Something different--Chilled Rice Salad

Chilled Rice Salad
The Red Hat Society Cookbook Copyright 2006

3 ½ cups cooked white rice
1/3 cup finely chopped tomatoes
1/3 cup diced green onions
1/3 cup diced cucumber
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine the rice, tomatoes, green onions, and cucumber in a medium serving bowl. Blend the oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper in a small bowl or jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake well and pour the dressing over the rice mixture. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Stir before serving.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.
_______________________

This seemed like a simple, easy and inexpensive recipe, although the price of rice sure has skyrocketed. I doubled the dressing which was fine when I first served it but for leftovers, it was kind of bland and I added some bottled creamy Caesar dressing and I thought that was even better.

Tonight is grocery night and I haven't even started my list yet. It's time to concentrate on economizing rather than interesting recipes, unfortunately.

Question of the Day: Have you ever eaten a rice salad? I'm can't believe that this is my first but at the moment I can't think of any others that I've eaten.

Might be eating this every night--Hamburger Casserole

Hamburger Casserole
Home Cooking 2005 Recipe Annual Copyright 2005

1 pound ground beef
½ cup chopped onion
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1 (10 ¾-ounce) can tomato soup I used the lower-sodium version
1 (15-ounce) can cut green beans, drained
1 1/3 cups instant potato flakes
1 egg beaten
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 1 ½-quart casserole dish.

Brown ground beef with onion; drain. Season with salt and pepper; stir in tomato soup and green beans. Place in prepared dish.

Prepare instant potatoes as package directs, omitting milk and adding egg. Spoon potato mounds over casserole. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

Serves 4 to 6. (6 would be a stretch)
_______________________

I might have to start making this recipe quite often. Not that it was that good (it was good, not spectacular), but because it's a bargain and everyday I get hit with another bill related to Daniel's birth. The hospital bills are my favorite because they're for large amounts of money and they send you absolutely zero information besides the balance. I guess there aren't enough trees in the forest for them to itemize everything.

This wasn't bad. My son really likes canned green beans and he scarfed this down. My husband will sometimes pass on vegetables unless they're mixed right into the main course so this worked out well for him too. I just needed to pick up the soup and green beans to make this and it didn't take much time to make so it gets plenty of extra points for being cheap and easy.

Question of the Day: Do you like canned vegetables? I was raised on them so I actually like most of them - mushrooms, corn, green beans, peas, carrots, beets and even potatoes. One canned vegetable I don't care for is asparagus.

Not a bad start--Blueberry Pie

Blueberry Pie
The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook Copyright 1999

5 cups fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Pastry for double crust 9-inch pie
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon sugar

Sprinkle berries with lemon juice; set aside.

Roll half the pastry to 1/8-inch thick on a floured surface. Place in a 9-inch pie plate.

Combine 1 cup sugar and next three ingredients; add to berries, stirring well. Pour into pastry shell and dot with butter.

Roll remaining pastry to 1/8-inch thickness. Place over filling; seal and crimp edges. Cut slits in top to allow steam to escape. Brush top of pastry with beaten egg and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden. Cover edges with aluminum foil to prevent overbrowning, if necessary. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Yield: 8 servings

Extra-Flaky Pie Pastry (for a double crust)
Pie Copyright 2004
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 –inch pieces
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
½ cup cold water

Put the flours, sugar and salt in the food processor. Pulse several times to mix. Scatter the butter over the dry ingredients and pulse 5 or 6 times to cut it in. Fluff the mixture with a fork, lifting it up from the bottom of the bowl. Scatter the shortening over the flour and pulse 5 or 6 times. Fluff the mixture again. Drizzle half the water over the flour mixture and pulse 5 or 6 times. Fluff the mixture and sprinkle on the remaining water. Pulse 5 or 6 more times, until the dough starts to form clumps. When it reaches this point, do not continue to process. Empty the crumbs into a large bowl.

Using your hands, pack the dough as you would a snowball. Divide the dough in half, making one half – your bottom crust – a little larger than the other. Knead each piece 2 or 3 times. Put each in the center of a piece of plastic wrap and flatten it into a disk about ¾-inch thick. Wrap the plastic and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about an hour or overnight.
_________________________

I've made a lot of pies but I haven't tackled making my own pie crust. The red box is just fine for most things but it's just not the same as a flaky homemade crust. I've had blueberry pie on my mind for a few weeks now and I finally made one.

The result - part success, part disappointment. The good news is that the crust was the success. It was so light and flaky - even the thick edges. It wasn't pretty as I didn't give it enough time to chill and it fell apart on me. I decided to sacrifice looks for texture. I didn't want to overwork it so I just slapped it together.

The bottom crust was a bit underdone. I had the pie plate on a cookie sheet but next time I'd put the sheet on the lower rack. There weren't any drips but there could be next time.

The filling was a huge disappointment but I saw it coming. I had beautiful sweet berries - I knew an entire cup of sugar was way too much but I didn't have the time or energy to search out a different recipe last night so I decided to take a chance with this one and maybe I'd be wrong but I wasn't. Not only was the filling too sweet - it was a liquidly mess, even this morning after setting all night.

Oh well, I was more concerned about the crust and I was just happy about that. This is the first time I used a food processor to make pie crust and that definitely made the difference since I tend to overwork the fat when I use my hands. The cookbook I got the pastry recipe from also gives directions to do it by hand or by electric mixer.

I'll keep working on the filling but I'll use this crust recipe again.

Question of the Day: When did you last eat a slice of pie? What kind of pie was it?

Back to Auction - July 25, 2008

This was my first trip back to auction since the baby was born, and since my cookbook guy left me. I picked up a cauliflower ($2.50), 3 green peppers ($1), blueberries ($6 for local homegrown - there were cheaper options but these looked the best), 2 red peppers and a cucumber ($1.25 for both of those but I was overcharged - should have been 83 cents). I needed a new peppermill so I bought a peppermill, salt shaker set for $14. I have no idea if that's a good price but there's a nice kitchenware stand at the auction and I like supporting it. I saw similar sets on cooking.com for $19.95 and $29.95 so I'm happy with that price.

I stopped by someone selling 'junk' and saw a collection of McCall's softcover cookbooks (a partial collection, 11 out of 18 from the set). I walked away since I have other McCall books and I didn't see a price - basically I just wasn't in the mood to cookbook shop since it was hot and I had both boys with me. Well, the seller told me to just take them off of his hands and he tossed them into my stroller! I was caught off guard. I wanted to buy something from him but he didn't have anything I wanted. Then later I saw that he only wanted a buck for all 11 books (10 cookbooks and an index). Geez, I would have paid $1!

Not shown is the small root beer snow cone ($1) and pack of cotton-candy flavored bubble gum (55 cents) that I bought my son.

Total: $26.30.

My first cure--Lightly Cured Pork Loin

Lightly Cured Pork Loin
Weber’s Real Grilling Copyright 2005
Salt Cure:
3 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons prepared chili powder
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 boneless pork loin roast, about 1 ½ pounds, trimmed of excess fat

Glaze:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon orange marmalade
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard I used Jack Daniels Southwestern mustard
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. To make the salt cure: In a small bowl, mix the salt cure ingredients and rub it all over the roast. Cover and refrigerate for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
2. To make the glaze: In a small saucepan, stir the glaze ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and cook until the marmalade melts.
3. Rinse the roast under cold water, washing away all the salt and spices, and pat dry with paper towels. Allow to stand at room temperature for 10 to 30 minutes before grilling. Brush the glaze all over the roast. Grill over Direct Medium heat until evenly caramelized on all sides, barely pink in the center, and to an internal temperature of 155 degrees F, 40 to 45 minutes, turning every 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the grill and let rest for 5 minutes before cutting into ½-inch slices. Serve warm.

Serves 4 to 6.
___________________

I really wasn't expecting much from this recipe. How much would that short cure do? Well, it turns out quite a bit. I thought this roast was great. It was salty, but not too salty. I did leave it in the cure closer to 2 hours since I was going to try to take a nap before dinner so I decided to put the salt cure on it beforehand. That might have made it a tad bit saltier than if it had spent less than an hour in the cure.

The meat was nice and juicy too. I was out of Dijon mustard so I used a Southwestern mustard that I bought on a whim some time ago. The glaze adds flavor but it's not overpowering so the different mustard didn't make much of difference.

One nice thing about this maternity leave, I thought, was that I could finally make recipes that require a bit more prep time than I have on a work day. What the hell was I smoking? I want fast and easy recipes more than ever right now.

Question of the Day: Have you ever cured meat?