Beef & Barley Soup

Ingredients:

1/2 pound leftover roast (Today I used tri-tip.)

drippings from the roast or 2 cans beef stock

1 large onion, chopped

3 stalks of celery, chopped

6 carrots, sliced

1 pound bag of frozen cut green beans

2 -12 oz. cans of V-8 juice

3/4 cup pearl barley

boiling water to fill crock

Here’s the easy part.  Throw all the chopped, sliced and cubed ingredients in the crock pot.  Add the barley, stock or drippings and the V-8.  Fill the crock pot with boiling water.  Turn the crock on to high heat and cook for 6 hours.

Serve this soup with some fresh bread and a green salad!  Simple, delicious and nutritious.

Corned Beef Brisket

Ingredients:

1 corned beef brisket

1 onion coarsely chopped

5 cloves of garlic peeled and halved

seasoning packet from brisket

1 tablespoon pickling spices

1 teaspoon coriander seed

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon dill seed

boiling water to cover brisket

When I follow the package directions for corned beef brisket, it never has enough flavor for me so I add lots of extra spices.  The spices listed above are my favorites, but you can add anything you want.

In the bottom of the crock pot pour in the coriander, celery and dill seed.  Place the brisket on top and pour the season packet and pickling spices on top.  Place the garlic and onions around the brisket.  I boil the water in a kettle to help speed up the crock pot process.  Pour in the boiling water over the brisket and cover.

Cook on high for 5 – 6 hours.  Remove the brisket from the crock pot and allow to cool on a platter.  I am not very good at slicing the brisket thinly, so I use a fork and pull apart the brisket removing any fat along the way.  You can return to the cooking liquid to reheat if you so desire.

I serve this corned beef on a really good rye bread with mustard and Swiss cheese.   It really doesn’t need anything else.  One of my favorite side dishes for this sandwich is a coleslaw containing apples and pineapple.  Here’s the recipe:

Sweet Coleslaw

Ingredients:

1/2 of a large head of cabbage, chopped or shredded

1 granny smith apple, coarsely chopped

1 – 16 oz. can of chunk pineapple, well drained (reserve juice)

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Combine the cabbage, apple and pineapple and mix well.  In a jar combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, salt and sugar.  Shake well.  Add a little pineapple juice at a time to make the dressing the consistency you would like.  Pour over the cabbage mixture and mix well.  This salad can be made a few hours before serving with out getting soggy.

We all love this corned beef recipe and the coleslaw is also one of our family favorites.  I hope your family enjoys it as much as we do!

You have to plan ahead for this meal. The meat needs to marinate for at least 24 hours, so I started yesterday on this dinner. I also bought an inexpensive pork shoulder roast that will require a very long, slow cooking time, so I had to plan to have it ready to go into the oven before I left for work. The black beans also take a fairly long time to cook, so I put them in the crock pot this morning. A little planning will go a long way, because this is a delicious dinner. Here are the recipes:

Cuban Style Pork

Ingredients:
pork roast (I have used pork loin, pork shoulder and pork butt roasts for this meal)
lemons – at least one lemon per pound of pork
garlic – 3 or 4 cloves per pound, depending on how garlicky you want it to be
salt and pepper to taste

At least 24 hours before you need to put your roast in the oven, zest your lemons and squeeze out as much juice as possible. Peel and finely mince the garlic and mix with the juice and zest. Place the roast in a large bowl and pour the garlic and juice over the roast. I rub in the marinade before I cover and place in the refrigerator. Turn the roast in the marinade several time over the next 24 hours.

I cook this recipe on low heat for a long time. Heat your oven at 325°F. Place the roast in a heavy roasting pan with a lid or a cast-iron skillet and cover well with foil. Save the marinade in the refrigerator and every hour or so, baste the roast. Cook for about one hour per pound of meat. You will know when the roast is done, because it will be browned and falling apart. Slice or pull apart with a fork and serve with the following side dish.

Black Beans and Rice

Ingredients:
1 pound dry black beans
1 large onion
1 large green bell pepper
2 stalks celery
4 – 6 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 – 16 oz. can of crushed or diced tomatoes
4 cups of water for beans
2 cups of white rice
4 cups of water to cook rice

Chop the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Place the dry beans, vegetables, salt, pepper and canned tomatoes to the crock pot. Add the 4 cups of water and turn on high for approximately 5 hours. Check after a few hours and add more water if necessary to cook the beans until tender.

About half an hour before you are ready to serve dinner, boil the four cups of water. Add the rice to the boiling water. Turn down and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve the black beans over the white rice with your delicious Cuban style pork!

SAUSAGE LENTIL SOUP

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion chopped

4 cloves of garlic finely minced

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon oregano

1 tablespoon basil

16 oz. turkey or pork sweet Italian sausage

8 cups vegetable or beef broth

1 pound carrots chopped

3 stalks celery diced

2 large bell peppers chopped

1/2 pound dry lentils

1 – 16 oz. can crushed tomatoes

Parmesan cheese for topping

Cut the sausages into 1/2 inch slices.  The slicing is easier if the sausages are slightly frozen.  In a large heavy bottomed pan, brown the sausages in the olive oil.  Add the onion and sauté until tender.  Add the garlic and sauté until softened and fragrant.  To this mixture add the remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer.  Allow soup to simmer until the lentils are tender.  Serve topped with parmesan cheese.

You can also make this soup in the crock pot.  Just brown the sausage and then put everything into the crock pot for about 10 hours on low or 6 hours on high.

This soup is so tasty and filling.  Serve it with some nice fresh bread and maybe a salad and you will definitely be satisfied.  Hope you enjoy this one!

I organized my thoughts the night before.  Planning my meals ahead really saves me time and energy.  So, when I got up in the morning, I threw two coarsely chopped onions, 1/2 a bulb of garlic (peeled and minced), a jar of roasted red peppers, salt, pepper, one can of beef stock and a three pound London broil into my crock pot.  I set it on high and off to work I went.

When I got home six hours later the beef was totally done.  A quick taste let me know that the meat was very well seasoned and quite tasty.  I took two forks and shredded it right in the crock, leaving it in the juice and vegetables.  I then separated it into three portions.  One went into the freezer and one into the refrigerator for another meal in a day or two.

With the last portion of the shredded meat, I added one cup of my favorite bold and spicy barbecue sauce and re-warmed it.  At my six year old’s request, I made a pound of frozen broccoli and a batch of macaroni and cheese.  I served the beef on hamburger buns and dinner was done in about 20 minutes.  It wasn’t fancy, but it was wholesome and delicious.

With the other portions of the beef I am planning to make beef-stroganoff on Wednesday and a big pot of beef barley soup (in the crock pot) on Saturday.  I will let you know how it goes, but I know that it will be easy and scrumptious.  Dust off those crock pots!