New England Boiled Dinner (Corned Beef)

New England Boiled Dinner

It used to be that I was the only one around here that liked Corned beef, then my oldest liked it. Now There are three of us here who like it. My oldest, my middle, and myself. My youngest likes the veggies and will eat those very happily. I stocked up on Corned beef because it was a great price and I have never made one myself from just a beef brisket. I keep saying I'm going to and I never get around to it. Maybe next year. The best part about a New England Boiled dinner is of course leftovers! It's delicious the night of, with tender veggies nom nom. But sandwiches the next day... or everything chopped up and heated in a skillet and topped with a fried egg. That is why I like to make extra, or have extra on hand!
I discovered that cooking this in and electric pressure cooker is the way to go. It's perfect because I can cook the beef from frozen or thawed in just a little over and hour. After that the vegetables take about 7-10 minutes depending on how big you cut them. I think that's my favorite part. I used to cook everything on the crock pot/ slow cooker. The problem with that is the whole house smells like corned beef. Great for the people who like it, not so much for the people who don't. Then you had to put the vegetables in and time it. There's no need to check the beef an hour out and add vegetables with the pressure cooker.

Ginger Soy Short Ribs

I'm updating this recipe that was posted here in 2009. Just some small changes but they pack a punch!  These ribs are so good served with rice, roasted or steamed vegetables, cucumber/papaya salad, and a side of Lao Tomato Chutney.

When prepping one batch of these short ribs, double the recipe! Place one recipe of these Ginger Soy Short Ribs in a foodsaver or zip bag. Put it in the freezer for another night, easy peasy.

All the marinade ingredients can be put in a blender and pureed to make the process quicker.

Lao Style Egg Rolls

Egg Rolls are a childhood favorite of mine.
My children enjoy them also.
We eat them "plain" or in lettuce wraps.

I originally posted this Egg Roll "method" here. It's not really a recipe because I tend to make my Egg Rolls with whatever is on hand. This time around I threw in 1/3 cup of black fungus, that was soaked in water and rinsed well. I do prefer pork in my egg rolls, but I don't mind doing half

 pork and turkey or chicken. I feel beef is a little over powering.

There is a recipe for Vietnamese Rice Paper Egg Rolls-  Chả Giò HERE.

Golden brown goodness: Egg Rolls

Prime Rib Roast

I made this Prime Rib Roast for my little one's birthday dinner, it was perfect with oven roasted potatoes, roasted broccoli, sliced tomatoes and basil, and Yorkshire Puddings.

Prime Rib Roast. Prime. Rib. Roast. Medium rare. Nom, nom, nom. I've posted prime rib before, it's interesting looking back and seeing how I did things before, how I tweak things here and there. I admittedly rarely make a recipe the same way twice unless I'm testing it post here one Give Peas A Chance. It's not how I normally cook. Baking is different. I tend to stick to recipes for the most part when it comes to baking. What about you? Does you family tease you about never having the same meal twice? I can't help it, it's just how I cook. Prime Rib Roast really is just a method though. It is, then you just season it how you like? Most cooking is just methods also. That's why it's fun.

I really like this method, and I've stated before that you don't NEED a thermometer, it's so handy and will guarantee you a perfectly cooked roast, and let's face it this isn't a cut you want to go to waste because it's over done right? Get a meat thermometer, you'll be glad you did. My new ovens have one built in! I'm so glad too!

Manic Monday- Pineapple Pork Ribs

I haven't made these Pineapple Pork ribs in a while! I think I'll put them on the menu!
You can find the simple recipe HERE, they are an oldie but goodie here on Give Peas A Chance.

Have a fantastic Manic Monday!

Find more "ManIc MoNdaY" posts here.

GPAC Prime Rib and Yorkshire Pudding

 

Tender, juicy, cuts with a fork like BUTTAH. That's all. Prime Rib is yummy stuff. Even if you get busy and leave it in a wee bit long and it's no longer rare. Which was still perfect for everyone, even if I prefer my steaks and Prime Rib rare. I also am working without my meat thermometer, which I usually use, like in this post. They really are handy. But you don't NEED one to make a good roast.

I seasoned this very simply, but you can do whatever you'd like. Cut slits in the roast, and slide slices of garlic or rosemary in there, rub it with your favorite spices. It's up to you! This just happens to be a method I use that works very well for me. I let the roast air out in the refrigerator uncovered for 24 hours, then let it sit on the counter for 1 hour so that it's not chilled in the middle before cooking

Curry "Noodle" Bowl

MMMM YUMMM. This is so very good, and everyone LOVES it. So very good. It's a quick meal and heats up well. A little heat from the curry and chili powders. Creamy and rich from the stock and coconut milk. It's grain free, sugar free, and dairy free also. Check your coconut milk and fish sauce ingredients to make sure they don't have any added ingredients that you don't want to be eating.
The curry can be made spicy or mild to your liking. Homemade curry powder is most flavorful if you make yours. I like to make big batches at a time.

More yumminess

Vegetable "noodles", Vegetable slicer.

I tagged this post primal/paleo because you can just leave out the grain noodles and use lentils as the binder in the meatballs. The plate you see up top there is Our Favorite Spaghetti Sauce, meatballs- I've used ground up lentils in place of binder NOM NOM, and a mixture of zucchini and regular wheat pasta. I did a mixture because I didn't want to change it all up on the kids at once. They all ate the zucchini, which I just blanched in the same pot as the pasta, at the end of the pasta cooking time. Then I drained it all together. They even said they LIKED it. So I'll be adding more and more zucchini and using less pasta. I have no issue with pasta I love pasta, but I like adding vegetables when I can into our diet. The thing is, I don't like whole wheat pasta. LOL. As light as the zucchini is, it still has a good bite to it- I can't wait to try it with this 3 ingredient red sauce!

Pasta bake 2 (Creamy)

Pasta bake, a family favorite. I do several versions. It's so easy- I put everything into a baking dish and it's done. 

I use either this Red sauce, or this one. A jar of sauce would work also.

A pizza version- pepperoni, cheese, other pizza toppings.

Veggie- adding summer squash, spinach that's been cooked and liquid squeezed out etc.

Sauce poured over prepared spaghetti squash and baked with cheese on top.

Add vodka and cream to the sauce.

Fresh basil, diced tomatoes and fresh mozzerella.

So many possibilities. This works with whole grain pasta's also.

The key to making this dish quick is keeping sauce on hand. I make HUGE batches of sauce to freeze, I keep a list to see how much I have on hand also. Yes, I am a bit... particular. :O

3 to 3 1/2 cups sauce (red)

16 ounces uncooked short pasta

1 1/4 cups water

3 tablespoons butter

2 cloves minced garlic

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

garlic powder

1/2- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

salt

pepper

2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided (you can use any cheese you like, fresh mozzarella won't melt smooth for this sauce though.)

1 cup milk

3/4 cup cream

(pepperoni, if you want)

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a sauce pan, heat the butter until melted and foamy, not browned. Stir in the garlic and flour, cook until the flour is lightly browned. Add remaining spices. Whisk in the cream and milk until smooth. Whisk in cream cheese and 1 cup shredded cheese until creamy and smooth.  Remove from heat.

Pour the red sauce into a 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle pasta on top, stir to coat. Pour the water on top of the pasta. Pour cheese sauce on top. If you want to use pepperoni, sprinkle some on top of the pasta and sauce.

Cover the pan tightly with foil. Bake for 45 minutes. Check to see if the pasta is tender, stir. Sprinkle cheese on top and put it in the oven for 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Let this set for 10 before serving. Sprinkle with fresh basil and or parsley.

3 Ingredient Meat and Potatoes (Crock pot)

Another meal in the crock pot! What is going on here? Could it be that I'm finally getting the hang of using my crock pot? Possibly. Probably not. But this was a success! Main dish and one side all in the crock pot. You could add a packet of mushrooms and caper butter, if you have a big enough crock pot!
The awesome thing about this meal is that the flavors aren't all mashed together- sure sometimes you want a nice blending of flavors. Not so much here. Besides, in a crock pot everything is just too blended for my liking. It's also SO easy that my 7 year old can do it. I kid you not. She washed, dried, and wrapped the sweet potatoes. For the meat I cut the slab of pork ribs in half so it would fit in the crock pot, I suspect an adult should do that part. Really, this "recipe" only has three ingredients. Unless you count butter, salt and pepper or cinnamon sugar for the sweet potato. Serve the it all with a green salad and dinner's done.

The only thing you really need is a big enough crock pot. I was able to get 4 potatoes and the ribs into my big crock pot. I decided to use my smaller crock pot also. I put three potatoes in the small crock pot and three in the big one, so we had leftovers.

Freezing ground meat in easy use portions.

 Sometimes when I buy ground meat I don't need it all at once. When I don't want to pull out my food saver I just put all the meat in a gallon size bag and flatten it out. Press out the air to prevent freezer burn. Then to portion it out so that it's easy to break off what I need without using extra bags I score the bag/meat so it freezes with the lines you see pictured. Freeze the meat flat. When you need a portion just break it off and put the rest in the freezer.

Find more Freezer Tips here.

Give Peas A Chance Mummy Meatloaf

Check out this Mummy meatloaf!
 I think next time I'll use sheets of phyllo dough because it's more parchment like and I think will look better longer. For phyllo I would take the meatloaf out when it's almost done, wrap it with thin sheets and brown it for a bit in the oven.
We don't celebrate Halloween but I thought that it was cute. Kind of morbid though... mummies. hmmm.

I made this Cajun meatloaf in a round spring form pan. Bake the meatloaf on a jelly roll pan because you want the fat to drain away on it it. You can just shape the meat into a round and bake it in a jelly roll pan also.
Let's dress this meatloaf up to look like a mummy! Here's what I did: