I made mini meatloaves using my muffin tin and the following recipe (from Betty Crocker Cookbook and some modifications by me):
Mini Meatloaf
1. Heat oven to 350. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray.
2. Mix in large bowl (or Kitchenaid mixer) 1 1/2 pounds ground meat, 1 cup milk, 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp mustard, 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper, 1 clove garlic, finely chopped, 1 large egg, 3 slices bread, torn into pieces (or 1/2 cup bread crumbs or 3/4 cup quick cooking oats), 1 small or 1/2 large chopped onion, 1/2 tsp Frank's Red Hot. *note: I don't measure the spices, I just estimate and throw them in, measurements are approximate.
3. Scoop meat mixture into muffin tins and bake for 30 minutes (may want to put a cookie sheet under the muffin tin to catch any spillage), or until loaves are no longer pink in center and thermometer reads 160 degrees when inserted in center of loaves in middle of muffin pan.
While the meatloaves were baking, I made skillet potatoes (mostly because I didn't feel like making mashed potatoes).
In my 12" cast iron skillet, I put 1-2 Tbsp olive oil and sauteed the other half of the chopped onion from the meatloaf recipe and 1 clove of minced garlic over medium low heat. I sliced three scrubbed but unpeeled Idaho potatoes and then quartered them and added them to the onions and garlic. I turned the heat up to medium and cooked for about 5 minutes. I also had some fresh spinach and red peppers in the fridge and I chopped the pepper while the potatoes cooked.
The potato/onion mixture was sticking to the bottom of the pan, so I added a splash of soy sauce and some beer (maybe 1/3 of a cup), figuring that it would be more flavorful than water. Then I added the red peppers and the spinach, stirring well and putting the lid on the skillet. I stirred every 3-5 minutes, to make sure all of the spinach wilted and everything was cooked through.
You could add any veggies you have left over to this mixture, just remember that the potatoes will take the longest to cook through.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Saturday Cooking Bonanza
I spent most of the day in the kitchen, but got a lot made for the rest of the week and some things for the freezer!
I started out making Homemade Chicken Broth/Stock using Alice Waters' "The Art of Simple Food" recipe, but modifying as to what I had in the pantry/fridge:
1 whole chicken (mine was about 5 lbs)
Put into a large stock pot with 1 1/2 gallons of cold, filtered water and bring to a boil.
Add 1 stalk of celery (I washed it and broke it into 3 large pieces), 3 cloves of garlic (peeled off the paper but left them whole), a few sprigs of oregano, 1 Tbsp salt-free seasoning, about 1/2-1 tsp fresh ground pepper.
Skim the foam off the top and discard.
Lower heat to a simmer, and simmer for about 4 hours (until the chicken falls apart).
Let cool, remove chicken and veggies.
I threw away the chicken skin and bones along with the veggies, gave the livers to Darby for breakfast, and saved the chicken for a casserole and lunches this week. After the broth cooled, I put 8 cups of it into a container for the squash soup recipe, and put the rest into zip top freezer bags and froze for later use.
Breakfast Bars: I made these last week and Zach was a huge fan! I bought some peanut flour at Trader Joe's on Monday and found a butternut squash and an acorn squash at a farm stand on the way home on Friday. I roasted both squashes to make butternut squash soup from a pumpkin soup recipe I have, and decided to put some of the acorn squash into the breakfast bars for this week. I got this recipe a number of years ago from a friend, and keep tinkering with the recipe to increase the nutritional content, lower the sugar (but keep them yummy) and use up anything I have in the cupboards. These breakfast bars were one of the reasons I decided to start blogging what I was cooking, mostly to keep track of modifications.
Here's this weeks recipe:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In the work bowl of Kitchenaid Mixer, combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup of softened butter. Cream sugars and butter together.
3. Add 1/8 cup agave nectar, 1/2 cup applesauce, 1 egg, 3 Tbsp milk, 2 tsp vanilla (I eyeball the milk, vanilla, and agave nectar measurements).
4. Mix to combine ingredients.
5. Add 1 cup white flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup peanut flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp nutmeg (I also eyeball the cinnamon and nutmeg).
6. Mix well.
7. Add 3 cups of quick cooking oats, 1 cup raisins, 1/2 cup dry roasted sunflower seeds, and 1 cup of cooked acorn squash. Mix to combine.
8. Spread into 9x13 baking dish and bake 25-30 minutes.
9. Let cool on cooling rack in pan, then cut into bars and store in zip top bag or other sealed container at room temperature.
I have also been baking our bread for the week, but still haven't mastered the "perfect loaf". I found a "no knead" bread recipe and tried it, but made a few mistakes: 1. I did a poor job converting 1 5/8 cup of hot water into something I could measure in my 2 cup pyrex measuring cup, and therefore did not put enough water in the mix; 2. my kitchen is not 70 degrees all of the time, as Zach and I refuse to turn the heat on until absolutely necessary so the dough was not warm enough to rise.
When I realized on Saturday that the bread hadn't risen at all, I also made a "no knead" bread recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook, which is as follows:
Fresh Herb Batter Bread (with only slight modifications by me)
1. Grease bottom and sides of loaf pan
2. Mix 2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, and 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast in large bowl (or Kitchenaid mixer bowl).
3. Add 1 1/4 cups very warm water (120-130 degrees), 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley, 2 Tbsp butter, 1/2 tsp dried rosemary leaves, 1/4 tsp dried thyme. Beat on low speed 1 minute, then beat on medium speed 1 minute. Stir in 1 cup of whole wheat flour until smooth.
4. Spread batter evenly in pan and pat into shape. Cover loosely with plastic wrap lightly sprayed with cooking spray and let rise in warm place about 40 minutes or until double.
4. Heat oven to 375.
5. Bake 40-45 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Immediately remove from pan to wire rack. Brush top of loaf with butter, sprinkle with additional chopped herbs if desired. Cool.
I will keep working on the other "no knead" bread recipe and keep you posted. :)
I started out making Homemade Chicken Broth/Stock using Alice Waters' "The Art of Simple Food" recipe, but modifying as to what I had in the pantry/fridge:
1 whole chicken (mine was about 5 lbs)
Put into a large stock pot with 1 1/2 gallons of cold, filtered water and bring to a boil.
Add 1 stalk of celery (I washed it and broke it into 3 large pieces), 3 cloves of garlic (peeled off the paper but left them whole), a few sprigs of oregano, 1 Tbsp salt-free seasoning, about 1/2-1 tsp fresh ground pepper.
Skim the foam off the top and discard.
Lower heat to a simmer, and simmer for about 4 hours (until the chicken falls apart).
Let cool, remove chicken and veggies.
I threw away the chicken skin and bones along with the veggies, gave the livers to Darby for breakfast, and saved the chicken for a casserole and lunches this week. After the broth cooled, I put 8 cups of it into a container for the squash soup recipe, and put the rest into zip top freezer bags and froze for later use.
Breakfast Bars: I made these last week and Zach was a huge fan! I bought some peanut flour at Trader Joe's on Monday and found a butternut squash and an acorn squash at a farm stand on the way home on Friday. I roasted both squashes to make butternut squash soup from a pumpkin soup recipe I have, and decided to put some of the acorn squash into the breakfast bars for this week. I got this recipe a number of years ago from a friend, and keep tinkering with the recipe to increase the nutritional content, lower the sugar (but keep them yummy) and use up anything I have in the cupboards. These breakfast bars were one of the reasons I decided to start blogging what I was cooking, mostly to keep track of modifications.
Here's this weeks recipe:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In the work bowl of Kitchenaid Mixer, combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup of softened butter. Cream sugars and butter together.
3. Add 1/8 cup agave nectar, 1/2 cup applesauce, 1 egg, 3 Tbsp milk, 2 tsp vanilla (I eyeball the milk, vanilla, and agave nectar measurements).
4. Mix to combine ingredients.
5. Add 1 cup white flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup peanut flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp nutmeg (I also eyeball the cinnamon and nutmeg).
6. Mix well.
7. Add 3 cups of quick cooking oats, 1 cup raisins, 1/2 cup dry roasted sunflower seeds, and 1 cup of cooked acorn squash. Mix to combine.
8. Spread into 9x13 baking dish and bake 25-30 minutes.
9. Let cool on cooling rack in pan, then cut into bars and store in zip top bag or other sealed container at room temperature.
I have also been baking our bread for the week, but still haven't mastered the "perfect loaf". I found a "no knead" bread recipe and tried it, but made a few mistakes: 1. I did a poor job converting 1 5/8 cup of hot water into something I could measure in my 2 cup pyrex measuring cup, and therefore did not put enough water in the mix; 2. my kitchen is not 70 degrees all of the time, as Zach and I refuse to turn the heat on until absolutely necessary so the dough was not warm enough to rise.
When I realized on Saturday that the bread hadn't risen at all, I also made a "no knead" bread recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook, which is as follows:
Fresh Herb Batter Bread (with only slight modifications by me)
1. Grease bottom and sides of loaf pan
2. Mix 2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, and 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast in large bowl (or Kitchenaid mixer bowl).
3. Add 1 1/4 cups very warm water (120-130 degrees), 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley, 2 Tbsp butter, 1/2 tsp dried rosemary leaves, 1/4 tsp dried thyme. Beat on low speed 1 minute, then beat on medium speed 1 minute. Stir in 1 cup of whole wheat flour until smooth.
4. Spread batter evenly in pan and pat into shape. Cover loosely with plastic wrap lightly sprayed with cooking spray and let rise in warm place about 40 minutes or until double.
4. Heat oven to 375.
5. Bake 40-45 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Immediately remove from pan to wire rack. Brush top of loaf with butter, sprinkle with additional chopped herbs if desired. Cool.
I will keep working on the other "no knead" bread recipe and keep you posted. :)
Sunday Yummies
I've been cooking from scratch a lot more since we are in our new place and I have all of my kitchen tools (plus some new ones from the wedding!), and reading tons of books about food (Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver, Alice Waters and many more). All day Saturday I baked and cooked (more on that in another post), and since I have a complete inability to exactly follow a recipe I decided to blog what I make and any modifications so I can keep track of what we liked and didn't like. At the grocery yesterday, there were Challah buns on the day-old bread rack, so I made Challah french toast with a berry sauce for breakfast.
Here's the recipe:
3 Challah buns, sliced vertically
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I used whole)
1-2 tsp vanilla
dash or two cinnamon
dash or two nutmeg
1 Tbsp sugar
Preheat oven to 500
Mix together the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar with a whisk or fork.
Spray a cookie sheet or pizza pan liberally with non-stick spray.
Dip the bread into the egg mixture, then lay on the pan.
Cook for 4 minutes on the first side, then flip and cook another 4 minutes on the other side.
Serve with Berry Sauce.
Berry Sauce
8 oz frozen berry mixture
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp sugar or sugar substitute (I use Splenda)
1/3 cup water
Mix all of the above ingredients in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Stir to mix well, then cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often.
Serve over French toast.
*Mine got a little thick, so I left it on the burner but turned off the heat and added 1/4 cup of Almond milk to it and mixed well. It thinned out and added some creaminess.
On another note, it took me a long time to figure out how to make everything come out at the same time, so here is what I did this morning:
1. Slice challah bread
2. make egg mixture for french toast. Preheat oven.
3. Start berries in saucepan.
4. Spray baking sheet and dip bread in egg mixture and put onto baking sheet.
5. Realize I didn't make enough egg mixture and make more.
6. Realize I didn't make any coffee and I need some. Start the water boiling for french press coffee (which I have yet to master) and put 3 Tbsp coffee, 1/2 tsp cocoa powder, dash of cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp salt into french press.
7. Put french toast in oven, set timer for 4 minutes.
8. Stir berry mixture, add almond milk due to thickness. Put berry mixture into gravy boat for easy pouring.
9. Timer beeps for first side of french toast, water is beginning to boil for coffee. I add water to the french press and flip the french toast. Put toast back in oven for 4 minutes (same amount of time coffee must mingle before pushing down on press).
10. Timer beeps again. I push the plunger on the coffee, then take the toast out of the oven.
10. Pour water into french press.
11. Breakfast is served! :)
Here's the recipe:
3 Challah buns, sliced vertically
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I used whole)
1-2 tsp vanilla
dash or two cinnamon
dash or two nutmeg
1 Tbsp sugar
Preheat oven to 500
Mix together the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar with a whisk or fork.
Spray a cookie sheet or pizza pan liberally with non-stick spray.
Dip the bread into the egg mixture, then lay on the pan.
Cook for 4 minutes on the first side, then flip and cook another 4 minutes on the other side.
Serve with Berry Sauce.
Berry Sauce
8 oz frozen berry mixture
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp sugar or sugar substitute (I use Splenda)
1/3 cup water
Mix all of the above ingredients in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Stir to mix well, then cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often.
Serve over French toast.
*Mine got a little thick, so I left it on the burner but turned off the heat and added 1/4 cup of Almond milk to it and mixed well. It thinned out and added some creaminess.
On another note, it took me a long time to figure out how to make everything come out at the same time, so here is what I did this morning:
1. Slice challah bread
2. make egg mixture for french toast. Preheat oven.
3. Start berries in saucepan.
4. Spray baking sheet and dip bread in egg mixture and put onto baking sheet.
5. Realize I didn't make enough egg mixture and make more.
6. Realize I didn't make any coffee and I need some. Start the water boiling for french press coffee (which I have yet to master) and put 3 Tbsp coffee, 1/2 tsp cocoa powder, dash of cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp salt into french press.
7. Put french toast in oven, set timer for 4 minutes.
8. Stir berry mixture, add almond milk due to thickness. Put berry mixture into gravy boat for easy pouring.
9. Timer beeps for first side of french toast, water is beginning to boil for coffee. I add water to the french press and flip the french toast. Put toast back in oven for 4 minutes (same amount of time coffee must mingle before pushing down on press).
10. Timer beeps again. I push the plunger on the coffee, then take the toast out of the oven.
10. Pour water into french press.
11. Breakfast is served! :)
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