Roasted broccoli

sides 9 Comments

I am reformed!

I have hated broccoli all my life. Hated it. Now I love it! But only if I cook it. And only like this. Hmm. Does this count as a reformation?

You will need:

  • Broccoli — preferably fresh, but frozen is fine if you set it out to thaw first
  • Olive oil
  • Butter
  • Salt and pepper
  • Lemon juice
  • Parmesan cheese

Ready? This is quick and easy.

  1. Preheat your oven to 450. It takes my oven about two and a half weeks to accomplish that, FYI
  2. In the bottom of a heavy skillet or saucepan, put a single layer of broccoli and toss it with just enough olive oil to coat all the pieces, and throw in a pat or two of butter
  3. Salt and pepper with abandon
  4. Put in the oven uncovered for about 20-30 minutes or longer, depending on how Southern-style soft you like your veggies (one of The Yankee’s favorite stories is the look on my face when I saw “cooked” green beans in northern Michigan)
  5. When they’re as done as you like, pull them out of the oven; they’ll likely be stuck to the bottom of the pan, which is totally fine
  6. Now, quickly before it cools down at all, splash some lemon juice in the pan to deglaze it and un-stick the broccoli. It’s like magic, I’m telling you!
  7. Sprinkle on a little parmesan cheese and chow down while it’s still hot

Yummy add-ins:

  • Fresh garlic roasted with it
  • Sprinkled-in crushed red pepper
  • Grated lemon zest
  • Lawry’s salt
  • Anything else? What do you use?

Yankee ribs

supper 4 Comments

Have I mentioned lately how useful it is to have a husband who used to be a butcher? It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

Here’s how The Yankee keeps me from being a size six! Or eight. Never mind.

You will need:

  • Pork ribs — lotsa pork ribs
  • One can pineapple chunks
  • One bottle beer — cheap is fine
  • Dry rub of your choice; Char Broil It is our favorite
  • Your favorite barbecue sauce — Sticky Fingers is our favorite

Not a long list, right? You can do this.

  1. Start with the ribs. On the concave side of them, make a slit down the middle and pull off the membrane. The Yankee says this is non-negotiable
  2. Put them in a shallow baking dish (or two… or five, depending on how big your hungry mob is) and pat on the dry rub on both sides
  3. Scatter the pineapple chunks over the ribs, then pour in the remaining pineapple juice and a bottle of beer, divided evenly if you have more than one pan
  4. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 250F for at about two and a half hours till nice and tender
  5. Slather on the barbecue sauce and get thee to a grill! They’ll only take about 20 minutes total — you’re just sealing on the sauce, not cooking the meat
  6. Serve with cornbread , crackaroni, roasted broccoli, and a roll of paper towels

Sweet tea

drinks 12 Comments

I blame Ellie for this.

I saw a picture of sweet tea on her blog and oh my heavens… I don’t usually make sweet tea in the winter, so that picture was a clear sign to me that summer is here, and with it my favorite drink!

I’m the only sweet tea drinker in the house, so I make it in smaller portions. In a quart size Mason jar I put 1/2 cup sugar and one pitcher size tea bag, and fill it with cold water. Then the magic: set it in the sunshine!

I let it sit out there all day till the sugar is dissolved and the tea is nice and dark. I like it strong! Once the sun is down and it’s done, put it in the fridge to chill.

If you’re in more of a hurry, just add boiling water to the mix and let the tea steep for 15 minutes.

For something a little different steep with a tea bag and a cinnamon stick.

Serve over lots of ice and add a slice of lemon if you like. Or lime! Or orange (great tip, Jerri — I forgot that one!). Nothing beats this on a hot summer day!

Crack-a-roni: pioneer macaroni and cheese

kids, lunch, supper 16 Comments

Crack-a-roni. This is how The Yankee refers to this dish. My sister, too. And her husband. The Kiddo? He refers to it as he does to any foods that are not yogurt, bread, or Cheerios: “No tank you, mama.” Sigh.

Anyway! The dish! This is from my 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook. Best $20 I’ve ever spent. I stray very little from this, so here goes:

You will need:

  • 6 Tbsp. butter
  • 6 Tbsp. flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp pepper
  • ¼ tsp paprika
  • Dash of nutmeg
  • 2 cups milk
  • 8 oz. uncooked macaroni
  • 1/2 pound Velveeta* or 2 cups cheese(s) of your choice

*Even with my general aversion to foods whose ingredients I cannot pronounce, I use Velveeta here. It just totally works in this dish.

Now, just like for the chicken pot pie, we’ll make a white sauce:

  1. Melt the butter over low heat in a heavy saucepan
  2. Quickly whisk in flour, nutmeg, paprika, salt, and pepper, whisking until mixture is smooth & bubbly
  3. Remove from heat; whisk in milk — for a minute it may look like it’s turning into a giant lump, but keep whisking and pouring the milk
  4. Bring to a slow boil and boil for one minute, whisking constantly
  5. Reduce heat to low and cook until thickened — at least ten minutes for best flavor

Easy assembly:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F
  2. While the white sauce is cooking, boil pasta for two minutes less than the shortest time on the box; e.g. if your pasta says to cook for 10-12 minutes, then cook for eight minutes
  3. In a greased baking dish, layer half the pasta, half the white sauce and half the cheese; repeat so you have two layers of each component
  4. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes or until bubbly. At this point it’s super yummy to stop and stir it together. You can then either serve as-is for super creamy mac and cheese, or put it back in to brown up a bit. Serve hot from baking dish
  5. Join a gym

How does your garden grow?

kids, tools 9 Comments

Wanna know how much The Yankee rocks? A LOT.

He built this:

And, because that line in Rocky Top about the dirt being too rocky by far is all true, we filled the raised bed with this:

Saturday morning we headed out to Home Depot with The Kiddo. We checked out all our options, lumber-wise: we didn’t want pressure treated lumber because we didn’t want the chemicals from it to make its way into our garden. Then cedar was suggested as an option: the Home Depot guy said, “Oh you could use cedar! It would do great. I mean, you’d have to build a new one every season, though.”

After a few seconds of blinking and telepathic communication, we did not pass go, but went directly to the Trex. This was more our style! More sturdy than anything else in the store, and safe to use around food.

“Oh yeah,” says Home Depot guy, “You could eat off it.”

Uh, okay.

All told, it cost $93 for the supplies to build this garden (not including the fill dirt), which is eight feet by four feet. Expensive? Sure, a little. But we have to do it only once. And we used screws to assemble it, so we could theoretically take it apart and reassemble it every year. But smart money is on me leaving it there. 😉

So far The Kiddo and I have planted four tomato plants (because, really, what’s the point of a garden without the prospect of tomato sandwiches?), two pepper plants, some cilantro, some basil and some strawberries. I’d love to add onions and carrots and green beans.  This nifty online planner shows how many of what you can plant in a square foot (thus my semi-obsessive square foot markers… made from The Kiddo’s yarn), then gives instructions for each plant you picked. How great is that?

So tell me! Do you garden? Do you have any advice, this being my first raised-bed garden? Any thoughts on how to keep away bunnies and other unwanted guests at the salad bar? Lay ’em on me!