Foil Dinners

A fun activity as everyone should assemble their own!  Generally, a foil dinner consists of a meat, a few vegetables, a ‘liquid’ (oil, water, or condensed soup), and a few seasonings.  There is no ‘one way’ to assemble a foil dinner, so I have included our family’s favorite combination.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 oz hamburger meat/person
• Sliced Mushrooms
• Diced and peeled potatoes (russet, red, or yukon golds)
• Diced Onion
• 1/2 T Margarine/person
• Garlic
• Oregano
• Salt

Form meat into a patty and place in the center of a 1.5-2 ft square of aluminum foil (use two layers of foil, shiny side up to direct heat inward).  Top with vegetables, margarine, and seasonings.  Bring two opposite sides of foil together and roll.  Roll up remaining two sides.  On a third sheet of shiny side up foil, place dinner upside-down and repeat wrapping maneuver.  Mark the top with name/initials using a permanent marker to identify after cooking.  Place in firepit or on the grill turned on high for about 30 minutes.  Peel away foil to check for doneness.

 

Pork Roast with Potatoes and Onions

• Boneless Pork Roast (any cut you prefer) .5lb/person
• Medium Russet Potatoes 1.5/person
• Medium Yellow Onions .3/person
• Flour
• Salt
• Pepper
• Mustard
• Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 35o*F.  Peel and quarter potatoes and onions and place in the bottom of a large roasting pan.  Generously cover roast with salt and pepper.  Then cover roast with flour.  Finally, smear roast with mustard.  Place roast on rack over potatoes and onions.  Cook until internal temperature is 170*F (2-3 hours for a 3-4 lb roast), basting every 30 minutes (if there is no liquid in the bottom of the roast pan to baste with, use a mixture of salt, pepper, olive oil, and water).

 

All-American Stirfry ~or~ Beef Stew

One day, Matt felt like having stir-fry and I wanted something more…American, so we decided to make stir-fry but replace each Asian ingredient with its American equivalent (noodles become potatoes, chicken becomes beef, and so forth).  When we were finished, it turned out that we had some very good beef stew.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb Country Style Beef Ribs (chopped in bite-sized pieces)
• 1 Medium Onion (minced as small as possible to encourage boiling away)
• 6-8 Mushrooms (sliced)
• 4-6 Medium Potatoes (cubed)
• 1 8-ounce can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1 Cup Milk
• Olive Oil
• Oregano
• Garlic
• Salt
• Pepper
• Paprika

Brown beef in olive oil and seasonings in a large stew pot.  Add onions and cook until onions are soft.  Add mushrooms and sautee until mushrooms are cooked.  Add potatoes, condensed cream of mushroom, milk, and 1/2 C water.  Cover and simmer approximately 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.  Add additional milk or water if stew gets too dry.  Serve with rolls or buttered bread.

 

Cheddar and Broccoli Soup

Ingredients:

• 5 Medium Potatoes
• 1 Quart Half and Half
• 2 T Margarine
• 4 T Flour
• 2.5-3 C Grated Cheddar
• 1 T Chicken Bouillon
• Frozen Broccoli Florets
• Salt and Pepper

Dice, boil, and drain potatoes.  Make a cream sauce from half and half, margarine, and flour.  Melt cheddar in cream sauce.  Add potatoes and broccoli.  Heat slowly (should thicken slightly).  Salt and pepper to taste.  This recipe can also be done in the crockpot.  Just put all ingredients (add 1 C water) in crockpot and heat on low for >6 hours.  Serve with rolls or buttered bread.  About 6 servings

 

Clam Chowder

Ingredients:

• 3 cans minced clams
• 1/2 C Butter
• 1/3 C Flour
• 3-4 Medium Potatoes (about 4 C diced)
• 2 Pints Half & Half
• 1/2 t Onion Powder
• 1/4 C Parsley
• 1/2-1 t minced Garlic (optional)
• 1/2 t Dillweed
• 1/4 t celery salt
• Salt and Pepper

Peel and dice potatos.  Drain clams and use juice to boil potatoes (about 10 minutes or until tender).  In a sauce pan, melt butter.  Add spices to butter and simmer for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Whisk flour into butter mixture.  Combine potato mixture, butter mixture, clams, and half & half and stir over med-low heat until chowder has reached desired consistency.

Alternative directions for canning: Combine all ingredients EXCEPT butter and half & half.  Process 1 hour and 40 minutes at 10 pounds pressure.  Add half & half and butter when heating to serve.

 

Everyone’s Favorite Potato Salad

I have never had another kind of potato salad that I liked, probably because most had ‘crunchies,’ which I don’t like.  My husband does not like pickles.  Growing up, he also believed he did not like potato salad, although his mother assured him there were no pickles in it.  He only discovered after we had been married for two years that, not only did he like my potato salad, but his mother had been putting pickle juice in hers all those years!  I have brought this potato salad to every pot luck and BBQ I have ever attended and it has never failed that at least one person has asked for the recipe.  I tried to find the origins of potato salad and reports vary wildly; however, it appears that my recipe is a cross-breed between German and American versions.

Ingredients:

• 5 Medium Potatoes
• 5 Eggs
• 3/4 C Mayonnaise
• 1 T Mustard
• 1 t Vinegar
• 1 T Milk
• >1/2 t Onion Powder
• 1/4 t Garlic Powder
• 1/2 t Celery Salt
• <1/2 t Dill Weed
• 1/2 t Pepper
• 1/4 t Paprika

Hard boil eggs (slowly bring to a boil, turn down and simmer 15 minutes, remove from heat and let sit 5 minutes, drain and fill pan with cool water, let sit until eggs are cooled).  Peel and quarter potatoes.  Boil until soft enough to spear with a fork (about 15 minutes).  Blend liquids and spices in large bowl.  Drain potatoes and add to liquid/spice mixture.  Peels eggs.  Slice 4 eggs in three directions and add to mixture.   Stir well.  Even out surface with a spoon.  Slice the last egg in only one direction and arrange slices along the top.  Shake a small amount of paprika over the top.  Can be served still warm (YUM) but keep refrigerated.

 

Sweet Pork Chops and Parmesean Fries

Ingredients:

• 2 Egg Whites
• 1/2 C Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 2 t Garlic Salt (or 1 3/4 t Salt and 1/4 t Garlic Powder)
• 6 Yukon Gold or Russet Potatoes (the Golds are WAY better)
• 2 Pork Chops
• 1 Tb Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/2 t Brown Sugar
• 1 t Garlic
• 1/8 t Salt
• 1/8 t Pepper
• 1/4 C Olive Oil
• 2 Tb Honey

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Farenheit.  Wash potatoes and cut into wedges.  Combine egg white, cheese and 1/2 t of the Garlic Salt in a quart or gallon ziploc bag.  Add potatoes, seal bag, and shake to coat.  Spread onto greased baking sheet.  Bake 15 minutes.  Place meat on same baking sheet next ot the potatoes; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 t Garlic Salt.  Bake an additional 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine all remaining ingridients.  Brush meat with oil misture.  Continue baking 10-15 mintues or until meat is cooked through and potatoes are tender, basting meat occasionally with oil mixture.