In a mere  three days, I’m off to have my second hip replaced! Oh joy! Oh rapture! To say I am psyched is an understatement!

The first one in May was a huge success – and really made me realize how much I needed to get the other one done. I watched a YouTube video of the surgery the first time around – it’s absolutely fascinating what they do – and it helped to explain why certain areas hurt after the fact. They need to do a lot of stuff in there! Understanding and quality drugs were definitely my friend.

The downside was that EVERYTHING in the house fell to Victor – from cooking to taking out trash – and helping me in and out of bed, in and out of the car… Everything. It’s a lot to lay on someone. Add to that the fact that I really don’t like to be waited on or fussed over can make me a bit of a cranky patient, at times. Fortunately, he takes it all in stride. We just celebrated Thirty Years together… Ya just go for it… (It still doesn’t mean it’s not a lot of work and it sucks – because it is and it does!)

All that being said, we have been planning to help mitigate things a bit. A good grocery shopping, for one, and also planning some easier meals.

Yesterday, I canned 5 quarts of excellent Turkey Soup Stock. We got to bring home a carcass from Thanksgiving at Bill and Christine’s. The entire meal was fantastic from appetizer to dessert! This entire family knows how to cook!

 

I just threw everything we brought home into a pot along with celery scraps, onion and leeks, garlic, peppers, carrots – a basic clean-out-the-refrigerator –  and boiled it down for a few hours. It came out pretty darn good. It can now be used for a quick soup or whatever strikes his culinary fancy.

Today, Victor made 12 quarts of Pasta Sauce. His sauce is excellent – we’ve never had a store-bought sauce in the house – and it works for a throw-together meal or an elevated dinner. This will keep us going for a while.

 

Victor’s Pasta Sauce

  • 2 – 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes (San Marzano if you can find them – blitz in a blender)
  • 1 – Sm can tomato paste
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic (or to taste if you like more) chopped fine
  • Olive oil
  • Dried Italian seasonings
  • Hot red pepper flakes (a tsp or more or less to taste)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Red wine (always cook with a decent wine, never “cooking” wine) about a cup or cup and a half
  • Meat – such as Italian sausage or some nice beef or pork ribs or pork chops

Ok…I ALWAYS make my sauce with meat, so start with a deep, heavy pot and add about 3-4 TBS of olive oil. On high heat, once the oil is hot, start frying the sausage or pork, Let the meat get good and caramelized although you don’t have to cook it all the way through because you’ll add it back to the sauce to finish. Once the meat is browned take it out of the pot, put it on a plate and set aside.

Lower the heat to medium and sauté the tomato paste for a couple of minutes until it begins to “melt”. Add the chopped garlic and sauté with the tomato paste for just a minute (no longer or it will burn). Then add about a cup of the red wine and deglaze the pan with it, scrapping up all the good bits that stuck to the bottom when cooking the meat.

When the wine reduces by about ½ start adding the canned tomatoes.  Add one can of hot water for every can of tomatoes you use.

Now start adding the dried Italian seasonings.  I eyeball it but I would guess a good 2 TBS is fine.  Add about another ½ cup of red wine, with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Stir everything into the sauce. It will be very thin at this point.

Add back the cooked meat. Now this is important….at the bottom of the plate you let the meat rest on will be some of the oil and juices that seeped out. Pour that back into the pot. It has a lot of flavor in it.

Bring the sauce back to a boil then turn the heat down low and let it simmer for at least 1 and a half hours, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes to keep it from burning. It should reduce by about a third or a little less and get thicker. The meat will absorb the sauce and get very tender.

When I make meatballs, I don’t fry them, I bake them on a sheet pan. When I do, I add them to the simmering sauce when they’re done so they also absorb the flavor.

I usually make the sauce early in the day and after it’s done, just let it sit on the stove until dinner then I re-heat it. This should make enough sauce for a couple of dinners or good sized lasagna.

 

I’ll have my assortment of drugs to see me through – and there’s plenty of Vodka and Jameson for Victor. We made it through the last one – we’ll make it through this one, as well.

And we’ll be eating well, too!