MoreThan Meatloaf

Meatloaf is one of the easiest dishes to make, but it's also one of the easiest to really screw up.  Using a really lowfat meat without adding more flavors, or using too dense a filler are just a few ways to screw it up, and are both reasons that many people serve meatloaf with a tomato-based sauce topping it.  (Obviously, some people serve meatloaf with a tomato-based topping because they like it that way, but I'd argue it's because they never had it made like this).  This particular version is also stuffed with full-of-flavor veggies; it is hearty, nutritious AND delicious!

For meatloaf you basically need some ground meat, some starchy filler, something to bind it and something to flavor it.

My Basic Ingredients:

2-3 lbs ground beef

1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs

1 egg

packet of dried onion soup

ground savory

smoked paprika

Madras curry powder

tarragon

sage

garlic

tyme

salt & pepper

The "MoreThan" Ingredients:

1 red bell pepper

10-14 baby carrots

baby spinach

The onion, mushrooms, a few more carrots and small red potatoes go around the loaf before baking it, cuz unless there's mushrooms and potatoes, it ain't really meatloaf!  I actually used a 90/10 ground beef, and I wouldn't really recommend going much lower in fat content than that.  Normally I'd go slightly higher in fat content, but this one was on sale (and I lub me some stuff on sale).

So, the first step is to set the oven on 375 and let it start warming up.

Next, take a large handful of the baby spinach leaves, roll them into a cylinder and start slicing so that you are making baby spinach ribbons.  I did about 1/2 the bag.  I know there's a fancy chef-name for this technique, but I'll be damned if I know what it is!  You can always cut your ribbons a little smaller if they look to big when you're done, but remember that spinach starts big and ends small, so don't make the pieces too little.

Next comes the carrots.  Now I like raw carrots, but cooked carrots are probably my least favorite vegetable.  I put them around the outside of the meatloaf for other people (and because the color is so pretty).  I know they're good for me, so I trick myself (HA!) into eating them by shredding them and mixing them into the meatloaf.  Here's a picture of carrots I shredded using my little $10 mini-chopper. 

Next chop the red bell pepper into relatively small pieces.  Depending on the size of your pepper, you may want to only use half of it, but you'll definitely want to chop the pepper by hand, it's too delicate for the mini-chopper.

Now you'll need a bowl larger than you think you'll need.  I used the largest one I had, and I wished it was larger.  In the bowl, put:

• the ground beef (2-3 lbs)
• the bread crumbs (about 1/2 cup)
• the onion soup packet
• the egg (sans shell, obviously...)
• the baby spinach ribbons
• the shredded carrots
• the chopped red bell pepper
• all your herbs & spices (go easy on the salt because your bread crumbs and onion soup already have salt in them

Mix it all well, but not harshly.  I use my hands, and strongly recommend you do the same.  If you're creeped out by mushing raw meat, feel free to use gloves.  Shape it into a loaf and place it in the center of your baking dish, then lovingly surround it with small red potatoes, baby carrots and mushrooms, and garnish it with the sliced onion.  Add a small amount of water 1/4 to 1/3 cup, depending on the size of your dish.  This will augment the "drippins" from the meat, which will allow you to make a better gravy. Clicking on the image to the right --> will show you the little pieces of peppers, carrots and spinach, NOMZ!

Bake at 375 degrees, uncovered, for approximately an hour, perhaps slightly longer.  I recommend that you always use a meat thermometer and cook to the appropriate internal temperature!  I don't have the fancy kind that you bake along with the meat, I have the kind you poke into the meat when you take it out to check the done-ness, and it works fine.

I wish I had a better picture of it to show you, but to be honest I was starving and ready to eat!

Easy Peasy Mac-n-Cheesy!

Giving a shout-out to this recipe, though I didn't follow it, I did learn some tricks! 

You'd think that, growing up in the South, I'd have learned how to make real mac-n-cheese at quite a young age, but I didn't.  I do, however, LOVE mac-n-cheese, and even the boxed stuff is okay on occasion.  This, is not that occasion!

This particular recipe is super easy and super tasty, so you really have no excuse to grab the box!

What you'll need   

Sharp Cheddar (shredded, 9 ounce bag)

Mild Cheddar & Monterey jack (about 9 ounces, I just used what I had left)
Spiral/elbow pasta (or mini shells, or penne, if you prefer)
Raw Baby Spinach (9 ounce bag)
1 pint half-and-half
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Cook the pasta to al dente  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_dente  While it's cooking, prep the spinach.  Now here's the trick.  You really only want the spinach blanched or wilted, you don't want it cooked all the way through.  So while the pasta is cooking, I set the spinach up in another pot.

Once the pasta is finished, I drain the boiling pasta water into the pan with the spinach.  Set the pasta aside and drain the spinach.  It will look like too much before it's cooked, and like not enough after it is cooked.  Don't worry, it'll be perfect, just set it aside :)

Now your pasta and your spinach are good to go.

Preheat the oven to 400.

Put 1 &  1/2 cup half-and-half in a sauce pan and set it to the low side of medium, you want to bring it up to a simmer.

While that's doing it's thing, put 3 tablespoons of flour into a bowl and add the nutmeg and the sweet paprika.  You could use regular paprika, or even smoky paprika, but for this dish I really prefer the sweet paprika.  Mix the dry ingredients, and then add the remaining 1/2 cup half-and-half.  Whisk it until it is well mixed.  If there are a few lumps, it’s okay, but they should be small lumps.  Once the milk in the pan has reached a simmer, add in a dash of olive oil, then add in the flour mixture and whisk until it begins to thicken (about 2 to 3 minutes).

Take the flour & milk mixture off the heat and begin to add in most of the cheese, slowly, mixing gently until it is melted. I sprinkle a handful at a time over the milk-flour mixture and stir in until melted. Reserve a portion of the cheese to sprinkle on top.

Spray your baking dish, or put a little olive oil in it.

Add the pasta and spinach to the dish and mix it up a little. 

Pour your cheesy mix on top, and then using a large spoon, poke into the pasta so that some of the sauce settles in.

I top with chopped bacon and more cheese.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 400.

Enjoy!

Hello 2011

Yep, I've got a whole list this year.  Last year I resolved to try a new recipe every month.  In my defense, I did try new things last year.  There were a few that were such abysmal failures that they never made it on the blog.  This year, I'm recognizing that intention and setting the tone is every bit as important as actually being 100% successful with your resolutions, so here goes.  In 2011, I plan to:

1. Cook more with real food, and less with anything in a package.
2. Actively look for products with less packaging, so that there is less in the waste-stream.
3. Reduce my plastic footprint.
4. Before making a purchase, ask myself these questions:
• Can I really afford it?
• Do I really need it?
• If I can afford it, but don’t really need it, just want it, how much do I really want it?  What am I willing to give up to have it?
5. Be a little more thoughtful and a little less reactionary.
6. Smile a little more and preach a little less. 
7. Worry less about whether my jeans are the right style for this year (really? Bootcutskinnyjeanslowriserelaxedfitstonewash? My only question is do they fit.  If they do, we’re all good.)
8. Dance more often
9. Sing even when I don’t know all the words
10. Take the weather with me.

A Message For You

TWLOHA

The Trevor Project

Give A Damn

It Gets Better

Christmas Mice

This is my absolute favorite Christmas Treat.  This is another great dish for kids to help you with, though fine motoro skills can be important for certain steps (and you do NOT want to start a holiday tradition of stress and frustration!), so be careful when assigning the different steps to your sous chefs.

Software:
Maraschino cherries WITH stems
White chocolate or almond bark for melting
Sliced Almonds
Red piping

Hardware:
Double boiler or similar setup*
Wax paper

*melting white chocolate in a microwave will work, but it is very tricky to get it right and you have to reheat it eventually and it starts to get grainy or lumpy.  If you don't have a double boiler, one large pot with a smaller pot suspended inside it will accomplish almost the same thing, though you do have to be careful cuz you are working with boiling water.  I don't have a double boiler, and worried about burning the white chocolate because my stove top is electric, so I used a glass bowl in the microwave, then set it inside a second glass bowl filled with hot water from the tea kettle.  This worked ok, except I think I might have nuked it a bit too much because it started to get chalky in some spots.  The key is to nuke for 10-15 seconds, then FOLD (not stir) the melty bits into the unmelty bits.

So here are the steps:
1. Drain cherries but do not remove stems
2. Melt white chocolate or almond bark
3. Grasp cherry by stem and dip into white melty stuff, but leave the tail red
4. Lay on wax paper with stem down to the side (like a tail!)
5. Dip second cherry and lay down
6. Return to first cherry you dipped and press in 2 almond slices to make ears and a white chocolate chip to make the 'face'**
7. Repeat steps 3-6 until all cherries have been transformed into an army of Christmas mice
8. Once melty stuff hardens, pipe on 2 little red eyes, and a nose if you're really steady with your hands.


** Depending on the temperature and humidity in your kitchen, you may need to dip several cherries and lay them down before returning to place the ears and noses.  They key is to do the ears/face when the white chocolate starts to get pretty stiff so they don't slide down, but before it hardens, so they still stick.

Be on the lookout for stealthy hands trying to steal your mice!

A Christmas Mouse striking a pose with a Peppermint Brownie

These mice have found their way into a box of brownies! Sneaky mice!

Christmas Mice also go very well with Haystacks

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED to meet donor Challenge to build Safe House dorm 4 Lakota Youth. on Betty Tuininga's TwitWall

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED to meet donor Challenge to build Safe House dorm 4 Lakota Youth. on Betty Tuininga's TwitWall

A good cause, this season spend a little on some folks you don't even know.

ˈtʃɪli Weekend!

Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the astonishing rescue of the miners after 68 days underground, I can't really say, but it was on my mind last weekend.  Chili.  I need some.  Want some. Gotta have some.

So I made some.

Now chili doesn't really have a recipe, it's more of a loose affiliation of companionable ingredients. Sure, you can find a recipe online somewhere, but honestly, it's just not that kind of dish!  I cannot begin to even estimate the amounts of the spices I used, because chili is an All-Day Taste-And-Season Meal.  The honest truth is that (unless you're using dried beans) the ingredients in chili really take about an 30 minutes to cook, and you could dish it up and eat it then.  But for it to really have The Soul of Chili, you gotta cook it all day.  If you're making chili for a party, I highly recommend making it the day before and it will be *bangin* on the following day.

So.....if we were to have a "recipe" for chili, it would consist of:

Some meat

Some beans (purists may be shocked, but it's my blog so make yer own if you disagree!)

Some spices (the spicey, peppery kind)

Some veg (specifically tomatoes, peppers, onions)

A Whole Lotta Time

So here's how I make it...

Team Spicey consists of:

Ground Red Cayenne Pepper

Smoked Paprika - the flavor of smoked paprika is really an excellent addition to chili, but if you don't have it, sweet paprika is fine as well.

Garlic Salt - you can use fresh garlic if you prefer

Ground Cumin - an oft overlooked spice, invite it to the party, it has a lot to say (but in an interesting way, not in an "omg who invited him, he never stops talking" kinda way).

Chili Powder

Cholula Chili Garlic Hot Sauce (zomg tasty!)

But yanno, you mix and match, make it your own!  If you want fresh hot peppers, use them instead! (Me? I'm afraid of capsaicin in my eyeballs!)

Team Veggie:

Sweet Spanish Onion - or vidalia, or whatever.  I recommend a sweet onion though, because you're already going to have a lot of heat in this dish (well, you will if you add a lot of spices!)

Ripe Tomatoes - you're gonna be cookin' tha bajeebers outta this, your tomatoes don't need to be beautiful and easy to slice, they need to be sweet and full of flavor! Don't get a beefsteak or a sandwich tomato, get plums, romas or some other juicy tomato.

Red Bell Pepper - my mom would say, "Use green peppers, too much red in this dish already".  I'd say, "Use what you like best, and I like the red bells".

Okay "meat" isn't really a team, but it is a critical component in chili.  Many people use ground beef, or ground pork, or a mixture of ground meats.   There are even some fabulous recipes for white chili made with chicken, so use whatever you'd like (though fish chili sounds really disturbing, I'm sure it exists somewhere *shudder*) ((holy smokes, why on earth did I google "fish chili"?!?!?))

At any rate.....I usually use stewing beef, since it's going to cook all the live long day, you can use a less expensive cut.  On this particular occasion, some big-ol honkin' steaks were on sale (like, a really good sale) so I got those instead and cut them up.

By cutting against the grain of the meet, and by cooking it all day at a low temperature, you can almost guarantee that the meat will be falling-apart-tender by the time you serve it.

Now if you're anything like me, about the time you start dicing up the meat (slightly larger than bite sized, against the grain of the meat), a little Helper VonHelpington will show up.  This ones name is Major Tom.  He and his brother Randy adopted us from a shelter, and we thought the name was pretty awesome so we kept it.  He's pretty awesome too, he can leap tall buildings in a single bound (okay, maybe not tall buildings, but he can jump unbelievably high).  Randy was busy napping.  He's got no truck with people-food unless it is cooked roast beef.  Yep, he's a snob.

Now where were we? Oh yeah, the meat.  What I do is put a little olive oil in the bottom of a large, heavy-bottomed stew pan.  I put it on a medium-low heat and I start adding all my spices above.  Again, can't tell you how much to add, just....well, a lot.  If your chili turns out too hot (for some people there is such a thing, don't be a spice-snob) you can always add a little sour cream at the end to cool it down a bit, or add a little granulated sugar.  Add your diced meat to the pan and commence to cookin'.

Now start chopping up your veggies and adding them to the mixture.  For this pot of chili I used 4.66 pounds of meat, 1.3 pounds of tomatoes, 1 medium onion, one medium red pepper and two cans of dark red kidney beans, and I added them in that order, cooking at a low temperature the entire time.  Once the meat has cooked all the way through you can begin to taste and adjust your spices.  I actually wait until the chili has been cooking about 3 or 4 hours before I add the beans, because otherwise they can turn super mushy. (Yes, my stove top is messy.  If you're not making a mess you're not really cooking, you're just heating up!)

Because I live in a really small apartment with someone with asthma and multiple allergies whose condition is aggravated by raw onions, I have a little trick.  I use my small, $15 counter-top chopper doohicky.  I turn on the vent, quickly peel the onions and dispose of the peels, do a rough chop of the onions, toss them in the chopper-whatsis, put on the lid, then rinse the cutting board and knife and wash my hands.  Then I activate the chopper-thingamabob, dump the onions in the pan and put the lid on the pan.  Done and dusted with minimal fuss.

Soooooo, let that chili simmer for a looooooooong time.  Take a nap (but don't forget to stir!)

About a half hour before you just can't stand the deliciousness wafting from your kitchen any more and have to dive in to a big old bowl, make yourself some cornbread muffins!

NOMZ!

This meal was cooked under the influence of Grandmaster Flash, Talking Heads, Parliament Funkadelic and David Bowie.  Food tastes better when it's made with joy, and music is joy so crank it up.