A Recipe From Our First Apartment (Asian Pork Steaks)

This is a recipe that Carol and I made when we were living in our first apartment. The gas stove in that apartment must have been 40 years old.
We served this when Mom and Dad were visiting one weekend. They liked it so much that they included it in the "Book".

ASIAN PORK STEAKS


6 Thin boneless pork chops
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 can (8 oz) pineapple Tidbits
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 medium carrots, sliced in coins to make 1 cup
1 small onion, cut in wedges
1 small green pepper, seeded and cut in strips
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

In large skillet (or electric), brown pork on both sides in hot oil. Remove from skillet and set aside. Drain excess fat from skillet. Drain pineapple, reserving 1/2 cup juice. Combine juice mixture with soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and ginger. Add liquid to skillet and deglaze. Return pork to skillet along with carrots, onion. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until meat and carrots are tender.
Add the green peppers and simmer for three more minutes.
Remove pork from skillet to a warmed casserole. Mix cornstarch with pineapples and add to the skillet. Cook and stir sauce until slightly thickened and bubbly. Return the meat to the skillet and cover with vegetables. Serve with rice.

Soup's On! (Tomato and Corn Soup)

"So, what do you want to have for supper?" That's what I asked Carol, this morning.
I had gotten Carol a tomato press for her birthday. She used the frozen tomatoes from our garden to make tomato sauce. I searched Mom and Dad's cook book for recipes that call for tomato sauce and found this recipe.





TOMATO AND CORN SOUP

1 large (1 to 1 1/4 lb) smoked ham hock
2 cans (14 oz ea) Swanson's chicken broth
1 can (10 oz) Campbell's chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp parsley flakes
1/2 tsp basil leaves
2 slices bacon, fried and crumbled
1 large onion, diced
2 cups corn kernels
1 can (14 oz) regular stewed tomatoes, cut up
1 can (14 oz) Italian style stewed tomatoes, cut up
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 tbsp sugar
Salt and pepper


In a 4 quart covered pot, simmer the ham hock in the chicken broth along with bay leaf, parsley and basil for 2 hours. Fry bacon and set aside. Sauté the onion in the bacon fat until transparent. Remove bay leaf and ham hock, chop ham hock meat and return to stock. Add onions, corn, tomatoes, bacon, sugar, salt and pepper to stock and simmer for about 20 minutes. Makes about 5 pints of soup.

Catching Up (Seafoam Pecan Cookies)

Business travel is really getting to be a drag. Fortunately, Carol has been helping me out with my endeavor. She's really the baker of the family. These cookies are so light but, so good!!!
SEAFOAM PECAN COOKIES

3 egg whites
1 1/3 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup pecan meats, ground
1 tsp vanilla

Grind the pecans in a nut grinder. Beat egg whites in a mixer until stiff. Crush any lumps in brown sugar and slowly add to egg whites while constantly beating. Fold in ground pecans and add vanilla.
Drop the batter from a teaspoon, well apart, onto a greased and floured cookie sheet. Bake in a 325 F oven for about 15 minutes or until done. Makes about 50 cookies.

Beef Stew for a cold Saturday evening

I've been on the road a lot. But, finally I have a long weekend and a week at home.
This recipe for beef stew looked some what daunting. And it certainly made a lot of dirty dishes. Still, it was nice to come home to after church on Saturday.

BEEF STEW (Mary & Jim)

VEGETABLE PREPARATION
4 large potatoes cut in 1/6ths 1 onion
6 carrots, diagonally cut chunks 1 tsp stew seasoning mix
1 envelope G Washington Brown seasoning

In a 4 quart pot add the above ingredients with water to cover the vegetables; cook 15 minutes. Drain and save liquid.

MEAT PREPARATION
2 1/2 to 3 lb boneless chuck 1 cup red wine
1/3 cup flour 1 10 oz can beef broth
2 tsp salt 1 15 oz can beef broth
2 tbsp vegetable oil 1/2 tsp thyme leaves
2 tbsp margarine 1 bay leaf

Cut beef into 1 inch cubes and pat dry with paper towels. Roll half of meat in mixture of flour and salt in a shallow dish. Heat half of oil and margarine in Dutch oven over medium high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add beef without crowding and turn until dark brown and crusty on all sides. Remove with slotted spoon and repeat with remaining meat. Deglaze with wine, scraping bottom to loosen all browned bits; boil about 3 minutes. Return meat, add broth and sufficient vegetable liquid to cover meat by about an inch. Add thyme and bay leaf; reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour or until tender.

STEW PREPARATION
2/3 jar pearl onions, drained 1/4 tsp pepper, or to taste
1 can (10 oz) mushrooms, drained Salt to taste
2 cloves garlic, mashed
2 tsp McCormick stew seasoning mix
2 envelopes McCormick brown gravy mix

Remove meat with slotted spoon to vegetable pot. Dissolve and mix 2 packages of gravy mix with 1/2 cup of vegetable liquid, add to Dutch oven and bring to boil. Add mixture of flour and vegetable liquid to make enough gravy to cover meat and vegetables when returned to Dutch oven. Add pepper, garlic, Stew Seasoning and salt to taste. Return meat and vegetables, add onions and mushrooms and simmer covered for 1/2 hour.