Meatloaf Meal Night

I had a craving, so I took care of it.


Insane Onion BBQ Meatloaf


1 pound ground beef
1 cup favorite flavorful bbq sauce*
1 teaspoon favorite hot sauce
1 egg
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup sliced green onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup breadcrumbs

In mixing bowl, mush together beef, bbq sauce, hot sauce, and egg.  Mix in onions and garlic.  Add bread crumbs and blend well.  I use my hands to mush the mixture together, but I know the action tends to gross people out, so use what makes you happy.  Roll and pat into an oval and place into the center of a roasting dish.

*I make my own bbq sauce and it tends to have a bit of a kick to it. I like mine a bit on the spicy side, but you may not.  Just pick a good sauce packed with flavor and you won't have to worry about any seasonings.

Cut four to six medium russet potatoes into small chunks. In small bowl, mix 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and 1-1/2 tablespoons of Tone's Rosemary & Garlic spice mixture.  Add potato chunks and mix well.  Pour potatoes around loaf, toss in carrots with potatoes.

Cook at 425 degrees for one hour.

Slice meatloaf and serve.

4-6 servings.

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Simple I know, but it was so good.  I got my hands dirty and had to clean food out from under my nails with a nailbrush, but I was very happy to have to clean only one dish with cooked on/baked on food!  Woohoo!

Lunch With Mom

Sunday was a good day.  My mother had been traveling by car all weekend, and I wanted to give her a good meal.  I set out to make something cool, but pleasing to the palette that wouldn't leave her feeling weighed down.  I also wanted her to be able to choose how she ate her meal.  Seemed a complicated task, but I was up to the challenge.

I know most people can make a chicken salad sandwich pretty easily.  This was a successful lunch and my husband thought that I should add it to the blog because he felt it was worthy.  I was just so happy that my mother, sister, and husband all seemed to enjoy it greatly!

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Fruit Lover's Chicken Salad

3 cups shredded chicken
1/2 cup mayo
1 tablespoon mustard
1/2 cup sweet relish
1 cup diced onion
1 Granny Smith's apple, diced
1 cup sliced grapes (because I like color, I used both white and red grapes)
1 tablespoon Tone's Rosemary Garlic spice
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together shredded chicken, mayo, mustard, relish and onion.  Add apple and grapes and mix well.  Mix in your spice.  I used Tone's Rosemary Garlic spice, but you can use a mixture of 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon rosemary and 1 teaspoon of paprika.

(If I'd had them in my pantry, I would have added 1/2 cup cranberries.  Also for a little more texture a 1/4 cup of sugar coated, toasted walnuts, chopped fine. Replacing the mayo with 1/2 cup plain yogurt would be a good substitution as well.)

(If this meal had not included my mother and husband, I would have used more spice.  1 additional teaspoon garlic salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper.)

I gave the option of serving on Hawaiian bread buns or on a bed of spinach leaves.  Crazily enough it was eaten both ways by all.  You could also serve as part of a lettuce wrap meal.

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The above recipe could be used for shredded turkey as well.  My husband said it might be good as a tuna recipe; I hesitate on that point because, I am NOT a big seafood fan.  I keep trying, but my taste buds keep rejecting it.

Happy eating!

Hashing It Out

I decided to get creative again! Twice in one day...hello right brain!  Where have you been?

I'll admit, I was feeling like having Mexican food.  Actually, I've been feeling like eating Mexican food for over a week.  Unfortunately, my husband--though of Mexican descent--can't handle spicy foods all that well.  I have to keep things somewhat light, but that doesn't mean that the meal has to lack flavor.

I pulled out our tortillas and all the small bags of chips, cooked up a little hash, and then let my sister and husband figure out how they would like to enhance their meal experience.

My sister said she liked it, even went back for more.  My husband came back to me after eating his three mini-burros and told me it was one of my greater dishes.  Those words made me so happy!  This kiss afterward didn't hurt either!

It was super simple, had a nice texture and was full of flavor without being too spicy for him to eat. Check it out.

Mexi-American Chicken Hash

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, diced

3 cups of shredded chicken*

1 cup cooked black beans, drained

1 4-oz can of green chile

2 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp mesquite flavor**

1 cup chopped cilantro

Saute onion in olive oil on medium-high until translucent, stirring occasionally.  Add chicken and black beans and allow to heat through while covered over medium heat for approximately twenty minutes.  Add green chile, garlic salt and mesquite, mix well.  Add cilantro, mix well and allow the cilantro to gain its bright color through the heat on low for five minutes.

Serve as nacho topping, in a tortilla for your burrito or in a taco shell.

Makes 4 servings

*May also use two 13-oz cans of chicken
**The mesquite flavor used in my recipe was from Garlic Festival Foods.  It's called Mesquite Grill.  You can purchase it here.

Grilled Cheese Anyone?

A while ago I got the urge for a grilled cheese sandwich, but I wanted it with more than just a few slices of cheese.  Craving a bit of a zing, I added sliced onion and strips of ham.  That was good for my palette on that day, but today was a different day.

Since my sister suggested we have grilled cheese sandwiches, and I love her so, it is thus aptly named...

Sisterly Love Grilled Cheese Sandwich

A wee strip of pepper snuck its way out of the sandwich.

1/4 of a large yellow bell pepper, sliced thin
1/4 of a large yellow onion, sliced thin
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp dried cilantro
1/4 tsp black pepper
Three of your favorite cheeses (today's choice: Mozzarella, American & shredded Cheddar)
4 slices of your favorite bread
Butter or mayo

Makes 2 sandwiches.

In a small skillet, saute bell pepper and onion in butter over medium-high heat until they just begin to caramelize.  Add garlic salt, cilantro and black pepper.  Mix well and heat until onion is translucent. Set aside. 

Spread a thin layer of butter or mayo on one side of each slice of bread.  In a separate skillet, place a slice of the bread--spread side down--lay a slice of American cheese down on top of the bread, crumble Mozzarella onto the slice, dust cheddar across the top.  Add a layer of the onion, bell pepper and spice mix.  Sprinkle shredded cheddar over mixture, crumble mozzarella over top and add a final slice of american cheese.  Top with another slice of bread--spread side face up.  Cover and allow base to brown. 

Flip, cover and allow other side to brown while covered.  This helps the cheese to melt and adhere to the veggie mix.  Remove and serve.

For additional flavor, saute strips of ham with bell pepper and onion.  

For a stronger garlic flavor, thinly slice a clove of garlic and saute with the vegetable mixture.

Serve with apple slices and/or grapes.  The tangy sweetness of the fruit is a nice balance to the salty creaminess of the sandwich.

Enjoy!

Kitchen Sink Recipes and Me!

Hubby and I couldn't figure out what we wanted for dinner tonight, but we both knew that neither of us wanted to cook.  So, what does one do when no one wants to cook nor can they agree on what to eat?

Grab the take-out menus!!

Nope, not us.

To the leftovers!

Funny thing about our leftovers from the weekend...we didn't really have a lot.  There was some crispy bacon, hardboiled eggs, a teensy amount of grape tomatoes and cookie dough.

I had to tell myself to save the cookie dough!

It was enough to make a meager egg salad, but that wasn't really what I wanted, so I began perusing the pantry.   I saw a can of chicken, noodles, pasta, macaroni, green chiles, etcetera.  I absolutely did not want to cook. It had been too hot throughout the day and I just wanted something cool.  I then went back to the fridge to see if there was anything that would strike me.

After some thought, I decided it was time for another of my "Kitchen Sink Recipes".  Have you ever heard of those?  It's when you just throw a bunch of items together and make something--everything but the kitchen sink.

My mother used to do that sort of thing when we were little.  Sometimes we really dreaded those nights and prayed that the dog was close. **shiver** She'd call every single one of those mystery mixtures, "Goulash."  I've had Goulash, Ma.  That stuff is good!

Sometimes her concoctions were alright, but boy oh boy there's only so much a kid's constitution can take.  A few times there was not enough milk on the planet to help choke that stuff down with.

Sorry, Mom.  I love you, but you know it's true.  I think that's why you didn't always eat when we ate.  How rude!

I have quite a few Kitchen Sink Recipes already.  Some I have starred because they have been so interesting, that I actually decided they were good enough to feed them to other people to gauge reactions.  Some were extremely favorable--one in particular, that I may or may not share later.

Mind you...this was made from some leftover ingredients and remember that I LOVE to experiment.  I also believe in tasting as you go.  If you taste as you work, you won't serve something horrid to those you love.

Tonight's Kitchen Sink Recipe:


Chicken Club Salad


Ingredients:

10 grape tomatoes, sliced
4 hard-boiled eggs, diced*
1 13oz can of shredded chicken, drained*
6 slices crispy bacon, finely chopped*
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
2 ripe avocado, cut open and diced or ready for mashing
2 Tbsp pickle juice*
1 Tbsp spicy mustard
1 Tbsp Mayo*
1 tsp garlic salt
Salt & pepper to taste

Shred the chicken with a fork until it is the size you would prefer it to be.  Salt and pepper as desired.  Add egg, tomatoes, bacon and onion.  Add avocado and mash-mix the ingredients.  The avocado will be your bonder for the most part.  Add pickle, mustard and mayo and mix well.  Add garlic salt and mix again.

Serve on bread, crackers or cucumber slices.

Viola!

Conclusion and Notes:
*I only used about half of one yolk and used all the whites. Do what you think is right for you.
*I would have preferred to use shredded meat from a rotisserie chicken for added flavor, but I didn't have that on hand.  With the rotisserie chicken, I don't believe the salt or pepper would have been needed.
*As for the bacon, hubby didn't care for this texture. I think it's a preference thing.  I rather liked it and the saltiness it added.
*Pickle relish definitely would have been better for that extra tang.
*If I'd had plain yogurt, I would have used it instead.