Real Beef Stroganoff (w/turkey)

Believe it or not I used this recipe with leftover turkey last year and it was great! Just substitute the beef tenderloin for four cups of cooked diced turkey.  Perfect for post-Thanksgiving leftover turkey burn out!

I did not use tomatoes (that sounded strange) and I served it to my family over egg noodles.

HTCE p.739

Variety = The Spice of Life

Sometimes, I wonder if the grass is greener in another cookbook.... For instance, I often turn to my trusty 11th edition Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook for cookie recipes. But, time after time I come back to Bittman for regular ol' grub. Why?

Variety!!

I bought a large family-pack of pork chops a while back, stuck most of them in the freezer in smaller my-family-size portions, and have been slowly cooking them. I keep looking in other cookbooks for pork chop recipes, but always come back to Bittman. Why? Because he has a great skillet pork chop recipe with tons of variations--and, I nearly always have the ingredients for at least 3 of the variations on hand. Variety! The other cookbooks have variety at the expense of learning new methods, having non-normal ingredients on hand, and so forth. Tonight, we'll be be trying a third version of the Skillet Pork Chops--keeps our meals from being too old hat, but gives me the confidence of preparing something I'm already pretty familiar with.

Just had to share!

Pork Chops with Onions and Peppers

Recipe: Pork Chops with Onions and Peppers (variation of Skillet Pork chops, 8 Ways)
Page: HTCE p. 721
Rating: ***-****

The peppers and onions were terrific and a nice topping for the pork chops. Our particular pork chops weren't that great, but we decided it was more a feature of the chops themselves than the recipe. That being said, this recipe would be a **** or perhaps a ***** if the chops were really high quality. Ordinary, mixed pork chops from your average grocery store? ***

Easy and some nice unattended time in which to get other meal elements ready.

Skillet Pork Chops, 8 Ways

Recipe: Skillet Pork Chops, 8 Ways

Page: HTCE p. 720

Rating: ****

These were a touch dry, hence the 4* rating. I think cooking pork chops this way makes it very easy to overcook them. Nonetheless, they were tasty, and the pan sauce was delicious. Easy, too. I added some Italian seasoning to the pork chops with the salt and pepper since my mom used to cook them that way. Can't wait to try some of the variations.

Classic Pot Roast

This recipe is exactly what it claims to be: classic! Sure you could probably go in your kitchen and whip up a pot roast (if you've ever made one before), but if you want to get consistent results use this recipe. It is what we are having for dinner tonight!

I pretty much follow the exact recipe, except that I shorten the time that you soften the vegetables because I like my onions, etc. not to dissolve during the cooking. I usually just add water in the first liquid step (wine or water) and then beef bouillon in the second, although today I had chicken broth on hand.

I think the rosemary/tomato variation looks really good, but that is for another day!

HTCE p.742