Cookbook Extravaganza
The hardest thing about making dinner each night, for me, is deciding what to cook. I hate cooking the same old thing all the time but inspiration can be hard to come by.
I have a million cookbooks. Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration but I do have a lot of them. It seems like I rarely use them though. I thought this week I’d try a recipe from a different cookbook each night.
A few of my cookbooks (purchased years and years ago) yielded not a single recipe that I would consider making. Crispy-coated Liver? Never! Veal & Mushroom Rolls? No. Recipes that use variety meats like Tongue and Tripe? Ick, who would eat that? So I threw them out. Other cookbooks had a lot of recipes that I’ve previously overlooked or made long ago and never again. So I have lots of ideas for this week…
Monday
- Chicken Ole’ from Desperation Dinners
- Sliced Monterrey Jack Cheese
- Garden Salad
Tuesday
- Meatballs in Pasta Nests from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook
- Crusty Hard Rolls from Culinary Arts Institute Family Favorites
- Green Beans
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday - Skipped in favor of eating out at Outback. I love making reservations for dinner 
Peach Glazed Virginia Ham from Nascar Cooks CookbookGlazed CarrotsScalloped PotatoesDinner Rolls
Steve’s out of town for a couple more days so I’ll probably take the easy way out and get take out food or fix “junk food”. Also, now that school is back in session I’ll have to make sure my weekly dinner menus don’t clash with the school lunch menu. There have been times that I’ve served spaghetti for dinner when they just ate it at lunch.
Monday
- Take out food from Wendy’s. Second Monday in a row we’ve had hamburgers from Wendy’s. Not good.
Tuesday
- Hot dogs and Macaroni & Cheese - the lazy dinner
Wednesday
Thursday
- Spaghetti
- Corn
- Garlic Bread
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
- Meatloaf
- Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
- Corn
- Dinner Rolls
Oven-Roasted Pull Pork Sandwiches
Tyler Florence
Dry rub:
3 T Paprika
1 T Garlic Powder
1 T Brown Sugar
1 T dry Mustard
3 T coarse Salt
1 (5 to 7 pound) Pork Roast, shoulder or Boston butt
Mix paprika, garlic powder, brown sugar, dry mustard and salt together in a small bowl. Rub the spice blend all over the pork roast and marinate in the refrigerator, covered, for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
Put the pork in a roasting pan and bake for about 6 hours. Basically, roast the pork until it’s falling apart and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part reads 170 degrees F.
Remove the pork from the oven and transfer to a large platter. Allow the meat to rest for about 10 minutes. While still warm, take 2 forks and “pull” the meat to form shreds. Using 2 forks, shred the pork by steadying the meat with 1 fork and pulling it away with the other.
If everyone wants BBQ pork, put the shredded pork in a bowl and add a bottled BBQ sauce like Sweet Baby Ray’s to coat. There is a BBQ sauce recipe with this recipe on the Food Network site if you’d like to make it from scratch (follow the link above). If your family is like mine, some will want BBQ, some mustard and others will want ketchup. If that’s the case, leave the pork plain and serve the condiments on the side.
To serve, spoon the pulled pork mixture onto buns. Serve with pickle spears and chips. A good slaw would go well with these too.
Edited to say what really happened with my menu this week…
The heat is really starting to get to me. After days and days of 100+ temperatures, all I can think of is easy and quick and PLEASE don’t heat up the kitchen! So this week I’m looking for meals that are grilled, made in the crock pot or cooked quickly on the stove.
Monday
- After yesterday’s 7-course food feast we’ll be getting take-out food tonight - Yep, take out from Wendy’s
Tuesday
- Grilled Beef Tenderloin steaks
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy Too much work - threw some potatoes in the microwave- Green Beans
- Dinner rolls
Wednesday
- Deli-Style Sub Sandwiches
Vichyssoise Nope - didn’t make it
Thursday
- Grilled Chicken
Grilled Vegetable Frozen corn in the microwave. Caesar SaladHerbed Garlic Bread- I did make some fettuccine noodles though - I used a jar of Bertolli Alfredo Sauce spiffed up with some sauteed shallots, garlic, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes.
Friday
- Shredded BBQ Pork Sandwiches - This was excellent but after roasting the pork for 6 hours I couldn’t be bothered with any other sides but chips and pickle spears
- Potato Chips
Vegetable Pasta Salad
Saturday
Steak and Chicken Fajitas Pork Chops in the ovenSpanish Rice Mashed potatoes and gravy from a packet- Frozen broccoli in the microwave
Sunday
Steve went out of town on a business trip. We had take out Chinese food.
Grilled Pork Chops“Brown” RiceArtichokesDinner Rolls
The answer is yes. In fact, I should have titled this post OH.MY.GOD.I CAN’T BELIEVE I PULLED THAT OFF!!!!! (actually I’m so stunned/amazed/thrilled that there should be about a thousand more exclamation marks there)
Everything actually went very smoothly although I pretty much worked the entire day. I started early - about 9 o’clock- doing the table setting and didn’t finish putting away the last items until midnight. I had planned to lay the table on Saturday night but Jon’s overnight dealie left me hesitant to set the table- I didn’t know for sure that we wouldn’t need to eat in there for breakfast. Setting the table took a lot longer than you might think - about two hours. I wanted to get everything just perfect. I also decided to make my own centerpiece because I wanted something very simple that didn’t take up a lot of room.
One thing I can say absolutely is DON’T attempt this without a list/schedule. If I hadn’t had the schedule I’m positive I would have forgotten many things and it would have been a huge cluster. As it was, there were a few things I forgot to add to the list but luckily remembered as I was going along. Like - getting dressed.
I had asked everyone to dress nicely. I mean, if I’m going to all this trouble they could at least show up in something other than a t-shirt and shorts, right? I had planned to wear that black and white dress that I wore to American Girl Place, but I didn’t want to cook in it all afternoon. I did manage to squeeze out a few minutes to get changed but I would have liked a little more leisure doing it.
I was a little nervous about preparing so much of the food ahead of time but it actually held very well. The mashed potatoes, in particular, were still very creamy and yummy. At holiday dinners, it always seems like a race to get the potatoes ready at the last minute. So I’m definitely going to remember that they can be made ahead and kept warm in the oven!
Other things I forgot or would do differently? You can’t make tomato roses out of tomato skins that you roasted the night before to make the soup. Also, if you forget to buy kitchen string to tie up the beef tenderloin, you can use shoestrings to do the job. Just make sure they are new! Another thing? Don’t put the croûtons in the salad until the last minute. They weren’t as crunchy and yummy as they could have been.
There was a little grumbling during the first few courses. The male dinner guests wanted additional servings of the appetizers and soup (which was particularly yummy). I explained to them that if they had seconds they wouldn’t be able to make it through the dinner. They were skeptical but convinced by the time the last few courses were being served. The dinner lasted for 2-1/2 hours (yes - that’s not a typo!). Everyone rolled away from the table completely satisfied.
I forgot to put the lemon roses on the fish dish. I used them on the chicken dish which was a mistake. Not enough color. I should have used my backup garnish of sprigs of fresh thyme but I didn’t want to throw out the lemon roses without using them. They were so pretty.
I wouldn’t do this again next week but it was a lot of fun. Everyone enjoyed the food and I think they also enjoyed the fancy-schmancyness of it all. And let it be known both far and wide that Vicki absolutely did stay and help with the dishes and kitchen cleanup!
Cross-posted at my other blog.
