Cooking with KP: May 2020

Kay's Easy Mushroom Rice Side Dish

Rice has always been one of my favorite foods. I like it any way I can get it. This is a quick side dish and a great way to use leftover rice. Perfect with beef, chicken, fish, or pork!

1 ½ cups of cooked rice that is at room temperature

½ stick butter

½ cup chopped onion

¼ cup diced bell pepper

1 Tablespoon chopped parsley

1 rib celery finely chopped

1 toe of garlic, chopped

1 4-ounce can of sliced mushrooms or sliced fresh mushroom (about 10)

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon seasoned salt

1 ½ Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Optional: chopped green onions for topping

In a large skillet, melt butter, sauté garlic for about 2 minutes, add all other vegetables and continue to sauté until softened. (About 5 minutes on medium heat). Add rice, garlic powder, pepper, seasoned salt, and Worcestershire sauce. Toss around until well mixed. If it seems too dry, add more butter 1 Tablespoon at a time, but you want the rice to stay firm, not wet and mushy. Sprinkle with chopped green onions.

Pasta with Roasted Vegetables

This recipe is my version of several that I have seen online. It makes a wonderful meatless meal or side dish. I hope that you will like it.

2-3 medium zucchini, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

10-15 cherry or grape tomatoes, cut half

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 small purple onion, cut in ½ inch pieces

4 Tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 pound long linquine or pasta of your choice

½ cup of reserved pasta water

2 Tablespoons parsley, chopped or dry flakes

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

¼ teaspoon of red pepper flakes (optional)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a long baking pan with foil. In a large bowl, place chopped zucchini, sliced tomatoes, chopped onion, sliced garlic, 3 Tablespoons of oil and salt and pepper to taste. Toss to coat veggies with oil. Pour on baking pan so that all veggies are in a single layer. Bake 20-25 minutes or until zucchini is lightly browned. While veggies are roasting, bring a large pot of water to a boil and boil pasta for 10-13 minutes. You will need to reserve ½ cup of the pasta water when you drain pasta. When pasta and is cooked, drain (keeping the ½ cup pasta water to the side). Return pasta to pot. Toss with the remaining 1 Tablespoon olive oil. Cover pasta pot with a lid. Remove roasted veggies from oven when they are ready. Pour the ½ cup of pasta water on the baking pan. Using a wooden spoon, scrape all the “browned” vegetable juice spots on the foil into the veggies and water. If you are using red pepper flakes, add them now. Pour vegetables and baking juice on to pasta, add parsley and Parmesan cheese. Toss and serve. Sprinkle a little cheese on top and enjoy!

Pulled Pork and Tater Tot Casserole

There are several recipe versions of this in cook books and online, but this is my version. It is a quick evening meal and wonderful to take to potlucks.

2 cups (16 ounces) of barbecued pulled pork or chicken (you can find already cooked containers for this in your grocery store or you can make your own)

1 16-ounce can baked beans (I use Bush’s brown sugar baked beans)

30-40 tater tots

2 cups of shredded cheddar or Colby Jack cheese

5 strips of bacon, fried and crumbled

½ onion, finely diced

sour cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray. Spoon baked beans in the bottom of dish, top with pulled pork/chicken, and line the tater tots across the meat. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until tater tots are starting to brown and crisp. Remove from oven and top with shredded cheese, bacon, and onions. Bake for an addition 8-10 minutes until cheese is completely melted and bubbly.

Top each serving with sour cream. (optional)

Note: Many recipes that I have read use diced green onions, but we use yellow onions instead. You decide.

Cheaper Cuts of Beef Don't Have To Be Tough

Most people avoid the cheaper cuts of beef because they tend to be tough. With 8 children and three adults in our home, my mother had to find ways to tenderize the cheaper cuts of beef. One way to cook "down", as my mother used to say, a tough cut of beef steak is to season both sides of the steak with garlic powder, seasoned salt and pepper. Lightly brown the steak in a large skillet and on top add a diced green bell pepper, medium onion, a bay leaf, parsley flakes, a few dashes of Worchestershire sauce, and a can of diced tomatoes. Cover with lid. Let the steak simmer for 30-50 minutes. Remove lid and thicken juices by cooking 5-10 more minutes. You can also do the same with a cheap beef roast in a crock pot. Add all the ingredients in crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. The flavor is simple, amazing and great with mashed potatoes.

Fall Vegetables for a Healthy You

As the fall approaches, we will all start to stay indoors more hours. This will lessen our vitamins, such as vitamin A, D, and K, which are enhanced by sunlight. Below are a few vegetables you might want to increase in your diet as the fall and later winter days approach. Besides, they are very tasty. In fact, in the next few weeks, I will be posting recipes that incorporate many of these delicious veggies.

Sweet potatoes and yams are very rich in carotenoids, vitamins A, B6, C, potassium, iron and fiber and are delicious when baked and eaten plain (without butter) or used in soups, casseroles or stir-fries.

Bell peppers are great sources of potassium, manganese, fiber and vitamins A, B, C and K. These sweet peppers are flavorful additions to salads and healthy stir-fries. You can choose from a rainbow of colors, including: green peppers,yellow peppers, orange peppers,and red peppers.

Summer and winter squash are rich in carotenoids, vitamins A and C, potassium, magnesium and fiber and can be served alone or added to many dishes.

Just a few tips for you...

Spray your Tupperware with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in tomato- based sauces. No more stains!

Use lifesavers candy to hold candles in place on your next birthday cake! Kids love them.

Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugarcone to prevent ice cream drips!

Zap garlic cloves in the microwave for 15 seconds and the skins slip right off!

If your celery begins to wilt in the fridge, fill a large cup half full of water and place celery in the cup. Put back in the fridge for two hours--it will be crisp. (Learned this from my mother).

Cooking Myth Busted

A Potato Can Save a Salty Soup or Stew. True or False? False. "This is an attractive idea, but it doesn't work because potatoes are not particularly absorbent," says Wolke, who conducted his own soup-and-potato experiment for his Cooking Myth Busters book. "There is no reason they would attract salt." If you remove the raw potato from the soup, the potato will taste salty, but so would a sponge — it has simply soaked up some of the salty liquid. Still, there is hope for salty stews: Adding a bit of vinegar or sugar can "cancel out" the saltiness by giving your taste buds competing flavors.

Super Moist Turkey

If you are looking for a way to get a moist turkey, you might try one of these family hints:

1--bake the turkey upside down--breast down for the first half of the cooking time. It will help the darker meat cook more thoroughly and the fatty juices of the darker meat will drip down to the breast and add moistness. Use a deep roasting pan for this.

2--bake the turkey with the breast up, but rub it with butter, garlic powder and pepper only. Do not salt the skin. Instead, mix salt in a cup of warm water and pour that cup of salted warm-not hot-water inside the cavity of the turkey. The salt water will steam up into the turkey, making it very moist.

3. bake the turkey with the breast up and slice two lemons and one orange in halves. Place the halves inside the seasoned turkey and the juices will steam into the meat, adding moisture and flavor.

Hint of the Week

Here is something I learned from my wonderful Mother, the greatest cook I have ever known. When you have just a small serving of cooked vegetables leftover from dinner, don't throw them away. Keep a large plastic container in the freezer and put the vegetables in the container. Mix them--carrots, corn, green beans, broccoli, etc. When the container is full make a pot of soup or stew. Also, if a recipe calls for 1/2 a chopped onion, chop the whole onion and add the half to the freezer container. My mother made the best vegetable soups from this idea.

Hint for the Week

With Fourth of July quickly approaching, you might be thinking of making Deviled Eggs. If you want perfectly boiled eggs, place eggs in a large pot and completely cover with cold water. Do not layer eggs on top of one another. Bring water to a rapid boil for 2 minutes, reduce to simmer and let eggs simmer 8 minutes, return to boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and empty hot water and fill pot with cold water. Let sit for 5 minutes. To peel easily, slightly crush shell in your fist and roll on counter with a firm grip. Of course, you don't want to push through the egg, but by making the shell crack in many small pieces, it is easier to peel. My father saw this on a cooking show years ago and taught me this. It truly works.