Boston Baked Beans

Boston Baked Beans are a staple in my house ... they have been since I was a kid right through married life. There is something about baked beans that is not only comforting but also very filling, and can compliment more dishes that you can shake a stick at. Think about it beans go with everything you BBQ on the grill ... as well as our personal favorite blackened seafood.

My husband and I were talking just recently about summertime food and baked beans came up, and in his usual fashion asked if I could make some home-made beans. I had always tried home-made beans when someone else made them ... but they were always watery and runny, they missed that thick pasty consistency that you can get out of a can (I cannot believe I just mentioned "a can"). That is what I craved out of a home-made version but had no idea how to make them.

I started to search the Internet (which is what I usually do when I am given a challenge) ... and found many, many, many Boston Baked Beans recipes, some stove-top, some oven, and some crock-pot. Crock-pot was the cooking method I wanted to use, especially in the summertime since it does not give off as much heat as the oven or stove-top.

This is what I did ...

Ingredients
1 bag of dried navy beans
5 small slices of salt pork
1 onion, finely diced
4 tablespoons molasses
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar

Soak beans overnight in cold water. Simmer the beans in the same water until tender, approximately 1 to 2 hours. Drain and reserve the liquid.

Arrange the beans in the crock-pot by placing a portion of the beans in the bottom of dish, and layering them with salt pork and onion.

In a saucepan, combine molasses, pepper, dry mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil and pour over beans. Pour in just enough of the reserved bean water to cover the beans. Simmer on Low for 6-8 hours, until beans are tender.

If you find it is to salty, add more brown sugar one tablespoon at a time, till you reach the right flavor.

YUM!!!

The nice thing about beans is that they keep very well in the in fridge, in "Tupperware" or some kind. Like most things that are made in the crock-pot these beans will only get better and better ever day they sit and gather more flavor.

I wonder what we will eat with beans tomorrow???

Chicken & Pasta

I have made it to day III of my challenge, and I have to say I think I have done very well. And to think the Risotto I made Friday was enough left over for us to have lunch on Saturday and the roast from Saturday had enough left over for someone to eat on Sunday. Which brings me to Sunday, and what to make on Sunday? This one was the first one I really thought I need to go to the market and pick up some stuff, and as you guessed it my husband invited friends over to have dinner with us. What was I going to do??? Then it came to me ... Chicken in Tomato Sauce in the crock pot over pasta. This is one of those semi-homemade dishes, since there was some fresh ingredients and some jarred ones too.

This is what I did ...

Chicken in Tomato sauce in Crock Pot

1 lb of boneless thighs

1 jar of tomato/pasta sauce

1/4 onion diced

1/4 bell pepper diced

4 cups of pasta

Place chicken, pasta, and vegetables in crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.

Cook pasta as you normally would have.

Serve with chicken mix over the pasta. Grate some Parmesan cheese and add some garlic bread for a full Italian meal.

YUM!!!

Now that I have cooked my way though my pantry and my freezer for the past three days I am actually thinking of keeping it up till we eat more of the food we have in our house. It is quite amazing how much food is really in a well stocked house unless you really start to use it all. Not sure if I will be blogging about my pantry & freezer depletion any more ... but try it at your home and you will be surprised how much food you have even when you think you need to make a trip to the market.

Cabernet Beef Pot Roast, Candied Carrots

As it turns out I seem to ALWAYS have a roast in my freezer in case we decide to have company last minute. I usually stop by Trader Joe's every few weeks, they have the best Cabernet Beef Pot Roast, already marinated. When I gave myself the challenge on Thursday I had no idea I was going to have my parents for dinner Saturday night, why not cook the roast. One of the very nice things about a roast is you can cook it in your crock pot.

The crock pot leads me to my next topic, 110 volts versus 220 volts. Other than the numbers in themselves tell you it is better to use 110 than 220 when you can for cooking. The toaster over, the counter top convection oven, the electric tea kettle, the microwave, and the crock pot (there may be more but I cannot remember right now) all use less power than you electric range when cooking. This as a result lowers your carbon foot print and this makes us feel good about our meal we are cooking too.

So out came the crock pot ... the next decision is what am I going to make for side dishes ...

Let's start with the roast ...

Cabernet Beef Pot Roast

Roast

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup red wine

1/4 cup chicken stock

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Brown the roast on all four sides in a skillet with the olive oil.

Put the roast in the crock pot. cook on high for 4 hours/low 8 hours.

Return the skillet to the heat and add the wine and the stock. Bring to a boil and all the while scrape the bottom of the pan, to get all the yummy goodness left behind from the browning roast. Pour that mix over the roast in the crock pot and cover.

When the roast is done put on a dish to rest. While to roast is resting remove the "juice" from the crock pot and put in a small sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the butter and whisk till butter is melted.

Slice roast and serve, ladle gravy over meat.

As you can see we decided on mashed potatoes and candied carrots. The only thing I am going to say about mashed potatoes is use Yukon golds only. Tyler Florence said "they are the Cadillac of potatoes" but they have so much flavor and stay together ... I will not use any other potato ever again.

The carrots are another story. I have been on a quest to find a recipe for good candied carrots. Carrots are already a sweet vegetable to begin with, it is only fitting that I try to candy them.

Candied Carrots

1 lb carrots, chopped

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

pinch of salt

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cloves

Place carrots in a pot of salted water, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes. (do not cook carrots to a mushy stage)

Drain carrots, reduce heat to lowest setting, stir in butter, sugar, and seasoning. Cook 3 minutes till thick and bubbly.

YUM!!!

Beer Braised Short Ribs

Beef is something that is not cooked as often in the winter time as it is in the summertime at our house. For in the Summer the grille is on almost every night and my husband knows how to cook a mean steak. When it comes to the Winter the grille is still in use and accessible but a juicy steak is not craved as much, since I don't consider steak comfort food, and in the winter that is what I crave the most ... comfort food.

A couple of months ago we went to a Beer Dinner at Summer Winter in Burlington, MA. we had never been to a beer dinner, wine dinners are so common, but a beer dinner seemed to really interest us. We went and the food was to die for. The first one was a Sam Adam's beer dinner and the last one we attended was an Allagash beer dinner. Beer dinners are a bit different from wine dinners in that not only is the beer paired with the food ... in most cases the beer is used in preparation of the food (Cherry Wheat vinegarette on my salad, and Cream Stout ice cream for dessert). Both of these dinners featured a Beer Braised short rib as the main course, and in both cases all that was left only our plates was the bone. I knew I had to find a way to make this, and I knew my Crock Pot was the secret component.

This is what I did ...

Beer Braised Short Ribs

1 -1 1/2lbs. of beef short ribs

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

3 cloves garlic minced

1 teaspoon if thyme

1 bay leaf

1/4 cup flour

1 bottle beer - Wheat Ale (or stout, or a beer with a bold loud flavor)

1 cup chicken or beef broth

Add dry ingredients to crock pot; beef, brown sugar, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, in slow cooker. Sprinkle with flour and toss to coat meat.

Add wet ingredients; broth, soy sauce, and beer, pour over beef.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours (or high for 4-5 hours). Cook until meat is fork tender. (I will advise to cook for 8-10 hours, slower and longer makes meat tender.)

Remove beef from sauce, and set aside. Ladle out two spoonfuls of the broth and put in a small sauce pan on medium low heat. In a cup mix 2 tablespoons of cold water with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, add to the broth on the stove top. Whisk till thickens.

When serving put sauce over meat.

Yum!!!

PS ... sorry no picture, we ate it all before i could even take the camera out.