June 14 - Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard 

AKA 

Granny's Garden Meals

(garden, freezer or pantry items are in parentheses)
* means recipe is included

Thursday
Barbecued Pork Baby Back Ribs

New Potato Salad (potatoes, celery, onion)

Steamed Spinach (spinach)

Skillet Cornbread with Honey Butter

Thursday's garden dinner used up almost the last of the fresh spinach.  I didn't have nearly enough planted for spring, so hopefully I'll be able to grow a fall/winter crop.  It was such lovely spinach, I think the best I've ever grown.  Having it covered with tulle made all the difference in the world.  Not a single leaf was damaged by leaf miners, not a a single miner egg was found.  There are still four plants in the garden that haven't yet bolted, so that will be used for salads.

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Friday
 *Crockpot Meatloaf (onion, parsley)
Steamed New Potatoes with Butter and Light Sour Cream (potatoes)

Green Beans (2011-freezer)
Lemonade

Rhubarb pie (rhubarb) 

*Home Made Vanilla Ice Cream 

My dinner was served on a small plate, because my jeans are getting too tight and I really wanted dessert!  I'll never get Mr. Granny to stick to a really healthy diet (or to use a small plate), but at least I can feed him meals he likes, and control the portions.  The Crockpot Meatloaf was really good and moist, and there was enough left over for sandwiches, as well as another full meal for the freezer.

Fresh rhubarb was begging to be made into another pie, so I decided we might as well let it all hang out and have home made ice cream with it. The rhubarb is getting juicier now.  It bubbled out of the pie and made a bit of mess in the oven, but that needed cleaning anyway.  I was almost out of butter, so I made my usual Crisco pie crust.  Daughter Amy was here having coffee and visiting with us while I was rolling out the pastry and putting it all together and, having a one track mind, I forgot to add the cinnamon and sugar to the top as I normally would.  Oh well, it was good anyway!

Crockpot Meatloaf 

Serves 8 

 2 pounds lean ground beef 

1 cup diced onion 

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats 

1 large egg 

2 large egg whites 

3/4 cup ketchup, divided 

1 tablespoon light soy sauce 

1 tablespoon dried parsley 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon pepper 

1 tablespoon prepared mustard 

2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed 

 In large mixing bowl, thoroughly combine ground beef, oats, egg, egg whites, 1/4 cup ketchup, soy sauce, parsley, salt and pepper. Shape mixture into loaf and place in crockpot. Combine remaining 1/2 cup catsup, mustard and brown sugar. Spread mixture over the top of meatloaf. Cover; cook on LOW for 6-8 hours (in my large crockpot, mine was done in 5 hours) or on HIGH for 3-4 hours. 

Easy Vanilla Ice Cream 

1 cup sugar 

4 egg yolks 

1 1/2 cups whole milk (it's also good with low fat milk)

1 1/2 cups whipping cream 

2 tsp. vanilla 

Combine sugar, egg yolks and milk in blender. Process until completely blended. Pour into saucepan and heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and place waxed paper over the top of the custard to prevent skin from forming. Chill several hours or over night. The next day, stir in heavy cream and vanilla before adding it to your ice cream machine. Follow the ice cream machine's directions to freeze ice cream.  *For strawberry ice cream, I just mash fresh or thawed strawberries with a little sugar and add it to the chilled custard mixture.  I don't measure, but probably use about a cup of mashed berries.


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Saturday

Tuna Noodle Casserole

*Harvard Beets (beets)

Fried Zucchini (zucchini)
Salad (spinach, lettuce, celery, radishes, tomatoes)
Ranch Dressing (garlic, chives, dill, parsley)
Rhubarb Pie (rhubarb)
Home Made Vanilla Ice Cream

Mr. Granny really doesn't like tuna casserole at all, but since I harvested the first zucchini and fried it for him, he was happy enough.

Son John came by while I was cooking dinner, and ate a big cold meatloaf sandwich, topped off with rhubarb pie and home made ice cream.

Harvard Beets

2 cups cooked sliced or diced beets (reserve 1/3 cup cooking liquid)

3 or 4 Tbsp. sugar (I like 4)

1/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

1/4 cup vinegar

2 tbsp. butter

Combine sugar, salt and cornstarch in saucepan.  Stir in vinegar and reserved beet cooking liquid.  Cook and stir until thickened.  Add beets and butter.  Heat through.

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Sunday

Pot Roast with New Potatoes, Onions and Baby Carrots (potatoes, onions, carrots)

Gravy

Salad  (lettuce, spinach, celery, radishes) with

Balsamic Vinaigrette
Home Made Strawberry Ice Cream with Fresh Strawberries on Top (for Mr. Granny)
Lemonade


 The salad is ready for dressing.  Mr. Granny likes savory toppings, so he had garden fresh radishes and celery, while I opted for dried cranberries and walnuts.

Sunday dinner was one of my favorites, especially with the sweet onions, baby red potatoes and carrots that were fresh from the garden.  The browned roast, onions, beef broth and seasonings were combined in my old cast iron dutch oven, then roasted (covered) for three hours at 300F.  The potatoes were added after an hour, and the baby carrots went in for the final 45 minutes of cooking (30 minutes probably would have been enough, they were so young and tender).

I've been using a salad plate as my dinner plate.  It holds just the right amount of food for me.  Mr. Granny still gets his regular sized dinner plate filled.

Preserving the garden:  I set aside enough fresh snap peas for Monday's dinner, then prepared 16 ounces of sugar snap peas for the freezer.  These were blanched for 90 seconds, cooled in ice water, drained and patted dry, then frozen on the wire rack before bagging and sealing.

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Monday

Pan Fried Pork Chops

*Easy Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes (potatoes, onions)

Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas (sugar snap peas)
Chilled Sliced Peaches with Fresh Raspberries (raspberries)


Monday was pork chop night.  I buy pork sirloin roasts from Costco, and slice them into boneless chops.  They cook up nice and tender, and are much less expensive than packaged pork chops.  One of the small roasts (they come in a package of four) is enough for at least three meals for the two of us.  I picked the first raspberries, and scattered them over our peaches.  Mr. Granny got most of them, but that's OK....he's special.

Easy Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

based on a recipe from KitsapFG

http://www.modernvictorygarden.com/scallopedpotatoes.htm

4 cups thinly sliced potatoes 

1/2 cup thinly sliced onion (my addition)

2 tablespoons flour 

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

3 tablespoons butter

2 cups scalded milk 

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a 2 quart greased baking dish, place a layer of about 1/3 of the potatoes and half of the onions.  In a cup or small bowl, combine flour with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle about half of the flour mixture over the potatoes; repeat with another layer of potatoes, the remaining onions and the flour mixture and top with remaining potato slices.  Dot with butter.  Pour milk over potatoes.  Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.  Uncover and sprinkle cheese over top.  Bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until scalloped potatoes are tender and cheese has melted.  Serves 6 to 8.

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Tuesday

Roast Beef Hash (onions)
Buttered Peas and Carrots (peas, carrots)
Cherry Tomatoes (tomatoes)
Pineapple and Cottage Cheese Salad

Lemonade

On Tuesday, I needed to use up the leftover roast beef.  Mr. Granny's favorite dish in the whole world is roast beef hash.  I decided to use up some of my store bought potatoes for the hash, rather than use the new potatoes from the garden.  With all the beef and onion, the flavor of the young potatoes would be wasted.  Freshly picked peas, the first of the year, were so very good with the baby carrots.  The meal was a bit heavy on the color yellow, but the tomatoes had to be used up.  And I'm always ready for lemonade.  And pineapple.  

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Wednesday

Hamburgers on Home Made Buns
Burger Toppings (onions, lettuce, relish)
Fried Zucchini (zucchini) for him -  Sweet Potato Fries for her
Home Made Vanilla Ice Cream with Raspberries (raspberries)

Two big hamburger buns for our Wednesday dinner, and nine smaller buns for the freezer.  Those small ones are just screaming to be filled with slow cooked pulled pork, but Mr. Granny doesn't like pulled pork!  Do I dare make a pot just for myself?  I think maybe I should  :-)

I got a bit carried away on the size of the burger buns.  I served one to Mr. Granny, but I opted to use one of the smaller dinner rolls for my meal.  The buns were buttered and grilled, and topped with sirloin burgers.  The Walla Walla sweet onions were just that....sweet!  And good!  Thin sliced onions, home canned sweet relish, fresh garden lettuce, cheese and mayo were the burger toppings.    I chose sweet potato fries, while Mr. Granny wanted fried zucchini (picked fresh that morning).

I drizzled my sweet potato fries with a bit of honey.  I first ate them that way at Outback Steakhouse, and developed a mad passionate love for them.

Home made vanilla ice cream, topped with fresh raspberries.

So ends a week in Granny's kitchen.....I'll bet you're all happy that's over!

Our hostess for Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard is Robin, from The Gardener of Eden. Be sure to check out her blog to see what others have been using from their gardens, pantries and freezers.