Pork Stew in Cabbage

Jodi Lea Stewart’s Pork Stew in Cabbage

  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • ¾ cup miniature carrots
  • 2 stalks celery with leaves, chopped
  • ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 head cabbage cut into eight equal wedges
  • 1-1/2 pounds thick boneless pork chops or pork loin cut into 1” pieces
  • 1 package Eckrich smoked beef sausage cut into ½” to 1” slices
  • 4 Tbls. Butter
  • 2 Tbls. Extra-Virgin olive oil
  • Salt to taste
  • Black pepper to taste. I use lots
  • Approx. ½ cup flour
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 cup white cooking wine
  • 1 cup water for stew, 1 cup water for cabbage
  • Red pepper flakes, optional

Prepare onion, carrots, and celery. Sauté in large heavy skillet in 2 Tbls. Butter. Add light amount of salt and pepper. Remove from pan with slotted spoon while vegetables are still tender-crisp. Set aside. Cut pork pieces and shake with flour in a plastic bag. Turn into heavy skillet. Add 2 Tbls. butter and 2 Tbls. olive oil. Turn with wooden spoon until browned on all sides. Add bay leaf, black pepper, 1 tsp. salt, cooking wine and water. Add several shakes of red pepper flakes if desired. Bring to a boil while stirring. Reduce heat and simmer covered approximately 30 minutes or until pork is fork tender. Be careful to keep fire low and stir often.

Wash and cut cabbage head into wedges. Bring 1 cup water and 1 tsp. salt to a boil in a large skillet or large-bottomed pan. Over medium heat, cook covered for 10-12 minutes until tender-crisp. Cook a second layer of cabbage wedges the same way, or do all the wedges at once by stacking them double decker. Bottom layer will be saltier if stacking wedges double. Remove and drain on paper towels a few minutes. Arrange with tongs and/or spatula on a serving dish. Sprinkle with more red pepper flakes, salt or pepper if desired.

Slice and add beef sausage rounds to pork stew. Cook covered for five minutes. Add sautéed vegetables and fresh parsley. Cook covered another five minutes. Spoon pork stew into the center of arranged cabbage wedges and serve.

Comment:  I serve my pork stew in cabbage with herbed Irish soda bread. Want the recipe for the bread? Click here!

Jodi Lea Stewart’s pork stew served with herbed Irish soda bread and steamed cabbage wedge

Want to know a wee bit of history about Irish Soda Bread? Click here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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If you like Sassy, Danger and Mystery …  you’ll love my novel! I hope you’ll pick up a copy of Silki, the Girl of Many Scarves: SUMMER OF THE ANCIENT. It’s available at your nearest Barnes & Noble Bookseller (note: ask them to order it from their Master List…they know it’s on there! :D ), on my website, B&N.com and Amazon. For your convenience, it’s also available for Kindle, the Nook and most other eBook readers.

Book Two of the Silki series, CANYON OF DOOM, debuts in early 2013. Watch for it!

While you’re here, I’d be pleased as a frog in a jar of flies if you’d have a look around my website. To sign up to receive notices of new blogs, recipes, appearances and media news, leave your email address above. I’ll take care of the rest. Y’all come back soon … I miss you already!

Pssst! – All media used in my blogs are either acquired by payment for their use or don’t require licensing for public use. Often, I use my own personal photos. Please play it safe and don’t recycle images, okay? (P.S. This one of Cary Grant is free for all! Borrow like crazy if you want!)

If I ever escape this field, I’ll never use unauthorized media again!

Herbed Irish Soda Bread

 

Jodi Lea Stewart’s Herbed Irish Soda Bread

  • 4 to 4-1/2 cups flour
  • 1 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1-1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 tsp. oregano
  • 1 tsp. basil
  • 5 Tbsp. butter/margarine
  • 1 egg beaten
  • 1-1/2 cups buttermilk
  • ½ cup chopped fresh parsley

Mix or sift together dry ingredients. Cut in butter until crumbly. I use two knives, then my hands until the butter is nearly as fine as cornmeal. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add wet ingredients, including parsley. Mix together until dough sticks together and releases from the side of the bowl. It will be slightly sticky, like biscuit dough. Turn onto a floured surface and knead a few quick turns to even out the dough. Don’t over knead. Form into a rounded loaf approximately 2 to 2-1/2-inches thick. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and place loaf on top smoothing out the top and sides. Cut an X into the top if desired. Bake at 350-degrees for 35-45 minutes. If the top browns too quickly, cover with foil until done. Use a skewer to check if the bread is cooked. When it comes out clean, the soda bread is done. Let it rest on a rack for a few minutes, then place on serving dish. Cut into wedges or slices. Wrap leftover loaf well. Discard after two days.

To make farls:

Flatten soda bread dough into a round circle and divide into farls *four parts*. Some people cut it into eight parts. Cook 5-10 minutes per side on a pre-heated griddle lightly dusted with flour. Again, use a skewer to see if the farls are cooked. Let cool on a wire rack. Serve warm with butter and/or jam and whatever else you love on a biscuit, because that’s what soda bread closely resembles in flavor.

Comment:  This recipe came from Nola (Heart Land) on Facebook. She said her friend, Alberta’s Song, sent it to her. “Alberta’s Song” said that was a name given to her by her grandfather, and that whenever she sings or writes, she uses that name. Okay then!

Comment: I made this bread at high altitude, so I had to add a little more buttermilk and baked it a little less time. I also added herbs.

Comment:  If making the bread or farls for jam or honey, consider leaving out the herbs.

Comment: I served my herbed Irish soda bread with an old-fashioned pork stew surrounded by steamed cabbage wedges. Want the recipe for the stew? Click here!

Jodi Lea Stewart’s Herbed Irish Soda Bread and Pork Stew in Cabbage

 

Want to know a wee bit of history about Irish Soda Bread? Click here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arrow

If you like Sassy, Danger and Mystery …  you’ll love my novel! I hope you’ll pick up a copy of Silki, the Girl of Many Scarves: SUMMER OF THE ANCIENT. It’s available at your nearest Barnes & Noble Bookseller (note: ask them to order it from their Master List…they know it’s on there! :D ), on my website, B&N.com and Amazon. For your convenience, it’s also available for Kindle, the Nook and most other eBook readers.

Book Two of the Silki series, CANYON OF DOOM, debuts in early 2013. Watch for it!

While you’re here, I’d be pleased as a frog in a jar of flies if you’d have a look around my website. To sign up to receive notices of new blogs, recipes, appearances and media news, leave your email address above. I’ll take care of the rest. Y’all come back soon … I miss you already!

Pssst! – All media used in my blogs are either acquired by payment for their use or don’t require licensing for public use. Sometimes I use my own personal photos. Please play it safe and don’t recycle images, okay? (P.S. This one of Maureen O’Hara is free for all! Borrow like crazy if you want!)

Every time John brings me flowers, I worry that he’s using unauthorized media again!

A Wee Bit About Irish Soda Bread

 

Jodi Lea Stewart’s Irish Soda Bread and Pork Stew

 

A Wee Bit of History about Irish Soda Bread

Irish soda bread was made with basic ingredients already found in the household: flour, baking soda, soured milk and salt. Its simplicity, quick fix time, and low cost made it ideal for poor Irish families in the mid-nineteenth century. Since baking soda wasn’t available in Ireland until around 1840, Irish soda bread is not an ancient bread recipe.

Different Shapes for Different Folks

In the southern regions of Ireland, it was traditionally shaped into a round loaf and baked with a cross on the top to ward off the devil and protect the household. In the northern regions, soda bread was flattened into a round disc and divided into four parts, or farls, and cooked on a flat griddle.

What is Irish Soda Bread Like?

Considered a quick bread, its texture is soft and dense, with a slight sour tang and a hard crust. If you add herbs *my idea*, it tastes like a buttermilk biscuit with a twist! It lasts about two days if wrapped well. Soda bread can be enjoyed with any savory meal, or sweetened with jam or honey.

For my version of herbed Irish Soda Bread, please click here!

For the recipe for my pork stew, please click here!

A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures! *Irish Saying*

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I have to give a nod to my favorite Irish movie with my two favorite actors, John Wayne and Maureen O’Sullivan. Sure you’ve seen it, but isn’t it time you saw it again?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

 

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If you like Sassy, Danger and Mystery …  you’ll love my novels! I hope you’ll pick up a copy of Silki, the Girl of Many Scarves: SUMMER OF THE ANCIENT. It’s available at your nearest Barnes & Noble Bookseller, on my website, Amazon, B&N.com and more! For your convenience, it’s also available for Kindle, the Nook and most other eBook readers.

Book Two of the Silki series, CANYON OF DOOM, launches soon! Here’s a small synopsis:

Stealing money isn’t the aim of the Mesa Redondo bank robbers. They want the mysterious metal object Silki and her best friend Birdie discovered in the bogs at Canyon Daacha. With Birdie headed up to Kayenta for the rest of the summer, Silki navigates wide-eyed and solo through a whirl of thievery, scary characters, lost artifacts, and a shadowy stranger Silki dubs “Amber Eyes.” Against a backdrop of Monsoon season floods and quicksand, Silki’s plight is complicated by the hateful slurs of a rebellious cousin her family must rescue before it’s too late. Soon, Silki finds herself smack dab in the middle of a plot stretching all the way back to World War II and reaching right into the very soul of her own family.

Watch for it Summer of 2013!

I can’t wait for you to meet my new illustrator,  the Drawing Hands!

While you’re here, I’d be pleased as a horse in hay if you’d have a look around my website. To sign up to receive notices of new blogs, recipes, appearances and media news, leave your email address above. I’ll take care of the rest. Y’all come back soon. I miss you already!

Oh, John! Life is so much fun since you quit borrowing media images!

Pssst! – All media used in my blogs are either acquired by payment or require no licensing for public use.

Often, I use my own personal photos. Please play it safe and don’t recycle images, okay? Go ahead and use this movie poster all you want…Maureen and John don’t mind!

 

 

 

Not Your Mama’s Meatloaf

 

Jodi Lea Stewart’s Meatloaf

  •  One pound hamburger
  •  One pound ground sausage (or use all hamburger meat)
  •  1 lg. egg slightly beaten w/fork
  •  1 small or ½ large onion, chopped
  •  1 jalapeño pepper, chopped fine
  •  1 med. stalk celery with leaves, chopped fine
  •  1 can Rotel diced tomatoes & green chilies, original
  •  1 small can chopped tomatoes
  •  Few dashes Worcestershire sauce
  •  1 tsp. garlic powder, opt.
  •  1 tsp. onion power, opt.
  •  Black pepper to taste
  •  2 tsp. salt, or to taste
  •  Old-fashioned, uncooked oats
  •  2-4 strips bacon

 In a large bowl, combine hamburger, ground sausage and egg. Add chopped onion, jalapeño, celery, Rotel tomatoes & green chilies, small can of tomatoes and seasonings. Use hands to mix well. Add uncooked oats until mixture holds together but isn’t soupy.

Turn mixture out into a roasting pan. I prefer a SpatterWare roaster sprayed with non-stick spray. The mixture will be rounded from the shape of the bowl. Keep that shape. Round and pat until you have a loaf not touching any sides of the pan. Don’t make it too flat. Never push it to the sides of the pan. Who started that? It’s yucky!

Add the strips of bacon to the top and squirt a little ketchup over the top to decorate if desired. Bake at 350-degrees, uncovered, for approximately 1-1/2 hours. Test for doneness. Promptly remove from the pan onto a platter to prevent grease absorption. Wait about 10-15 minutes before slicing.

 Comment:  We’ve  been making this meatloaf with slight variations in my family for as long as I can remember. When people say they hate meatloaf, I’m astounded! This meatloaf is good enough to serve to your snootiest company!

Comment: Bell pepper instead of jalapeno pepper is fine. The amount of seeds you leave in the jalapeno has a lot to do with the heat you can expect.

Comment: Our favorite accompaniments for this dinner are: Mashed potatoes, gravy, hot rolls or biscuits, salad and a few side dishes like fiesta corn or country-style squash.

Comment:  I use latex gloves when I stir the mixture. No way am I getting raw meat under my fingernails!

 

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If you like Sassy, Danger and Mystery …  you’ll love my novel! I hope you’ll pick up a copy of Silki, the Girl of Many Scarves: SUMMER OF THE ANCIENT. It’s available at your nearest Barnes & Noble Bookseller (note: ask them to order it from their Master List…they know it’s on there! :D ), on my website, B&N.com and Amazon. For your convenience, it’s also available for Kindle, the Nook and most other eBook readers.

Book Two of the Silki series, CANYON OF DOOM, debuts in early 2013. Watch for it!

While you’re here, I’d be pleased as a frog in a jar of flies if you’d have a look around my website. To sign up to receive notices of new blogs, recipes, appearances and media news, leave your email address above. I’ll take care of the rest. Y’all come back soon … I miss you already!

Pssst! – All media used in my blogs are either acquired by payment for their use or don’t require licensing for public use. Sometimes I use my own personal photos. Please play it safe and don’t recycle images, okay? (P.S. This one of Marilyn and Cary is free for all! Borrow like crazy if you want!)

Please be careful, Cary! Your media borrowing is so reckless!

 

 

Aunt Dora’s Light Bread

 

  • 2 cups lukewarm water
  • 2 tsp. sugar
  • 2 pkg. yeast
  • 2 cups milk
  • 5 Tbls. sugar
  • 4-1/2 tsp. salt
  • 5 Tbls. Crisco, melted
  • 12 cups flour

Dissolve 2 teaspoons sugar in 1-cup water. Sprinkle yeast on top and let stand for 10 minutes. Scald milk. Add 5 Tablespoons sugar and the salt. Cool to lukewarm.

Add yeast mixture, remaining water and the flour. Beat well. Add melted shortening and enough of remaining flour to make easily handled dough. Knead until smooth and elastic.

Place in greased bowl and let rise until doubled in size. Punch down. Let dough rise again. Divide and make into two loaves. Let loaves rise until double in size.

Bake at 425-degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375-degrees and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from pans onto a rack. Brush tops with butter.

Scalding milk: Old-fashioned but worthy in some cases!

Pour milk into a saucepan. Heat until it becomes lightly frothy with tiny bubbles forming around the edges. Stir constantly to prevent scorching. If you use a thermometer, heat to about 180 degrees.

A Smaller Version of Aunt Dora’s Light Bread:

  • ½ cup warm water
  • ½ tsp. sugar
  • ½ pkg. yeast
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1-1/4 Tbls. sugar
  • 1-1/8 tsp. salt
  • 1-1/4 Tbls. Crisco, melted
  • 3 cups flour

Follow the same instructions as for the larger recipe using the reduced amounts of ingredients. Let rise. Punch down. Let rise. Punch down. Make into one small loaf or squeeze dough through index finger and thumb to form rolls. Let rise. Bake. Serve.

Comment: These are the amounts I reduced the recipe so Ralph (husband) and I could make a pan of rolls for one meal back in 1946 – Aunt Dora Woods (married to Woods kid: Ralph)

Comment: This is an old recipe, so I have learned lots of shortcuts in the way I add the ingredients and mix it. Such as, I use Carnation instant dry milk, so mix the right amount in lukewarm water and no more scalding, etc. Try your luck and use your own method of mixing – Aunt Dora Woods (married to Woods kid: Ralph)

Comment: Trust me, this is some of the most delicious bread you’ll ever put a slab of butter on – Jodi Lea Stewart

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Of course, a visit isn’t a visit without a two-way conversation. I really want to hear from you.

I truly hope you’ll pick up a copy of my novel Silki, the Girl of Many Scarves: SUMMER OF THE ANCIENT. The print version is on sale at Amazon for only $9.85!!! For your convenience, it’s also available for Kindle, the Nook and for most other eBook readers. If you love the Southwest and kooky little characters that make you laugh aloud as authentic danger and mystery swirl at every turn, you’ll love this novel! The second book in the series, CANYON OF DOOM, debuts in early 2013.

While you’re here, please have a look around my website. To sign up to receive notices of my new blogs, recipes, appearances and media news, just leave your email address above. I’ll take care of the rest. Y’all come back soon…I miss you already!