DiFalco Recipes

• 3 heads cabbage with nice green leaves
• 4 cups cooked rice, cooled
• 3 packs of Costco organic lean ground beef (about 4 pounds)
• 2 large onions
• 1 stalk celery
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• 4 cans condensed tomato soup (add the can of water to the soup first), but Mom said she used tomato juice

Bring a large, wide saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Clean cabbage, cut out the core, and use apple corer to take out more of the core. Add one cabbage at a time and cook until softened, pull leaves off one at a time and drain in colander.  We did not cook the cabbage long enough, and would cook for 15 minutes.  The inner leaves are actually tougher because they are more fibrous.

Spray bottom of crock pot or roasting pan or roaster with cooking spray. Put some of the tomato soup or tomato juice on the bottom.

Use food processer to chop celery and onions until fine.

Mix well ground beef, rice, chopped onion and celery, eggs, salt, and pepper. Had the idea of adding a can of the tomato soup to the meat to make it moister, since I use lean meat.

Take a cabbage leave and shave off part of the tough white center stalk.  Put beef mixture into the bottom of the cabbage leaves and roll like a burrito. Place in pan with rolled side down.

Place leftover cabbage and a couple of celery sticks on top and pour the rest of the liquid on top.

Note:  The amount time to cook them is what we do not know. We cooked for two hours in a 350 oven and it was not enough time as the cabbage was still tough.  Some people cook in slow cooker all day.  Continue to add water if needed and baste when you check on them if cooking in the oven.

• 4 to 5 lb. pot roast
• seasoning: salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder
• light olive oil or any high heat cooking oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 cup dry red wine (this gave it so much flavor)
• 2/3 box beef stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 whole carrots, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
• 6 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces

Season the meat and brown on all sides in oil until a crust is formed.  It browns better for me in a cast iron skillet.

Heat oil in pressure cooker and sauté onions. Add garlic.  Stir in tomato paste and red wine.  Add roast and drippings from the roast.  Add enough beef stock to cover the roast.  Add bay leaves.

Bring cooker up to full pressure.  Reduce heat to low (if you don’t reduce heat the onions will stick to bottom of pot), maintaining full pressure, and cook for 30 minutes. Use the quick-release method to lower the pressure.

Add potatoes and carrots.  If needed add more beef stock to almost cover the veggies.  Seal the lid and bring the cooker up to full pressure, reduce heat keeping pressure, cook for additional 15 minutes.

April 2025 – This is the best tasting pot roast.  Dad, Joey and I loved it.

 

Sugardale ham.

Peel the outside of the ham. Score the fat. Place face down in pan with nothing covering it and no liquids. Heat until 135°.

10 minutes per pound at 325°.

The ham cooked almost an hour quicker than we thought. Ham is already cooked and you are just heating it. Best, ham ever!

½ bottle Chili Sauce-Heinz

½ bottle ketchup

½ tsp. Sugar

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp Butter

sweet relish

1 lb. Isaly’s chipped ham.

Cook all ingredients except sweet relish until thick.  Add sweet relish and ham.

3 packages of any kind of sauerkraut (jar, can, bag), prefer fine slice

3 packages skinless Kielbasa

1 lb All beef hot dogs

1 lb Pork pieces (optional)

1 tsp Caraway seeds (helps with digestion)

1 Onion grated or apple grated

Buns

Put a layer of sauerkraut in the bottom of the roaster. Add the pork, kielbasa, caraway and grated apple or onion.  Bake at 350 for 1 to 1/2 hours when kielbasa is mostly done.  Then add the hot dogs and cook for another half hour.  Serve in a nice thick bun.

The flavors develop better when roasted in oven instead of cooked in slow cooker.

1/2 cup butter
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 cups whole milk
1 cup grated Pecorino Romano
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 lb. pasta or mini penne

pre-cooked chicken from Costco (optional)

Heat butter on low, add minced garlic (if using fresh), pepper, cream cheese and whisk. Preheat milk in microwave. Then add milk and pecorino romano, whisking til smooth.

Add pre-cooked cut up chicken.

Serve over pasta.  If adding the chicken, it works really well with the mini penne or regular penne pasta.

Note:  I make this recipe in a batch of six at one time for Victory Group’s Christmas.  It never fails.  We serve 12 recipes over 10 lbs of penne pasta.

 

 

LINGUINE WITH CLAM SAUCE

• 1 pound linguine
• 1 jar Doxsee clam juice (8 oz.) (now substitute chicken broth)
• 3 cans Chicken of the Sea minced clams (or whatever brand you like).  Sometimes I use 2 cans minced clams plus one can regular clams.  Found near the tuna fish in the grocery store
• 1 small yellow onion chopped fine
• 1/2 green pepper chopped fine (optional)
• 1 stick butter—could use less!
• garlic powder—used 1 clove of garlic minced fine in blender w/water
• salt
• pepper
• 3/4 tsp. sugar
• 2 Tablespoon flour.  Mix with 1 cup of clam juice, add last before clams—also added 2 Tablespoon cornstarch—really thickened it good.
• sweet basil—great with fresh sweet basil. Dried is fine. Just make sure it is “sweet” basil, there is a big difference

Melt butter in saucepan.  Cook onion and green pepper in butter until the onion is translucent.  Add the clam juice and seasonings (except the cornstarch).  Once your pasta is just about ready, add the clams.  The clams really only need to cook until they are heated through.  You don’t want to over-cook them–definitely don’t let it boil.  Add the flower mixture slowly toward the end to thicken the mixture.

Pour over cooked linguine.