Apricot Glazed Pork Loin

Hawaiian Teri Chicken

Doug Shumway

1 cup shoyu (see note on other teri chicken recipe)
1 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
thumb size fresh ginger, cut into thin slices

Mix, put in pan with chicken thighs.  Bake 350 for 2 hours.  (see other cooking notes in Uncle Bill's teri chicken recipe)

Hawaiian Teri Chicken

Uncle Bill Kelly

chicken thighs

1 cup shoyu (Aloha Shoyu is the best, use low sodium soy sauce if can't get shoyu)

1 cup sugar

ginger

garlic

Marinate overnight. Bake in juice.

Note: I have found Aloha Shoyu at Harmon's! We marinate and then BBQ, Bake, or I also cook in the sauce in the crock pot.  For thighs in the crock pot, 4 hours on low is probably good enough. Too long and the chicken gets dry. 

True Poly Style means no recipes with measurements.  It's all just a list of ingredients, and then done by taste. Happy experimenting!

Kalua Pork

3 lb pork butt
2 cups water
1 tsp liquid smoke
1/4 cup Hawaiian salt (or rock salt or sea salt)

Place pork fat side up in roasting pan.  Combine water and liquid smoke, pour over meat.  Sprinkle with salt.  Cover and roast in oven/crock pot at 400 degrees for 3 hours. Remove from pan and shred.  Serves 6.

Whitechapel Shepherd's Pie

 Prep Time:
45 Min

Cook Time:
25 Min

Ready In:
1 Hr 10 Min

• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 parsnip, peeled and diced (I skip)
• 1 small rutabaga, chopped (I skip)
• 1/4 cup frozen green peas
• 1 pound ground lamb
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried sage (I've used rosemary when I didn't have sage)
• 1/2 cup milk, or as needed
• 3 cups prepared mashed potatoes
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (More cheese is always better, right?!)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place the celery, carrots, parsnip, rutabaga, and peas into a large saucepan and fill with 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil, cover, and steam for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
3. Meanwhile, crumble the ground lamb into a large skillet set over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until lamb is no longer pink. Drain off any grease. Stir in the steamed vegetables and tomato sauce. Season with salt, pepper, thyme and sage. Transfer everything to a greased 7x11 inch baking dish.
4. Mix enough milk into the mashed potatoes to make them spreadable. Spread them over the top of the casserole and garnish with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.
5. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top is browned and the casserole is heated through.

True Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken

Doug Shumway

1 cup shoyu (or soy sauce)

1 cup water

1/3 cup sugar

thumb size ginger root, cut up into thin pieces

Mix all together, pour over chicken thighs. Cook at 350 for 2 hours.

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
Prep: 20 min, Bake: 20 min (it's always taken me about twice that), Makes: 4 servings

2 cups torn fresh spinach (I use frozen)
1/2 cup frozen artichoke hearts, thawed & chopped (I used the jarred or canned kind)
1/3 cup finely shredded Parmesan
1 tsp snipped fresh rosemary (or a dash of dried)
1 1-lb pork tenderloin
1/2 cup frozen apple-cranberry juice concentrate, thawed
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 425. For stuffing, in a large skillet, cook the spinach in a small amount of water until just wilted; drain well (or use frozen, squeezing out as much moisture as possible). In a small bowl, combine the spinach, artichoke, cheese and rosemary.

Slice the tenderloin lengthwise, almost all of the way through, making a pocket. Spoon stuffing into the pocket (the filling will be exposed). Place in a shallow roasting pan, stuffing side up. Insert a meat thermometer. Roast, uncovered, for 20-25 min, or until thermometer registers 155 degrees. (The temp of the meat will rise 5 degrees during standing.)

Meanwhile, for glaze, in a small saucepan, combine the juice and vinegar. Bring to boiling, reduce heat, simmer uncovered for about 15 min, or until mixture measures 1/3 cup. Spoon over pork during last 10 min of roasting. To serve, bias-slice the pork.

**Notes: Where there are just two of us currently eating "adult" food, I made this, then cut it in half before roasting and froze one half of it. Then thawed it at a later date to roast. It worked perfectly! It's pretty easy, even though it sounds a little intimidating...something about the words "stuffed," "meat thermometer," "glaze," and "bias-cut" can be a bit intimidating, but don't let them throw you! :-)

PF Changs Spare Ribs

1-cup ketchup

Sorry for the bad lighting and camer-phone quality

1-cup light corn syrup

½ cup hoisin sauce

½ cup water

1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tbsp minced onion

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1-rack pork spare ribs

1 tsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp diced green onion

Make sauce by combining first 7. Bring to boil reduce and simmer 5 minutes.

To cook ribs, boil them in water. Heat 12 to 16 cups of water in saucepan. Add 2 tsp salt to water. As water boils, trim fat and separate each rib. Add to water and boil for 12 to 14 minutes. Drain and Cool

Heat 4 cups oil in a large saucepan to 375. Or use a deep fryer.

When oil is hot, drop 4 to 6 ribs at a time. Fry for 2 to 4 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Heat wok or Large skillet, toss in ribs and coat with the sauce. Simmer ribs in the sauce for 1 minute while stirring. Dump ribs on a serving plate and sprinkle with seeds and onions.

Personal Notes: Next time I do this, I'm going to marinate the ribs in Mt. Dew (or any soda, preferrable a citrisy one) for a few hours to over night, to make the meat tender. The sauce is delicious, but very sticky and messy. For easier cleanup, I'd make the sauce in the same pan/wok that you are going to coat the ribs in.

Poppy Seed Chicken
Kathie Lowry
serves 8

8 Chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 8-oz carton sour cream
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can sliced mushrooms
1 can sliced water chestnuts
1 small jar pimentos
2 cups crushed Ritz crackers
3 T Poppy Seeds (or less)
1 stick butter, melted

Place cut up chicken in buttered casserole dish. Pour mixture of sour cream, soup, mushrooms, chestnuts and pimentos over chicken. Sprinkle mixture of crackers and poppy seeds on top. Drizzle butter over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 min.

4-Cheese Chicken Roll-ups
Jen Brady

1 10-oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed
3 T dry onion soup mix
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/4 lb mozzarella cheese, cut into 4 sticks
1 (13-oz) pkg Alfredo or white sauce mix
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
8 oz cooked fettuccine

Preheat oven to 375. Squeeze spinach dry. Combine spinach, soup mix, ricotta and feta in a bowl. Pound each piece of chicken to 1/4-in thickness with a meat mallet.

Spread 1 T spinach mix on chicken; reserve remaining spinach mix. Place a mozzarella stick in center of filling.

Roll chicken to enclose filling; secure bundles with a toothpick. Arrange rolls in a small baking dish. Bake for 20 min.

Meanwhile, prepare sauce according to package directions. Stir in reserved spinach mix. Pour over chicken. Top with Romano. Bake for 15 min longer. Serve over hot cooked pasta.

*To save time preparing sauce, simply substitute a 10-oz can of condensed mushroom soup. (Haven't tried that)

Melt-in-your-mouth Meatballs
from Kim Meyers Kruchek

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/3 c. breadcrumbs (or enough to hold the meat together)
1-2 Tbsp. fresh minced garlic (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1-2 tsp. salt or seasoned salt (or to taste)
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/3 c. milk (can use up to 1/2 c. milk) **I used 1/2 c.
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley (or 2 Tbsp. dried)

1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. Shape into small meatballs, about 1" (at this point you can place on a jelly roll/baking sheet and freeze to use later, or cover with plastic wrap & refrigerate up to 24 hours before using)
3. Drop the meatballs into simmering pasta sauce, do not sir for at least 20 minutes or you will risk breaking the meatballs.
4. Continue cooking in the simmering sauce for another 20 minutes (depending on how fast your sauce is simmering, 40 minutes total should fully cook the meatballs).
5. After the 40 minutes, continue cooking sauce with meatballs in for as long as desired.

*******NOTE: You may also bake the meatballs at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until cooked through.

******NOTE from JB: Not good with sweet and sour sauce, but excellent with tomato sauce!

Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
Jen Brady

1 can (approx 15 oz) plain tomato sauce
1 can (approx 15 oz) stewed tomatoes, can be Italian seasoned
1 can tomato paste
Oregano to taste
Basil to taste

Mix all together and simmer for flavors to blend. Add the above meatballs, mushrooms, or whatever else you want. Serves 4-6.