



Split Pea and Ham Soup

ham
1 16oz bag of split peas
2 qts water
1 medium onion
1 medium potato
1 cup celery
2 cups carrots
2 bay leaves
Cavender's (to taste)


I usually make buttermilk biscuits to go with this soup. But cornbread is great, too.

Enjoy!!

my recipe card:

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

We're supposed to call them slow cookers now, but I own an actual Crock Pot and can't seem to call it anything else. But Crock Pot Pot Roast sounded ridiculous. :) I have a real love affair with my pot and try to use it at least once a week. It is all the more special to me because after 14 years my old pot died and when I complained about how much I missed it, a very dear friend got tired of my whining and sent me a new one. ;) Such a surprise and so very, very sweet!! I think about her every time I use it. (Thank you again!!)
This recipe is easy, as low fat as you're going to get with pot roast, and can be adapted to your tastes.
(First an apology...I forgot to take pictures of the meat in the Crock Pot.)
For this recipe you will need:
a bottom rump roast (any big loaf of meat will work--I just find that this cut, when trimmed, is leaner than an actual pot roast cut)
2 envelopes of Lipton onion soup
2 envelopes of brown gravy mix
water
carrots
potatoes
This first step is the easiest. Plug in your crock pot, trim off the fat from your rump roast, and toss it in the pot. Sprinkle both envelopes of Lipton on top and add 6-10 cups of water. You want the meat covered, but not swimming. Cover, turn on low, and leave overnight. In the morning, remove the roast and place it on a plate to cool (until you can touch it without burning your fingers). Pour the "soup" into a large pot. I use a 6 quart. When the meat is cool enough, shred it and toss it into the pot. It should just fall apart in your hands.




Chop up as many carrots as you would like. I use about three big handfuls of baby carrots. My youngest daughter loves carrots, so I always add extra. (Once I added too many and the post roast turned out orange.)




Now toss those babies into the pot with your meat.





Potatoes turn now. I use golden potatoes, but you could use Russet or even reds and leave on the skin. I have found that white potatoes, while cheap, turn to glue when cooked for a long time. Making mashed potatoes out of them is a nightmare.




You are going to have to salt the masses now. I know, salt. I blame the potatoes, but it has to be done. I use a teaspoon of Kosher salt. Table salt has an annoying habit of not tasting salty until it is oversalted. Feel free to add more, but you risk a bland pot roast if you try to add much less.




Time for the gravy. I pour two envelopes of gravy mix into a mixing cup and add just enough water to make a soupy paste. Don't follow the envelope directions, although do take a peek at the label and make sure you bought a brand with little or no fat. I buy generic and it has .5 grams of fat in each 1/4 serving. But we are diluting it massively, so you won't get that much in your serving.





Pour the gravy into the pot with everything else, mix well, and then turn your burner on high enough to get a boil. After it boils, turn it down and simmer until the potatoes are tender. I usually do all this in the morning and then simmer until dinner. I put the top on the pot, but not sealed--leaving one side open to prevent it from boiling all day.




You think that this looks more like beef stew, don't you? Not so! Notice we didn't add any oregano, basil, rosemary, garlic, or any of the other beef stews hangers-on. This recipe is pot roast on the stove...and Crock Pot. Best part, your house doesn't heat up from having the oven on for hours! Except for the 15 minutes it tastes to bake the buttermilk biscuits that go so well with this dish.