She’s not a trained chef.  She’s never even worked in a restaurant.  But her momtreprintuition led her to create Savorra.com, a website that delivers simple recipes for real food eaters.  All you Michael Pollan worshippers know exactly what “real food” is.  For those who do not, click here right now.  Do not pass go, do not collect $200.  Read it immediately.

Jamie will be suggesting great dishes for us and allowing me to post them going forward.  What better way to start this off than presenting the other white chicken?

Sweet & Sour Cabbage with Pork Roast

“The results were delicious. Soft cabbage, but not too soft, coated in a perfectly balanced sweet and sour sauce and a pork roast that was juicy and tender with some tasty caramelization, thanks to its brief stint in the skillet prior to roasting.” -Jamie DeCaria

Time: 6 to 8 hours (15 minutes active time, the rest of the time you can work work work!)
Serves: 4 to 6

1/2 head of cabbage, sliced thin
1 medium onion, cut in half and sliced thin
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
salt & pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 to 3 pound boneless pork shoulder

After your morning conference calls are over, get out that crock pot (4+ quart size will do).  Stir together cabbage, onion, brown sugar, and vinegar.  Heat oil in a heavy skillet large enough to fit the pork roast.  Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper all over and brown in the hot skilllet, 1-2 minutes on each side until all sides are browned.  Place pork on top of the cabbage; put the lid on, and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 6 hours: until pork reaches a minimum internal temperature of 160 degrees F.

How easy is that?  You can dive right back into your Twittering and get some writing done for your proposal-blog-contract-book.

When you finally notice that everyone in the house is cranky, slice up the pork and serve it alongside the cabbage, drizzling a little extra juice on top.

http://www.relishrelish.com

I signed up and have been trying it out for a little while.  Literally EVERY meal that I’ve made and eaten so far has been super easy and absolutely delectable.  (I know, I sound like a spokesperson for the company–I swear I’m not.)

Why is it awesome?

1. Upon signing into the site, you pick your week’s worth of recipes from a menu that changes weekly.

2. You can choose the # of portions you want to cook and it will change up the portions for you.

3. It collects an Ingredients List and all the recipes into a printable pdf.

4. 5 dinners is under $85 in groceries.  Each dinner takes 30 minutes or less to make.

Seriously, it’s been too good to be true.  And since I know that most of us don’t have time to cook during the week, this helps tremendously.

Oh!  Coupon code “dinner” lets you try it free for a week.  Relish THAT.

Preheat oven to 350 while returning a phone call. Then boil some water and throw in 8 ounces of wide egg noodles, or grab leftover noodles from last night’s dinner.

Take an email break to gather together the following:

2 lbs ground beef or turkey :: 1 large onion, chopped :: 2 cloves garlic, pressed :: ¾ tsp salt :: ¼ tsp pepper :: 7 ½ oz. small can sliced olives :: 15 ½ oz can tomato sauce :: 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese :: 1 T Chili Powder (optional) :: 1 small can sliced mushrooms (optional).

Finish up a conference call while you saute an onion until soft. Add garlic, sauté another minute. Add meat, brown and then drain any excess oil. Text a message to your Twitter account. Add salt pepper and chili powder and olives. Mix in tomato sauce. Cook covered about 20 minutes. Then return a few emails.

Take off heat and add 1 ½ cups cheese, stirring until melted. Add those cooked noodles, and then Twitter about how easy this was. Put mixture in 9×13 pyrex, top with remaining ½ cup cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Delicious.  And productive.

3 cups lukewarm water
1.5 packets granulated yeast
1.5 T salt
6.5 cups all-purpose white flour

Add the yeast and salt to the water in a mixing bowl.  Mix in the flour.  No need to knead!  You are welcome to use a food processor if you are as addicted to kitchen gadgets as I am.  

Really, don’t knead.  Return three phone calls instead.  

Cover the bowl with a lid but don’t make it airtight or you’ll be sorry about the ensuing explosion in the kitchen.  Let it rise for 2 hours, up to 5 hours if you have to tend to carpool.  You can refrigerate it overnight “for better results” (i.e. for more e-mailing time).

Sprinkle water on top and then shape it into two loose balls in 30-60 seconds on a cookie sheet.  Add a little flour if too sticky.  Let it sit on the counter for an hour and clean your desk up a bit, will you?

Preheat oven to 450.  Dust the tops with flour and bake for about 30 minutes until the crusts are brown.

It’s delish!  And it fed my family for two days straight.

3 cups flour * 3 T oil * 3 cups water * 1.5 cups salt * 6 tsp cream of tartar 

Dissolve the salt in the water, then pour everything into a large pot.  Stir over medium heat until a ball forms and it starts pulling away from the sides.  Then knead that dough until the texture matches Play-Doh.  I’d recommend splitting up the batch into 4 balls and adding a few drops of food coloring to each.  

Time to make it:  10 minutes.

Time it takes your kids to make this: 273 minutes.  

P.S. Save it in a Ziploc bag, it can last up to four months.

It’s all so easy. So instant. Need warm, perfectly cooked rice? Just 3 minutes in the microwave. Don’t have time to order Chinese, let alone go out for some? Pop a pile of mandarin chicken in the oven, bake for 20 minutes, and voila! Want moist, tasty brussel sprouts to accompany that protein? A mere 5 minutes in the ‘wave and you’ll kick yourself for having spent years trying to blanch (who has time to blanch?) those suckers and then pop them in the oven and bake just short of the correct amount of time so that you end up eating semi-sour hard nuggets.

In literally 28 minutes, you can have a perfectly cooked meal.

Thank you, Joe.