Jersey Girl's Italian Pork Gravy - A Great and Easy Recipe

I tried a new recipe today. I can't remember what I was doing when I found it, but I know that the blog's title drew me in. A Jersey Girl Cooks. That got my attention because, you see, I'm a Jersey Girl,too. I have fine-tuned it a bit geographically. My other blog is called A South Jersey Girl Writes. That's where I post my writing efforts that aren't food related. So, I just had to take a look at what she had to offer. That's when I found Mama's Sunday Pork Gravy. 


It looked fantastic and oh so easy (something very important to me, of course, being the lazy cook that I am). I have never been able to make a decent pasta sauce from scratch. I could "doctor" the jarred stuff, but without it, my efforts were lacking significantly. Initially, I thought I'd use a couple of my chicken leg quarters, but then I remembered some pork chops I had in the freezer. I thawed them and this afternoon, I began to make this recipe. I'm so glad I did.

Lisa's end result

The recipe calls for one can of crushed tomatoes and one can of tomato puree. I didn't have it, but I did have two cans of crushed tomatoes, so I used both of them. Instead of six cloves of garlic, I used three teaspoons of garlic juice. I didn't have onion powder, so I used dried minced onions instead. So, I was as true to the recipe as I could be and it turned out really well.

My end result, not as dark and rich

The pork chops provided additional flavor and depth to the sauce (or gravy, as Lisa calls it in her blog. I like her explanation - gravy contains meat or is meat based while sauces do not). I may have used a bit too much red wine in de-glazing the pan, but the sauce (er, gravy) still turned out wonderful. The meat was tender and fell off the bone. The cats, of course, were thrilled to have the bone when I was done. I can definitely say that this is a recipe I will be using again!

Quick & Easy Meals We've Eaten Through The Years

I did Meals in Minutes recently, but that was more ease of preparation than how soon they'd be ready to eat. I'd like to share with you some meals we've made frequently through the years that don't take long to put together or finish.


The first one is one my ex had me make after we were married. It wasn't anything I'd ever seen before and I did have my doubts about it. But, you know it's really pretty darned good. It doesn't really have a name, so we call it:


Green Beans and Meat

A similar-looking Cuban recipe still in the pan.

All you need is a pound of hamburger, a can or two of green beans and a 15 oz can of tomato sauce. Brown the meat, add the green beans (my daughter likes French style best) with one can undrained and add the tomato sauce. Meanwhile, fry some potatoes - in fact, you could start the potatoes first if using fresh potatoes. You could also use O'Brien style (cubed) hash brown potatoes or even French fries. Once both things are cooked, we're ready to eat and that's usually in less than 30 minutes.


Another one I like that my mother used to make is:


Ham, Green Beans and Potatoes

Green Beans and Ham - PA Dutch recipe
Now I know where my mother got the idea to put vinegar on her green beans.

This would work for after Easter if you have a large piece of ham left from Easter dinner. Put the ham in the pot along with peeled quartered potatoes and a pound of green beans (preferably fresh or frozen) and cook until the potatoes are cooked through and the meat is hot. The potatoes and green beans will be flavored by the ham and the ham will be heated by the cooking process. Eat the potatoes like you would baked potatoes.


Meat Pie

Spicy Beef Stew
An example of what would work in a meat pie.

I mentioned this in yesterday's post. You could call this "stew pie" because it is made from leftover stew. I have deviated from this in that I have bought a tall can of Dinty Moore stew and a pair of frozen deep dish pie crusts, filled the bottom crust and used the second crust for the top. If you're more adept at crust making than I am and have a large family-sized pie plate, you can make a heaping helping of pie to feed your family (one small pie is enough for three people). This is a great way to use leftover stew. Serve with fruit on the side and maybe a salad.


Meat Sauce for Spaghetti from leftover Pot Roast (or steak)

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce -Wikimedia Commons

I've done this several times. If you have a food processor or a meat grinder, run your leftover meat through to a small grind or mince (cut up into smaller pieces so the processor can handle it). When you have lots of minced meat, put your spaghetti sauce together in the pot as you normally would and add the meat to it. The seasonings of the meat will add flavor to the sauce as will the meat itself and it will be wonderful and meaty! 


Chicken Fingers

The method I used to fry mine, but another blogger's recipe.

When I was caring for my mother, I tried to give her variety, meet her wants as well as her needs and get her to eat chicken more often (she would have lived on beef if she could). She liked fried foods, but was supposed to cut back because of cholesterol. One breast of chicken was too much for her to eat, so I decided to try something new. I was already pan frying some things for her using light olive oil. I had also bought some lemon pepper marinade. So, I took a single chicken breast, sliced it across the grain into multiple pieces, dipped those pieces into the marinade and then into bread crumbs. While vegetables were heating up on the stove, I pan fried those pieces in olive oil to give her the texture she wanted with the healthiest oil I could use without actually deep frying. This turned out wonderful! Not only did we have enough pieces to feed my mother and me, but my daughter stopped by and had some as well - just from one single chicken breast. Of course, we also had two vegetables and a fruit plus bread, but that piece of chicken went a long way and didn't take long to put together.


Shepherd's Pie on the Fly

Another blogger's Shepherd's Pie (actually Cottage Pie because it's beef)

Sometimes we're in the mood for Shepherd's Pie but really don't want to put it all in a casserole and put it in the oven when it's already cooked and ready to eat, so we will make a quick pan full of what amounts to a hamburger stew (hamburger, gravy, peas and carrots) in one pan and mashed potatoes in another and serve them just that way, topping the potatoes with the stew.


Finally, there's our all-time favorite:


Burritos

Vegan burrito filling, but no recipe in the blog.
You can also use what I make as a hot chip dip, which is how I was introduced to it. I just used it a different way.

Again, I'm using hamburger. Sometimes I add onions or onion powder, but I always add salt and pepper. Once the hamburger is finished cooking, I add a can of refried beans and a cup of salsa. I stir it all together. I used to add shredded cheese in the pan as well, but my daughter has limited her dairy intake, so the cheese gets added during the assembly of the burritos. We put our own burritos together rather than have one person assemble them for us. My daughter likes to add diced tomatoes and lettuce to hers. Since I don't, I let her get those ready. It's really all ready to go in under 30 minutes. You can heat the tortillas in the microwave or individually on a flat griddle. No matter what, it's really good!

Those a few of the meals we rely on to cook up quickly and easily. I hope you like them.