Five Layer Ground Beef Dinner -Weekend Recipe

Here is a great recipe to use with what is in your pantry.  If you don't have carrots use celery.  If you don't have potatoes add uncooked rice and add an extra can of water in the bottom layer.  If you don't have ground beef, use cooked chicken or ground turkey.  And if you want it vegetarian, use impossible meat or Beyond Meat instead. And if there is no tomato soup in your pantry, substitute cream of mushroom instead.

5-Layer Ground Beef Dinner

1 layer potatoes, uncooked and sliced

1 layer onions, chopped

1 layer (about 1 cup) wild rice, pre-cooked for 15 minutes

1 layer carrots, sliced

1 layer  1 lb. ground beef, browned topped with 

    ½ of a green pepper, chopped

           

1 can tomato soup, thinned with 1 can water (or cream of mushroom soup)

Backyard Patch Do-it-All Seasoning

Brown ground beef and add 1/2 of a green paper diced, set aside. Chop remaining ingredient.  Use at least one of each item, or add more if you want more vegetables. Layer in a deep casserole in order above, starting with potatoes on the bottom.  Season each layer with a sprinkle Do-It All Herbal Seasoning.  Combine tomato soup with water and pour over top and bake at 350 degrees for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until potatoes are tender.  Water may need to be added to keep dinner moist while cooking.  Serves 8

Chicken Gumbo - Weekend Recipe

Gumbo

1 2-3 pound whole chicken

3 tablespoons butter

2 medium onions, diced

1 cup chopped celery

2 medium bell pepper, deseeded and diced

2 cups sliced okra

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound smoked Polish sausage, cut into 1-inch slices

1 cup diced smoked ham

1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juices

1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes with peppers, with juices

1 (10-ounce) can Navy beans

2 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning or Backyard Patch Do-It-All Seasonings

2 bay leaves

2 cups chicken stock

1 pound raw small shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cleaned

4 cups cooked rice (optional)

Directions:

Wash chicken and place into a large Dutch oven. Cover with water plus about 2 inches. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer for about 2 hours. Remove chicken from water and set-aside to cool. Add butter, onion, celery, bell pepper, okra, and garlic to chicken stock.

Pull chicken from the bone and add back to the stock. Add in Polish sausage, and ham. Cook for about 10 minutes to allow all the juices to incorporate.

Pour in diced tomatoes and diced tomatoes with peppers. Smash Navy beans with a fork while in the can and then pour into the Gumbo along with Ole Bay seasoning and bay leaves.

Bring Gumbo to a boil and stir in additional chicken stock. Cook for 10-15 minutes and then stir in shrimp. Cook until shrimp has turned pink, about 5 more minutes.

Remove bay leaves from the Gumbo and the Dutch oven from the heat. Serve Gumbo over rice (optional) or by itself. Serves 10.

Notes

Alternately, you may use a rotisserie chicken rather than cooking a whole chicken, if desired. If doing so, I recommend the following changes to recipe: Heat Dutch oven over medium heat. Melt butter and add onion, celery, bell pepper, okra and garlic. Sauté until tender, about 3-5 minutes. Continue with remaining steps of the original recipe and add 4 cups of chicken stock to Gumbo when recipe calls for 2 cups. Using rotisserie chicken will reduce cooking time by 2 hours.

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018. 

You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD in the () to search for each  month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2019 so you can find them all.

The themes are:

Jan 2019 – Chicken and Dumplings (CDumpsJan)

Feb 2019 - Pasta Dishes (PastaFeb)

March 2019 - Edible Flowers (FlowerMar)

April 2019 - Seafood Recipes (SeafoodApr)

May 2019 - Cajun And Creole (C&CMay)

June 2019 - Vegetarian Dishes

July 2019 - Zucchini Recipes

August 2019 - National Mustard Day – mustard recipes

September 2019 - Quiche

October 2019 - Crock Pot meals

November 2019 - Pies

December 2019 - Mocktails

Herb Crusted Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin is the hubby’s go-to meat when he is ready to cook for the month.  He enjoys it more than Chicken and the pricing per serving is about the same.  He has many ways he roasts, bakes and grills this meat, but encrusting the outside with herbs is his favorite way.

This recipe was adapted from the book Gourmet Meals from Crappy Little Kitchens by Jennifer Schaertl .  Since our kitchen is a galley style apartment kitchen that two people can barely stand in at the same time. I could not resist the book title when I saw it and the recipes are great.  Check it out: http://www.crappylittlekitchens.com/

In my adaptation we used a Backyard Patch Herb Seasoning blend Do-It-All Seasoning.  We also used a combination of apricot jelly and dried apricots.

Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

• 1/3 cup Backyard Patch Do-It-All Seasoning
• 1 whole pork tenderloin, about a pound
• Sea salt to taste
• Black pepper, to taste
• 1 pound dried apricots, quartered
• 3 tablespoons Backyard Patch Do-It-All Seasoning
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 1/3 cup of seasonings in a small bowl and set aside. Season the pork with salt and pepper. In another bowl, combine the apricots with the 3 Tbls. Do It All Seasonings. Place the pork on the cutting board. Insert your bread knife into the short end of the tenderloin. Hold the pork steady with one hand lying flat on top of it, and carefully slice through the center of the pork lengthwise, creating a tunnel of sorts.

2. Stuff the seasoned apricot pieces into one end of the tenderloin tunnel until they start coming out the other side. Store any leftover stuffing in an airtight container in the fridge, and it will stay good for a week. Completely cover the outside of the pork with the herb mixture.

3. Place your 12-inch sauté pan over medium heat (any higher and you will burn your herbs) and add the olive oil. Once the oil begins to shimmer, carefully place the tenderloin in the pan. Allow it to brown for 1 minute, and then turn it slightly. Repeat this until the tenderloin is brown all the way around, and then place it in the oven to finish cooking for 15 minutes, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

4. Carefully remove the tenderloin from the pan and place it on a cutting board to rest for 5 minutes. Then cut the tenderloin into 1/4-inch disks.

5. Serve with roasted vegetables.