Category Archives: Motley Menu

Once a year I buy pork chops. Seriously. It’s not that I don’t enjoy pork products from time to time, I simply never crave them. They are also expensive and you know my laziness making rice and beans all the time.

Anyways–this weekend as I was begrudgingly shopping at Amelia’s Discount Grocery Store (they never have what I want), I passed the frozen meats aisle and threw a pack of 2 small pork-chops in the cart. Last night I made them. They were pretty good.

Served with a side of cheesy broccoli rice (broccoli+cheese+rice+dash of milk) and sauteed squash made the meal quite good.

Taste test: 8.75/10 (Austin) 8/10 (Kate)

I will miss getting fresh, free, local eggs from Zoe and her generous chickens.  Not only has this helped out my baking and breakfast situation, it has allowed me to make many batches of hard boiled eggs, resulting in one of my favorite side dishes–deviled eggs. This is Mom Baer’s Recipe, copied from this great foodie blog.

If you’re wondering how to make perfect hard boiled eggs, check out the comment section of the above mentioned blog.

Ingredients

1 dozen hard boiled eggs

2 T mayonnaise

2 t prepared mustard

pinch of salt

7-day sweet pickle juice

sweet paprika

Instructions

Cut the hard boiled eggs in half lengthwise. Remove the yolks and put them in a bowl. To the yolks, add the mayo, mustard, salt, and enough pickle juice to make the yolks a nice, smooth consistency. Mash. Dollop filling into the halves with a spoon. Using your fingers, sprinkle a bit of paprika on top of each egg. Refrigerate.

Yield: 24

Want a perfect breakfast? Cranberry Almond Crack is great, but this is cheaper, healthier, and oh-so-wonderful. Try this baked oatmeal topped with homemade yogurt and freshly picked blueberries this summer. You’ll never be the same again.

(From Simply In Season)

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup raisins (or other chopped dried fruit; optional)
3 tablespoons chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup applesauce
2 tablespoons oil
1 egg (beaten)

Instructions

Combine oats, brown sugar, baking powder, and optional dried fruit and nuts in a medium bowl. Combine milk, applesauce, oil and egg in a separate bowl. Add to oat mixture; stir well.

Pour into a greased 8 x 8-inch baking pan. Bake in preheated oven at 350F for 25 minutes. Serve warm with milk or yogurt. Serves 3-4.

This recipe can be prepared quickly in the morning by mixing the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately the night before. Combine and pop in the oven as soon as you get up. Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator and can be reheated in the microwave in individual bowls.

Confession: Dinner in this house is usually very boring, which doesn’t make much sense because I do enjoy cooking. Yet somehow I get stuck in these long ruts of making the same thing over and over and over again OR I simply feel too lazy/poor to go to the grocery store and buy exciting ingredients. So what ends up happening is meals like this:

Step One: Make Rice in chicken stock.

Step Three: Layer Rice, Bean mixture, and Cheese in 13x9.

Step Four: Top with cheese. Bake @ 350 for 10 minutes.

Step Five: Top with sauce and .... Enjoy?

Part of this meal is still sitting in the fridge, waiting for someone hungry and desperate enough to finish it off. In the meantime, we’d much prefer to feast on the Golden Chicken Curry I made last night. I had my first taste of this delicious dish last weekend at Cousin Jennifer’s house for a family reunion. It was so good that I decided I must make it ASAP.

As I perused the grocery store gathering ingredients for the week and this meal, I almost abandoned my cart when I realized I’d need to buy a whole chicken. My beef with making meals with chicken is that in order to be efficient, economical, responsible (you get the picture), I have to buy a bird, cook it, and pull off the meat myself. Not my favorite chore. In fact, I hate it. In my richer, careless, nine to five employed days, I always bought boneless, skinless breasts. How easy! How quick! How wonderful! Now that I’m home, I have no excuse.

In a series of very whiny emails to my sister-in-law I asked if there was some easy, wonderful, non greasy way to procure the meat for this recipe. Maybe some sort of special tool? No such luck. Her only suggestion was to warm it up first (I had cooked it in the crock the night before), and so I did.

Fortunately my reward for this unpleasant task was a wonderful, exciting, and new (!) meal for the Baer family. A giant mess in the kitchen later and dinner was ready:

Taste test: 9/10 (Austin) 9.5/10 (Kate)

Golden Chicken Curry via Mama’s Minutia
Adapted from a hand-me-down cookbook: The Flavors of Bon Appétit 2000

INGREDIENTS
the meat from one cooked chicken, chopped
1 hearty glug of oil
2 or 3 large onions, chopped
1/4 cup minced, peeled fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup applesauce
1 10-ounce (2-3 cups) package frozen peas
½ cup sour cream
½ cup coconut milk
salt, to taste

Possible toppings: cilantro, green onions, chutney, chopped bananas, raisins, chopped peanuts or cashews, coconut, etc.

**Note: Dish significantly improves (and warrants a 9.5/10) when topped with mango chutney.

INSTRUCTIONS

Sauté the onions in the oil till they’re translucent and tender.

Add the ginger and garlic and sauté one minute.

Add the curry, cumin, flour, and cinnamon and sauté one minute more.

Add the yogurt and tomato paste, stir until thick, and simmer for one minute.

Add the broth and applesauce, bring to a boil, and then simmer for a few minutes.

The perks of cooking your own chicken---instant broth!

Add the chopped chicken...

...and peas and heat through.

Remove the kettle from the heat and stir in the sour cream and coconut milk (you may continue to heat, as needed, but do not boil). Taste to adjust seasonings.

Serve over rice, with a smattering of condiments. Delicious!