TUESDAY

Hi there,

This is a great recipe for bolognese (aka meat sauce) that you can eat with spaghetti (preferably angel hair b/c it cooks the fastest) or just with a nice hunk of italian bread. It lasts forever and tastes better every day you have it b/c all the flavors come together. You can add roasted red peppers too, or the hot italian peppers chopped up if you like it spicy. Anyway, hope you like it! It's definitely a reliable staple.

Bachelor Bolognese

Olive oil
salt and pepper
1 large onion, minced
2 carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, chopped
couple cloves of garlic
1 lb ground beef or turkey
1 can crushed tomatoes (the italian brands taste the best, get the kind with basil added for extra flavor)
1 medium jar of pasta sauce, whatever brand you like
some fresh basil or rosemary if you want to be fancy
grated parm or romano cheese
ricotta cheese too if you're into cheese

1. Chop all the onion and carrot first
2. Heat oil in large saucepan (enough to cover the bottom of the pan) to hot but not smoking (med to med high heat)
3. Add onions and turn heat down to medium or so. season generously w/salt and pepper. cook them until they are soft but not brown.
4. Add carrots and garlic cloves and continue to cook, stirring occassionally.
5. Add ground beef or turkey breaking it up with your fingers as you add it. add more salt and pepper.
6. Brown meat and stir w/vegetables until it's just about cooked through
7. Skim some of the fat if you want.
8. Add crushed tomatoes and pasta sauce, hit it with some more salt and pepper.
9. Turn heat down to low and simmer until the tomato sauce has reduced some -- you want it to look more meaty than saucy. If you want, add a couple basil leaves or a short stem of rosemary at this point.
10. Serve over pasta with grated cheese and a dollop of ricotta.
11. Or, spoon it into some italian bread and eat it like a sandwich. the italian version of a sloppy joe. You could get some mozzarella involved in this scenario and throw the sandwich under the broiler to melt the cheese if you wanted.

Oreo Imitation Ice Cream Mini Sandwich Delights!

Here's a great recipe! Really fun to make, and tey taste great!

All you need is:

Oreo cookies

A butter knife

Cool Whip (ANY kind will work, but for guilt-free, I use Cool Whip Lite)

Directions:

1. Twist each Oreo cookie apart, and scrape the remaining white icing off (be careful not to snap the cookie). You can put the icing aside or in the trash or eat it- whatever you wanna do with it.

2. Place a dollop of Cool Whip on one cookie, and lightly place the corresponding cookie on top of it, but DON'T SMUSH DOWN TOO MUCH!

3. Place all of your little sandwiches on a plate, and freeze for about 30 minutes.

4. While you're waiting, dip the crumbled cookies that you might have accidentally broken into some Cool Whip.

5. Take out, and enjoy!

They taste SO MUCH like little ice cream sandwiches!

-Glynnis O

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I tried sending this to you directly from your website but it got kicked
back to me for some reason. So, here it is again...

POOR MAN'S TOFFEE

Saltine crackers
1 stick of margarine
1 cup of sugar
1 bag of chocolate chips (preferably milk chocolate)
ALTERNATE - bag of sliced almonds

Easy as pie...easier actually. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie tray
with tin foil so that it curls under the sides of the tray. Then line
saltine crackers end-to-end on cookie tray. Melt stick of margarine in small
pot. Turn heat down and cup of sugar. Stir until mixture thickens. Pour
mixture over crackers. Use pastry brush to spread margarine/sugar mixture
evenly. Put cookie tray in oven for 7 minutes. Turn oven off and remove
cookie tray. Pour bag of choclate chips over crackers and put back in oven
(keeping heat turned off) for several minutes. Remove cookie tray again and
use pastry brush to spread melted chocolate evenly over crackers. (This is
where you can sprinkle the sliced almonds on top of the chocolate if you
like that kind of thing.) Let sit for 15 minutes. Put handtowel underneath
tray and place in freezer for 30 - 40 minutes. Remove when hardened. Lift
Poor Man's Toffee using excess tin foil. Remove all tin foil from bottom of
Poor Man's Toffee (Tin foil SHOULD pull right off the hardened
margarine/sugar mixture). Break Poor Man's Toffee into golf ball sized
pieces. Store in container and keep refrigerated (IF you don't eat it all in
one sitting and make yourself sick). Cost to you $5.

Enjoy!

Matt

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trifle

cake. white cake like vanilla pound cake of coffee cake. no fancies on the cake. just white cake.
custard. buy the boxed kind u can make it real easy according to instructions (milk + sugar + powder)
fruit. idealy strawberries. sliced.
whipped cream. for pete's sake buy the canned one.

layer slices of cake, custard, sliced strawberries in a bowl. more layers = more dessert. top with generous amound of whipped cream. serve.

for a large amount of people, just make it in a large bowl. but its messy to serve. making individual servings is a bad idea cuz believe me you and them will want seconds, maybe thirds.

if you're making it ahead of time, better to add whipped cream before serving so it looks nice for sure.

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baked chicken

get your grain fed chicken and wash it up with vinegar and cut out some of the extra fat and then dry it out real nice with paper towel. it has to be dried very well otherwise its gross. set it in a pyrex.

get 2 table spoons of olive oil in a small bowl. then grind together teh following:

1 t sp cumin

1 t sp basil

1 t sp oregano

1 t sp sweet (aka spanish) paprika

1 t sp pepper

add the grinded herbs and spices to your olive oil.

crush 1 garlic clove and add to the oil.

then add enough salt to make the oil pasty. coarse salt is good.

take the paste and rub it all over your chicken. all over. alllll over.

let it sit in your fridge till tomrrow. u dont have to. u can just do the baking right away.

then tomorrow, preheat your oven at 350 F and cook it for about 1 hr. bigger chickens take longer.

the secret to a well cooked chicken:

if u move the drumstick and it just falls off, its cooks.

turn it around and grill the back so its nicely browned on all sides.

grill it till its almost charred. u need to keep the skin on for that. even if you dont eat the skin, just keep it on!

eat with whatever you want, but dont forget your vegetables.

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CROCK POT RECIPE NAME:

Beavis J. Smith the 3rd Special

FIRST STEP::::::CROCK POT IS UNPLUGGED. SAFETY IS #1! (CROCK POT IS
MEDIUM TO LARGE SIZED)

PLACE THE FOLLOWING IN THE CROCK POT:

2-3 LB BEEF OR PORK ROAST, WASH MEAT IN COLD WATER WITH HANDS FIRST
AFTER TAKING IT OUT OF THE RAPPER, THEN STAB IT A FEW TIMES WITH A
SHARP KNIFE (optional: stuff some of those stab marks with a peeled
garlic clove--you will be happy)

PUT THE ROAST IN A BIG CROCK POT. ADD TWO ONIONS, PEEL THE OUTSIDE OFF
BUT PUTTING THEM IN WHOLE IS OK. (if you need room, cut the meat in
1/2, and cut the onions in 1/4's and then place in the crock pot.)

ADD 3 CUPS WATER.

ADD 1/2 JAR BBQ SAUCE.

ADD 1/4 CUP SOY SAUCE.

(optional: add 1/2 cup orange juice)

PUT LID ON CROCK POT.

PLUG IN CROCK POT CORD. TURN ON LOW.   LET COOK 10 - 12 HRS. Turn
OFF. Unplug Crock Pot. Use hand-potholders to if you have to move
crock pot inside part after cooking. HOT!

Thoughts on sides:

BAKED POTATOES. Wash, stab a couple times, cook in the oven for 60
minutes at 350F.   OR, wash stab a couple times, then wrap with wax
paper in a tube and twist ends. Cook on setting for the quantity of
potatoes you will cook.   (If 1, Qty=1)

RICE: Follow directions on box. There are mixes for dirty rice too!
Or rice and beans.

SALAD: Go to salad bar at the grocery and make yourself a nice salad.
Don't forget free dressing.

BREAD: Buy a good Italian roll or Sciala Bread. Toast it and butter
it. Eat it with the meal. Add garlic and broil if you want, in the
oven. Keep an eye on it! Burns quick.

BUNS FOR PULLED PORK/BEEF: Get yurself some good hamburger buns, a jar
of sliced pickles, and some more good bbq sauce, and oh yes, some hot
sauce too!

COLE SLAW: Buy a bag of cabbage based cole slaw in the salad bag
section of the grocery/vegetable section. Follow directions on bag.

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If you don't have a crock pot and like bachelor stews... i HIGHLY suggest it.

No, actually, i INSIST.

Pazole

This is a spanish style soup.

I large can of hominy (or 2 regular sized small cans)

chicken or pork

1 med. ham hock (sometimes called ham shank... cheap, any meat department has it. If they ask if you want it cracked, say "sure".)

1 can salsa (i like herdez pico de something or other but any fave salsa will do)

cook on low in the crock pot for 6-8 hours, i sometimes cook overnight.

Eat.

Add torn corn tortillas or shredded cabbage to individual serving, if you like.

Or just throw some tortilla chips in.

You'll WANT to eat this all week.

Another super simple super yummy crock pot recipe:

Your favorite meat (chicken, pork... i don't use beef a lot, personally)

Your favorite barbecue sauce.

Cover the meat with sauce.

If bottle doesn't cover, add water or chicken/veg/beef stock to cover meat.

cook on low in the crock pot for 6-8 hour.

It makes like a barbeque soup.

YUM-mmmeee

I hear you have a trader joe's in Manhatten now. They have an EXCELLENT corn bread mix. Enjoy with that. Or just with bread.

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