Mock Plum Pudding

Sauce: (so good! So important - it balances out the tartness of the cranberries with a vanilla and sugar glaze)

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup: one stick of butter..
(Has to be REAL butter... No margarine or fake butter)
-1 cup sugar
-1/2 cup of medium cream
 ( use half and half)
-vanilla extract (a dash)

What to do:

-melt the stick of butter and sugar together...you can use a double boiler or just make sure, if you melt it in a pot- you don't burn the butter.
-add the cream and a dash a vanilla and stir .

This can be made ahead of time and reheated.

The pomp and circumstance for a flaming plum pudding and dramatic entrance:

You will need:

-Lemon extract
-6 sugar cubes
-matches

What to do:

Soak the sugar cubes in lemon extract for about 3-5 minutes
Place on top of plum pudding, all the way around.
Add holly leaves or some sort of decoration of you want - around soaked sugar cubes
Light sugar cubes and walk in!
They will burn out or you can blow them out .

Serve: A slice of warm pudding with a small amount of warm sauce over it.

Merry Christmas from us to you!

 

 

 

 

 

A Babarović family tradition - a guaranteed crowd pleaser and with a dramatic entry!

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup of dark molasses
-1/2 cup of hot water
-2 tsp. Baking soda
-1 1/3 cups of flour
-1 1/2 cups of fresh whole cranberries

What to do:

-mix all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
-grease with butter a fluted metal cake pan
 ( like what you would use for a bunt cake. It can have fancy designs in it or be perfectly smooth)
-pour cranberry mixture evenly in the greased pan and COVER half of the pan with foil, so you only see half of the batter in the pan.
(Neither Tina or her Mom can tell you why they do this - but who am I to change an ancient successful recipe?)

now this is the CRUCIAL:

How to steam the pudding. It's not hard. You just need to be checking the water level in the pot and NOT let it run dry or you will have a burnt tasting pudding.

Fill a wide casserole pot or a high stew pot  halfway with water - to heat- and a way to set the pudding mold ABOVE the water. And the pot lid needs to fit snugly.

*NO water must touch the exposed part of the batter. It will all turn to mush.*

Set the pudding mold in, put the top On and mark on a piece of paper ( the old fashioned way as Tina and her Mom still do it)

... What time the pudding went in.

The pudding will steam for 2 and 1/2 hours and you need to open the pot and check water level every HALF hour... Refilling with water as needed.

After 2 1/2 hours - take the "plum" pudding out and let cool.  Once cool ...
Take a knife and release the pudding on both inside rings.  Place a plate on top and turn over and tap lightly around the mold.

Pudding should pop out on the plate and be ready for decorations.


Top Roast, Yorkshire Pudding, green beans and gravy.

A tasty Holiday dinner that's easy to make. Top Roast, Yorkshire Pudding, green beans and gravy.

All the "Necessaries":

Hardware:

Oven (in case you didn’t already know)
Roasting pan
Big mixing bowl (Yellow. It must be yellow)
Whisk
Spoon
Measuring cups - 1 cup dry and 1 cup wet
12 hole Muffin pan
-----------------------------------------------

Software - Roast :

2   Carrots
2   Celery sticks
2   Onions
1   Garlic bulb
1   3 pound Top Roast
Fresh herbs - Thyme, Rosemary, whatever ya got
Olive oil
Coarse salt
Ground Pepper
-----------------------------------------------

Software - Yorkshire Pudding:

4   eggs
1   cup whole milk
1   cup regular flour
1   Pinch of Salt
1   Bottle of Vegetable Oil
-----------------------------------------------

Call the Kids. It’s Time for Dinner! (takes them an hour to sit down, anyway)

Preheat oven to 475º - (Make sure you know your oven and adjust time and temp accordingly)

Coat the ROOM TEMPERATURE meat in olive oil and lots of salt

Rub it into the meat and set aside for about an hour or 2

Hack up the carrots, celery, onions. Don’t waste time peeling any of them.
Rip apart the bulb of garlic
Pour some olive oil in the roasting pan
Dump the vegetables in a mound in the pan and toss the thyme (and rosemary) on top. 
Pour a little more olive oil over them. Salt and pepper them, too.
Drop the meat onto the pile of vegetables

—LOWER OVEN TEMP TO 400º the second you put the meat inside—

Put Roast in the oven for about an hour or until the internal temperature reaches 135º for medium rare. (if you want something other than medium rare then make an appointment to speak with a doctor about why you like to ruin your meat.) 

Keep checking it. Baste it halfway through if you can find any juices. I never can.

When the temp reaches 135º, take it out, cover it and let it rest. You can rest later. 

In the meantime - Make Yorkshire Pudding(s) Batter

-Crack 4 eggs in a big bowl (yellow, of course)
-Whisk them mercilessly to make them as “airy” as possible while mixing in just under a cup of whole milk
-1 cup of regular flour and
-a pinch of salt  - (I don’t see the purpose of a “pinch of salt” other than the the fact that it makes you sound “Cheffy”. Rationalize it all you want but it adds nothing.)

You will know if you have the right consistency if you dip a spoon in the batter and it clings to the back of the spoon.

-Pour into the liquid measuring cup to make later pouring easy.

The Meat is Ready! Let’s Cook the Pudding!

Again - When the temp reaches 135º, take it out, cover it and let it rest.

-Now, pour a quarter to a half an inch of vegetable oil into each muffin hole. Vegetable oil can withstand high heat, olive oil can not.
-Put the muffin pan into the 400º oven for 15 minutes.
-After 15 minutes, take the pan out carefully (remember, oil burns really hurt)
-Pour the batter into the center of each muffin mold, carefully. Don’t get it on the sides. It will start to snarl at you immediately but keep pouring until each mold is filled about 3/4 of the way.
- Slide the muffin pan into the 400º oven for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Again, KNOW YOUR OVEN! You want the tops to be browned but you’re not allowed to open the door to find out so you only have ONE SHOT at this. They don’t like indecision. In or out.

-When you think they’re done remove GENTLY.

-----------------------------------------------

GRAVY, baby!

Remove the vegetables from the roasting pan, leaving whatever juices exist from the meat.

Pour in water and flour while mixing incessantly over medium heat. Drop a couple of beef bullion cubes in for more flavor. You can add some white wine if you like, too. Keep mixing in the water and flour for what seems like forever until eventually it thickens and, voila! You have gravy.

-----------------------------------------------
Austere GREEN BEANS

While the puddings were baking you should have been making your austere green beans. Just throw them in a pan with 1 cup of sizzling water and roll ‘em around for about 10 minutes. Tina calls for steaming or blanching but really all you're doing is frying them in water.

Slice the beef, put all of this on your plate, put butter and gravy in all the right places and eat. 

Merry Christmas.


JLO’S CAULIFLOWER CHEESE

I think a dish like this could have endless variations. You could infuse the milk, warming it, with a bay leaf or minced clove of garlic. You could stir chopped parsley into the sauce for color. If you don’t have dry mustard, you can add two teaspoons smooth Dijon or an English mustard to the sauce along with the cheese. You could sprinkle some plain breadcrumbs on top for extra crunch. Finally, I saw a version online in which the chefs had grilled pork sausages and sliced them up into the dish, baking them with the cheese sauce as well for more of a meal-in-one dish.

Serves 4 as a side

1          medium head (about 2 to 2 1/4 pounds) cauliflower

4          tablespoons unsalted butter

4          tablespoons all-purpose flour

2          teaspoons Colmans mustard powder (or Dijon works.)

            Salt, to taste

            Freshly ground black pepper or ground cayenne

½        teaspoon ground nutmeg for the béchamel

2          cups whole milk

1 1/4    cups plus 2 tablespoons (6 ounces) grated English or Irish cheddar, the sharper and nuttier the better.

4          tablespoons capers, drained of brine

4          slices thick, crisp country bacon, chopped

¼        cup Panko bread crumbs

1/3       cup Parmagiano Reggiano (optional)

            Chopped chives or flat-leaf parsley, for garnish (optional)

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Trim cauliflower and remove tough core. Cut into 1 to 2-inch florets. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes. Remove from oven. You want them firm, but tender. 

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add flour and whisk to combine and make a roux. Cook for one or two minutes-- just enough to get rid of the floury taste. Add mustard powder and a pinch of cayenne or few grinds of black pepper, and stir to combine.

Drizzle in milk in a thin, steady stream, whisking the whole time so that no lumps form. Season with salt and bring mixture to a simmer, stirring with a spoon; mixture should thicken to the point where it coats the spoon. Stir in 1 1/4 cups cheddar, a handful at a time, letting each handful melt before adding the next. Taste sauce and adjust seasonings if needed.

Spread cauliflower florets in a 2-quart baking ovenproof baking dish. Spoon sauce over florets and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons cheese. 

Then spread a fine layer of the Panko bread crumps and a sprinkling of Parmesan on top of the assembled dish.

Bake until until bronzed and bubbly, about 30 – 35 minutes. Sprinkle with herbs, if desired. 

While the dish is “resting” sprinkle the bacon bits evenly on top.

Sit back and wait for the applause. 

Jim Overton
Santa Fe, NM2015


RACK OF LAMB

Ingredients:

Here’s everything you’ll need for Rack of Lamb:

1 Frenched rack of lamb (I dunno what that means)
some Jasmine rice (cuz it sounds girly. they like that)
Some asparagus
2 shallots
Some white wine
Some vegetable oil
whole grain mustard
Dijon Mustard
Chicken broth
Some fresh thyme
and your salt and your pepper

Creme Brûlée

2 vanilla pods
150 ml heavy cream
150 ml light cream
200 ml of2 % milk
8 large eggs
a third of a cup of sugar
1 lemon for zesting
4 tablespoons really finely ground sugar


SUPER BOWL SUNDAY SNACKS

BACON BALLS

12 Hard Boiled Eggs
24 strips of Bacon

Do it:
All you do is hard boil some eggs. Wrap one piece of bacon around the long ends and one piece of bacon around the middle. Shove 'em in a muffin pan and stuff 'em in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then flip 'em over for another 10 and pop 'em out.

Kale Chips

1 bunch of fresh Kale
Olive Oil
Sea Salt

Do it:
Cut up some kale, put it on a nonstick cookie sheet, drizzle some olive oil over top of it and grind some sea salt over it. Bake it at 450 for 10 minutes and you're done.

 

STICKY WINGS

14 Chicken Wings
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp Red Wine Vinegar
1 tsp Tabasco Sauce

½ pint Barbecue Sauce
2 tsp Light Brown Sugar
4 Spring Onions

Do it:
You just take a bunch of wings, cover them with sea salt and pepper, add a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, Soy sauce Red Wine Vinegar and Tabasco. Then let it marinate for an hour or maybe 3 in the fridge. Then you drain them, put them on a cookie sheet in the oven at 300 degrees for an hour. But watch them .

While you wait you can mix up a 1/2 pint of your favorite barbecue sauce, 2 teaspoons of LIGHT Brown sugar to really make them sticky and add about 4 spring onions.

When they're finished stage 1 of the Oven assault, dump them in the bowl with the glaze to coat them and put them back on the sheet and in the oven NOW at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or so but keep an eye on them so you don't burn them.


CHICKEN POT PIE

Ingredients:

2+ TBSPs White flour
1 Stick of Butter
1 bottle of Olive Oil
2 stalks of Thyme
2 lbs. of Chicken breasts or other tasty Yardbird parts
2 Leeks
2 Carrots
3 Celery Stalks
1 Wine glass of white wine plus however much for yourself
1 Wine glass of water (no religious allusion intended)
1 ¼ Cups of Milk or Cream or……
4 Links of Italian Sausage (Sweet or Hot - your choice)
1 sheet of Puff Pastry (Two if you screw up the first pie like I did)
1 Pie Plate
2 sheets of wax paper
1 Beer bottle to roll out the pastry dough

Now, the work:

Slice leeks in half in widths
Slice carrots into medallions
Finely chop the celery
Slice the chicken into small pieces

-Melt butter in a high sided pan with olive oil
-Dump vegetables and chicken into that pan.
-After a few minutes, add 2 tbsps of flour to thicken mixture.
stir for 2 minutes.
-Then, add one glass of white wine, one wine glass of water and 1 ¼ cups of milk or whatever white stuff you found.
-Stir it around and simmer over Medium heat for 30 minutes.

-Saute your sausage balls in olive oil until they are browned and set aside

-Lay out wax paper and cover with flour
-lay out Puff Pastry dough and roll out with your beer bottle

-Pour chicken and vegetables into pie pan-
-dab whisked egg around the edges
-cover with dough
-cut excess around edges
-roll out excess and cut into shapes, lay on top of pie
-press fork around edges to seal-
-dab top with more whisked egg

-Bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 425º, checking often.

Enjoy


JIMMY’S WIRE SERVICE CHILI

  

Those of us who hail from the land of natural gas and rattlesnakes know that chili is more than a meal. It is a state of mind. You don’t cook chili. You don’t make chili. You don’t fix chili. (It may break you, but you’ll never break it.) As the sage of Luckenbach, Texas, the late Hondo Crouch, observed one day swilling his beer... chili happens.

I started working on this recipe in early 1968, when I was fresh out of active duty in the Army and a young cub reporter at The Dallas Morning News. I’ve been perfecting it ever since. It takes its name from my days as a correspondent and bureau manager for United Press International, the print and broadcast “wire” service which supplied news around the world before a bunch of whack jobs took over.  I was fortunate to work with a small group of devoted, hardworking reporters with whom I forged lasting friendships. Our primary opposition was the Associated Press. We were always out staffed but never out gunned. It’s a Texas thing.  In those days, we didn’t make any money but we had a lifetime of fun. A social occasion was usually built around making a pot of chili, drinking beer and listening to “Outlaw” country music. Through years of refinement, this is now the recipe I have committed to print – for only the second time since the 1970s.

When chili happens at my house, several seemingly unrelated events are ritualized:

 ·      I open the first beer out of the nearest coldest six-pack.
·       I crank some vintage Willie Nelson.
·       I put on my kickers to keep my posture braced for the vapors (that have been known to induce dizzy spells in the faint-of-heart or cause paint to peel in some trailers.
·       I open my second beer.

Then, in a seasoned black cast-iron kettle, Dutch oven, or suitable container (anything in the 4-5-quart variety to handle the ingredients,) take:

3-4       Tablespoons of vegetable oil
3-4       Yellow onions, finely chopped, (allow one onion per pound of meat is a good rule)
5-6       Large garlic cloves crushed with a blade and finely minced 

Sauté until transparent, but don’t let the garlic burn.

Add:

 2-3       Pounds of lean, boneless chuck roast cut up in 1-inch chunks or cut into chunks and with the steel blade of a Cuisinart, pulsed quickly until torn and shredded -- but not ground. If the beef stew meat looks good, go for it. IF YOU ARE COOKING FOR THE DEMO AND EATING ALONE, TWO POUNDS OF MEET IS PERFECT, JUST TAPER OFF ON THE GROUND CHILE.(Ground round or sirloin is the quick, but cowards, way out. But as I was raising two sons, I found that it frequently became the shortest distance between two points.)  

Mix well with the onions and garlic and cook at medium high temperature until the meat turns gray and the excess water and fat cooks out. Drain off all but a ladle full of the excess liquid.

You are now ready to “season” the mixture. All measurements should be “to taste” but these are minimum guidelines: 

2          Heaping tablespoons of cumin seed
         Tablespoons kosher salt
1          Tablespoon oregano
1/2       Level teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2       Level teaspoon ground clove (This actually imparts some fire to the process!)
1          Teaspoon Hershey’s cocoa powder. (Or a quarter slice of Mexican chocolate with cinnamon.)
1          Teaspoon Dijon or any yellow mustard
4-5     Tablespoons of ground Chili Powder*(or one tablespoon per pound of meat of ground New Mexico Chimayo red chile.) If you have access to Whole Foods, their Valle del Sol chili powder is quite good. (If you have access to a Latino market, you can get these chilies ground. In which case, get some ground Chipotle. Use in a one-to-four ratio with regular ground chile. Imparts a slightly smoky flavor.)

*Note:  If you are able to use honest-to-God red chile, I recommend 2 tablespoons of New Mexico, ground, Chimayo medium-hot red chili per pound of meat. This is the essence of the dish.

The seasoning mixture should be prepared ahead of time and thoroughly blended in a bowl. While still at medium-high heat, add the seasoning mixture to the meat and combine thoroughly. Then, add: 

1          Bottle of good Mexican beer, preferably. (It excites the spices, really!)
1          6-ounce can good quality tomato paste
4         Cups of water. (Or enough to cover all ingredients comfortably, and this does vary with amount of meat.)

 If you want to bump up the heat factor, add a Chipotle chili to the mixture. Chipotles are nothing more than a smoked Jalapeno, that’s been canned or dried. Try it with normal seasoning first. The heat of the chili should not suppress the flavor.

Bring the mixture to a low boil and then cook about 30 minutes at medium high. Then cover and reduce heat to very low. Cook at barely a simmer until the meat basically falls apart. Check occasionally to see if water needs to be added. You don’t want it soupy I generally cook my chili four to six hours, depending on the volume of meat. Less meat, less time.

Thirty minutes before serving, stir in 2 tablespoons of yellow corn meal and 2 tablespoons of flour; three tablespoons of Masa Harina; or 3-4 corn tortillas, shredded to thicken the brew.

And, please... No Beans! Beans are used when times are hard and meat is scarce. If you want beans, cook beans. If you want chili, well... you get the picture.

Stand back, and wait for the applause.

James L. Overton
Santa Fe, New Mexico 2007

Serve the chili with warmed flour or corned tortillas, shredded Cheddar cheese, finely chopped green onions, finely chopped onion, chopped cilantro or – if you really want to knock’em dead make the cornbread recipe 

  


SALTED CHICKEN

Ingredients:

1 Chicken
Kosher Salt

Lemon Thyme Sauce:

Juice of 1 Lemon
Fresh Thyme
⅓ cup Chicken Broth
¼ cup Chicken grease
Kosher Salt
2-4 tbsp cold Butter
Black Pepper
Red Pepper
and…...The Brown Bits 

Do it:

-Heat oven to 450º
-Rinse and thoroughly dry the whole chicken inside and out  (making sure all the internal organs have been removed and fed to your dogs. 

->>>>> Make sure you know which side of the chicken is UP!!!<<<<<<<<<

-tuck the wings under (under exactly what, I don’t know)
-liberally coat the whole chicken with as much Kosher salt as you can possibly stand both inside AND out
-Bake at 450º for 1 hour.

Lemon Thyme Sauce: 

-Pour ¼ cup Chicken grease (taken from the baking dish) into a pan
-Scrape that same chicken baking pan to empty the aptly named “Brown Bits” into the sauce pan
-Rip off the Thyme leaves from 2, 4 6 or however many sprigs you want and cook this mixture for 2 minutes
-At 2 minutes, pour in the juice of 1 lemon AND the Chicken Broth.
-Cook THAT for 2 more minutes, stirring constantly.
-Then, add the cold butter.
-When the butter melts, add in black pepper, red pepper, and even more salt.

Stir it all around for 2 more minutes and you’re done.

Make some rice and a vegetable, pour sauce over everything and enjoy.


GOOD OL' RIBS

Ingredients:

1-2  lbs Short Ribs
1-2  Garlic cloves
1     Onion 
1     Cup Beef Stock
4    TBSP All Purpose Flour
1     12oz  Stout beer
2-3 TBSP Olive Oil
1     TBSP  Butter
1     tsp Salt
1     tsp Pepper
1    "high-waisted" pan 
1     regular pot

Do it:

Rinse and pat dry the Ribs
Put flour in a dish / mix in salt and pepper
Dredge the Ribs through the flour
Heat olive oil and butter in the pan
Once the butter melts put in the Ribs
Brown them for 5 minutes per side
Then pull them out and set them aside
Put onions and garlic in until soft
Put ribs back in
Say goodbye to your beer as you now pour it into the pan
Scrape the bottom of the pan for a minute or two to mix in the legendary “Brown Bits” for flavor
Pour in the beef stock

Cover and simmer for about 2 hours but start checking it at 90 minutes.
Make your vegetables, put it all on your plate and eat your dinner.


EGGS

Ingredients

4 Eggs
1 jar of hot sauce
1 Pepperoncini pepper
1 Bag Shredded Cheese of your choice
Old Bay Seasoning
Salt
Pepper
Big Lob of Butter
1 Bent Fork
1 Metal Frying Pan
1 Bowl 

Do it.

--Crack 4 eggs into bowl
--Chop up Pepperoncini pepper into very small pieces
--Mix eggs, chopped pepper, Salt Pepper, Old Bay (to taste), and Hot Sauce (Not too much) in the bowl.
—Melt Butter in pan
—pour bowl into pan
—Stir, scrape and fluff like a madman until eggs are almost done, slightly runny.
—Put some more hot sauce on ‘em
—Put in a handful of Shredded Cheese
—Stir in the cheese until melted (just a few seconds) 

Pour out on your plate with toast (Makes a great sandwich) or hash browns.

Sit back and enjoy the compliments (unless you’re alone, then pat yourself on the back)

GARLIC SHRIMP LINGUINE

Ingredients

2-4 heads of Garlic
Linguine
1 Bag of Shrimp (Half cooked, deveined, frozen)
Fresh Parsley
1 Block of Parmesan Cheese
1 Small loaf of baguette-style bread
Olive Oil
Salt 
Pepper 

      Do it  (read it first. It’s not really that much or that difficult.
      Even I did it, for Pete’s sake.)

      Slice the tops off 2 or 3 heads of Garlic

Place garlic heads in a Garlic Roaster or a similar shape made out of foil. Drizzle olive oil if desired over the garlic

Put in a cold oven and turn heat to 325º - 350º 

Leave it in there for 50 minutes
Slice lengthwise any baguette type of bread
Slide your bread into the oven for the last 10 minutes of the garlic roasting

Peel shrimp (tails on, tails off - it’s up to you)
Boil water for Linguine. Dump some olive oil and salt in the water.
When ready, cook your Linguine. this will give you about 9 minutes
Chop a few cloves of garlic 
Chop up some Parsley
Grate some Parmesan cheese
Pour a “lug” or two of olive oil in a pan.
Dump the garlic and parsley in there for a minute
Dump your shrimp into the pan and cook until they turn pink.
Strain the linguine but not so much that it cries, pour in a bowl, dump the shrimp/parsley/garlic combo on top and cover with your grated Parmesan cheese.

Take the heads of garlic and squeeze the stuff out of there onto a plate, smash the garlic and put it right on the bread. Nothing else is required on the bread. It will taste magnificent.


THANKSGIVING LEFTOVER TURKEY/RICE SOUP

Ingredients

2 carrots
2 celery sticks
1 onion
1 orange
1 brick of cream cheese
1 stick of butter
1 32oz box of chicken stock
1 pint half & half
2 cups plain bread crumbs
2 cups cooked rice
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chopped turkey leftovers
2 cups mashed potato leftovers

fresh parsley
1 egg
1tbsp water
1 orange
salt
pepper

Due to the Holiday, I have been relieved of the responsibility of posting the directions. Any question, refer to the video.


SPANISH TORTILLA

The tortilla as a meal? You bet. This is a Spanish Tortilla. Simple, filling and deeee-lishusssss!! And, it'll last you for days!

Ingredients-

7 or 8 Eggs
5 Potatoes
1 Onion
1 Lg bottle of Olive Oil

Do it-

-Peel your potatoes and slice them into thin pieces
-Peel your onions and chop into small pieces
-Pour 1/4 inch of olive oil into a saucepan over medium heat
-Crack your eggs into a bowl
-Place one potato slice into olive oil
-When it swims, pour the onions and potatoes into the pan and cook and stir for about 15-20 minutes
-When potatoes bend, strain the onions and potatoes into the bowl with the eggs and stir
-Drain olive oil from pan
-Pour eggs, onions and potatoes into pan and cook for a few minutes, like an omelet
-Then, Dar una Vuelta that baby! (Flip the budding tortilla as high into the air as humanly possible and don't forget to catch it on the way down as long as the top is now the bottom. Or you can simply put a plate over the pan, turn it over and slide it back into the pan)
-Cook until you think it's done. Slide it onto a plate and enjoy this tasty treat between two pieces of bread, on a toothpick or in any number of ways.


BOLOGNESE

Ingredients--

28 oz canned Peeled Plum tomatoes
28 oz canned Crushed tomatoes
6 oz can Tomato Paste
1.5 lbs lean ground beef
1 carrot
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
1 lg yellow onion
1 handful of Rosemary leaves
2 or 3 lugs of Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Grate Parmesan cheese for later
2 tbsp Butter

Do it--

Chop onion and garlic (Don't be like me. Peel them first)
Drop Butter and pour 2 or 3 lugs of Olive Oil into high-sided sauce pan
When butter melts put onions and garlic into pan. When soft, add rosemary, carrots.
When everything is soft add the ground beef, crumbling it in your hands.
Cook for 5 min over medium heat or until beef is browned. 
Stir in 1 tbsp of tomato paste.
Add all cans of tomatoes, break up the plum tomatoes in pan.
Add salt and pepper (whatever amounts you feel comfortable with)
Stir, cover, and let simmer for 1 1/12 to 2 hours (if you dare)

Pasta-
If you can't figure out how to cook pasta, then forget this and order out.


SIMPLE PORK TENDERLOIN

Ingredients--

1 Pork Tenderloin
Olive Oil
Fresh Rosemary
Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper
(Onions if you like)
(Garlic if you like)

Do it--

Wash and dry tenderloin
Place in cooking dish or zip-lock bag
Add 2 lugs of olive oil, handful of fresh rosemary leaves, 1 tbsp garlic pwdr, pinch of salt and pepper.

Coat tenderloin with mixture 
Slice up onions and garlic cloves (if you like)
Pour all mixture over tenderloin in baking dish.

Bake in oven at 400º for about 45 minutes.