October 25, 2007
Newsletter 2 Table of Contents
Superlicious Oxtail Soup
Five Super Fantastic Fabulous Fall Soups
Cheap and Easy Meatloaf
Ask the Butcher: What's Your Favorite Stew or Soup?
Tips from the Butcher's Wife: Fried Scones
Booooo-tiful Halloween Dirt Cake & Homemade French Bread Recipe
Ark Essentials- Confessions of a Butcher Book- How to get a FREE COPY!!!!
Superlicious Oxtail Soup
Here's the address to our superlicious oxtail stew and how to get those oxtails for the right price and I've also included a address to our Fabulous Five Fall Soups
Oxtail Stew
Fabulous Fall Soups
Cheap and Easy Meat Loaf
Cheap and Easy Meat Loaf Why do we like meat loaf? You ever ask yourself that question? There are a lot of good compelling reasons for fixing a nice big meaty meat loaf. My guess is that somebody's mom somewhere decided to try and stretch the last little dab of hamburger by adding bread crumbs and such. Little did she know that her desperate little experiment would become so popular. Now many of us make meat loaf just because it's delicious. But did you know that you can still, even today in these prosperous post depression modern times, save money by making a nice meat loaf? We can spend as much money as you want on nice tender steaks and you've got your prime ribs and other high end type roasts but why should we spend all that money if we don't have to? When it comes right down to it there is nothing like a nice slab of money saving meat loaf. Of course just like steaks and roasts not all meat loaves are created equal. I have had meat loaf as dry as the Mojave desert in the middle of summer (sorry mom). I have also had meat loaf that are so bland that after going to bed I dream of eating hospital food and liking it. There are lots of other meat loaf disasters. Some of which I can't talk about right now, at least not until the investigations have been completed. Anyhow good meat loaf starts with good ground beef. You can use the "all ready to go hamburger" in the meat counter but chances are you are spending too much for too little. The prepackaged ground beef is generally made from old cows with questionable vitality and heritage. Even the ground beef made in the shop will have some of that mystery meat mixed in with their shop trim. You can however get outstanding quality and even save money. Next time you want to make a nice meat loaf look for boneless chuck on sale. Usually you will find some somewhere. Boneless chuck roasts on sale can be as low as $1.69 a pound (sometimes more sometimes maybe even less). Grab a couple of nice ones from the counter and hand them to the butcher and ask him or her if they would grind them up for you. Ground chuck has the best flavor and it will be plenty lean. You now have in your possession the best hamburger known to mankind, or at least to me. You can grind fillet mignon but it won't have the flavor of ground chuck. Now all you have to do is follow my cheap and easy meat loaf recipe and you will be the envy of all you're friends.John's Cheap and Easy Meat Loaf
1 1/2 pounds fresh ground chuck
1 half pound pork breakfast sausage (fatter and cheaper the better)
1 medium onion chopped
1/2 green bell pepper chopped
1 celery stalk chopped
2 cups dry bread crumbs or crushed crackers
3 eggs
1 clove garlic smooshed through a garlic press
4 tablespoons of the watered down type worcestershire sauce (whatever happened to the little dab will do ya worcestershire sauce?
1 level teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
mix all ingredients well and mold into a loaf. Place in a pan with plenty of room. bake at 325 degrees until internal temperature reaches 170 degrees or about an hour and a half . Some folks like to smother the meat loaf in ketchup about 15 minutes before pulling from the oven or serve with brown gravy whatever turns you on. It's still a free country. There you have it cheap and easy and good meat loaf.
Ask the Butcher
What is your favorite soup or stew?Oxtail is my absolute favorite! Served over egg noodles, with fried bread on the side! Why settle for water(broth) when you can have gravy instead. If I have to add crackers to make it thick and hearty enough, I'm disappointed. John
Too funny! I selected the oxtail recipe before I even asked John his favorite recipe :) My current favorite is Santa Fe Chicken soup with a dollop of sour cream on top. Santa Fe Chicken Soup
Tips from the Butcher's Wife
Fried Bread (Scone) RecipeMake one batch of basic bread. Use either French bread recipe (see link below) or the bread recipe in your special report How I Feed Ten. Pat half a roll sized piece of dough flat. Let rise and fry in hot oil. I can fit 5 scones at at time in my electric fry pan. Drain on napkin or paper plate. I eat 'em plain but John likes them doctored up with honey, syrup, jam, honey butter or sprinkled with sugar like a doughnut.
I've got 5 fabulous fall soup recipes, A homemade French Bread recipe and pictures and directions for a BOOO-tiful Halloween Dirt Cake too! Soups, Bread and Cake Link
Ark Essentials Publishing/ A Word From Our Sponsor :)
John pointed out to me that most of you might not even know about his book Confessions of a Butcher/Eat steak on a hamburger budget and save$$$. Well he wants all of you fellow frugal types to know that virtually every cut of beef and pork has what he likes to call "alternative cuts". These cuts of meat will, as he says, "eat" the same as your cut of choice but for less money, sometimes a lot less. In his book he has listed every cut of beef and pork there is and has listed their alternative cuts that will save you money and he tells us how to procure them. Armed with this book you will be a saving machine. No longer will you be at the mercy of the butchers and their merchandising schemes. (He told me to say all this stuff), it's true though. You can save a lot of money by using his book. In fact we are willing to give you a full money back guarantee if you cannot save at least the purchase price of this book with your first couple of meat purchases. Confessions of a Butcher/Eat Steak on a Hamburger Budget and Save$$$ is available for $11.95 plus shipping and handling while this current printing lasts. I'm afraid the retail price of the book is going to go up significantly upon the next printing, sorry. Click here to purchase book.
Order Page
Currently we only have our e-books available from select sources for somewhere between $20-30! Can you believe the e-book is actually selling for more than our paperback! I guess that means we'll be raising the list price on the books for our next printing. If you'd like to have an actual physical copy of Confessions of a Butcher- Eat Steak on a Hamburger Budget and Save$$$ so you can take it right into the store and get exactly what you want as far as meat goes, I'd suggest picking up your copy as soon as possible from http://www.arkessentials.com or here's my tightwad solution on how you could possibly get the book for FREE! Do you know a bank, business or organization that gives away promotional gifts? Recommend us to them (be sure and mention it to us too!) and if they decide to use the book for a promotional give away, you can get a free promo copy from them. We'll also arrange to send you a nice "thank you gift" of our own.