Betty's Tips

Sharon’s Roast

Sharon’s Roast

With a few added touches I followed this recipe to the letter. My extras are in bold
print. (Original recipe from cooks.com)

I put the meat (partially wrapped in tin foil) in my cast iron cooker and added a
half cup of water in the bottom of the cast iron pot, added the other
ingredients, covered the meat with some sliced up garlic, pulled the foil up
around the roast as much as possible, covered the pot and it it go. One hour
before it was done I added cut up potatoes, you can do carrots too. It
was so tender and juicy – and oh so easy – yummm.

CHUCK ROAST WINNER DINNER
3 lbs. chuck roast (about 2 inches thick)
2 tbsp. A-1 Steak Sauce
1 env. onion soup mix
1 (10 1/2 oz.) can mushroom soup

Place the chuck in the center of extra wide, heavy foil in a roasting pan. Brush the
meat with A-1 Steak Sauce and sprinkle the onion soup mix over it. Then spread
with the mushroom soup. Wrap loosely in foil and bake at 350 degrees for 2 1/2
to 3 hours. Makes 6 servings.

Convection Oven

occo We got this great Occo Convection Oven (double boiler) given to us but the instructions are not in English.

Occo Website Link

Occo’s verbal instructions (not in English) – helpful visual

Basil Pesto (Martha Stewart)

Basil Pesto (Martha Stewart)

I grow my own Basil plants and love this recipe from Martha Stewart for Basil Pesto. I always make mine with Pine Nuts and Garlic Infused Olive Oil instead of adding the garlic gloves.

Photograph from Martha Stewart's Website — Photograph from Martha Stewart’s Website

Ingredients

1 cup pine nuts (or walnuts)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 cups (4 ounces) lightly packed fresh basil leaves
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil (I use a little less)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread nuts evenly on a rimmed baking sheet; toast in oven until golden and fragrant, tossing once, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool completely.
Meanwhile, bring 4 cups salted water to a boil; add basil, and submerge with a spoon. Immediately drain in a colander. Rinse with cold water until cool, then pat basil completely dry in paper towels.
In a food processor, combine nuts, basil, and garlic; season generously with salt and pepper. Process until nuts are finely chopped. With machine running, pour oil in a steady stream through the feed tube; process until smooth. Use immediately, or freeze.

There are some great how-to videos on Martha Stewarts Website on the Basil Pesto Recipe (lower right hand side).

California Rice – Calrose

I bought this huge bag of rice and it did not have any directions with it so I found it online:

Sun Valley Rice | Cooking Instructions from eHow

Rinse lightly (I use a metal coffee filter since too much rice falls through regular strainers)
2 Cups of Rice
2 ½ cups of water
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Add salt
Reduce the heat and cover the pan with a tight fitting lid. Allow the rice to simmer (covered) until all of the water has been absorbed. Remove the pan from the heating element and let the rice sit for five minutes.
Fluff the cooked rice with a fork and drizzle a bit of sesame oil, if desired. You can also season it with a few turns of fresh cracked black pepper. Margarine or butter can be added as the rice is boiling if you prefer a buttery flavor.

Raisin Bran Muffins

Raisin Bran Muffins

4 beaten eggs
1 cup Crisco oil
1 qt. buttermilk*

Bananas (optional)

Add 1/2 box of 20 oz. Raisin Bran

5 cups flour
3 cups sugar
5 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt.

Mix all together & cook what you want,
Bake 15-20 min. @ 400*

Put the rest in the refrigerator…
will keep up to six weeks.

*Make Buttermilk or sour milk by adding 3-4 Tbsp. of vineger to regular milk.

Rubber Glove Hints

Do your rubber gloves seem too long?

Do they slip down and make it harder to grasp things?

When you have a sweatshirt on, because the sleeve gets in the way?

Well, wait no longer, just cut the dang cuffs off. My Aunt did, to just above the wrist knuckle (not the thumb knuckle) and prestooooooooooo they work great. no more slips, and easier to take off……….

Nail polish your keys

Paint the tips of your keys with old nail polish to help identify different keys.

I also have done this with the cute decorative tape that you can get at a craft store – just cute a circle or square and stick it on both sides of your keys.

~ Idea from BuzzFeed ~