Best Kept Recipes

Pork Roast

July 22, 2008 by Linda

What a savory way to cook a pork roast. Prepare early in the day to marinate for a few hours, if time allows. Serve this to your friends and family in any kind of weather – it’s great year round. Homemade applesauce is fabulous alongside. Dig in and enjoy!

5 lb. pork roast
Heaping Tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. black pepper
4 bay leaves
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tsp. dried thyme

With a small, sharp knife, make some slits all round the roast. Mix the garlic, salt, and pepper together and rub all over and into the slits as best you can.

Place the bay leaves on the bottom of the roasting pan and place the roast on top, fat side up.

In a small bowl combine the vinegar and thyme and pour over the top of the roast. Cover the whole thing with aluminum foil and place in the fridge for as long as possible.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Take pan out of fridge for 30 minutes while oven preheats.

Bake for 3 hours, or until done, basting at least every 1/2 hour.

Filed Under: Pork

Creamy Tomato Soup

June 10, 2008 by Linda

This, folks, is the real thing. The stuff that we were given on snow days and anytime it rained. For a real treat, make a grilled cheese sandwich to have alongside. Mmmm good is right!

2 Tbsp. butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 or more cloves garlic – your taste choice
1 1/2 tsp. dried tarragon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. sugar
6 cups chicken broth
2 cans (28 oz. each) crushed tomatoes
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 Tbsp. grated orange zest – McCormick’s makes a good dry one
1 cup half-n-half or you can use heavy cream

Melt the butter in a large pot; add the onion and cook for 10 minutes. Add garlic, tarragon, allspice, & sugar and cook & stir for 1 more minute. Add the broth, tomatoes and paste, bring to a boil then reduce & simmer for 30 minutes – cover partially. Stir in the zest and remove from heat to cool for about 10 minutes.

Puree the soup (in batches) in a food processor or blender then return to the pot; stir in half-n-half, heat through over a lower heat and serve.

Filed Under: Soups & Stews

Iced Tea Sparkle

April 27, 2008 by Linda

Delicious anytime, but especially in the warmer months.

6 regular tea bags (not the flavored kinds)
3 cups boiling water
1 28-oz. bottle of lemon-lime flavored soda (Sprite, 7-Up, Sierra Mist, etc.)
Ice cubes

Place tea bags in a pot or teapot and pour the boiling water over; steep for 5 minutes then remove and toss out the bags. Pour into a large pitcher and let stand at room temperature to cool – this will take about 1 hour.

Stir in the soda. Place some ice cubes in glasses and add the iced tea.

Filed Under: Beverages

Please, Have A Seat

April 5, 2008 by Linda

For about five years now I’ve been visualizing my future dream kitchen. One of the things I will be incorporating into it is a big, wide, island counter with a few bar stools on the side. The kind of bar stool that I have in mind would be a lattice-back type. Swivel or not, makes no matter to me. Inviting family and friends over to gather in my kitchen at a “deli-style” counter area is one of my greatest ideas; perhaps with some Bruce Hornsby music in the background.

Everybody has a personal preference on what type of bar stool they’d prefer, but if you want to build your own or pick and choose from a myriad of colors, materials, and styles then Quality Bar Stool is the place to go. They even have indoor/outdoor stools! If you like the retro look, they’ve got ’em. If you click on the category entitled Aluminum Bar Stools, I think you’d agree that #1700 is a beauty and would go well in a contemporary or eclectic kitchen.

With both residential and commercial collections, as well as discount pricing from the top manufacturer’s in the nation, you can’t go wrong. Check them out for yourself.

Filed Under: Reviews

Book: Lidia’s Italy by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich

March 28, 2008 by Linda

I received this book as a gift and am very pleased. There are 336 pages filled with “140 Simple and Delicious Recipes from the Ten Places in Italy Lidia Loves Most”. So, it’s the author’s favorite foods when she travels to Italy. Who is Lidia? She has a public television cooking series and has written four other cookbooks- all well-written.

With that being said, here’s a sampling of what to expect: The places she visits to share the foods are: Istria, Trieste, Friuli, Padvoa & Treviso, Piemonte, Maremma, Rome, Naples, Sicily and Puglia. I’ve never been to Italy but cooking from this book almost had me booking a flight.

These are not your typical down-home-in-America recipes, yet the ingredients are not weird or “out there” like so many cookbooks based on European cooking have a tendency to be. They’re more rural, farm-style which is not a bad thing, but cooking a boar is not on my list of things to do before I die. Thank goodness you can substitute pork tenderloins. The potato gnocchi stuffed with prunes is literally mouthwatering. Velvety cornmeal-spinach soup with a slice of Frico – Oh! it will have you swooning.

I love this book but haven’t made any new friends because I’m not sharing! Seriously, you, your family and friends will thoroughly enjoy these recipes. Mangia!

Filed Under: Reviews

A Really Good Pot of Coffee

March 18, 2008 by Linda

It’s a no-brainer to tell you that the better the coffee. . .

But, you don’t have to spend a small fortune on coffee if you can make a good cup. I buy Dunkin’ Donuts coffee in the large bags at the wholesale club. Occasionally I receive very expensive coffee as a gift and that’s a real treat. Here’s my way, and everyone always elects me to make the coffee, so there’s your proof.

Determine how many people are having coffee. Those automatic drip coffee pots are for 8 oz. cups of coffee. When was the last time you had an 8 oz. cup of coffee? I get my mugs at Pier 1 imports, and it’s probably 10+ ounces. Either way, here’s what you do:

For each person, use the 2-cup line on the coffeemaker carafe as a determination for how much water to add then double the number. For 2 people, use the 4-cup line, for 3 people, use the 6-cup line and so on, then add 1 more cup water. You don’t have to add that extra cup; if you don’t then your coffee will be more “rocket fuel” – do what you prefer.

Use 5-1/2 teaspoons (Scant 3 tablespoons) for each 2 cups of coffee. Add the amount of coffee grounds you need to the machine.

Turn on and enjoy.

Filed Under: Beverages

Short Ribs of Beef

March 8, 2008 by Linda

Good luck cooking this for 2 full hours – your household will be standing around the oven trying to hurry it a long; it smells that good!

About 8 – 10 short ribs of beef
Kosher salt & pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. garlic powder – or more to taste
1 cup flour
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil – canola is okay, too
6-8 peeled and chunked potatoes
6 peeled and chunked carrots
4-6 chunked celery stalks
1 seeded and chopped green pepper
1 onion, sliced and diced – (optional) I normally don’t add one

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and get out a large roasting pan. Then get a out another large pot and place on the stove with the oil in it. Crank the heat to medium-high. Sprinkle the salt, pepper, and garlic powder over the ribs and rub it in on all sides; dredge each piece in the flour then brown well in the hot oil. This will take about 5 minutes per side. Then place in a single layer in the large roasting pan.

Peel and chunk all your veggies and place all around and on top of the meat. Sprinkle with a little bit more salt and pepper, then pour 1/4 cup water over all. Cover with aluminum foil and place in the oven for a full 2hours.

This is fabulous served with egg noodles. Enjoy!

Filed Under: Beef

Cookbooks

February 27, 2008 by Linda

I’ve been reading cookbooks for years. Like most people read novels in bed before retiring, I peruse cookbooks; lots of cookbooks. I collect cookbooks, and then when they’ve had their “say”, if it doesn’t strike just the right chord in my heart, I pass them on or donate them to my local library. Some of the best recipes you can find are in old, tattered pamphlets. Owning this website has also helped me put together my own treasure trove of recipes to pass on to my daughter, then one day the grandkids.

When poking around at yard or garage sales, I immediately stake out the kitchen items table or boxes then I hunt for the crate of cookbooks. Everybody has them, and so many don’t even care. How sad for them. There is such history, tradition, and fabulous meals awaiting if you’d open them and read. Lots of the old books don’t have pictures, and if they do, the prints make the food look fake and way too moist. Yuck! But try to get past that and play through the preparation in your mind. Sometimes they don’t work out at all, but more often than not, you’ll walk away with a delicious new foodie item that you’ve re-created for your family and friends.

Happy hunting!

Filed Under: A Few Tid Bits

Scrambled Eggs With Croutons

February 24, 2008 by Linda

This is an old German recipe that is sure to please every ethnicity.

2 Tbsp. butter
1 small onion, diced
1 cup cubed bread or large-sized seasoned croutons
4 extra large eggs
2 Tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1 Tbsp. minced chives – optional

Melt the butter in a skillet over med heat. Saute the onion and the bread or croutons for about 8 minutes. During this time, in a bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk and salt & pepper.

Pour the eggs into the skillet and stir and scramble them, mixing in the onions and bread, until the eggs are done the way you like them. Serve with chives on top.

Filed Under: Breakfast / Brunch

Some Measurements

February 2, 2008 by Linda

A few popular measurements to help you along.

Dash or Pinch = less than 1/8 tsp.

3 tsps. = 1 Tbsp.

4 Tbsp. = 1/4 cup

8 Tbsp. = 1/2 cup

16 Tbsp. = 1 cup

1 fluid ounce = 2 Tbsp.

1/2 pint = 1 cup

1 pint = 2 cups

1 quart = 4 cups or 2 pints

1 gallon = 4 quarts

4-5 cups grated cheese = 1 pound