We're talkin' 'bout meatloaf (meatloaf, yeah)

My mom is seriously one of the best cooks on the planet.  Seriously.  And, even though she made meals that were freaking da bomb delicious, I was a ridiculously picky eater as a kid.  It's a crying shame when I think of all the meals I turned my nose up at in my youth because I didn't like the texture of beans, or whatever.  Never fear all you moms of picky eaters, eventually I came around with age.  I'm still texture sensitive and can't eat bananas because of it, but, all in all, I'm good with most foods.

I'm not sure why I talked about picky eating as the intro to this post, except for the possibility that a picky eater may not find the idea of eating meatloaf particularly appealing.  You guys.  This meatloaf is so amazingly good, it might, just might, turn your picky eater around, and get them on the meatloaf bandwagon.

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup ketchup
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 envelope onion soup mix
2 tsp minced garlic (or two cloves, minced)


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix brown sugar, ketchup and 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce in a separate, small mixing bowl.

Pour half of the ketchup and brown sugar mixture into the bottom of a 9x5 loaf pan.  Set rest of the mixture aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients and shape into a loaf.  Place on top of the brown sugar/ketchup mixture.

Pour the remaining brown sugar/ketchup mixture on top of the loaf.

Bake in preheated oven for 60-70 minutes until juices run clear.


-recipe inspired by 71toes.com (I've made a few changes according to my tastes)

Chicken Pad Thai

I'm a huge fan of Thai food, and I'm always tempted to get take out at our local Thai restaurant during the week, when everyone is away at school or work.  Making a comparable chicken pad thai has been something I've tried to master over the years, but I often get discouraged by many of the recipes that call for a huge ingredient list and just too much darn work for a simple dinner to serve at home.  So, when I happened upon this recipe, I gave it another try and was surprised at how easy it was to make and delicious it was.  I made a few adjustments to the recipe to suit our tastes, but the original recipe is inspired by Joanna Cismaru from the blog Jo Cooks.

Chicken Pad Thai



Ingredients

1 T sesame oil
1 red bell pepper sliced
1 green bell pepper sliced
3/4 cup sugar snap peas
2 T minced garlic
2 cups cooked chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
salt and pepper to taste
4 green onions chopped
1/4 cup peanuts chopped
12 oz Asian style rice noodles- I prefer the thin ones



For the Spicy Thai Sauce

1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 T brown sugar
1 T sriracha sauce
1 t red chili paste (I didn't have this on hand so I omitted it)
1 t fresh minced ginger



Instructions:

Cook noodles as directed on package.

Heat sesame oil in skillet over medium/high heat.  Add garlic, peas and peppers and saute for 3 minutes until they begin to soften.

Whisk the spicy thai sauce ingredients together in a medium sized bowl and set aside.

Add cooked chicken to the skillet and toss together.  Pour in sauce and stir.  Cook for 2 more minutes until sauce comes to a boil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add cooked noodles and toss.

Garnish with chopped green onions and peanuts.

My family loved this meal and it was great as a leftover lunch the next day!

**If you ever want to print off any of these recipes you can scroll to the very bottom and there is a print feature available**

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

I've been gone.  Maybe you've noticed?  If you're unaware of the reasons please check out my personal blog HERE and you'll see whats been up and why I've needed a break from posting my favorite recipes.

I just finished eating three delicious scones, so I thought I'd do a quick write-up on the recipe in case you're looking for a semi-healthy scone recipe that just screams summer.

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 stick of cold unsalted butter cut into small chunks
1/2 cup non fat greek yogurt
4-6 tablespoons of buttermilk
1 egg
zest of one lemon

Icing:

juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1 1/3 cup powdered sugar


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare a baking sheet with either a silpat or parchment paper.

In a food processor, put both flours, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and poppy seeds.  Pulse to combine.  Add the lemon zest and pulse.  With the processor on, gradually add the chunks of cold butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Pour it all into a large mixing bowl.

In a small bowl whisk together the greek yogurt, buttermilk and the egg.  Add it to the flour mixture in the large mixing bowl.  Using a mixing spoon stir it all together until it forms a sticky dough.

Roll it out onto a floured surface and with a rolling pin roll the dough until it is about 1 inch thick.  Cut it our however you choose (I used a biscuit cutter).  Place them on the baking sheet and bake them in the oven for 15 or so minutes.  Keep a close eye on them and take them out when the edges are starting to lightly brown.

While the scones cool, whisk together the icing ingredients in a small bowl and spoon it over the tops of the scones when they are slightly warm.  Enjoy!

Banana Cake

I happen to not like bananas much.  I'm a texture sensitive eater, and bananas score quite poorly with my particularness.  It takes a large amount of peanut butter to accompany a banana if I'm going to eat one straight out of the peel.

Yet, I do like banana flavor.  I eat half of one (frozen) with each smoothie I drink, So, I guess you could say our relationship is fussy, but not terrible.

This past weekend I made a banana cake for my mom's birthday party with a recipe that she has used before and had great success.  Her favorite cake is the Beaverton Bakery banana cake, and we all agree that this cake is as good, if not better than it.

The recipe is based off of one from Cooking Light, but the ingredients have been altered a bit in order to make a larger cake.  This one feeds 16-20 people.

Banana Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 large egg whites
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed banana
3/4 cup buttermilk


frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk


remaining ingredients:

4 tbsp finely chopped pecans, toasted
4 tbsp flaked sweetened coconut, toasted



Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make cake, coat two 9 inch round cake pans with cooking spray.  Line each pan bottom with parchment paper, and spray paper with cooking spray too.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.  Stir well with a whisk.  Put granulated sugar, oil, vanilla extract, egg whites, and egg into a mixing bowl with paddle attachment.  Beat well.  Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Pour batter into prepared pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35-37 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in pans for 10 minutes on wire racks then remove from pans.  Peel off parchment paper and let cool completely.

To make the frosting, Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix with a paddle attachment until well blended.

Once the cake layers have cooled, place the first layer on a cake plate and put 1/2 cup or so of frosting on top and smooth it over the first layer.  Then add the second layer and finish frosting the entire cake.

Once frosted sprinkle the toasted pecans and coconut on top.  Keep cake covered and refrigerated until serving.

Enjoy!

Oh, and of course, you can serve this with a spot of ice cream or whipping cream.  I take mine with whipping cream because I'm addicted to that stuff.  It's my kryptonite.

Bacon Mac and Cheese

Yo, yo, yo, I'm back and I'm sorry.  Life sorta grabbed me by the throat and shook me around for the past few weeks.

When I was a child, my mom was a real health nut.  We were the only family on the block to eat whole wheat bread, non-sugar cereals, homemade soups and sauces and very little processed food.  So, I spent my childhood craving everything I couldn't have.  Gimme some good old Wonder bread, processed cheese slices and a can of Pepsi and I would have thought I'd found nirvana.

One processed food item my mom did purchase, on occasion, was macaroni and cheese.  But, she bought the more fancy one that had the cheese in a prepared pouch that was already cheese-like, instead of the kind with the powdered cheese that you added water to.  I loved it.  It was something she might serve along side a hamburger patty and salad.

When I had kids, I bought the same type of macaroni and cheese and they scoffed.  They preferred the one with the powdered cheese, and, well, my high-flatulent palate could not handle such nastiness, so I pretty much stopped eating mac and cheese, until...I started making it from scratch.

This recipe is from the Pioneer Woman, but I do change some things in it, to make it more to our family's liking.

Bacon Mac and Cheese

4 cups macaroni noodles
1/4-1/2 of a red onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 4oz can chopped green chilies
1 cup frozen corn
1 heaping cup of grated pepper jack cheese (I have substituted sharp cheddar for this and it's still good)
1 spoonful of minced garlic
1 cup heavy cream
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
4-6 stripes of cooked bacon, crumbled


Boil pasta until al dente.

In a large skillet (use cast iron if you can!) saute the onions, pepper, garlic and corn in some olive oil on medium heat for a few minutes.  Add chilies and stir.  Take off heat.

Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet.  Pour in cream and cheese.  Give it a good stir to let it all melt and get gooey.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add crumbled bacon and mix.  

You can serve this as a side dish, or a main dish.  Sometimes, I make it a little early in the day, and I cover the cast iron skillet with aluminium foil and keep it warm in the oven until dinner.  It does well as a left over for the next few days if you refrigerate the remaining amount.

Ginger Snaps

I admit to being the biggest fan of ginger snaps in our home.  I make them fairly infrequently simply because I cannot control myself when they are around.  These ginger snaps are more of the chewy variety, rather than the crisp.  For some reason, I love to pair a couple of cookies with a good cup of tea on a gray, rainy day, to brighten myself up.  Perhaps you will too.

Ginger Snaps 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

2 t ground cinnamon

 1 T plus 2 t ground ginger

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (can use light brown)

1 large egg, at room temperature

1/4 cup unsulphured molasses

1 T grated lemon zest

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line several cookie sheets with parchment, or use a silpat mat.

Sift flour, baking soda, slat, cinnamon and ginger together in a small bowl and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy (2 minutes)

Add egg and beat on medium until blended (10 seconds)

Add the molasses and lemon zest and blend until incorporated.

Fold in half the dry ingredients with mixer on low speed.  Then fold in the remaining half until incorporated (20 seconds)

Measure out scoops of dough and roll them into balls with your hands.

Roll balls in granulated sugar and place them 2 inches apart on baking sheets.

Bake for 11-13 minutes, until edges are lightly golden.

Place them on a rack to cool.

Makes about 2.5-3 dozen cookies.

*recipe is out of the book- All-Butter Fresh Cream Sugar-Packed No-Holds Barred Baking Book by Judy Rosenberg.  One of my absolute favorite dessert books.

Chorizo and Egg Hash plus- Cast Iron Love!

Y'all, I've had the most circuitous relationship with cast iron, it's bananas.  We did not use cast iron cookware in my home growing up.  My only experience with it was when I was cooking over an open fire at girls camp.  Honestly, I pictured it as the old-timey stuff people hung on a stick between two posts as some sort of mutton stew brewed above an open flame.

Then I married Wes. And, not only gained a handy-dandy husband, but gained a stockpile of cast iron cookware that he had acquired as a single man(?).

He had:

1 6 inch skillet
2 8 inch skillets
1 small dutch oven with no legs
1 small dutch oven with legs
1 large dutch oven
1 huge wok

No joke.  I was like, what the heck?  What do I do with all of this?  It seemed complicated (can't throw it in the dishwasher?  Can't even clean them with dish soap????).  So, I dealt with it by nicely stacking them in our cupboards and ignoring them.  Sorry babe. :(

I was young.  I was in my last year of college.  I could barely cook.  It makes sense.

Now, fast forward 20+ years, and I'm like, whoa baby, thanks for contributing all of this amazing cast iron to our family!  He's like, yeah, sure.  It's been here all along.  Glad you finally warmed up to it.  And, warm up, I have.

I have added a bit to our collection:

1 10 inch skillet
1 12 inch skillet- family size!
1 reversible griddle/grill
1 large enamel coated dutch oven

Except for the griddle/grill, and the enamel coated dutch oven, all of our cast iron is the Lodge brand.  Its great.  I love it.  As long as I do the simple (and frankly, easy) steps of keeping it clean, well-seasoned and used, it works super well and is quickly becoming my go-to cookware.  I get the most use out of the 10 and 12 inch skillets, with the large dutch oven (not enamel coated) coming in a close third.

So, with my newish passion for all things cast iron, it is easy to see why I've been giving a lot of cast iron skillet recipes a try at home.

This Chorizo and Egg Hash recipe is so easy.  So quick (30 minutes, start to finish) and tastes great.  My two kids gave it huge thumbs up last night, and frankly I was a bit surprised by their reactions.  Both of them are fairly adventurous eaters (Spencer told me last night he had caviar at a friends house after school and loved it?! European friend- fancy eaters.  At my house its popcorn after school, c'mon), but chorizo was new for them, so my expectations were on the lower end.  But, they both dug in and told me they loved it.  Awesome.

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic (I used a spoonful of minced garlic from the fridge)
1/2 package of chorizo (120 g)
2 potatoes cooked and chopped into bite sized pieces (I used russets and left the skin on- fiber!)
1/2 cup of fresh flat-leaf parsley
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a cast iron skillet (I used a 12 inch, could probably get away using a 10 inch) add olive oil and saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes.  Add chorizo and cook for 2-3 more minutes.

Add pre-cooked chopped potatoes (and a bit more oil if you think its needed) and cook for 5 more minutes.  Let the potatoes fry, so don't stir often.

Crack eggs on top and transfer the pan to the preheated oven and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes until the egg white is set but the yolk is still runny.

Sprinkle with sea salt, black pepper and parsley.  Serve (we added a bit of ketchup too).

You guys, this is so good.  And, so easy.  Get yourself a cast iron skillet, season it up and get cooking.  You'll love it!!!

Oh, and thanks again Wes for bringing so much amazing cast iron to our marriage.  I'm endlessly grateful.