You say Stuffed Cabbage... I say Pigs in a Blanket- Phfft.. It's all about the soup, really.

     Back (and sadly, I really do mean Baaaccckkk!) in the day, when I was learning about cooking from my Mom and Grandma, we had a dish that was to die for- Pigs in a Blanket.  It would take the most of the day- and some second degree burns to create this heavenly food.  The pork and ground beef with spices and rice were rolled into balls, then scalding hot steamed cabbage leaves were wrapped around the outside, placed in a large stock pot and left to simmer for hours.  When we sat down the eat, each bundle was cut open, and scandalously, a butter tab was melted into it, some cider vinegar and salt and pepper.  It was to die for...OMG- we ate them til they were coming out of our ears, AND they got better the next day.  So much work though, so we only got them once or twice a year- and we rejoiced like it was a holiday!
     Fast forward about 20 years, I am sitting at my wedding rehearsal dinner- and talk starts about "pigs in a blanket".  When I gush on about how much my family loves them... well, there were some looks.  Come to find out- the rest of the world calls them "stuffed cabbages" ( how un-inventive is THAT!) and apparently thinks that "pigs in a blanket" are *gasp* little cocktail wieners rolled up in refrigerated dough!  Plus they add tomato sauce to the equation... unheard of!
     What does this have to do with the soup?.... Well little really. :)  Just goes to show what you may call a potato, I call a potatoe!
      As I was really honing in the cooking skills about 10 years ago.  I had a great soup that was based on stuffed peppers.  I loved it and it started me thinking about the last time I had had "pigs in the blanket"- and it was a really, really long time.  So I started out to remake this dish in an easier, more convenient manner.  It took some time- and a LOT of convincing to get my Hubby to eat cooked cabbage... LOL, but now I have a recipe that the co-workers will start asking for every 6 months or so.  Then they eat until they are groaning- it is that good!  And I have to bring it into work- if it sits in my refrigerator- I eat it until I am literally stuffed, myself.
    So here goes my version of this soup- simple and designed to let the flavors come through- the longer it cooks, the better- and it is even better the second day. And yes, as you read through this, I caved to the tomato-sauce-on-the-cabbage-loving world thought, and I have admit it is a better taste!

Unstuffed Pigs in the Blanket Soup

1 lb ground beef
1 roll pork sausage
1 small onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 cup of diced carrots ( I use the baby ones and slice them into three pieces of round)
6 cups of chicken stock- (I use 8 tbsp. of stock base and add to 6 cups water)
salt and pepper
1 can of diced tomatoes , the 28 oz or so one
I small can of tomato sauce
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 head cabbage, cut into shreds
1 1/2 cups rice (regular if I have lots of time- instant brown if not)

You can make this in a soup pot or in a crock pot. I will give pointers to both versions in the instructions.
1. Crumble the ground beef and the pork sausage in a fry pan, and cook thoroughly- crumbling the meats as they cook. When all brown all the way through, remove the meat to a bowl with a slotted spoon reserving some of those good juices.
2. Remove all but about 2 tablespoons of the pan drippings. Saute the diced onion, minced garlic,
 and diced carrots for about 5 minutes, until onion is cooked.
3. Transfer the meat and the vegetable mixture to either a soup pot or a crockpot.  Add the stock, a couple of twists of pepper, the bay leaves, sugar, lemon juice, and cabbage, and the tomatoes.
4. If using a crockpot, put on high and let cook for about 4 hours, the cabbage should be wilted pretty well but not mushy. If I am using regular rice- I add it at the 3 hour time, then let it cook 2 more hours. Instant brown rice- I add that the 4 1/2 hour time- it cooks in 30 mins.
5. If using a soup pot, bring the soup to a boil , then turn down to a simmer, and let it simmer away for about an hour.  Then I add the regular rice, and simmer for another 45 minutes, or until the rice is cooked. If I use instant rice, then I simmer for 1 hour 45 mins and add the rice- let it simmer for 10 mins or so- until done.
6. Remember to adjust your seasonings at various times through out the cooking time- taste a little and add more salt and pepper if needed.
7. Serve!

And wait for the compliments!  I will admit that I still add the gulg of vinegar that I grew up loving to my bowl of soup.  My hubby (and, it seems, most of the whole rest of the world) do not share my love of vinegar!  That is yet another blog post! I do however, skip the butter. :)

So that is it!   Here is a picture of yesterday's soup.  There wasn't more than a bowlful left when I left work- and I had my very helpful pal, Deborah, who graciously agreed to eat that!

Enjoy!

And- as always, Live peacefully. Cook fearlessly.

Chris

Sometimes even the cook needs a night off...and an easy way out!

     Yesterday was a busy day for me... work, errands, and then homework. Yes, in additional to everything else- I am full time enrolled in a hospitality degree online.  Who needs free time? or sleep for that matter. LOL
     After spending a couple of hours working (and not completing, *sad face* ) changes to the appearance of the blog- I looked up and I was an hour after suppertime!  I did some quick internet searching and stumbled across a concept called "Skillet Lasagna".  According to the few recipes I looked at- I could have lasagna in about 40 minutes! and with only one pan!  This I had to try.
    So, as is normal in my kitchen- I didn't follow a recipe.. just kind of winged it on my own. And seriously... 40 mins later I had a reasonable facsimile of real baked lasagna!  The Hubby even had seconds!
     You can do an internet search for recipes- they are all over the place out there.  I will put mine here if you want to try it- Amounts of ingredients are all approximate, I think that most of us can eye ball in our skillets, and adjust for the ingredients that we like better.

Skillet Lasagna by Chris

1 pound or so of sweet Italian sausage
1 (28 oz) can of diced tomatoes
About 6 or 7 lasagna noodles ( the recipes said no boil- I used regular)
1 jar of spaghetti sauce.- I used a mushroom one
Salt and pepper
Small container of ricotta
Shredded mozzarella
A bit of dried basil


1. In a large skillet, over med heat, brown and thoroughly cook the Italian sausage all the way through.
2. Add the can of diced tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Break the lasagna noodles into thirds or so and put them into the skillet- making sure that at least some of the noodle is under the sauce. Cover and high simmer until noodles are almost al dente.  This took about 13 or 14 minutes, and I stirred the skillet a couple of times to make sure the noodles kept under the sauce.
3. I added the spaghetti sauce, and stirred well, brought that to a simmer too.
4. Put spoonful dollops of the ricotta cheese on top of the lasagna, then sprinkled with a fair amount of shredded cheese. Cover and simmer on low for 10 mins or so until the ricotta is warmed thoroughly, and the cheese melted.
5. Next time I will sprinkle with some dried basil.
6. At this point- everything was melted and warm, but the cheese was lacking some color- so I put the broiler on high- and placed the lasagna under it til the cheese got some color.

     Not a great picture ( I really didn't expect it to taste sooo good!), but you get the idea.  It was pretty yummy.... and only required about 10 minutes of actual prep time- the rest was all in the skillet.  I know that this will be in regular rotation for dinners now.  And now I am looking for other ideas of things that I can do in one skillet.. Any ideas out there?
As always- Live peacefully.  Cook fearlessly.
Chris

And so it begins, ... again

Hello all-
    My name is Chris and I am embarking on a journey to write a recipe collection.  Yep, just like every other foodie in the world!  LOL  But, to my advantage.. I have a friend that IS a writer, and ... as long as she continues to answer the phone- she has been giving me some great advice!  Thank you, Deborah Blake! <3
      The reason this blog is named "... again"- is that I started a blog in 2014, and promised to write on it every week.  Then, as predicted, Life stepped in... and Blogspot deleted the old blog.  (Insert sad, unhappy face here).  But- I'm just going to make lemonade, as the old saying goes.

     So- this week I am going to talk with you about my experiences with a nifty new tool out there- the SPIRAL NOODLE maker.

      I had been looking at this thing for all of the Christmas season- but was wary of how cheap it looked, and I was really NOT supposed to spend any more money on kitchen gadgets. (yep. it's an addiction- and its a blog post for later!) But the reviews on this model were middle of the line- to above, AND I got a gift card to the store that had it... so home it came.
     It is a little on the "I think it is going to come apart side", and the suction cup on the bottom doesn't stick to tile.. but I plugged a zucchini into the thing and a couple of minutes later,  ZOODLES!

      Such lovely curls of veggie goodness!  Next I needed both a sauce- and to use up the left over shrimp from New Year's eve. So I made up a simple sauce of minced fresh garlic, olive oil, some dill, the chopped shrimp, some sauteed left over veggies from the same party's veggie platter (celery, green and red peppers), salt and pepper.  When it was crisp tender and warmed through- I turned it off and added fresh lemon juice to brighten it.  I didn't want the zoodles to lose any good texture and become slimy- like over cooked zucchini can become... so I microwave steamed them for 1 min 15 seconds.
      Put it all together in the bowl- added some cheese ( If I had had Parm- it would have been on.. but I made do with some Swiss), and......

  OMG- so yummy!  I inhaled it! Definitely going on the keepers list!  Well- here is the first blog done... Second time coming soon...
Keep cooking fearlessly out there!
Chris