Braised Beef short Ribs

This is one of my favorites i realize it isn't totally a pantry recipe but i couldn't resist...
ingredients:
* 5-6 bone-in short ribs
* Kosher salt & pepper
* Extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 large yellow onion diced
* 2 ribs celery diced
* 2 carrots, peeled, diced
* 2 cloves garlic, diced
* 1-s small cans tomato paste
* 3 to 4 cups hearty chicken or beef stock
* 1 cups water
* 2 bay leaves

Directions:
1. Coat the bottom of a heavy stock pot or dutch oven with extra virgin olive oil. Season the short ribs with salt and pepper on both sides and then place in pot with oil. Sear each side for about 2 minutes each.

2. Remove the short ribs after they have seared and place on a plate. Drain any extra fat in the bottom of the pot but do not scrape the meat drippings. Add fresh oil and then saute the vegetables and garlic until there is a crust that forms on the bottom of the pan. Sometimes I blend the vegetable before i cook them so the final products is not as chucnky.Add the tomato paste and saute longer. Wait until the crust reforms scrape and saute longer. The third the crust forms add the beef or chicken stock and water. Replace the short ribs into the mixture and make sure that the liquid covers the ribs. Add the bay leaves. Simmer unril the short ribs are falling off the bone and tender, about 3 hours.

3. After the short ribs are tender i like to shred the meat and dispose of the bones and bay leaves. I add the meat to the sauce mixture and serve over mashed potatos. So delicious.

I realize this is posted in the wrong season because it is mainly a winter comfort meal...but i love it anytime of the year. It also make great leftovers.

city of ember series

although this is not a church published book...actually it is a young adult novel that i had in my classroom...it covers the topic of food storage nicely. I loved it and found myself wanting to can and can and can. i didn't think a book could ever entice me to want to eat canned parsnips or turnips. There was a movie but it was not good at all compared to the book (isn't that always the case). Here is the link to the author, jeane duprau page.

If you want i have the series you can borrow.

Island Pork Loin

This is fantastic!! I made it once from a recipe off of an exercise video and since have made it many more times.
Ingredients:
pork tenderloin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tblsp garlic finely chopped
1/2 tblsp tabasco sauce

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder and cinnamon. Coat the pork with the spice rub.
3. Heat a skillet over med/high heat and add olive oil to the bottom. Brown the pork loin on all sides, about 4 minutes.
4. Stir together the brown sugar, garlic and tabasco sauce. Pat onto the pork loin place on a roasting pan or cookie sheet.
5. Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the pork loin is done.

I like to serve this with wild rice and fresh cut pineapple. It has a little bit of heat. Eat and enjoy.

Gardner's Granola Bars

Last month we canned oats and I thought i would post some of my favorite oat recipes. Of coarse i am waiting for others to give me their recipes as well...

This is a recipe for granola bars but depending on how you cut of crumble them it makes wickedly good granola.


ingredients:
3 cups of quick oats
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
2 tblsp butter
1 cup flaked coconut ( i use the sweetened)

Mix all ingredients together.

Now this is where the fun part comes in...yo u pick the rest of the ingredients. I made two batches today that i am posting.

Apricot, Cranberry orange chocolate:
i added about 1/2 cup of the orange flavored dried cranberries, 1/2 cup of diced dried apricots, and 1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips.


Cranberry pineapple pistachio:
i added about 1/2 cup of dried cranberries, 1/2 cup dried diced pineapple, 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds and 1/4 cup of chopped pistachios.


Mix all ingredients together and place in a greased 13x9 dish and press flat. For granola do not press flat leave loose or chunk into little crumbles. if you get your hands wet the mixture doesn't stick as much. place in a preheated (350) oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden.


Let them cool for 5 minutes then cut into squares or rectangles. Cool completely. Wrap in saran wrap to keep fresh.

The portable canner will be at my house!!!

Members of the Fruita 2nd ward who have supplies that need to be canned. I will have the canner and cans at my house for anyone that needs to use it. You need to bring your food. The cans are $0.96 each and you can pay for them on Saturday.

You can find my address and phone number on the church website...Catherine Gardner. If you know about how much stuff you have that you would like to can just email or call me to let me know, this way i can buy close to the right number of cans to have there.

to can or not to can...

Aleta P. asked what products can be canned, and if I had a list of those that could not be canned. Here is a link to a page on the church's provident living website that explains what should not be canned.click here for list

Lemon Pepper Pasta

This is an easy recipe that can be adapted to any flavor.

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cup of flour (I like to use bread flour)
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
2 lemons
2 tbsp ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Put the flour and salt in a food processor. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice to the eggs.
2. Add the eggs to the flour and salt and mix until blended. Mix until it becomes a dough ball.

3. Knead for 5 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let the pasta dough rest for about 20 minutes.
4. I used a pasta roller for this next step. You can roll it out by hand with the help of a rolling pin too. (I found that using regular flour does not roll out easily if you are rolling it our by hand look for Farina flour) Roll the pasta through the thickest setting first gradually getting thinner and thinner. Cut into the desired shape of noodles.


5. To cook bring a pot of water to a boil. Place the pasta in the pot and cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Fresh pasta cooks really fast so keep an eye on it. Salt the pasta while it is cooking.

6. Drain and serve with your choice of sauce. I have tried this flavor with tomato sauces and Alfredo and both are great. I served it with butter and cheese.


Variations:
Chile noodles-add 1-2 teaspoons of crushed red chiles to the eggs, before you mix the flour in.
Tomato noodles- add 2 tbsp tomato paste to the eggs, before you mix the flour in.
Spinach noodles- add 5 ounces of cooked drained spinach to the eggs before adding the flour. The dough may be sticky if it is add a little more flour.
Herb noodles- Finely chop the herbs (basil, parsley, sage and thyme are good ones) add to the eggs before you add the flour.

Ward Announcements

Each month we will feature items for you to include in your storage. For the month of January the items are rice and/or potato pearls. Both of these items can be dry packed. To find out the recommended quantity use the food storage calculator on the column to the right. The household items are hand soap and dish soap. If you are a member of the Fruita 2nd ward you will have an opportunity to order rice and potato pearls during your auxiliary meetings.