TARBORO —
There are times when we just don’t want a large, fancy, complicated meal. The reasons may include being pressed for time or that we just aren’t in the mood to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
In this day and time, there are lots of advantages to having a repertoire of easy but delicious meals.
The recipes this week are some that my mother makes for me when I go home to visit. They can be served with cornbread, crackers or a salad to complete the meal, although they are not required.
The first recipe is an easy one, although not really a quick recipe. Everything is cooked in one pan and so clean-up is very easy.
The second recipe is one of my favorites. It is chicken and egg noodles. Any type of noodles that you prefer can be used. My mother uses no yolk noodles because they are lower in fat and cholesterol.
Beef & Rice
1-2 Lb Package Stew Beef
1 Cup Long Grain Rice (Not boil-in-bag)
3 Packages Brown Gravy Mix
Salt & Pepper to taste
Place stew beef in large pot filled half full with cold water. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to medium. Cook until beef is fork tender; approximately two hours.
Once beef is done, add rice and cook by directions on rice package. Add enough water to cook rice without drying out.
Mix brown gravy mix in a small bowl with a small amount of water so that all lumps are removed. Stir brown gravy mix into rice mixture. Add water if necessary to keep dish from drying out. Cook for an additional five minutes, stirring often.
Serve with warm buttermilk cornbread or crackers and a salad.
Chicken & Noodles
1 Large cut-up Chicken, or the equivalent amount in chicken breasts or thighs
1/2 Stick Butter or Margarine
1-1/2 Small bags of No Yolk Noodles
1 Large Can Cream of Chicken Soup
Salt & Pepper to taste
Cook chicken in boiling water until done. Remove skin and bones, shred chicken. Return chicken to pot and add water or chicken stock until three inches above chicken.
Add noodles and butter. Cook over medium heat until noodles are done, approximately 20 minutes.
Add Cream of Chicken Soup, stir and bring back to a boil. Immediately remove from heat. Note: if too thick, can be thinned with chicken stock or water.
Ham Casserole
3 Large Irish Potatoes, peeled and sliced
2 Cups Ham, cooked and diced or torn
1-1/2 Cups Shredded Cheese (any type you prefer)
1 Pint Heavy Cream
Paprika
Bacon Bits
Salt & Pepper to taste
Line bottom of 9x13 casserole dish with a layer of the potatoes. Sprinkle a layer of ham and cheese over potatoes. Continue until all ingredients are used, ending with a layer of sprinkled cheese. Pour cream over this mixture, sprinkle with Paprika and bacon bits.
Cook in 350-degree oven until potatoes are fork tender, approximately 40-45 minutes.
Did you know?
Casserole toppings:
Add any of these before or during cooking.
French fried onions
Crushed potato chips
Bread crumbs
Crumbled bacon
Grated or shredded cheese (add near end of cooking)
Cracker crumbs
Buttered herbed bread crumbs
Chopped pecans or other chopped nuts
Cooking tips:
• When time is short, don't give up on healthful eating. Simply take some short cuts to save on time and energy!
• When you have time to cook make a double or triple batch: For example, simmer enough pasta for two days. Serve it hot on one night with meat sauce, then chilled as a salad with tuna, parsley, and low-fat salad dressing the next. You can also freeze the additional portions of some foods (for example lasagna, pizza, casseroles, etc.) and reheat them at a later date.
• Buy prepared foods: For example, grated cheese; precut stir-fry vegetables; healthy frozen dinners; shredded cabbage; skinless chicken strips; mixed salad greens; pre-washed spinach; chopped vegetables. Even thin-sliced, lean deli meat is quick for stir-fried recipes.
• Plan ahead: Prepare ingredients ahead of time. Wash and trim a whole head of broccoli or cauliflower into florets. Skewer kabobs with vegetables and meat pieces the night before. Cook lean ground meat ahead for use in tacos, spaghetti or chili kabobs.
• Stock your pantry and your fridge with quick-to-fix ingredients: For example: pasta, instant rice, frozen and canned vegetables, canned fruits, bread, lean deli meats, salad ingredients, salsa, canned beans, milk, yogurt and cheese.
• Use quick cooking methods: Stir-frying, broiling, grilling and microwaving usually are faster than baking or roasting. Slice meat and poultry in thinner slices for faster cooking.
• Prepare meals that pack a variety in just one dish: Try chicken fajitas in a soft taco. Stuff tuna and vegetable salad into a pita pocket. Prepare a ham and spinach quiche. Make a chef's salad, requiring no cooking at all. Or prepare pasta with seafood, Swiss chard, kale or spinach and shredded cheese.
• Serve assemble-your-own menus: Perhaps deli sandwiches, mini-pizzas on English muffins, burgers with veggies and cheese toppings, or tacos.
• If you don't have a wok, use a cast-iron or nonstick skillet. Most dishes can be cooked with just a tablespoon of oil if you heat the pan first. Buy pre-cut vegetables to cut down on preparation time. Try stir-frying sliced lean beef and ready-cut broccoli with a dash of soy sauce and ginger root.
• Because microwaves cook so quickly, most of the nutrients in the foods you're cooking don't have time to escape. Be sure to read the cooking directions carefully; it's easy to overcook foods. Use the microwave to "bake" potatoes or winter squash and to reheat leftovers or soup. Fish fillets can be microwaved in minutes – add seasoning and a dash of milk, cover with wax paper, and cook.
• This handy kitchen appliance cooks food slowly at low temperatures. Set it up in the morning and dinner will be ready and waiting for you when you get home. Soups, stews, and pot roasts all make great crock pot meals. Create a variety of flavors by adding different types of canned tomatoes, herbs, and spices.
Karen’s Kitchen is a weekly column by Karen Freeman of Tarboro. Contact Karen at:
kvfreeman@suddenlink.net to exchange ideas, ask questions, submit recipes, tips or suggestions.
Karen's Kitchen
Related Photos
-
Everything in the Beef & Rice recipe is cooked in one pan and so clean-up is very easy. Photos/Karen Freeman
-
Ham & Potato Casserole garnished with bell pepper strips for added color and flavor.
-
Chicken and Egg Noodles makes a tasty and healthy meal
Sometimes only one-dish meals will do
- Karen's Kitchen
-
-
Reductions add zip to flavor
When I cook, I often don't have a lot of time to spend making exotic meals, so I decided that I want to get more for less. In cooking that often means reductions. It’s amazing how the taste of something can change just by cooking it down until most of the liquid is gone. Reductions are so ridiculously easy that I often ask myself why I don’t use them more often. They also keep well in the refrigerator for several days.
When creating reductions, it’s important that the ingredients be good quality. Concentrating a flavor that was mediocre to begin with changes it from mediocre to terrible. That particularly applies to wines, oils and vinegars. Buy the best that you can afford and don’t use anything that you wouldn’t want to taste alone.
It’s also important to cook the reduction sauce moderately and until it reduces to a thick, syrupy consistency. It doesn’t take very long, but don’t be in a hurry or it will burn. -
Great Fondues
My husband and I love to entertain. We also love fondue. There is no more fun way to surprise guests with a great meal than to fondue. I have 4 or 5 fondue pots. I use them regularly.
There are several ways to fondue. You can make the dessert fondue and I have a great chocolate fondue recipe below. Another fondue option is to have a cheese fondue for a starter before the meal or at a party.
The last fondue option is to make the main course the fondue. With this option you can use either wine, a broth or oil for the fondue. I alternate usually between the broth and the oil. Sometimes I use peanut oil and sometimes I use canola oil. I don’t generally use vegetable oil because it has a lower smoke point.
The first recipe is my wine fondue. The important thing to remember is to use a good white wine. Never cook with a wine that you wouldn’t serve to guests. It doesn’t have to be expensive but it does have to be a table wine. You can play with the spices to find the taste that you like. -
How to Make Knock off Latte's and more...
One of my weaknesses is Starbuck's Grande latté with 3 packets of Splenda. However, I live in a small town, like Tarboro, that doesn't have a Starbucks and I'm a cheapskate and don't want to spend that kind of money on a regular basis. The answer to that is to learn to make your own. Obviously I am not the only one who has that I idea as I found recipes all over the internet. Many of the called for buying expensive equipment. If I have to do that, I might as well drive to Starbucks. So, these recipes don't require anything except blenders and pots. In a few cases they require a little patience. Find me on Facebook and let me know what you think!
-
Soup's On
Even though the weather has been very warm lately, it will be cold again soon. When the cold comes back, it will be soup time. Of course, any time can be soup time! We love soup around our house.
Our first recipe is ham and potato soup. It's a simple soup but will smell good and taste even better.
The second soup is my all-time favorite - French Onion. I love it with a good gooey cheese on top. It's not a hard soup to make, so give it a try.
The third is potato and cheddar. That's a hardy soup but will become one of your favorites. It also has ham so it's almost the same as the first soup but with cheddar cheese.
The last soup is a leftover or potluck soup with pasta in it. This recipe makes 20 servings so you will have some to freeze or share!
When winter rolls back around, enjoy the cold with one of these soups. -
Craving Comfort
Comfort food is different for everybody, but the deep satisfaction each mouthful brings is the same. To warm the body and the soul on a chilly day, give your favorite comfort foods a delicious makeover with recipes that use Wisconsin-made Grand Cru Gruyere cheese. Gruyere is a great melting cheese with lots of flavor, which means you get more flavor in every bite.
-
Crockpot Sweet Things
If you stay busy, your crockpot can be your best friend. Even for dessert. These recipes take 2-3 hours to cook in your crockpot, so they can be cooking away while you are enjoying little league games or t-ball.
-
Cooking with Rum
A few weeks ago, a colleague went to Jamaica. He came back with bottles of Rum for our team. A very nice gesture and of course that made me start looking for rum recipes! There are a lot of them out there. Here are a few that I really liked and that I think you will enjoy too.
-
Bounty of the Sear
I'm currently working in Charleston. Probably until about the end of November. Of course that means great seafood. I can go down and buy it within a few hours of it coming off the boats. I love it! There is absolutely nothing that I love more than good seafood. Besides, I need the Omega 3's that come from eating seafood. So do you!
-
Butternut Squash is easy and delish!
My garden is beginning to fade away! It's hard to believe that summer is so close to being a memory. I'm not ready! But, one of the things that I love about the end of summer is harvesting my winter squash. This season we planted butternut squash. We vary what we plant each season.
-
Cool Summer Drinks
It has been sooo hot! I guess that we are paying for the mild winter that we had. I know I felt that heat here in Charleston, where I'm working right now. So, when it feels like 110 in the shade, it's a great time to cool down with icy cold and delicious summer drinks. Especially since you can find fresh fruit to go in them right now!
- More Karen's Kitchen Headlines
-
Raw: Trucker Bumps I-5 Bridge Before Collapse
Raw: Texas Deputy Shot by Colo. Suspect Honored
Major Detours Following Wash. Bridge Collapse
American Held in Grisly Czech Murders
Raw: Jersey Shore Reopens for Summer
UK-bound Pakistan Plane Diverted, 2 Men Arrested
Officials: Tsarnaev Friend Linked to Slaying
Obama:Sexual Assault Threatens Trust in Military
Bridge Collapse Survivor: 'Rough Day'
Jersey Shore Open for Business
Raw: Memorial Day Flags Placed at Arlington
New Wheelchair Lift Promises More Access
First Person: Mom Discusses Famous Tornado Photo
Raw Video: Washington State Bridge Collapse
Boy Scouts Approve Plan to Accept Gay Boys
