Nina's Soap

Are you wondering what meal to cook for your family on New year without breaking the bank?

Do you like rice,  peas or green beans, steaks or short ribs?

If you do you can combine them in your meal. At least that what I have in mind to serve my family.

I would cook rice in homemade bone broth. The broth would give it a look  and taste like fried rice without the fat. I would use 2 cups glass bowl as a mold to serve the rice on the plate. I would use the same bowl or 1 cup size bowl to serve cooked peas or green bean. The peas or bean would remain in the bowl and I would put it next to the rice.

I would salt and pepper short ribs and bake at 350 degree F until done. It would be serve on the plate. I have herbs butter I would put a spoonful on the hot ribs and it would melt and serve as sauce or dip for the ribs.

Recipe

1 Part rice (long grain rice)

2 part Homemade Bone Broth

Salt

1 cup of frozen peas or green beans per person

Little water

1 Steak per person or short ribs

1 tsp. fat

Salt

Black Pepper

½ cup Homemade Bone Broth

Direction

Steak

Add fat to a cast iron pan. Add the steak. Salt and pepper the top. Sear the bottom and turn for the bottom to face up. Salt and pepper. Sear the bottom and put in a preheated oven and bake at 350 degree F until done. I could take 15-30 min.

Short Ribs

Salt and pepper the ribs. Add bone broth to the baking pan. Add the ribs. Bake at 350 degree F for 1 hour or until done.

Remember to wash wands when touching raw meat to avoid cross contamination in your kitchen.

Fried Rice

In a stainless steel pot add the rice and the broth as well as the salt. Bring to a boil on high heat. Lower the heat to medium. Let the rice boil uncovered until the liquid is just below the rice. Cover the pot with lid and reduce the heat to medium low or 9 o’clock. Let it simmer for 15 min or until you don’t hear the liquid boiling noise when you open the lid.

Turn the heat off and let the rice rest for 5 min in the pot covered with the lid before serving.

The instructions on the rice you cook can be followed. Just replace the water with the broth.

To serve, scoop and fill 2 cups glass bowl and turn upside down on the plate to mold the rice.

Peas or Green Beans

Boil water in a pot. Add the peas or green beans. Boil covered for 3-5 minutes. Drains. If you use a little water, it would evaporate and it would be like your peas was steamed. And you won’t need to drain and loose nutrients. But if you need to drain your peas or green beans, you can keep the liquid in the fridge to use in cooking later.

Serve the peas in the bowl that serve as mold and leave next to the rice on the plate.

Serve the steak or short ribs aside. Add a spoonful of butter on top of the steak or rib to melt it.

You can use Homemade Herb Butter if you have it instead of simple butter. I would post its recipe next.

All the ingredients in this recipes are already in my pantry and freezer. I made the broth myself from bones. This time I add all the carrots leaves I froze after harvesting carrots from the garden. I didn’t have enough vegetable scrap to make vegetable broth yet and I need space in my freezer. So I added chicken bones to my stock pot. I have been collecting them for a while. I made my Homemade Bone broth and along I add frozen green pepper scrap and carrot leaves as well as cinnamon stick, cardamom, and anise star. I simmer for 24 hrs. Strain to half gallon jars and store in the fridge. Green pepper was on sale 3 pepper for $0.99 and I bought many. I diced them and froze. I froze the pepper stems, seeds and inside which I added to my broth.

Homemade Broth with Chicken Bones and Vegetable scraps

I have short ribs from the cow my in-laws gave us earlier this year. We only paid for the butcher fee of $1.00 per lb.

I planted 1 lb. shell peas in spring and 1/2 lb. green beans in summer. We ate a lot and froze the rest of the harvest. If you don’t grow your own peas, you can buy them on sale. One week ago, I purchased  few bags of 1 lb. of frozen peas for $0.99 a bag as I started to use up my home grown peas.

I have rice in my pantry. I buy 25 lbs. bag of American grown long grain rice from Sam’s club for little over $8.

I am out of pork steaks so I would use short ribs in my recipe. I usually stock up on pork steak when it is on sale for $0.99/lb. In my area, we have that sale in October.

Even though my new year’s meal would look expensive, it would cost me less than if I take my family out to a restaurant.

Happy New Year to you my readers and my subscribers. I thank you all for subscribing to my blog. Feel free to leave your comment any time. We all learn from each other.