Porcupines

I have no idea where the name of this recipe comes from. Nothing of it resembles a porcupine and it sure isn't made from porcupines. The flavor of this actually reminds me of the filling for stuffed cabbage. These are really easy to make and go well with mashed potatoes and corn, as pictured. This working out so lovely gives me hope for the other main dish recipes in this mess of recipes I have.

The recipe for Porcupines didn't give specific amounts for most of the ingredients, so I'll just guess at what I used. Feel free to adjust amounts to suit your tastes. You probably don't even have to measure anything to make this. I do recommend using a lean ground meat or it will end up a greasy mess (I know this from a failed attempt at meatloaf not too long ago...). You can most likely assemble the meat part of this dinner in advance and refrigerate or freeze it.

Porcupines (Printer-friendly PDF version)

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 C long grain white rice, uncooked

1/4 C onion, chopped

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

1 can Tomato puree, 29oz (the large can)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Place the ground meat in a bowl with the rice, onions, salt, and pepper. Mix together until well combined.

Roll the mixed up meat mixture into balls, approximately the size of golf balls.

In a casserole dish, mix the tomato puree with the salt and pepper.

Place the meat balls into the tomato mixture.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 1/2 hours.

Serve with mashed potatoes.

Enjoy!

Clear Tomato Soup

I'm going to start expanding my recipe range to include non-desserts and non-baked goods. Most of these types of recipes in the old cookbooks seem complex and not tasty. Fortunately for me, this clear tomato soup was easy to make and tasted pretty good. However, it was not clear. I'm guessing the title is to distinguish it from creamy tomato soup.

There are some homemade style tomato soups that are good, and then there are the homemade tomato soups that taste like pasta sauce. If I wanted to consume straight pasta sauce, I'd just open a jar and start drinking. This tomato soup is nothing like pasta sauce: it is a bit sweet and the clove is a bit strong. I'm going to play with the recipe in the future. I'll start by decreasing the amount of clove added and the amount of sugar added.

Clear Tomato Soup (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
1 1/2 quarts fresh tomatoes (2.5lbs)
1 small bay leaf
1/4 C chopped onion
4 cloves (1 t ground clove)
1 T butter
1 T flour
1 t sugar
1 t salt
Pepper to taste

Cut up the tomatoes and place them in a pot. Add the bay leaf, onion, and cloves.

Boil this together for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Some people may complain about the smell of clove during the boiling process. Just ignore them, the clove smells good.

Press the soupy tomato mixture through a sieve into another pot or bowl.

Discard the skins and onion that don't go through the tiny holes. I ran the tomatoes through the sieve twice to make sure all the seeds were removed.

Rinse out the original pot you were using. Melt the butter in this pot over low heat. Stir in the sugar and flour. It will make a thick paste. Slowly add approximately 1/4 C of the strained (sieved?) tomato and stir until smooth. Heat this for a few minutes.

Slowly stir in the remaining tomato liquid. Constantly stir for 5 minutes over low heat.

Pour some into a bowl and enjoy! This soup would go great with french bread if you have any handy.