Made From Scratch Tuesday 1/3

 Made From Scratch Tuesday is back from the holiday break! I hope everyone had a happy holiday season and is ready for 2012!

One of the things we did over the holidays was pick up our beef. We bought a side of beef from a local producer back in November. After a few weeks hanging time and processing, it was ready for us to pick up last week. We've only bought quarters in the past, so the sheer amount of beef we picked up was almost overwhelming!

One of the other things I like about buying our beef this way, is we get to choose how it's cut and packaged.

More on that on a later post....

Another thing I love about buying our beef like this is all the bones! And bones mean stock! It seems like I never have enough stock in the freezer, so I make trips to the butcher throughout the year to pick up more. Although, they really hooked me up this time. I left with bags and bags of bones. Want to guess what I spent my Saturday doing? Making stock!

I started out with the bones and enough olive oil just to cover the bottom of my 22 qt pressure canner/cooker.

I slightly browned the bones then added 4 large carrots (broke in half), 4 ribs of celery (broke in half), 2 onions (quartered), salt, 1 T whole peppercorns, 4 bay leaves, 2 cloves of garlic, 5 fresh basil leaves, a sprig of rosemary, 1 t thyme, and 1 t savory. Then add enough water to fill the pressure cooker between 1/2 and 2/3 full.

Then, lock on the lid and turn the heat up. When I could hear the steam coming out, I turned the heat down to low and let it cook for 45 minutes. Then turn the heat off, but keep it on the burner and let it cool down. After the pot cooled enough to be able to touch it, I carefully took off the lid to check out my stock.

My stock had a great aroma and a beautiful color. Now the only problem was storing it. As you can see, our freezer had reached its limit. So, I condensed it down by transferring to smaller pots and simmering until most of the water evaporated. This also gave me a good chance to skim off some fat. When it was all said and done, two batches of stock in the pressure cooker was concentrated down to 10 of these little containers, which fit in my freezer perfectly!

Now it's time to link up all of your creations!
Here are the rules:
1. You can link up as many posts as you'd like.
2. The post has to be made from scratch.
3. The post you link up MUST CONTAIN A RECIPE!
4. If you want to put my button somewhere, that'd be cool. You can grab the code for the Made From Scratch Tuesday button on the top right of my sidebar.

Made From Scratch Tuesday 11/1

 My favorite thing about pork tenderloins is you can throw them in the crock pot and not think about them until hours later. So on a Sunday when I'm trying to get all the things done I didn't so on Saturday, it's a perfect choice. To mix it up a bit this time, I made a spicy tenderloin. Here's what you'll need:

2 T Ketchup
2 T White Wine Vinegar
2 T A-1 Sauce
2 T Worcestershire Sauce
1 t Garlic Salt
1/4 c Sugar
1/2 t Ground Black Pepper
Dash of Hot Sauce (or more if you want it spicier)
One large onion, sliced

Lay out the onion slice in the bottom of the crock pot and put the tenderloin on top. If it has a "fatty side", lay that side down.

 

In a bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients. 

Pour the mixture over the pork loin, put the lid on the crock pot and cook on low 4-5 hours. That's all it takes to have a juicy hunk of pork on your dinner platter. I love this because it's so versatile. You can change up the spices and seasonings to suit your needs. And your leftovers make great pulled pork bbq! How can you go wrong?? 

We had some sweet and spicy couscous and roasted veggies with it....absolutely delicious!

Made From Scratch Tuesday 6/14

Summer time means grilling time around here. But sometimes we get tired of the same old burgers, so time to spice them up a bit! Stuffed burgers are a great way to do this.

Taco Burgers

 What you'll need:
1 lb ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning
Salsa
Cheese

Start by mixing the taco seasoning into the beef. Split beef in half and make very thin patties out of one half. Spoon on salsa and add chunks of cheese

With the other half of your ground beef, make more thin patties and top the first set. Make sure to get a good seal! You can also add egg whites to the edges for a better seal.

.Grill and enjoy!

Now, it's time to link up some of those great dishes you make from scratch!
Here are the rules:
1. You can link up as many posts as you'd like.
2. My only content rule is it has to be made from scratch.
3. If you want to put my button somewhere, that'd be cool. You can grab the code for the Made From Scratch Tuesday button on the top right of my sidebar.

Made From Scratch Tuesday 5/24

 A few weeks ago, we tried these Bertolli frozen meals. They were pretty good. We really like the manacotti stuffed with ricotta, spinach and chicken. But, they are a little more expensive than I prefer for a dinner for two. I decided I could probably make these myself for cheaper, and they would probably taste better. So here's my first attempt:

Spinach and Chicken Stuffed Manacotti
What you'll need:
Chicken breasts-cooked and diced
Fresh Spinach, chopped
Ricotta Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese
Manacotti-cooked and drained
Alfredo Sauce

After cooking and draining the pasta, stuff them with the mixture of cheeses, chicken and spinach. I couldn't find my pastry bag, so I used a gallon size ziploc bag and cut the corner off!

Pour a little alfredo sauce in the bottom of a glass pan and place stuffed pasta in a baking dish. Top with alfredo sauce and bake for 25 minutes at 350.

I also added some fresh Parmesan cheese to the top to get the browned cheese effect.

 

Here's what I learned:

1. My version is cheaper and tastier!

2. My version is a LOT more work! 

Still trying to decide if it was worth it, but the husband says it's definitely worth it!

Now, it's time to link up some of those great dishes you make from scratch!
Here are the rules:
1. You can link up as many posts as you'd like.
2. My only content rule is it has to be made from scratch.
3. If you want to put my button somewhere, that'd be cool. You can grab the code for the Made From Scratch Tuesday button on the top right of my sidebar.

Made From Scratch Tuesday 5/17

I'll apologize up front; I don't have a picture of the finished product. Honestly, it was eaten before I could grab the camera!

One of the husband's favorite dishes is spaghetti and meatballs. I don't make it very often, but when I do, it's always a hit. In fact, he likes it so much, I make a big pan of it so he can eat the leftovers all week long. Fair warning...I rarely measure when I cook so I'm not even going to attempt to tell you all how much I used of each ingredient.

What you'll need:
Cooked pasta (in this large batch, I use a pound of spaghetti).
Cooked Meatballs (recipe below)

• Ground Beef (for the best meatballs, mix in some ground turkey and Italian sausage too; about 2 lbs total!)
• Eggs (I use 1 egg/lb of meat)
• Bread crumbs
• Sage
• Parsley
• Basil
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Salt and Pepper
• Garlic (1-2 cloves/pound of meat)
• Onions (yellow-1/2 large onion/lb of meat)
• Combine all and form balls. Brown in skillet, then cook fully in a covered baking dish at 375. I like to cook mine on a rack, but that's not necessary.

Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
Spaghetti Sauce

In a large baking dish, put down a layer of cooked spaghetti, just enough to cover the bottom. Add meatballs and cheeses. (below is the only picture I managed to snap)

Top with remaining pasta, sauce and more cheese! Bake at 375 until bubbly and cheese starts to brown. Serve with this amazing garlic bread! Yes, that's another Paul Deen recipe. Can you tell I'm super excited for my upcoming trip to Savannah? Stay tuned the next week and a half for more Paula-inspired meals!

So now it's time to link up all your fantastic dishes. (Yes, I'm aware I posted this a day early, but it happens sometimes)

Pork kabobs with peppers and onions

Can you really go wrong with meat on a stick? There's something almost primal about it. Tonight, we enjoyed kabobs with peppers and onions, pork and of course some garlic cloves! I really need to buy another kabob rack so we can do fruit at the same time.

Stuffed Pasta with Sausage

 

The other day I was out doing my grocery shopping, and Meijer had the large bags of spinach on sale cheaper than the small bags. So logically, I bought the gigantic bag. Because I hate to throw food away, we've been eating spinach with every meal. And let me tell you, I'm starting to run out of ideas here on how to cook it. But then I remembered that I picked up some chicken sausage (with garlic and mozzarella)  that would be perfect with pasta. My first thought was to do stuffed shells, but I was out of large shells. Making the most of what I had on hand, I used lasagna noodles. A little unorthodox, but it ended up being a great dinner. 

What you'll need:

3 lasagna noodles, cooked al dente 

8 oz ricotta cheese

4 cups fresh spinach

Sausage, cut into pieces

Spaghetti Sauce

Parmesan Cheese

While the noodles are cooking, put the spinach in the food processor and process until it looks like lawn clippings, as my husband likes to call it. 

Add in ricotta cheese and process until smooth.

You'll have some of this left over, but it's great to add to just about any pasta dish and it will keep for a couple days. Now, lay out one lasagna noodle and cut into thirds. Scoop about 2 tablespoons of the spinach/cheese mixture into the noodle and roll up. 

Lay in the bottom of a 9" pie plate. Repeat. Add in sausage. 

Pour spaghetti sauce on top and sprinkle on Parmesan cheese. 

Bake at 375 for 35 minutes, or until bubbly and cheese has started to brown.

The husband loved it! I tried to get him to eat a spinach salad with it, but I guess that may have been pushing it a bit too far!

Have you check out all the fantastic blog parties on my sidebar? I LOVE all my blog hops, but I have a special place in my heart for the foodies! If you see one on the right that tickles your fancy, please check it out!
And speaking of foodie blog hops, have you checked out my new blog hop? Made From Scratch Tuesday is my new hop to show off all the hard work you put in to creating fantastic dishes from scratch.

Meatball Monday

Big shout out to KDBuggie Boutique! She chose me as one of the spotlight blogs! Make sure you check out the Mingle Monday blog hop on her page!

Meatballs are one of those things I just don't like. To be clear, I do like meatballs, just not in sauce. I don't really like any meat in my spaghetti. I know, I'm weird. Anyway, I actually make them quite often since it's one of those meals everyone will eat and love.

To start, I pull out my Pampered Chef chopper. I have no clue what it's called, I just know I love chopping food into pieces with it. I usually use one large clove of garlic, but since these bulbs were small, I used two. 

After I get that all chopped up, chop up about 1/4 of a large onion.

Put the chopped onion and garlic in a bowl and add one egg.

 

Then add about two handfuls of bread crumbs.

 

Add in one pound of ground beef and herbs such as oregano, basil, thyme, salt, pepper, and whatever else strikes your fancy. Mix well. The best way to do it is just to dig in with your hands! Since I have a little OCD and some texture issues, I use rubber gloves!

 

Form into balls about the size of golf balls and set aside.

Get out a large pan and get it heated up. The pan must be hot to get a good sear on all sides of the meatballs. That's the secret to holding all the wonderful juices in! Once the pan is hot, drop in meatballs, one at a time, flipping the others around as you add more in to get the outsides brown.

 

When you get the outsides browned, add just a little bit of tomato sauce, turn down to medium-low, and cover to finish cooking. 

 

When the meatballs are fully cooked, drain and return to pan. To make sure the meatballs are fully cooked, use a meat thermometer, or my method; grab the biggest one and cut it open!

 

Add your spaghetti sauce, and heat on low until sauce is bubbly. Spoon over pasta and enjoy!