Wesley’s Best Dry Rub for Barbeque

My cousin shared this dry rub mix recipe with me. I haven’t tried it yet but he says it is the best and I trust him—he is truly a gourmet.

1 part paprika

1 part garlic powder

1 part black pepper

1/2 part sea salt

1/2 part brown sugar

Mix all together. You can make this in bulk and store in a tightly covered container.

This is how he uses it:

Cover meat (pork, chicken, beef, ribs, etc.) with olive oil (brush on) and rub with spice mixture until covered. Cook over low heat on a grill for an hour.

For ribs you can also prepare them with the oil and dry rub and wrap them in foil and refrigerate overnight. Cook low and slow—about 8 hours at 200 degrees.

I haven’t tried this yet but can’t wait to give it a shot.

Salisbury Steak

I was wanting something warm and savory for dinner and with several pounds of hamburger in my fridge this seemed like a good option.

1 lb ground beef
1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic
1 large egg
1  packet dry onion soup mix
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Mix all together and form into 6 hamburger patties. Fry in a large skilled in 2 tablespoons of oil (I used canola) over medium high heat (350 degrees), three minutes on each side. Remove from pan and set aside.

Make gravy:
1/2  to 1 large onion, thinly sliced
8 ounces sliced fresh baby Portobello mushrooms (can use white mushrooms if preferred)
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pinch cayenne pepper (to taste, optional)
1 can beef consommé OR 1 can Campbell’s beefy mushroom condensed soup
1 soup can full of water (you can use 2 cups beef broth instead if you don’t have the consommé or beefy mushroom)
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Black pepper to taste

Add sliced onion and mushrooms to drippings in the skillet. Stir well making sure to scrape brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, (or until onion is soft and transparent) stirring occasionally. Stir in the flour and cook for two minutes more stirring until flour is well combined. Add the consommé and water stirring until thickened and bubbly. Turn heat down to simmer. Return hamburger patties to pan and cook uncovered for 25 minutes over low heat. Flip patties once halfway through cooking. Serve with Velvet Mashed Potatoes for a great comfort food meal.

*This is a slightly modified version of this recipe.

Green Chili Burros

This recipe was created by my Grandpa George. It is a special meal at our house. Whenever I taste it I can see Grandpa standing in his kitchen, smiling.
The problem with my Grandpa's recipes is that he never measured anything. He taught my mom to cook that way, and that is how I was taught. This recipe is too good not to share, so I will do my best.

2 1/2 lb beef roast
1 cup of water
1 medium sized onion- diced
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 to 2 TBSP cumin
1/2 -1 TBSP chili powder
3 - 7 ounce or 4 -4 ounce cans of chopped green chilies
salt to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
2 tsp of corn starch
around 10 large flour tortillas
grated cheddar cheese
shredded lettuce
diced tomato
salsa
sour cream

In a crock pot place your roast,(you do not need to brown the roast first), water, diced onion, garlic, cumin, and 2/3 of your green chilies. (2 - 7 ounce cans, or 3 - 4 ounce cans)
Cook that on high for about 6 to 7 hours, or until the meat easily shreds.
Shred your beef. Stir in the last can of green chilies. Add your salt to taste, red pepper flakes, and any additional chili powder, or cumin you feel it needs. Stir in the corn starch and incorporate it evenly.

Place about 1/2 cup of your meat mixture across the middle of one flour tortilla and roll the tortilla up. Top with cheddar cheese and microwave for 30 seconds, letting it melt. Top that with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream, and salsa, if desired.
I serve this with Mexican rice, and homemade beans.

I usually split this recipe in to 2. I freeze the leftover meat and use at a later date to make chimichangas. Another yummy dinner!

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

This is a favorite dish of my husbands. I have made it a few times for company and it is always a well loved dish.

30 frozen or prepared meatballs
1 TBSP vegetable oil
1- 20 ounce can of pineapple tidbits, reserving juice
3 TBSP cornstarch
1 TBSP soy sauce
3 TBSP vinegar
6 TBSP water
1/2 cup brown sugar (probably why my husband likes it so much!!)
1 lrg green pepper, sliced in to strips

About 5 cups of prepared rice

In a large skillet, combine oil and 1 cup of drained pineapple juice, adding water if necessary to make 1 cup. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch, soy sauce, vinegar, water and brown sugar. Stir into juice mixture and cook over medium heat about 5 to 7minutes until thick, stirring constantly. Add meatballs, pineapple tidbits and green pepper. Simmer 20 minutes until heated through. Serve over hot, cooked rice. Makes 6 servings.

Pork Loin

Many moons ago my grandpa decided that he had seen enough turkey by the time Christmas rolled around. Thus began the tradition to eat pork on Christmas day. That tradition has carried on.
This year I found this simple, and very tasty recipe. My family loved it, and I loved how easy it was. It was very moist and flavorful.
I found the recipe on allrecipes.com. It has received 4 1/2 stars.

Original Recipe Yield 10 servings
Ingredients
1 (3 pound) boneless pork loin roast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup applesauce
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard (I only had spicy mustard- it was great!)
1 tablespoon honey
3 sprigs fresh rosemary ( I used dried rosemary)
Directions
1.Sprinkle roast with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, brown roast on all sides in oil. Place on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Combine the applesauce, mustard and honey; spread over roast. Top with rosemary. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 1-3/4 to 2-1/2 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees F. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

Crockpot Fajitas

2 lb. chuck roast
1/2 cup brown sugar
2-3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
juice of two limes (I use bottled with no issues)

Combine everything in a crock pot and cook on high for 6 hours. Shred meat and serve with taco fixings. You can adjust the quantity of seasoning if you have a bigger/smaller roast.

Tomazin's Sloppy Joes

This is a recipe from my mother in law's family. Much better than those seasoning packets in the store and uses ingredients you usually have in your cupboards.

2 lbs ground hamburger or meat
1 medium onion
1/2 green pepper (I usually throw in the whole thing. I like peppers!)

Brown meat, onion, and green pepper together. Add sauce and let simmer for a while or throw in a crockpot and eat it later.

Sauce:
1 TBSP mustard
1 cup ketchup
2 TBSP vinegar
1 TBSP sugar (I usually omit this and no one notices)
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1/8 tsp paprika

The longer this cooks, the better. This can be frozen.
Serve on rolls or buns.

Garbage Plates

 

I don't know why on earth someone put ketchup on this, but if you are going with anything other than the hot sauce, only mustard and onions are acceptable. :)

2 ground beef patties, coooked

2 slices white American cheese

Hashbrowns (as an alternative, I would recommend Ore-Ida's Extra Crispy Tater Tots), fried in a bit of oil

Simple macaroni salad (elbows cooked al dente, rinsed in cool water -- add finely diced onion, celery, shaved carrot, mayo, and a splash of vinegar)

Meat Sauce

1 - medium onion, chopped
1 - clove garlic, minced
1 - tbsp. oil
1 - lb. triple-ground beef
1 - cup H2O
1 - can tomato paste
1/2 - tbsp. brown sugar (optional)
1 - tsp. ground black pepper
3/4 - tsp. cayenne pepper
1 - tsp. chili powder
1 1/2 - tsp. paprika
1/2 - tsp. ground cumin
1/2 - tsp. allspice
1/4 - tsp. cinnamon
1/2 - tsp. powdered cloves
1 - tsp. salt (to taste)

In large skillet, fry chopped onion and garlic in oil until soft. Add meat, stirring constantly with fork to keep its texture fine. Once the meat browns, add water and tomato paste. Simmer 10 minutes. Add sugar and spices. Simmer 30 minutes, adding water ,if necessary, to keep it moist but not soupy.

Fill half of your finest Chinet plate with mac salad and the other half with hash browns.  Top with cheeseburgers, liberal amounts of meat sauce, diced onions, and mustard.  Serve with slightly stale Italian bread and butter. :)

Special Meatballs

I'm not sure why we called these "Special Meatballs," but they are tas-TY!  It's an interesting combination of things, but it works!

Uncooked meatballs (if you use cooked, obviously decrease baking time by about half)
1 can whole cranberry sauce
1 c. sauerkraut, drained
1 bottle of chili sauce, plus a chili sauce bottle full of water
3/4 c. brown sugar

Place meatballs in a baking dish.  Mix remaining ingredients and pour over meatballs.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes covered, and half an hour uncovered, or until meatballs are cooked through.

The Best Meatball Recipe Ever

I found this recipe a couple of years ago, and I will never use another recipe again. SO delicious!

1/3 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, roughly chopped
1/2 lb ground beef

1/2 lb ground pork

1/2 lb ground veal

1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs

2 eggs

1/4 cup parmesan or romano cheese, grated

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place the chicken stock, onion, garlic, and parsley in a blender or food processor and puree. In a large bowl, combine the pureed stock mix, meat, bread crumbs, egg, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, red pepper flakes, and salt. Combine with hands until mixture is uniform, do not overmix. Put a little olive oil on your hands and form mixture into balls a little larger than golf balls.

At this point, you can brown the meatballs in a skillet with a drizzle of olive oil until they are no longer pink in the middle (about 10 minutes or so). If I am serving this with sauce, I bring the sauce to a boil, drop the uncooked meatballs in, and turn the sauce down to simmer. After about 15 minutes, stir the sauce and meatballs (if you do stir too soon, the meatballs will fall apart), and allow to continue cooking for another 10-15 minutes. Serve over hot pasta or in hoagie rolls with mozzarella cheese.

Zucchini Sausage Casserole

Slowly but surely, zucchini season is arriving here in NY.  While I could eat steamed zucchini/summer squash with butter, salt, and pepper all summer long, sometimes you need to switch it up a bit...:)

1 lb. Italian sausage (patties or links cut out of the casing)
1/2 c. chopped onion
3 medium-sized zucchini, cut into 1/2" slices
1 can (15 oz.) seasoned tomato sauce (I use spaghetti sauce)
3 c. cooked rice
1 tsp. salt
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook sausage (breaking up with a spatula) and onions;  set aside in a bowl.  In the same pan, saute zucchini until translucent, making sure not to overcook.  Combine 1/2 of the tomato sauce with rice, sausage, and salt.  Place in a greased 9x13 pan.  Arrange zucchini on top, spread with remaining sauce, and sprinkle with cheese.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until heated through.

Pork Quesadillas

I usually just use leftover tenderloin from this recipe, and have "grilled" them on the stove top with success.

1 large garlic clove, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for grates
1 pork tenderloin (3/4 to 1 pound)
1 large red onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
4 (10-inch or burrito-size) flour tortillas
4 tablespoons spicy brown mustard, plus more for serving
6 ounces thinly sliced baked ham
3 to 4 dill pickles, thinly sliced lengthwise
8 ounces provolone or Swiss cheese, coarsely shredded (about 2 cups)

On a work surface, sprinkle garlic with salt. Using the flat side of a chef's knife, draw the blade across the garlic mixture, repeating until a paste forms. In a small bowl, combine with 1/4 teaspoon pepper and the oil. Rub all over pork.

Heat grill to high; oil grates. Place pork on hottest part of grill; cover. Cook, turning occasionally, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part registers 155 degrees. 10 to 20 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes; thinly slice across the grain.

Meanwhile, place onion slices on cooler part of grill; cover. Cook, turning once, until soft and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Reduce grill to medium-low.

Spread 1 tablespoon mustard on each tortilla, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Dividing evenly, layer half of each tortilla with ham, pork, onion, pickles, and cheese. Fold tortillas; press to close.

Lightly oil grates. Place quesadillas on grill; cover. Cook, turning once, until browned in spots and cheese has melted, about 4 minutes. Cut into wedges; serve immediately.

Skillet Pork Tenderloin

I usually don't make pork tenderloin any other way now. :)

1 pork tenderloin (about 1 lb.)
1 peeled garlic clove (I usually just throw in a Tbl. of minced garlic)
paprika
2 Tbl. butter
1 c. sliced, fresh mushrooms
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. marjoram (I use Herbes de Provence or oregano)
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbl. flour
3/4 c. cold water

Rub pork on all sides with garlic and sprinkle with paprika. In a large
skillet, brown pork in butter. Add the mushrooms, lemon juice, marjoram,
salt, and pepper. Turn meat to coast with seasonings. Cover and simmer
25-30 minutes or until juices run clear. Remove meat and keep warm. In a
small bowl, combine flour and water until smooth; stir in pan juices.
Bring to a boil; cook and stir 2 minutes or until thickened. Slice pork
and serve with gravy over rice or egg noodles (or mashed potatoes!).

Easy Fried Chicken

Living in the South, naturally I needed to learn how to make good fried chicken. This is our family’s favorite version. Everyone loves this and it is quick and easy. I don’t even feel too guilty about it if I use Canola or olive oil. It is skinless so that’s another bonus.

Cooking oil (peanut oil is great if it’s available. I usually just use olive or Canola oil)
2 pounds boneless chicken breasts cut into smaller pieces
Flour
Milk (buttermilk is also good)
Salt and Pepper
Poultry seasoning and paprika to taste (optional)

Fill skillet about 1/3 full of oil and heat while you prepare the chicken. Wash chicken and pat dry. Cut into small pieces. Roll in flour (if you use poultry seasoning and paprika add it directly to the flour before dredging), dip in milk and then roll in flour again. Place in hot oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Make sure the skillet is completely full of chicken and then cover the skillet. Cook for 10 minutes. When the chicken is golden brown turn it over and salt and pepper the second side. Fry until golden brown.

Shish Kebobs

This is another one of those dishes that I associate with summertime. I have many fond memories of helping my mom put the ingredients on the skewers and then watching my dad stand at the grill to cook these.

Small pieces of chicken, beef or other meat*
Any or all of the following:
cherry tomatoes
pineapple chunks
button mushrooms
chunks of green, red or yellow pepper
pearl onions (blanched about 4 minutes)—or slices of cut up onion
yellow squash (1/2 inch thick pieces)
zucchini (1/2 inch thick pieces)
baby carrots (blanched 5 minutes)
any other vegetable of your choosing—eggplant might be good

Soak bamboo skewers in water for 1 hour. Load skewers with pieces of meat and vegetable, alternating. Brush with your favorite sauce and grill for about 5 minutes on each side or until squash is tender. Serve over rice. Sometimes I marinate the meat several hours ahead of time. We often just used Italian dressing as a marinade. Teriyaki sauce is also a good marinade.

*This can easily be left off to create a vegetarian option.

Pork Chops

No fancy name for this. I often enjoy my pork chops simply fried but this recipe is good if you feel like mixing things up a bit.

4 lean pork chops
2 tablespoons flour, optional
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil (this helps keep the butter from burning)
2 to 6 tablespoons good vinegar (raspberry, wine, apple cider, etc.), optional
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream

Coat pork chops with flour, if desired (I usually skip this step but it does help when thickening the sauce at the end). In a skillet, brown chops in butter and oil, turning once. Remove chops and add vinegar, if desired, and broth. Stir over low heat until well combined. Return chops to pan. Simmer for about 10 minutes on each side. Remove pork. Raise heat and boil until amount of liquid is reduced, about 5 minutes. Add cream, stir until thick. Pour over chops to serve.

Barbequed Spareribs

This is one of my favorite summer main dishes. Add a little corn on the cob and some watermelon on the side and it is the epitome of good summer eating.
3 lbs baby back ribs
1/2 cup commercial barbeque sauce
1/4 cup pancake syrup
3 tablespoons brown sugar
Two hours before serving, place ribs on top rack of broiler pan. Put water in broiler pan to depth of 1 inch. Cover ribs with foil. Bake at 350 degrees fro 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Mix barbeque sauce, syrup and sugar together. Brush on ribs. Grill over hot coals about 5 minutes on each side or until sauce is bubbly and browned. If you don’t want to grill, you can discard the water in the bottom of the pan and continue baking for 30 additional minutes basting several times with remaining sauce.

Crockpot Roast 4 Ways

Rub 3 lb. boneless beef bottom round roast with 1/2 tsp. each of salt and pepper.  Choose sauce and mix ingredients in a bowl.  Pour 1/2 of the sauce into the crockpot, add roast, top with remaining sauce.  Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours.

Italian:
1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
3/4 c. chopped onion
1/3 c. chopped carrot
1/3 c. water
3 Tbl. tomato paste
2 tsp. minced garlice
1/2 tsp. dried basil

Chinese:
1 c. stir fry sauce (I use soy sauce)
1/4 c. orange juice
Chopped white part of 4 scallions
1 Tbsp. grated ginger
2 tsp. minced garlic

Mexican:
2 c. salsa
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chiles
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
1/2 c. water
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix

Swedish:
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope beefy mushroom onion soup mix
1 tsp. dried dillweed

Rempel Family Meatloaf

Not sure who the Rempels are, but this is the best meatloaf I have ever had.

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef (I usually use the "Meatloaf Mix" that Wegmans makes -- a mixture of ground beef, veal, and pork)

1/2 cup crushed buttery round crackers

3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons steak sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir the ground beef, crushed crackers, Cheddar cheese, and onion soup mix in a large bowl until well combined. Whisk the eggs, ketchup, and steak sauce in a separate bowl until smooth. Mix the eggs into the meat until evenly combined, if the mixture seems too dry, add a little water. Press into a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven until the meatloaf is no longer pink in the center, 45 to 60 minutes.

Beef Stew

1 lb. stew beef
1 can cream of potato soup
1 envelope onion soup mix
2 c. water
Handful of baby carrots

Toss everything into crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours. Most of the time I double this recipe (except for the soup mix) and serve over noodles or rice. If I am going to serve it as a stew, I'll throw in some quartered new potatoes and a bit more water.