Country Pork Ribs & Cheesy Potatoes

I was talking to Mom about a dinner I made and had Nick and Emily come over. She wanted the recipes so here they are. They are good and easy...but don't burn the cheesy potatoes under the broiler like I did. :(

Country Pork Ribs

3 lbs. country pork ribs
1 c. ketchup
1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce (I like mine less sweet so I add more Worcestershire & mustard)
2 Tbsp Yellow mustard (not the spice)
1/2 c. brown sugar (more if you like it sweet)
garlic salt

Put ribs in a baking dish. Sprinkle lightly with garlic salt. Mix the rest of the ingredients and pour over ribs. Cover with foil and bake at 300 degrees for 3 hours.

Cheesy Potatoes

1-2 lb. bag of frozen potatoes (shredded or cubed) thawed (or as I like to say "unthaw" :))
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 c. sour cream
10 oz. cheddar cheese
cornflakes, crushed enough to cover top
1 cube butter, melted, divided in half
salt, pepper to taste
dried parsley (optional I add this for looks)

Mix all ingredients together, except half of the butter and all the cornflakes. Put in lightly sprayed casserole dish (8x11 or 9x12). Put cornflakes on top and drizzle with remaining butter. Bake for 1 hour at 300 until lightly browned.

Honey Soy Chicken & Mom's Mediterraniean Pilaf

This is the 3rd or 4th time I have made these drumsticks and I love them. A friend recommended it. Steph has made them a bunch of times too. Try them out. The first time I made them I forgot to put the salt and pepper on the legs before the sauce. Ya need the salt and pepper. This last time I forgot the water it calls for and I liked it even better! Here's a link to the recipe. LINK I don't put the foil in because the pan gets all sticky anyway.
This is a recipe Mom gave me years ago that I really like. You might have had it. She does put the golden raisins in it but I don't. Not a fan. But the rice is really great. I usually have all the ingredients on hand. Tina hadn't heard of it from Mom so I thought I'd post the recipe.

Mom's Mediterranean Pilaf
3 c. chicken broth
1 1/2 c. uncooked rice
4 Tbsp oil
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp curry
1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 c. golden raisins (optional, duh.)

In a 1-quart saucepan, bring chicken broth to a boil. In a medium saucepan, mix dry rice, oil, turmeric, curry, soy sauce, and raisins. Pour in broth. Cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

Last Week's Menu

I decided to stop trying to be fancy when making my weekly dinner lists. I had all these grandiose plans of weekly lists and recipes together and they would be all neat and orderly, but that never happened. I kept waiting to start it. You know how it goes. I decided to simplify and so far it’s working. I wrote out a bunch of regular meals we like in categories of chicken, fish, beef, vegetarian, soups, salads and breakfasts. (We often have breakfast for dinner because they are so fast). Then I just quickly picked five of those meals and decided what I needed to buy. I usually only pick five meals because there is often leftovers or last minute changes. I try to have lots of fruit and veggies, even canned, for the sides to the main courses. So here is what we ate last week. I’m putting in the Teriyaki salmon recipe that Jonah begged for. It is really easy. Isn’t it funny that a boy who will eat barely anything loves salmon like crazy? What did you eat?

1. Teriyaki Salmon with lemon rice
2. Baked Potato Soup
3. Breakfast- scrambled eggs, bacon, berry smoothies, and gluten free apple muffins.
4. Chicken tacos with homemade black beans
5. Soybean spaghetti with alfrado sauce and salad. We also ended up with potato skins with marinara sauce and cheese this night.

Teriyaki Salmon from the Moosewood Cookbook
6 Salmon, monkfish or tuna steaks

½ C soy sauce (GF)
2 tsp fresh grated ginger (but I used about ½-1 tsp of powdered ginger)
½ C rice wine vinegar (calls for rice wine but I used this)
1-2 T sugar (I used brown sugar)
2 cloves minced garlic

In a glass bowl combine the marinade ingredients then place fish in it for at least half an hour, turning once or twice. Broil on a foil covered cookie sheet about 5 minutes then turn and broil about 5 minutes more. It will be opaque and flakes when done. It may also be grilled which sounds delicious but I haven’t done that yet.

Lemon Rice
2 C water
1 C rice
2-3 T butter
1 tsp salt
Zest of one lemon
Juice of one lemon

Combine all ingredients in pan. Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer until done.

No Bake Noddles, Mango Salsa, Asian Meat Ball Soup

This picture is a couple months old but I thought I stick it with Emily's lasagna. It's made with those no bake noddles, too. I have used two types of no-bake noddles: Barilla, in a blue box and American Beauty in a red box (recipes on the back of the boxes). For your info, I like the American Beauty best. Barilla has separate directions for a 2 inch pan rather than a 3 inch pan to protect against spillage. (It seems like most people would have 2 inch, but whatever.) But it still spills! And I have made it twice with Barilla and both times it spills over and I've made lasagna a ton of times using American Beauty with no problems. ANYWAY, my advise just use American Beauty no-bake lasagna noodles.
This was the first time that I've made a mango salsa. YUM!! I loved it! I made it for fish tacos which were pretty good except for the fish part. I hate to admit this but next time I think that I'm just gonna buy frozen fish fillets and use those with the same recipe (in the Better Homes, & Gardens Cookbook).
One of my favorite soups: An Asia Meatball Soup. I double the meat balls and add more broth but I also always add too many noddles.

Meatball and Spinach Soup

Meatballs:

1 large onion, divided
½ lb lean ground sirloin
3 T. seasoned bread crumbs
¼ t salt
1 large egg, beaten
2-3 T. milk

Soup:

1 T. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 quarts chicken broth
4 oz vermicelli or angel hair pasta (I use more)
2 small yellow squash, sliced
1 bag spinach, very clean
1 T. Red wine vinegar (This is what gives it an Asian-type flavor.)

Grate 2 T. onion with beef, bread crumbs, salt, egg and milk. Dice remaining onion. In a 4 quart sauce pan, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion cook for 8 minutes. Add garlic. Pour chicken broth and bring to a gentle boil. Shape meat mixture into meat balls and gently drop them into the soup. Cook meat balls for about 5 minutes. Add pasta and cook till tender. Add spinach and let wilt. Then add squash and vinegar. I like the squash al dente so I don’t cook the soup for much long after adding in along with the vinegar. If you like a more Asian flavor, add more vinegar.

Yummy Veggie Eggplant Dip And Tina's Bundt

Yesterday I had lunch at my friend's house. We try and do it fairly regularly and all make delicious things to contribute to the meal. I made the Barefoot Contessa's Eggplant Dip which I saw her make a few days ago on her TV show. So very tasty and healthy too! What a bonus.
I also had bookclub at my house last night and served the spread as well as Tina's Lemon Bundt Cake with added blueberries. So very yummy! Everyone died over the cake and had seconds. The funny thing is that both recipes are so simple I actually had to read the dip one a few times to make sure I wasn't missing anything. It just seemed to easy! Here are the recipes.

Roasted Eggplant Dip -Barefoot Contessa
1 medium eggplant
2 red peppers (I used one red and one orange)
1 red onion, peeled
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Cut the eggplant, bell pepper, and onion into 1-inch cubes. Toss them in a large bowl with the garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread them on a baking sheet. Roast for 45 minutes, until the vegetables are lightly browned and soft, tossing once during cooking.
Cool slightly.

Place the vegetables in a food processor fitted with a steel blade, add the tomato paste, and pulse to blend. Taste for salt and pepper.

Serve with olives and feta cheese. I served mine with crisp flatbread crackers and tortilla crackers. The dip was good plan but I loved the added extra olive and feta on top!

Tina's a Bundthead Lemon Cake--this recipe came from my lovely sister Tina!
Everyone always thinks it is made from scratch but I always say it is a souped up cake mix because I am a very bad liar.

1 box lemon cake mix
1 box lemon jello
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs

Mix all ingredients. [I also added lemon zest and a little over a cup of fresh blueberries]. Bake at 350* in a well greased bundt for 40 minutes. Cool 10 minutes then invert and glaze while hot. All the glaze will eventually be absorbed.

Glaze
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar ( I think last night I only used 1 cup and it turned out great)