America’s Test Kitchen Stew

If you’re into stew or even if you’re not this is to die for! This was our Sunday Dinner and yes, it’s the best Irish beef stew I’ve tasted to date. If you’re shopping for those newly weds or anyone who likes to cook America’s Test Kitchen Cookbooks are a treasure. It’s not so easy to find their recipes on line … You need to be a member. It’s all worth it! The recipes are tested just as it says. Thank you Will for the great dinner! I look forward to next Sunday!

Here’s a couple of tried and true order on line foods to make your Holidays easier, biscuits Here & pies Here.


London Broil Dinner

Perfect for the Holidays

When turkey no longer gets everyone’s attention try this simple but elegant meal. Portions can be done days ahead. And just think … there’s no crazy clean up! Best of all this is not a budget buster!

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Portuguese Meat Casserole

This dish tastes better the next day but you won’t have leftovers to test It’s a meat and potatoes indulgence with a soupy tomato and onion broth. As I type this I wish i had some. Yep, no leftovers!

You will need time to oven roast (about 2 hours in a fast oven) but the prep is rapid. If you’re a meat and potatoes fan you’ll love this dish!

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Beef and Potato Gratin

Main dish for six, or four lumberjacks. Sticks to your ribs and tastes so good goin’ down. Just a hardy easily prepared weekday meal. Careful, it may become a family favorite.

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Stovetop Pot Roast

If you’re into Pot Roast you won’t cook any other recipe after trying this one. Seriously! A one pot stovetop meal with little prep and 5 hours undisturbed cooking. The meat is beyond juicy, and vegetables so savory delicious with just a bit of carrot sweetness. I love the seasonings used in the Mississippi Pot Roast Recipe.  So, I’ve duplicated to some degree. I’m not sure why but cooking stovetop makes it so much easier. Here’s an oven version but this stovetop is so much more. It just can’t be beat. Delicious enough to serve a holiday crowd without apology!

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Skillet Spaghetti

One skillet spaghetti recipe and you have dinner for 6 hearty eaters in 30 minutes! Hey, this is a great Super Bowl dish. It tastes great, and who doesn’t like spaghetti! And another plus, it’s not messy to serve … just spoon it up.

 

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Portuguese Festa Sopas

We’re passionate about our Portuguese Festa Sopas! This typically once a year Festa is celebrated throughout the San Joaquin Valley (and many other locations). BUT we love to make Portuguese Sopas at home throughout the whole year. The recipe varies a bit from place to place but the basic ingredients remain the same. When I posted our family’s recipe some years ago passions ran high. Others’ remembered differing recipes. I can assure you the Willitts’ (Perry-Freitas) recipe is authentic. This hearty dish has a unique flavor and is not always successfully duplicated at home. Dan (my brother), who put the recipe together for my post, helped with the cooking for these Portuguese Festas in Visalia for a number of years. It’s one thing helping to put food together for hundreds, and then another converting to a small dish accurately just by taste testing. He has completed many taste tests in creating this dish. I’ve tested this latest recipe. It’s exactly as I remember! 

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Basic Marsala Sauce Makes 3 Dinners

Filet Mignon with Marsala Sauce

Meatballs Cooked in Marsala Sauce

Chicken Marsala

This simple recipe makes up beautifully. I’ve plated two Marsala Sauce Dinners to reveal the diversity of this recipe. Change two ingredients and it becomes Chicken Marsala. This recipe is one to put to memory.

Working 14 hour days as a single parent leaves little time for cooking. Creating a repertoire especially of versatile recipes like this one makes perfect sense. Don’t get me wrong, we had plenty of fast food in those days. Just ask my youngest ones. I wanted to cook but after hours of treating patients I just didn’t have the energy. Luckily we all survived but I would say not without some earmarks. Isn’t that what gives us character! Truly looking to help those parents out there that find themselves in my old shoes.

We all know now that wine doesn’t burn off during cooking at least not all of it. The shorter cooking times can guarantee you’re going to be consuming some alcohol. If you are concerned there are some things you can do with this recipe. A substitute for Marsala is very difficult to accomplish. You might try adding a little white grape juice and lemon juice or vinegar. Adding fruit such as grapes or figs sounds delicious. In a pinch the Marsala can be eliminated and broth substituted.

I hope you’ll enjoy this delicious recipe over and over.

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Oven Mississippi Pot Roast with Fixings

When you can’t wait 8 hours for the traditional Slow Cooker Mississippi Pot Roast and you want all the fixings to caramelize the oven is your best bet. My family loves my Pot Roast and this brings the old recipe to extraordinary.

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Braciole Recipe 2

When a Rizzo birthday happens at my home Braciole is always the main dish. It’s his favorite! This year I wanted to try something a little different. Just a change up in the stuffing … like a bread stuffing. My use of flank steak is a favorite but other meats work too, such as round steak, pork, veal. You still can’t beat flank steak for its flavor and tenderness in this recipe.

If you’d like to try my Braciole Recipe 1 click here.

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