Foodie Friday: Meatloaf cupcakes.

Meatloaf is a wonderful tasty dinner, but with just two of us in the household, making a whole one seems such a waste.
So this week I tried something I had heard about.

Meatloaf cooked in a muffin or cupcake pan.

You can also think of this as really big meatballs.
This makes about 6 meat-cakes (I know horrible name, still trying out different options)
1 lb of ground beef/chuck
1/2 package of dried soup mix
1/2 cup of crushed saltines
1 egg

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.  I used my hands to make sure it was well mixed.

Spray the cupcake pan with oil.  I have a wonderful misto oil sprayer.  It uses oil I already have and makes it into a fine mist. The Misto Oil Sprayer!

Form balls out of the meatloaf, large enough to fit into the pan, but not overflow too much.

Next cook at 350 degrees farenheit for about 1/2 an hour.  Adjust cooking time as needed for your oven.

My son was wary at first since it didn't look like normal meatloaf, but once you add ketchup to the plate, it was all good.  1-2 cupcakes as a serving.  I was able to freeze the remaining cupcakes for quick dinners in the future.

Sunday Supper- turkey, sweet potatoes, and onions

I'm attempting a new segment in this blog.  Since I'm not getting a CSA this year.... just too many vegetables and too few people, I need something to try to focus on weekly.  Many of those CSA vegetables ended up in my compost pile or freezer, yet to be used.

I attempt every week, to go Meatless on Monday.  This helps reduce my impact environmentally as a omnivore. If everyone went meatless one day a week, we could reduce our carbon footprint greatly.

** I must say that this makes my vegetarian/vegan friends very happy **   :)

I don't eat a ton of meat anyway, as I believe in normal portions, not American Supersized portions.

I do make sure I get meat on Sunday though since I'm meatless on Monday.  This helps to reduce my cravings. (That's my theory and I'm going with it.)

Tonight's menu: Jerk Ground Turkey, Spiced Sweet Potatoes, and Fig Onions.

This new venture will show what I cook every Sunday - most often using just what I have available in my kitchen at any one time.  It's cold in Ohio in February, I don't feel like going out after I get home. 

I also have the most time to cook on Sundays (usually) since my son is at his father's house on Sunday.

So with out more explanation, let me introduce my cooking team.  

Kira:  The Supervisor

When Magi passed this past October, the hole in my life was filled by 2 dogs.... Kira and Sparky.

Kira, is a beagle/border collie mix.  So her nose commands her brain.  In fact, she is supervising my blog writing (as seen in the picture) because it gets her closer to my plate of food.

Kira

Sparky

Sparky: Personal Assistant

Sparky is a border collie/whippet/fox terrier mix.  He never leaves me alone, except when he eats or goes outside.  Seriously, he follows me everywhere.

I spend so much time kicking them both out of the kitchen.

 Tonight, after perusing a few cookbooks, I look at what I have:

*  Boiler onions (small onions that were on sale a couple weeks ago)

*  Ground Turkey (3 tubes of this in my freezer)

*  Sweet Potato and shallots

So most of my inspiration came from Cooking with Herbs and Spices .

Jerk Turkey, Spiced Sweet Potatoes, Fig Onions

I cooked 1 tube of ground turkey with a touch of olive oil (about 1 tablespoon) and a good helping of Jamaican jerk seasoning.  I buy my jerk seasoning pre-made at a local bulk store, but there are many recipes online to make your own.  The basic elements are garlic, cayenne pepper, onion powder, thyme, parsley, sugar, salt paprika, allspice, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon.  (I'll freeze the rest of the cooked turkey for taco night. :)  )

I quartered 4 boiler onions, and boiled them in some white wine ( about 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup). When the wine had almost boiled completely off, I added about 1 teaspoon of homemade fig jelly.  Let this melt and blend with with the onions and caramelize just a bit. ** Note: this should cook the onions adequately.**

I peeled and chopped 1 sweet potato into cubes.   In a saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter mixed with a splash (about 2-3 tablespoons) of olive oil. Fry the cubes until barely soft.  I also added 1 sliced shallot.   After they are soft, add 1 teaspoon of ginger, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon allspice, and a pinch of cayenne pepper.  Stir well to incorporate flavors and cook for 2-3 minutes more. 

I then put the sweet potato into the oven at 375 because I needed the space on my stove to cook the other parts of my meal.  Just check frequently to make sure it doesn't burn.  Or turn off the oven and let it just keep everything warm.  I was trying to toast the sweet potato just a bit more to add some crunch. 

In the end... the turkey was spicy as expected.  I love Jamaican Jerk.  It's a savory blend of spice and subtlety (sorry I've been watching cooking shows on Netflix).  

The sweet potato and shallots was sweet and perfect. A taste like roasted root vegetables, which balanced out the spiciness of the turkey.

The onions turned out a bit surprising.  I expected a more caramelized and sweet flavor.  I got more of a vinaigrette flavor, with a tang to it.  I think if I added more jelly and let it caramelize a bit more I would get that sweet flavor.  It mixed well with the savory and sweet balance I had going on the plate.

I don't follow recipes well, so every dinner is an experiment. Tonight's experiment went well I think. 

The dinner was delicious with balanced flavors, complimented with a pinot grigio.  

Foodie Friday: Roasted vegetables!

So if you read yesterday's post, you know that I have lots of vegetables.  What to do with all those veggies before they go bad?  Zucchini's are wonderful, but I can't bring myself to freeze them.  Carrots I don't mind if they are frozen since I make soup out of them later.

Tonight's dinner: zucchini, carrots, onions, garlic and meat.

So how am I going to use all these zucchini?  An easy answer would be zucchini bread, but I've not had luck with that yet.... so I'm going to try something I've been nervous about doing.  Roasting Vegetables.

I'm not a huge roaster.  I just found it kind of intimidating I guess.
So here it goes:

chop up however many vegetables you want to roast.  Root vegetables and zucchini work great for this.
Make sure they are all about the same size!  You don't want some of them to cook faster than others.

Most were about 1/2 inch thick or so

Next, place them in a roasting pan (or some other pan where you can get them to a single layer)

Looking online, I found several recipes.  Most called for 325 degrees F, but I'm winging it and decided to leave my oven at the preset 350 F  that comes on when I turn it on.

Now, drizzle some olive oil on the veggies and season however you want.  I used salt, pepper, and some garlic powder.   You don't want to drown the veggies in oil, just give them a light coating for flavor. Mix them up so they are coated in the oil.

So set your pan o' veggies in the oven and then set the timer for 15 minutes. (times may vary depending on your oven, so always check earlier!)

At 15 minutes, I checked the veggies, stirred, and added some meat to make it a total dinner.

Now, usually, I would brown the meat first, but the meat was pre-cut stew meat, and would be totally cooked by browning.  So I just added it halfway through the roasting.

Set the timer another 15 minutes.

Yummy!

And Done!

Total time cooking: ~ 1/2 an hour (not including chopping time)

Add some rice and you have a completed dinner (or sans rice if you want).

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So in a nutshell:

Roast veggies in an oven at 325 degrees F for 30 minutes.  Add some oil to keep them from drying out too much, and check frequently (since the timing depends on how thick you cut the veggies)

And that's it!

Foodie Friday: Fresh Bread

I love fresh bread.  Who doesn't?  The smell permeating through out the house, the warmth of the oven on a chilly day.  The only problem with making bread is usually the recipes call for making large amounts.  When its just me and my son, I don't need so much.  So here is a recipe I call....

Bread for One ( or 2  )  its really just enough bread for one or two people to eat with dinner.

*  1 packet yeast
*  1 cup warm water ( you will divide this in half)
*  1 Tablespoon Oil ( I prefer olive oil)
*  1 Tablespoon sugar
*  1 1/4 teaspoon salt
*  2 cups flour (plus extra for dusting)

Dissolve the 1 packet of yeast into 1/2 cup of warm water, and let it sit for 10 minutes.  While that sits, go ahead and mix together the sugar, salt, flour, oil and the other 1/2 cup of warm water in a large bowl.  Add the yeast mixture into the bowl and mix well until a sticky dough forms.

Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface.  TIP:  use a soft cotton towel to put the flour on.  It creates a no stick surface that is easier to work with. 

Knead the dough until the dough is no longer sticky, and its well formed. (firmer and more elastic).

Then place the dough into a greased loaf pan and let it rise for about 30 minutes.   TIP: Line the loaf pan with aluminum foil for easy removal of the bread. 

Then bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. I started checking it at around 30 minutes and kept checking until it reached a shade of toasty brown that I wanted.
TIP: To help out the browning process I added a touch of butter to the top... just a gentle coating.

Another tip is use your nose!  You can smell the bread as it bakes, if it starts to smell like bread then start checking it before it burns!

And VOILA!  Toasty yummy bread with dinner tonight! It really isn't that hard and doesn't take that long ( I was able to fold some laundry and watch some TV while it was rising).

Just melt a little butter and add some honey, stir well and let re-set and wonderful honey-butter to serve on the bread. :)  A favorite of my son!

Happy Cinco de Mayo - easy peppers and steak dinner

Since its Cinco de Mayo, then it makes sense to cook a mexican inspired dinner.

Also, my bell peppers and onion that I got 2 weeks ago are going to go bad if I don't use them.

So first I sliced everything thinly. TIP:  Wear glasses when cutting onions.

For the first time ever I didn't cry while cutting onions.... the trick?  I was wearing my glasses.  I wear computer glasses sometimes, but today I did while cutting onions.  And no tears.  I suggest getting a cheap pair at the dollar store (reading glasses with a weak prescription) and keep them in the kitchen. :)

Next I added a bit of olive oil to a pan and warmed it up.  Then start sauteing the veggies.

I added about a tablespoon of hot sauce, some garlic powder ( I add that to just about everything), some salt and pepper.  I also added some jamaican jerk seasoning.  I know its not mexican, but its my go to hot mix.  Its got cayenne flakes, thyme, cinnamon and other spices.  I added a dash of Worcestershire sauce to add some depth.  Then just before it was done cooking I added about 3/4 cup of thinly sliced beef.  Just a simply steak I had in the freezer, but thin enough to cook quickly.

So quick, that the steak was done within 2-3 minutes.  My only regret is that I didn't think before hand to cook some quinoa.  It would have been perfect underneath the veggies and meat to soak up the sauce.

You could also toss in a splash of beer and boil some of it off to add to the sauce.  The best way to match an alcohol with the food :D

Delicious, but a bit sweeter than I originally wanted...to many bell peppers. :)

Feeling Low? Try Salad in a Bowl!

I don't know what's with my energy level lately, except that its been low.   Now being a busy mom, I should expect to be tired, but not lethargic.  Most likely, the most obvious culprit is low iron, anemia....  So some quick soup to perk me up.

Now, I'm calling this Salad in a bowl, because in the pot it looks like salad.  But truthfully, I know I've eaten salad in a bowl tons of times, so the title can be a bit misleading. :D

First I started off with a drizzle of olive oil.

 

Now, my inspiration for this soup was I wanted to get my leafy greens from my CSA into it like noodles, or perhaps more like miso soup and seaweed.

I tossed in a few (too many) handfuls of my leafy greens,  Kale, Mizuna, and Pack Choi.

yup just looks like a salad!

Over medium heat, I wilted these delicious greens.

Then added 1 cup of chicken broth (you could use any broth base really.  Especially if you're going vegan or vegetarian)

Season to taste - mine included rosemary, pepper and garlic powder, but upon tasting I should have added a bit more salt (I usually rarely add salt while cooking)

And Voila!

An easy, quick perk you up soup that is really really really simple.