Tag Archives: Beef Broth

Busy Being Dizzy

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Getting old is not for wimps. That’s what they say, and they speak the truth. Our bodies, which have served us so well for all of our formative years, start thinking of ways to betray us as we age.

Easy on the complaining, however, because for the most part I’m as healthy as a horse. But even a horse gets aches and pains sometimes.

So a week ago, in the middle of the night, I rolled over in bed, and suddenly the world started spinning. It continued throughout the night, but only for a few seconds and only when I rolled over. When I awoke and got out of bed, I was fine, so I assumed I had been dreaming. However, as I leaned over to wet my hair in the sink, the spinning resumed, but again, just for a few seconds.

I immediately diagnosed myself with a horrible and incurable disease, though I had no clue what disease it would be. The always calm and sensible Bill suggested that I Google “vertigo when I lean over.” His practicality can be such a relief to me sometimes. And yet so annoying.

Because you can find anything on the Internet, I immediately learned that there is a condition that is fairly common to people as they age (!!!!!!!) called Benign Something Something Vertigo (BPPV for short because the condition actually doesn’t have “something” in its name). It has something to do with crystals in one’s inner ear breaking loose and rolling about, causing vertigo when you turn a certain way. Really?

I spent the past week waiting for the vertigo to cease. That didn’t seem to happen, so Monday morning I called a family physician whose office I had recently spotted, and saw him yesterday morning. He walked into the room looking at my chart, and said, “I understand you are having some vertigo.” I said yes, and explained my symptoms. I cheerfully told him, “But I got on the Internet and have diagnosed my condition.” You can watch their eyes roll.

“Well, what do you suppose you have?” he asked. (That’s a quote.)

“I have BPPV,” I said.

He begrudgingly acknowledged that he agreed with my diagnosis. He did a couple of tests to rule out anything worse and just to show me he actually is smarter than me, gave me a sheet with some exercises that I need to do for the next week, and sent me on my way. Really, what does he care? I’m insured.

But whoever heard of anything like this? Each and every day, our bodies find ways to pay us back for all of the abuse we gave it over the years.

It is my sincere hope that next time I see any of you, I won’t be walking sideways.

In celebration of my learning that I didn’t have a deadly illness, I invited my niece Maggie and her family over for fried chicken. Maggie is a week-and-a-half overdue having her baby, and isn’t particularly happy about it. I presumed, correctly I think, that cooking wasn’t something about which she was terribly enthusiastic. She’d rather concentrate on getting into and out of a chair. And she loves my fried chicken.

When I fry a chicken, it is a given that I serve it with slow-cooked green beans and Swiss macaroni and cheese. I think I have talked about this macaroni and cheese before. My Swiss grandmother made them. My mom made them. Now I make them. They never had a name. We always just called them macaroni, as in “we’re having macaroni for dinner tonight.” We all knew what that meant as it was the only way we had macaroni. Since I occasionally make traditional mac and cheese, I have taken to calling it Swiss mac and cheese to differentiate.

A few years ago, to my surprise, Food Network Chef Melissa D’Arabian made something she called Macaronade as part of a French meal she was preparing. It was my grandmother’s recipe, or at least a variation thereof. In all my years, I had never imagined that it was something with a name. Anyway, here’s Melissa D’Arabian’s recipe, with my changes below.

Macaronade

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small cubes, plus more for greasing
8 ounces macaroni
Kosher salt
1/2 cup shredded Swiss or gruyere cheese
1/2 cup beef broth
1/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
Freshly ground black pepper

Process
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a gratin dish.
Cook the pasta in salted water according to the package’s instructions for al dente. Drain and toss with the cheese and beef broth. Place the pasta in the gratin dish, and top with the breadcrumbs, sprinkle with salt and pepper and dot with the butter. Bake 15 minutes.

Nana’s Notes: Here’s how I do it: Cook the macaroni according to directions. Drain it, and begin layering it in a large bowl with the shredded Swiss cheese (a lot of cheese). I don’t use any beef broth. Put a plate over it so the hot pasta can begin to melt the cheese. In the meantime, brown breadcrumbs in 3-4 T butter. Place the breadcrumbs on top of the macaroni/cheese mix. Put it in the microwave for a minute to help the cheese along. Serve. I never think about putting it in the oven, though I’m sure that’s delicious. And of course, my grandmother didn’t have a microwave. She may have placed them in an oven for a few minutes. They are really delicious if you like Swiss cheese.

Kitchen Update

Posted in Main Course, Meat Dishes, Recipes, Side Dishes by

Some friends of ours are selling their beautiful loft/condominium in the Golden Triangle area in downtown Denver. It’s interesting that some of the feedback they are getting is that the kitchen is supposedly in DIRE need of updating. The condo is 15 years old or so, and really lovely. The countertops are granite, the floors are hardwood. Apparently the fact that it has an electric stove and the appliances aren’t stainless steel makes it a no-go, my friends.

Bill and I recently talked about people’s varying needs to update their kitchens as we were discussing his mother’s cooking. Wilma, who is an amazing 96 years old, now lives in an independent apartment in a retirement community. Prior to that, she lived in their family home in a beautiful old neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. They moved into that home somewhere around 1952 or 1953. Envision the appliances in a kitchen circa 1952. Fast forward to the year 2000, and imagine that those very same appliances are in that house. And they all work perfectly. We were at a museum recently that featured a 1950s kitchen and Bill said, “Look, it’s Mom’s kitchen appliances!” And it really was.

This is not particularly a commentary on how in 2013 we all need the best and coolest kitchens available. It’s really more of a testament on how well things were built years ago compared to today. For example, Bill’s parents received a toaster as a wedding gift when they were married in 1939 or 1940. Until eight or nine years ago, Wilma used that very same toaster. It would break; Rex would fix it. Can you imagine taking the time to fix a toaster today? It was with great consternation that Wilma finally agreed to buy a new toaster. I remember Bill saying to her, “Well, Mom, you could call the manufacturer and see if they have the parts for a GE toaster, Series ONE.” She, as I recall, was not amused.

Bill’s father Rex loved nothing more than to fix things. Wilma has told me that when Rex would come home from work and she would tell him that her washing machine was making funny noises, he could hardly contain himself through dinner in his eagerness to get downstairs and start taking the washer apart. I can understand because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and Bill is a fixer himself.

Occasionally I will look at my quite dated kitchen and start thinking about updating it. Bill will listen to me, and then he will say, “WWWD?” That’s our code for “What would Wilma do.” My appliances work, the marks on my hardwood floor show it’s been well used, my kitchen table has knicks in it and stains on it because kids and grandkids have colored, played with play dough, pounded their baby spoons, and otherwise been comfortable sitting there. I guess I don’t mind the weathered look of the table.

No updates to my kitchen for a while.

This week I’m not really following a cooking theme; I’m just cooking what sounds good to me. And today Beef Stew sounded good. I saw Ree Drummond make a stew with root vegetables recently, and that’s the recipe I used. It was every bit as good as it looked.

Beef Stew with Root Vegetables, courtesy Ree Drummond

Ingredients
3 T. olive oil
1 T. butter
2 lbs. beef stew meat
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, diced
1 can or bottle beer
4 c. beef broth, more as needed
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
2-3 T. tomato paste
1-1/2 t. sugar
½ t. paprika
½ t. kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 carrots, roughly sliced
2 parsnips, roughly sliced
1 small turnip, roughly sliced 2 T. flour, optional
Minced fresh parsley, for garnish

Process
Heat the oil and butter in a pan and brown the beef. Remove the beef from the pan, throw in the garlic and onions and cook until softened, about 3 min. Pour in beer, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, sugar, paprika, salt and pepper. Then return the beef to the pan, cover and simmer on a low heat until the meat is very tender, 1-1/2 to 2 hours. If the liquid level gets too low, add more broth as needed.

Add the carrots, parsnips and turnips and continue to simmer until the vegetables are tender and liquid is reduced, about 30 min.

If the stew is still too liquidy, remove a cup of cooking liquid from the pan and stir in the flour, Add flour mixture back into the pan and stir. Simmer for 10 minutes until the stew is thick. The meat should be very tender; if it’s tough, let it continue to cook.

To finish, add the parsley and stir through the stew.

I also made a batch of Kentucky Biscuits, from a recipe I found on Pinterest.

Kentucky Biscuits

Ingredients
2 c. flour
1-1/2 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
2 T. sugar
Dash of salt
½ c. butter
¾ c. buttermilk (Don’t have buttermilk? No problem, just add 1 or 2 T. vinegar to milk)

Process
Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter, add milk and knead into soft dough. Do not over knead! Pat into an ungreased 6 X 6 pan. I use a pie pan. Cut into serving size portions before you cook. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 min. or until done and golden brown.

Nana’s Notes: I halved the beef stew recipe for Bill and me, and it worked great. Enough for two large bowls of stew. As for the Kentucky Biscuits, they were delicious; however, I’ve never made them before so I have no idea if they were the right consistency. Mine were sort of like corn bread. Also, next time I would grease the pie pan. Very good drizzled with honey.

Brushing Teeth

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I’m going to give you a great soup recipe, but first a funny story….

The other morning I agreed to watch my 3-year-old granddaughter for the morning while her mommy acted as a chaperone for her sister’s school field trip. As usual, Little Missy was glad to see me, and my morning look like a walk in the park.

As my daughter-in-law was walking out the door, she called back to me, “By the way, could you please help Mylee brush her teeth?”

“Of course,” I replied. “No problem.”

Or so I thought.

“Which toothbrush is yours, Mylee?” I asked.

“I don’t want to brush my teeth,” was her response.

“Well, of course you must brush your teeth,” I said. “It will only take a minute.”

“I don’t want to brush my teeth,” she said again.

And so our morning went. I know this sounds silly. After all, I’m nearly 60, and she’s only 3. I outweigh her by a good 100 lbs. I should be able to make her brush her teeth. But, I swear to you Ladies and Gentlemen, there was no way she was going to let me brush her teeth. When I tried to use psychology (“all good girls brush their teeth; that way they will have pretty smiles”), she responded, “I don’t want to brush my teeth.” When I tried to use bribery (“I will read you that funny Halloween story AFTER you have brushed your teeth”), she said, “I don’t want to brush my teeth.” And when I tried more direct persuasion (that is, picking her up, carrying her into the bathroom, putting her onto her little stool and coming at her with the toothbrush), she clamped her mouth shut tighter than the doors at the Strategic Air Command in Omaha, Nebraska.

It was getting closer and closer to the time when Mommy was to come home. I had only been given one substantive task, and I had failed. I finally just crouched down to her level and simply asked her, “Mylee, why do you not want to brush your teeth?”

“I’m afraid of the toothpaste,” she replied.

There you have it. That was it. I don’t know now, nor will I probably ever, just why she found the toothpaste so scary. However, when I washed the toothpaste off of the brush, she opened her mouth and let me brush her teeth. This is a true story.

Doesn’t she look innocent?

And Mom doesn’t need to know this story.

Now, about soup….

When I was newly married and a very bad cook, I joined a subscription service offered by, hmmm, maybe McCall’s Magazine (which I don’t think even exists anymore). Each month, McCalls sent me a series of recipe cards for a fee. As I recall, most of the recipes were not good or were too complicated for my little newlywed brain (which at the time was also concentrating on college as well as marriage). I also recall that it was kind of expensive, at least for two college students on a very limited budget, but hey, I really was a very bad cook.

Out of that subscription service, this was the only recipe that I continue to use. By the way, the image was posted online as a “vintage recipe card.” It’s the same recipe card I use. Guess that makes me old.

Sunday Supper Soup

Ingredients
1-1/2 lb. ground chuck
1 egg, beaten
½ c. soft bread crumbs
¼ t. salt
1 T. chopped parsley
2 T. butter
1 10-1/2 oz. can beef broth
1 28-oz can tomatoes, undrained
1 envelope (1-3/4 oz.) dry onion soup mix
4-5 carrots, peeled and sliced
¼ c. chopped celery
¼ c. chopped parsley
¼ t. pepper
¼ t/ dried parsley
¼ t/ dried basil
1 bay leaf

Process
Make meatballs: In medium bowl, combine beef, egg, 3 T. water, bread crumbs, salt, and parsley; mix lightly. With hands, lightly shape into 24 balls.

In hot butter in 5-qt. Dutch oven, sauté meatballs, a few at a time, until browned on all sides. Drain off fat. Set meatballs aside.

In same Dutch oven, combine 2 c. water, beef broth, tomatoes, soup mix, carrots, celery, parsley, pepper, oregano, basil and bay leaf. Bring to boiling, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, but stirring occasionally to break up tomatoes, 30 min. Add meatballs and simmer 20 min. longer.

6 servings

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Posted in Main Course, Meat Dishes, Recipes by

So that you know that braising roasts until the meat falls off the bone isn’t the only thing I like about the fall months, I want you to know that I also look forward to autumn because of the World Series.

I am not a baseball fan. Baseball, like gardening, is one of those things that I want to like, but simply don’t. My sister loves baseball. She enjoys spending a day at the ballpark. She understands why the catcher is making funny hand signals and what they might mean. She knows what the bullpen is. I, on the other hand, have trouble sitting for three hours watching a sporting event that isn’t football.

My dad, who is now deceased, also loved baseball. Well, to be honest, he loved any sporting event that involved a ball. But especially in his later life, he loved his Colorado Rockies. And he loved to talk baseball with anyone who would listen. He would try with me, but I just didn’t know or care what a ground rule double was. So he would talk baseball with my sister, who does know what a ground rule double is. He always did like her best.

But even not being a baseball fan, I recognize that there is something special about the World Series. It’s the culmination of an entire summer of seemingly endless baseball. It has all that history and legend and controversy. I remember even in Catholic grade school in Nebraska in the 60s that the nuns let the boys listen to the World Series on their transistor radios during class because, well, it was the World Series.

One of the best things my sibs and I ever did was pool our money and buy Dad tickets to a World Series game back in 2007 when the Rockies played the Boston Red Sox. Dad was already unable to get around much without a wheel chair, but my stepmother accompanied him to the game. One of my sisters and I dropped them off at the ballpark. We parked the car illegally, and hustled them to the gate. We watched as my stepmother gamely pushed my dad through the purple throng, and we both agreed we felt much the same as we had when we watched our kids go off to kindergarten. Gulp. Later, my stepmother said that despite the crowd of excited fans, as they made their way towards the elevator, the “crowds parted like the Red Sea.” The fans were so kind, as only baseball fans can be.

The Rockies lost that game, and lost that series, but my dad never forgot that he got to attend a World Series game.

And in memory of my beef-loving dad, here is my fall recipe of the day:

Ree Drummond’s Perfect Pot Roast

Ingredients
Salt and pepper
One 3- to 5-lb. chuck roast
3 T olive oil
2 whole onions, peeled and halved
6 to 8 carrots, cut into 2-in pieces
1 c. red wine (optional)
3 c. beef broth
2 or 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 or 3 sprigs fresh thyme

Process
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.
Generously salt and pepper the chuck roast.

Heat the olive oil in large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onions to the pot, browning them on both sides. Remove the onions to a plate. Throw the carrots into the same very hot pot and toss them around a bit until slightly browned, about a minute or so. Reserve the carrots with the onions.

If needed, add a bit more olive oil to the very hot pot. Place the meat in the pot and sear it for about a minute on all sides until it is nice and brown all over. Remove the roast to a plate.

With the burner still on high, use either red wine or beef broth (about 1 c) to deglaze the pot, scraping the bottom with a whisk. Place the roast back into the pot and add enough beef stock to cover the meat halfway. Add in the onions and the carrots, along with the fresh herbs.

Put the lid on, then roast for 3 hours for a 3-lb. roast. For a 4- to 5-lb roast, plan on 4 hours. The roast is ready when it’s fall-apart tender.