The early bird gets the...Pork Roast!

I relearned a lesson Saturday morning.  As meat approaches its "sell-by" date, the meat manager moves them to a "specials" bin, with the cut discounted 30% (50% if it's still there after 6 p.m.).  The bin is at its fullest first thing in the morning. 

My daughter and I are sharing a car.  After I dropped her at work, I headed for the grocery store and got this roast at 30% off.  Searching the pressure cooker cookbooks I brought home from the library, I found several versions of this one.  Don't have a pressure cooker?  Cook in the slow cooker on low for 5-8 hours, or until it reaches 160 degrees on the meat thermometer.

Root Beer Pork Roast
1 4-pound pork roast
2 tbsp oil
1 can golden mushroom soup (I used regular cream of mushroom soup)
12 oz. root beer (not diet)
1 envelope onion soup mix

In pressure cooker, heat oil.  Brown the pork roast, then remove.  Add mushroom soup.  Measure root  beer into can to catch some of the residue, then add to pan, along with onion soup mix.  Mix.  Return roast to pan.  Lock pressure cooker lid onto pot, set to high and bring to pressure.  After it comes to pressure, lower heat and cook for 40-45 minutes.  Release pressure.  Be sure to take the meat's temperature before removing from pan.  If it hasn't reached 160 degrees, put the lid back on, bring to pressure and cook for another 5 minutes.

Remove roast from pan, and allow to sit for 5 minutes before slicing.  Put pan juices into a gravy boat to serve alongside. 

Converting recipes between the U.S. and the Commonwealth

As a new blogger, I was checking (OK, obsessing over) my reader stats, and noticed that I have a few in Australia, Canada, Malaysia (thanks, kids) and other places outside the United States.  On a scrapbooking board, I used to participate in recipe exchanges with scrappers from New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere.  I made the following guide to converting recipes.

Converting to/from American recipes; more than just metrics!

For Americans using recipes from other countries, and visa versa, disaster can ensue without the following key information:

The U.S. does not follow the metric system (although many U.S. recipes and measuring instruments do include metric equivalents).

Not only that, but U.S. fluid measures different from those of their British cousins; to convert U.S. fluid ounces to British multiply by 1.04; to convert U.S. pints to British pints, multiply by 0.83.

Further complicating the conversion, America measures dry ingredients differently from the rest of the world; flour, sugar, rice, etc. are measured by volume, where cooks in other countries measure by weight.  In the U.S., 1 cup is 1 cup no matter what you’re measuring; but it could be 125 grams of white flour, 120 grams of whole wheat flour, 100 grams of rye flour, 200 grams of white flour, 220 grams of brown sugar, etc.  So consult a scale or equivalent chart (see below) when converting dry ingredients. 

One final thing to keep in mind: in the U.S., butter is sold and measured in “sticks.”  One stick of butter equals one-quarter pound (4 ounces) or one-half cup. 

Here are some helpful references for converting recipes:

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/cvcookix.html

http://www.onlineconversion.com/cooking.htm

http://www.miketodd.net/encyc/cooking.htm

Mid-Century Style: Mom's Macaroni Salad

This was my first-ever entry into a recipe contest.  I made a gluten-free macaroni and cheese dish for Easter, based on a recipe on the side of a box of my favorite gluten-free pasta.  As a courtesy, I tweeted it to the company.  I received a response urging me to enter it into their recipe contest.  Well, I said, it's your recipe and I don't think it would be appropriate to enter it, but it got me thinking about entering something else.  I finally decided on my mom's pasta salad.

I called it "Summer Pasta Salad," but since we lived in Los Angeles, we actually ate it year-round.  In fact, it was a tradition on Christmas Eve, along with a ham and the most delicious Port Wine Cranberry Salad.  (I promise to blog about that closer to the holidays.)  And, of course, we took it to every picnic I can remember.

I learned to make this as a teenager.  One problem, though: There was no written recipe!  I remember there was a large bag of pasta shells, a small can of chopped olives and an equal amount of relish, about half a dozen hard-boiled eggs, enough celery seed to cover the pasta when it's hot, and gobs and gobs of Miracle Whip.  Not quite precise enough for a recipe contest.

So I set about making it from memory, but measuring every ingredient as it went in.  The second problem I recognized was the fact that this was at least half, if not a quarter, of the size dish I usually made.  And then finally, the gluten-free pasta didn't quite react the same way regular pasta shells did (in addition to being harder to find; we went to three stores before we found it).

Before I could enter the contest, I had to take a photo of the dish appealing enough for the judges to want to make it.  One problem was I'd overcooked my eggs a bit and there was a tell-tale blue lining on the yoke, so I had to disguise.

(Many thanks to my Facebook friends who helped me select the photo.  The one below is what I submitted.  I need to work on my food photography!)

If you plan to make it and don't have gluten sensitivities, by all means use regular pasta. The GF just did not absorb the Miracle Whip like the regular pasta.  It was still good, though.

So, here is the final submission:

Summer Pasta Salad
8 oz package Ancient Harvest Quinoa Supergrain pasta shells
1 1/2 tsp celery seeds
1-2 tbsp chopped olives
1-2 tbsp pickle relish
1 1/3 cup Miracle Whip or Mayonnaise (divided)
3 sliced hard-boiled eggs (divided)

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Do not overcook.  Drain and put in mixing bowl.  Sprinkle immediately with celery seed; this will make the flavor of the celery seeds pop.  Add olives and relish to taste.  Mix in 1 cup of Miracle Whip or mayonnaise.  Stir in 2 of the sliced eggs.  Refrigerate overnight.

The pasta will absorb some of the mayonnaise overnight; in the morning, add 1/3 cup additional, or to taste.  Put in serving bowl.  Top with the remaining sliced egg and serve.

(Live outside the U.S.?  Recipe conversion suggestions on this post.)

Pressure Cookers Part 2, adapting a slow-cooker recipe

I found a 3-pound beef roast in the "managers special" bin at the store yesterday.  With the 30% discount, it was just $10.  Cinco de Mayo was approaching.  What to do?  I saw this recipe for Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Beef on Facebook.  Only problem was that I didn't get to the store in time to buy the Salsa Verde and so I could prepare it in the slow cooker.  So how, I wonder, would I adapt it to the pressure cooker?

I used the recipe as written, except I was concerned about the amount of evaporation in the pressure cooker.  So I added a cup of water to keep it from burning. "Pressure Cookers for Dummies" (quickly becoming one of my go-to cookbooks) said the cooking time for stew meat is 20 minutes.  So I cooked for that amount of time, then checked to see if it was fork-ready.  It was, but I cooked a little longer to thicken the sauce.

If you don't have a pressure cooker, use the recipe as written in Queen Bee Coupons.  (And do consider subscribing to her blog and/or Facebook feed.  Not only does Queen Bee give great advice on saving money, but also delicious recipes like this.)  And if you're still thinking about getting a pressure cooker, start your research here.

Here is my adaptation of this delicious recipe.

Pressure Cooker Salsa Verde Beef

1 tbsp. olive oil
3-pound beef roast, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup (heaping) chopped onions
1 tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup salsa verde (hot or mild to taste)
1 cup water

Heat oil in pressure cooker.  Add half of cubed beef.  Brown.  Remove and brown the other half.  Remove from pressure cooker, but keep drippings.  Add onion and spices and cook a couple of minutes until onions are soft.  Add salsa and water.  Return beef to pan. 

Lock lid onto pressure cooker and set to high pressure.  Cook over medium-high heat until pot comes to pressure, then turn to medium or medium-low to maintain pressure.  Cook for 20 minutes.  Open valve and release pressure naturally.  If meat is not yet fork tender, then lock lid, bring to pressure and cook for another 5 minutes.  Repeat if needed. 

If meat is done, but sauce is not thick enough, cook over low heat to thicken.

Use as you would taco meat.  Since I eat gluten-free and corn tortillas are small, I served like an open-face taco.  Top with lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and cheese.  We had some chopped olives in the fridge which tasted great on the tacos.  This also would be good served over a baked potato.

$10 finds: 20 Greeting Cards at Dollar Tree

Among the achievements I'd like listed on my obituary, I've instructed my family to mention that I was a platinum Hallmark Rewards Card member.  I go to my local shop every few months to buy birthday, holiday and anniversary cards for my family.  Having achieved such a lofty status with Hallmark, I get a small discount, making the cards an affordable luxury.  It's my little splurge for my family.

But what about everyone else?  Particularly cards that go with graduation, wedding and baby gifts?  Be honest, do brides and grooms, new parents or grads really care whose name is on the back of the card?  No, they just care about the amount written on the check.

Yesterday I restocked my card stash for graduations, weddings, babies and even retirements.  My Dollar Tree sells them 2 for $1.00.  So for what I could get maybe three cards at the Hallmark store, I bought 20 cards.  I must note that the cards do not look cheap.  They are beautiful and/or witty, and the sentiments are lovely.  There also is a good choice of faith sentiments.  If I ever needed to sacrifice a splurge, I wouldn't hesitate to send one of these to my family.  And I would love to receive one. 

Today's project, getting them organized, so when we're getting ready for that next wedding or baby shower, we're not scrambling for a card.

Stay tuned for more $10 finds.

Mid-Century Style: Grandma's Banana Bread

I was so excited to notice we had three bananas that were approaching the over-ripe stage!  You see, I need three over-ripe bananas to make my Grandma Velma's Banana Bread!  This is my first and favorite banana bread recipe.  (Yes, mid-century style is coming back.)

We're a banana-eating family, so we don't often have bananas that get over-ripe, and when we do it's only one or two.  Here's something I learned: You can just pop a banana, peel and all, into the freezer and save until you have three.  Just take out to thaw a few hours before cooking.

This produces a moist bread which improves with age.  When my son was deployed, I made mini-loaves, froze them to keep their shape before sealing in the Foodsaver to include in his care packages.  They arrived a couple weeks later in good shape.  He made a special request to add chocolate chips.  This version tasted great, but the chips tended to sink and weren't disbursed enough through the bread.

Velma's Banana Bread
1 cup sugar
1/4 lb (one cube) butter
3 well-mashed bananas
2 eggs
3 tbsp sour milk (use buttermilk or put 1 tsp vinegar in milk and let sit for 30 minutes)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a loaf pan (I use non-stick cooking spray).

Cream together sugar and butter.  Add bananas.  Beat in eggs and milk.  Mix together flour, soda and salt.  Stir in until well mixed.  Add nuts and vanilla.  Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for one hour. 

(Live outside the U.S.?  Recipe conversion suggestions on this post.) 

And now, a public service announcement: Fire Safety

One of the highlights of the annual Safety Fair at work is the mandatory safety video.  Normally, they deal with workplace hazards.  And often, they're unintentionally humorous, like the one where the computers - and the shoulder pads - were large.  I spent the entire 15 minutes trying to figure out if it was filmed in the late 1980's or early 1990's.

This year was different.  It was a video about a man who experienced a fire in his house resulting from improper storage of spent 9-volt batteries.  (Cover the contacts with electrical tape until you take them for recycling.)

The video above chronicled all the mistakes he made in response to the fire, and how we can avoid them.  After watching the 12-minute video, I went to my desk to find it on YouTube, and learned it was the second (and longest) of four in a series of fire education videos.

In the first, we learn how a simple 9-volt better caused the fire.

In the third, we learn how to protect ourselves from fire.

And the fourth and final video features a tour of the burned house by a local fire captain.

I sent all four videos to my husband, and told him to check our batteries.  We found six of the offending batteries in our spent drawer.  Fortunately, our city was having a recycling event that weekend, and they're not out of the house.

Watching these four videos will take less than 30 minutes, but could save your family's life and property.

Now that's fast, frugal and fit.