Tag: Main Dishes

Prime Rib

When I was in my 20s, our family starting making Prime Rib every Christmas Eve, served with baked potatoes and cheesy broccoli. And maybe razzleberry pie or frozen cheesecake bites for dessert. My brothers like having the savory horseradish cream instead of straight up horseradish also. It’s such a wonderful tradition, and the one time of year when you can justify spending so much on meat for a meal.

We’ve tried a few different methods of cooking prime rib. Originally we used a method of turning the oven off for two hours, but sometimes it was extremely rare in the middle. And we’ve tried roasting it just like a roast beef. Lately we’ve been using the reverse searing method, which works pretty well. They suggest letting it dry out in your fridge overnight beforehand for a nicer crust, but I never remember to do that and it’s still delicious.

And of course this one is naturally gluten free.

This method comes from sweetandsavorybyshinee.com. This chart is helpful, haha, even though I’m realizing it has a typo that says “eastimated.”

Make it a meal with:

  • Baked Potatoes or Twice Baked Potatoes
  • Cheesy Broccoli
  • Mixed Berries or Fruit Salad
  • Razzleberry Pie or Cheesecake Bites

Prime Rib

  • Servings: 10?
  • Difficulty: medium
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Perfect for Christmas Eve. Remember to let it sit about 2 hours on your counter before roasting.

Ingredients

Roast

  • 6-8 lb. Boneless Beef Rib Roast
  • Generous salt and pepper
  • Onion Powder
  • Garlic Powder

Horseradish Cream

  • 2 c. Whipping Cream, whipped
  • ½ tsp. Salt
  • 6 Tbsp. grated Horseradish, pressed dry (squeeze all liquid out)

Directions

For the roast, place the unwrapped roast on a cookie sheet and generously salt all over, then place in the fridge overnight to dry it and create a nice crust (it’s ok if you forget this step). Then 1-2 hours before roasting (depending on roast size), take the roast out of the fridge and bring it to room temperature. Then season all over with pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Push a thermometer in the middle of the roast, place the roast fat side up on a greased roasting pan (with foil in the bottom for easier cleaning), and cook at 200° for about 3.5 hours (or according to time on the chart) or until the internal temperature reaches 120°. *Note: If you use a convection oven, the cook time is a little less, so keep an eye on your thermometer. Remove from oven, then cover with foil and let it rest for about 30 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 500° and roast for 6-10 minutes until crisp and brown on the outside. The internal temperature should be 135° for medium rare. For easier slicing, cut off the bone before slicing.

For hoseradish cream, whip cream and fold in other ingredients. Taste for flavor and add salt as needed.


Porcupine Meatballs

Why do they call them porcupine meatballs? I think it’s because the rice makes it like little porcupine quills. In any case, on a fall evening, I love when the house is full of the warm smells of porcupine meatballs, hot blueberry muffins, and green beans. This is also a great pantry meal that you can make without needing any fresh or refrigerated ingredients. It’s not a hard recipe, but it does take time to make, with rolling the meatballs and then needing time to simmer. Also, FYI, you can include ground turkey or chicken for one pound of the meat, but don’t do the entire 2 lb. as poultry. I’ve tried that before, and the meatballs just fall apart. Maybe it needs the higher fat content to hold together better or something.

If you’re making this gluten free, you’ll need to make the replacement for the canned tomato soup (since most condensed soups have wheat in them).

Make it a meal with:

  • Blueberry Muffins or French bread
  • Green Beans
  • Jell-O

Porcupine Meatballs

  • Servings: 6?
  • Difficulty: medium
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Perfect for fall evenings, especially with blueberry muffins.

Ingredients

Sauce

  • 2 small cans Tomato Soup
    • For gluten free, use:
    • 16 oz. Tomato Sauce
    • 1 Tbsp. Sugar
    • 2 Tbsp. Cornstarch
    • 1 tsp. Salt
  • 2 cans Water (or about 22 oz. water)
  • 2 Whole Cloves
  • ¼ tsp. Chili Powder
  • 1 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
  • ¼ c. Minute Rice

Meatballs

  • 2 lbs. Hamburger
  • 1 c. Minute Rice
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 Tbsp. Dried Minced Onion
  • 1 1/8 tsp. Salt
  • Pepper to taste

Directions

In a heavy pan, mix the sauce ingredients. Then in a large bowl, mix all the meatball ingredients with your hands. Roll the mixture into 1″ balls and drop into the sauce. Simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Discard cloves before serving if you can find them.


Pork Chops

These pork chops are amazing for Sunday dinner or a special occasion. They’re probably more appropriately called “Smothered Pork Chops”, but whenever my family referred to pork chops, we always knew this is what we meant. I think these may have been Grandma’s delicious oven pork chops. The absolute star of this dish is the gravy, sweet and savory. It’s like no other gravy I’ve ever had. I can’t get enough, spooned over mashed potatoes. I have altered the recipe a little, with the change over the years in the size of cream of mushroom cans.

The longer you can let the pork go in the oven, the more tender it will be. I’ve used regular pork chops, bone in or boneless, and even pork sirloin chops. They all turn out quite delicious. I’ve also tried these pork chops without the flour on the outside, or just flouring and not browning. If you’re going to flour them, make sure to brown them–otherwise, the flavor is a little off. Without the flour is also delicious, but the most delicious is flouring and then browning. Just make sure to fish out the cloves before serving if you can–it’s always a little hard since they kind of blend in with the mushrooms from the cream of mushroom soup.

If you’re making this gluten free, you’ll either want to leave off the flour entirely or coat with gluten free flour or corn starch before browning. I find that it tastes better if I do actually coat it and brown it. And make sure to use the gluten free cream of mushroom soup because cream soups usually have wheat in them.

Make it a meal with:

Pork Chops

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: medium
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Smothered in a sweet and savory gravy, and amazing for special occasions.

Ingredients

  • 6-8 Pork Chops with fat trimmed away
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Flour (or gluten free flour)
  • Paprika
  • 2 Tbsp. Dried Minced Onion
  • 1 large can Cream of Mushroom Soup (or 3 small cans) (or gluten free cream of mushroom soup)
  • 1/3 can Water (or 1/3 can from each small can)
  • 3-4 shakes Worcestershire Sauce
  • 4 whole Cloves
  • 4 heaping Tbsp. Brown Sugar
  • 1 tsp. Apple Cider Vinegar

Directions

Salt and pepper the chops, then place in a gallon bag with flour and shake until coated. Heat a small amount of oil in a thick-bottomed pan and brown the chops on each side. Place chops in a large greased glass pan. Sprinkle paprika and onion flakes over chops. Then mix together remaining ingredients in a large bowl and pour over chops. Cover and bake for 1 ½ – 2 hours at 325° until chops reach desired tenderness. Remove cloves before serving (if you can find them).


Pea Soup

Pea soup always makes the house smell so amazing, with the warm aromas of ham, onion, and peas. But we usually only make it once a year or once every few years, with the leftover ham from New Year’s. Haha, mostly it turns into Ham Soup (with some peas) because the ham is what makes it so delicious. It’s best if you can find Hurst’s Ham Peas (like at Walmart) because it comes with an enclosed flavoring packet. I have made it with just straight up split peas because I couldn’t find one with a flavor packet at a different grocery store, but the flavors of course need more tinkering.

Also, I generally wait until the end to add the ham cubes. I’ve had the ham boil with the rest of the soup before, and the ham often kind of shrivels up and loses its flavor. So I prefer to wait to add the ham cubes until the end, just to warm them up in the soup before serving.

And this one is naturally gluten free.

Make it a meal with:

  • French Bread or Rolls
  • Fruit Salad

Pea Soup

  • Servings: 6?
  • Difficulty: medium
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Great way to use your leftover ham bone.

Ingredients

  • 1 pkg. Hurst’s Split Peas
  • 12 c. Water
  • 1 medium Onion, chopped fine
  • 1 Carrot, diced
  • 4 Tbsp. Butter
  • 2 tsp. Salt
  • ½ tsp. Pepper
  • Enclosed packet of Ham Flavoring
  • Leftover Ham with bone (cut ham into cubes)

Directions

Rinse peas. Combine peas, water, onion, carrot, butter. Cover loosely, boil rapidly 30 minutes. Add ham flavoring, salt, pepper, and ham bone. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Stir occasionally. Then stir ham cubes in soup, to warm up before serving.


Parmesan Ranch Chicken

I always forget how amazing this chicken is. We usually have it with twice baked potatoes, and everyone loves it. And the house smells so amazing. I think this recipe originally came from a lady at church where I grew up. But Mom loved it, and I even remember when we had a Young Women’s party for Leap Year, and my mom was in charge of the dinner, so she made this chicken. And everyone loved it. By the way, this is great boneless or not boneless.

If you’re making this gluten free, just crush up some Corn Chex and switch it out for the corn flake crumbs–that’s what’s in the photo. (Corn Flakes have malt flavoring, which has gluten.)

Make it a meal with:

Parmesan Ranch Chicken

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: medium
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Amazingly delicious for a weeknight dinner or special occasion.

Ingredients

  • ¾ c. melted Butter
  • ¾ c. Crushed Corn Flakes (or crushed Corn Chex)
  • ¾ c. Parmesan Cheese
  • 3 Tbsp. Ranch Dressing Powder (1 pkg.)
  • 8-10 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts

Directions

Mix Corn Flake crumbs, ranch dressing, and cheese in shallow dish. Pat chicken dry and dip in dry mix. Then dip chicken in melted butter and coat with crumb mixture for a double coating of the dry mix. Bake, covered at 350° for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake 20-25 minutes longer.


Mulligatawny Soup

The first time I tried mulligatawny was from the Harmons hot soup bar. Normally I’m not a fan of curry, but the soup was delicious, so I searched out a recipe from Food Network and found one from a restaurant owner in Massachusetts. I made a few modifications, like adding more chicken, potatoes, and curry powder. The additions make it more like a stew because it gets thicker, but I love it that way. And it’s even better if you serve it with naan and dip the naan in the soup.

This is naturally gluten free, and I’ve even made it dairy free before by using a can of coconut milk instead of cream (the picture below is made with coconut milk). You couldn’t taste coconut at all, probably because of the curry powder–I was delightfully surprised. And this freezes well in a gallon bag.

Make it a meal with:

Mulligatawny Soup

  • Servings: 8?
  • Difficulty: medium
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Indian flavors in a hearty soup, perfect with naan.

Ingredients

  • 1 c. Onion, diced
  • 4 – 6 Carrots, diced
  • 4 Celery stalks, diced
  • 4 Small Potatoes, diced
  • ½ c. Butter
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp. Cornstarch
  • 4 Tbsp. Curry Powder
  • 8 c. Chicken Stock
  • 2 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, and diced
  • 1/2 c. Uncooked rice (then cook)
  • 1 Rotisserie Chicken, broken down into bite size pieces
  • 1 tsp. Salt
  • 1/4 tsp. Dried Thyme
  • 1/2 tsp. Pepper
  • 1 c. Cream, hot (or 1 can of coconut milk)

Directions

In a large stockpot over medium heat, add the onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, and butter. Cook until tender but do not burn. Stir in the cornstarch and curry powder, and cook for 3 minutes. Pour in the chicken stock and let simmer for 30 minutes. Then add the remaining ingredients except the cream. Let simmer for 15 minutes, then add the cream. Add more spices or liquid as needed. Serve with naan.


Mountain Man Breakfast

We usually made this in the Dutch oven while camping, but nowadays we often just make it in a pot in the oven. And it’s always delicious. You can have a pound of sausage and bacon, but we do find that it might be a little overwhelming and greasy with both. Also, you need lots of eggs. Otherwise, the eggs mostly just act like a binder. So if you can have more than 18, even better. *The one in the picture was made with 30 eggs, 8 oz. cheese, 2 gigantic potatoes, 1 lb. bacon, 1 onion, and ketchup on top. It definitely needed the ketchup, and it probably could’ve had a little less potato.

And hurray, this one is naturally gluten free!

Make it a meal with:

  • Fresh Fruit
  • Juice or Hot Chocolate

Mountain Man Breakfast

  • Servings: 6?
  • Difficulty: medium
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A hearty and filling breakfast.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. Sausage or Bacon (or both)
  • 1 pkg. frozen Hash Browns (about 4 c.) or sliced potatoes
  • 1 Onion, chopped (optional)
  • 18-30 Eggs, beaten with Milk (at least 2 eggs/person)
  • 1-2 c. Shredded Cheese (like cheddar)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

In 12” Dutch oven, brown sausage or bacon and crumble bacon into pieces. Add onion to cook. Add hash browns (or you can use potatoes O’Brien with onion and pepper already included). Cook until the potatoes are mostly done, so the rest will cook faster. Pour eggs beaten with milk over all (milk is optional). Top with cheese.

For cooking with charcoal: Dutchovendude.com says for a 12″ Dutch oven to be at 375°, place 20 coals on the lid and 6 under the oven. Don’t forget to rotate the oven every 10  minutes or so 1/4 turn. Cook 45 minutes–1 hour until set and slightly brown.

For conventional oven, bake at 350-375° for 45 minutes until set and slightly brown.


Beef Stew

Oh man, this is one amazing stew in the Dutch oven at camp. We’ve made it several times while camping, and it smells so amazing. Nowadays we mostly make it in the huge crock pot instead of a big Dutch oven, but it’s still very delicious. You can also just make it in a pot in the oven. We often will get up to 5 lbs. of beef. Just make sure you don’t cut the potatoes too small or they’ll get mushy. I’ve also used lamb instead of beef. At first it tastes a little gamey when you cook it, but the longer it cooks, the more the flavor tastes like beef. Just give the lamb several hours and it will taste totally beefy and normal.

If you’re making it gluten free, haha, it needs a lot of alterations because all the soups, even the onion soup mix, have wheat in them. Which is too bad. 😦 But I’ve made it gluten free! Just Leave out the cream of celery soup (you can add 2 ribs diced celery if you want, but it’s not necessary), replace the tomato soup, and replace the onion soup mix.

Make it a meal with:

  • Muffins or French Bread
  • Fresh Fruit
  • Green Salad

Beef Stew

  • Servings: 8?
  • Difficulty: medium
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Make your house smell like heaven, haha.

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs.+ Stew Beef Cubes
  • 2 Onions
  • 8 medium Potatoes
  • 8 medium Carrots
  • 3 Bay Leaves
  • 1 envelope Onion Soup Mix (or replace with:
    • 1/4 c. Dried Minced Onion
    • 2 Tbsp. gluten free Beef Bouillon Granules
    • 1/4 tsp. Onion Powder
    • 1/4 tsp. Parsley Flakes
    • 1/8 tsp. Celery Seed
    • 1/8 tsp. Paprika
    • 1/8 tsp. Pepper
  • 1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup (or gluten free mushroom soup from Campbell’s or Great Value)
  • 1 can Cream of Celery Soup (or leave out – can optionally use 2 ribs diced celery)
  • 1 can Tomato Soup (or replace with 16 oz. tomato sauce, 1 Tbsp. sugar, 2 Tbsp. corn starch, 1 tsp. salt)
  • 1 can Water

Directions

Cut vegetables into big chunks. Brown beef cubes (optional). Layer beef and vegetables, twice. Sprinkle top with onion soup and bay leaves. Mix soups and water and pour over all. Bake in large roaster pan with lid 8-10 hours at 225-250° and 2-3 hours at 325°. If in crockpot, cook 5-6 hours on high. Check for drying. May add water. Remove bay leaves before serving or warn your guests to look for them while eating, haha.


Pancakes

Delicious and very satisfying, for breakfast or as breakfast-for-dinner. You can even add vanilla for extra flavor. Also, what kid doesn’t burst with excitement to get a Mickey-shaped pancake?

I remember one time on my mission, it was the end of the month and we didn’t have much money left for food. We felt constantly hungry. So I whipped out this recipe, grabbed the small bit of flour and eggs we had, and we made a giant stack of pancakes–and felt incredibly full and satisfied after. Haha.

If you’re making it gluten free, it turns out wonderfully (the picture for the recipe is the gluten free version)–of course just substitute gluten free flour for regular. Also, you may have to add an extra tablespoon or so because it can be runny otherwise. Often with gluten free, you have to add a little extra. Don’t forget when you’re measuring gluten free flour to spoon it into the measuring cup and level off the top with a knife.

Make it a meal with:

  • Bacon or Sausage
  • Scrambled Eggs
  • Fresh Fruit
  • Juice

Pancakes

  • Servings: 10?
  • Difficulty: easy
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Add chocolate chips and/or blueberries just for fun.

Ingredients

  • 1 c. Flour (or gluten free flour with xanthan gum + 1 Tbsp. extra if needed)
  • 1 Tbsp. Sugar
  • 2 tsp. Baking Powder
  • 1/4 tsp. Salt
  • 1 Egg, beaten
  • 1 c. Milk
  • 2 Tbsp. Oil
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla (optional)
  • Semisweet Chocolate Chips or Blueberries (optional)

Directions

Mix all ingredients and spoon onto heated skillet (350°). Add chocolate chips once batter is on skillet. Flip when golden brown. Makes 10-11 pancakes.


Minestrone

Add chicken to this flavorful soup to make it more filling. This soup is a great way to get lots of veggies. It does take a lot of dicing but it requires very little cleanup–just a knife and cutting board besides the pot. I’ll often leave out the beans and add a yellow squash instead. You can kind of put in whatever veggies you’d like.

If you’re making it gluten free, you can easily add gluten free rotini instead of macaroni.

Make it a meal with:

  • Garlic Bread or Breadsticks
  • Jell-O or Fresh Fruit

Minestrone

  • Servings: 6?
  • Difficulty: medium
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Nice garlicky soup with lots of veggies.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 – 2 lb. Chicken, cubed (optional) or rotisserie chicken
  • 1 can (16 oz.) Kidney Beans, drained (optional) or 1 yellow squash, diced
  • 1 clove Garlic, minced
  • ½ tsp. Salt
  • ¼ tsp. Pepper
  • 1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
  • ¼ c. chopped fresh Parsley (optional)
  • 1 small, unpeeled Zucchini, diced
  • 2 ribs Celery with leaves, finely chopped
  • 2 small Carrots, peeled and diced
  • 1 small Onion, minced
  • 1 can (14 ½ oz.) Diced Tomatoes
  • 3 Tbsp. Butter
  • 2 ½ c. Water
  • 1/3 c. uncooked Elbow Macaroni (or gluten free rotini)
  • ½ c. Beef Broth
  • Salt to taste
  • Parmesan cheese to top (optional)

Directions

If using the chicken, add a little oil to the bottom of the pot and cook the chicken. Then remove to a bowl. Mash beans slightly in pot. Stir in ingredients from garlic to parsley. Then add zucchini to water. Add back chicken. Boil, then reduce heat, cover, simmer 1 hour. Add more water if needed. Add macaroni and beef broth. Simmer 15 minutes until macaroni is tender. Top with parmesan cheese if desired.