Tasty Tuesday: Best Ever Meatloaf

I don't know about you, but I love a good meatloaf. This is one of those recipes that I'm not quite sure where I got it, but I've had it forever. It's simple, but it's a crowd pleaser!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 3 slices of white bread
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef

Topping:

• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp mustard

Directions:

Beat eggs and milk. Tear bread into pieces and let sit in the egg/milk mixture until its soggy. Stir in chopped onion and shredded cheese. Add ground beef and mix until integrated.

Get in there with your hands. It's gross, but just part of the meatloaf experience. Shape it into a loaf.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, combine topping and spoon over meatloaf. Cook for an additional 15-20 minutes, spooning topping over the meatloaf about halfway through.

Notes:

It reheats well too, so if meatloaf sandwiches are your thing, this is your recipe! Sometimes we substitute the ground beef for ground turkey and it stays super moist and delicious, with less fat and calories. Enjoy!

Summer Sangria

Nothing says summer like a cold, fruit filled glass of sangria. Mmmmmm There are a thousand recipes out there that add everything from kiwi (blech) to apples, white wine to red, but this one is by far my favorite. Simple, sweet, and so, so good.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate
• 1/3 cup orange juice, no pulp
• 1 (750 mL) bottle of red table wine
• 1/2 cup triple sec
• 1 lemon, sliced into rounds
• 1 orange, sliced into rounds
• 1 lime, sliced into rounds
• 2 cups ginger ale

Directions

• Mix together lemon juice, lemonade concentrate, orange juice, red wine, and triple sec. 
• Float slices of lemon, orange, and lime in the mixture. 
• Refrigerate overnight for best flavor. 
• Add ginger ale shortly before serving. 

Some for the recipe, some for Momma...

I bought this big glass pitcher just for this sangria recipe and I'm not afraid to admit it! It's just too pretty to be poured out of a plastic tub; it's not Kool Aid, people!

As a fun side note, this can also be frozen and made into a slushy! Just let it sit in the fridge over night as directed, then remove the fruit pieces and strain to get all the little pieces out. Then, put into a zip lock bag in the freezer for about 2 hours. The alcohol in it should keep it from freezing solid. Mash it up in the bag and spoon into pretty glasses or bowls. 

I'm making this, along with grilled peaches and ice cream, for a My 31 party I'm hosting tonight. A kid free night with sweets and wine? Sounds fabulous to me. Cheers!

Holy Zucchini

Is your garden spitting out zucchini the size of baseball bats? Oh, just ours? Either way, we've got a LOT of zucchini coming our way and there's only so much we can give away; might as well pull up some recipes!

My favorite zucchini recipe brings me right back to childhood. I remember my Mom making huge batches of zucchini bread to give to friends and neighbors for the holidays; the smell of the spices is the smell of Christmas.

While we do make some bread during the holidays as a tradition, we end up making a ton of it during the summer thanks to our garden. 

Mom's Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup unpeeled zucchini, shredded
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/4 tsp. lemon zest

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease a loaf pan, set aside. 
• Sift flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and nutmeg. 
• In another bowl, mix egg, zucchini, oil, and lemon zest. 
• Add wet to dry and mix well.
• Pour into greased pan and bake for 55-60 minutes. 
• Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes, remove from pan, and cool completely before wrapping. 

I really enjoy this recipe because of how flexible it is. You can sub oil for applesauce for a healthier version. You can also add other veggies (shredded carrots) or take out the zucchini and add apples, bananas, blueberries, etc. If you want to make muffins instead of a bread loaf, keep an eye on the oven and cook them for about 30-40 minutes instead. 

Double Cookie Brownies

These brownies are magical. No, not like that kind of magic brownie. Like, amazing OMG I'll have 5 more kind of magical. I've seen these on Pinterest here and there and finally tried them at a work function a few years ago. These might be my favorite guilty pleasure treat! They also go by the name "slutty brownies," but I'm not a fan of that word. Double Cookie Brownies, it is.

This really isn't a recipe as much as quick directions, which is nice when you need a dessert that looks more complicated than it actually is. Here's the break down...

Buy cookie dough, Oreo cookies, and brownie mix. Any flavor, style, type that you want. Chunky cookie dough, Double Stuft Oreos, and dark chocolate brownie mix? Cool. PB cookie dough, vanilla Oreos, and fudge brownie mix? Sure, why not. I was boring classic and went with chocolate chunk cookie dough, regular Oreos, and super fudgy brownie mix.

I used an 9 x 13 Pyrex dish for my brownies. Line your pan with aluminum foil and then spray it with non stick spray. Trust me, you'll appreciate this later.

Press your cookie dough into the bottom of the pan evenly. Then, top with Oreo cookies edge to edge across the whole pan. Then, prepare your brownie batter per the directions and pour all over the top.

I KNOW, RIGHT?! This should be illegal.

Bake at 350* for about 40 minutes. Test the middle for doneness if you're not sure. Let it cool for about 5-10 minutes (but not too long! Warm brownies are the best!) then pull the brownies out of the tray by the foil and lay on a cutting board.

Cut up and enjoy! Don't worry, I won't judge the size of your piece. ;-)

Zucchini Carrot Mini Muffins

Yesterday, I posted about trying to find more toddler-ish finger foods for Ginny. I got the idea to make up some mini veggie muffins using my Mom's zucchini bread recipe. This recipe has been around for as long as I can remember. We used to make loaves of bread as gifts for neighbors and friends around the holidays.

The original recipe was delicious, but not super healthy; it called for a lot of sugar and oil. Again, definitely delicious, but for this purpose I wanted to make it a little more kid friendly. Here's what I came up with and so far the kids love them! Charlie calls them "cupscakes." Veggie muffins instead of cupcakes? Sure kid!

Zucchini Carrot Mini Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup unpeeled zucchini, shredded
• 1/2 cup peeled carrots, shredded
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 tsp. lemon zest

Directions

Prep a mini muffin pan. I used Pam baking spray, but you can use oil/Crisco and flour. Just get it good and stick resistant. Preheat oven to 350*.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and nutmeg. In another bowl, mix egg, zucchini, carrot, applesauce, and lemon peel. Add to dry mixture.

Put one heaping teaspoon full of batter in each mini muffin cup. Now, you're not supposed to eat batter and all that jazz, so I don't condone the consumption of raw egg and yadda yadda. If you DO happen to be a daring batter eater, I must warn you - this batter is freaking delicious.

Bake for 11-13 minutes. Try not to over bake or they become dry. One batch of batter makes about 2 dozen mini muffins.

The fun part about this recipe is that you can swap out the zucchini and carrot for apple or banana or you can swap out the applesauce for pumpkin puree. You can add cranberries, chocolate chips, or granola. Use your imagination!

I plan on sending these little muffins to daycare as a snack or part of lunch. Stick them in the freezer and pull them out the night before you need them!

New Recipe: Falafel & Cucumber Dill Sauce

I recently realized that we eat a lot of meat. Like, a lot. And we're boring about it too. Baked chicken, a starch, and a veggie. Steak, a starch, and a veggie. I don't mind the eating meat part, but we really need to expand our recipe box a little bit. I started looking up vegetarian dishes and thought I don't like a lot of the staple meat substitutes (eggplant, mushrooms, tofu, etc.) I do like beans, chickpeas, and other legumes. One recipe that I've been interested in trying is falafel.

There is a farmer's market near here and one of the stands sells the most delicious falafel ever! Sometimes we just go for that and nothing else. Why not give it a try at home? I always thought it would be difficult to make, but in reality it took no longer than one of our boring dinners. Here's the recipe. After trying the result (which was delicious, none the less), I tweaked the spice measurements a bit.

Cucumber Dill Sauce

• 1 6 ounce container of plain yogurt
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tsp dried dill weed
• 1 tbsp mayo
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Falafel

• 1 15ounce can of chickpeas, drained
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
•  2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 dash pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• Oil for frying

In a large bowl, mash chickpeas until they are thick and pasty. DO NOT use a blender - it will make them too thin and watery. I used an old school potato masher and it worked great. Now you can break out the blender. In the blender, process onion, parsley, and garlic until smooth. Stir into the mashed chickpeas. 

In a small bowl, combine egg, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon juice, and baking powder. Stir into chickpea mixture. Add olive oil to mixture. Slowly add bread crumbs until the mixture is not sticky, but will hold together. Add more or less bread crumbs as needed. I only ended up needing about 3/4 of a cup. 

Form 8 balls and flatten them into thick patties. 

Heat approximately 1 inch of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry patties in hot oil until they brown on both sides. These suckers cook fast - ask me how I know this. Definitely keep an eye on them. My first batch got a tad crispy, but they were still good. 

Serve two falafels in each pita half topped with chopped tomatoes and cucumber sauce. We made our falafel on flat bread because that's what we had and made couscous as a side. Delicious, different, meat free dinner!

As a bonus, you can totally tell your kids they are chicken nuggets and they'll believe you and ask for more. You're welcome. ;-)

New Year's Eve Recipes

We don't have a lot of traditions around here, but one we keep up with is fondue on New Year's Eve! We got a fondue set for our wedding and didn't even take it out of the box for 2 years. Then, we realized how freaking delicious fondue was and set out to make it at least every NYE. This year, I wanted to up the ante a little and make some home made pretzel bites to go with it instead of store bought. Plus, it was a change to try out the dough hook on my new mixer!!

Here are our tried and true cheese fondue and pretzel bite recipes! Happy New Year!


Soft Pretzel Bites

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1 package active dry yeast
6 tbsp butter, melted
2 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 quarts of water
3/4 cup (yes, cup) baking soda
1 egg
1 tbsp cold water
Kosher salt

Directions:

Combine water, sugar, yeast, and butter. Mix with a dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add salt and flour to bowl and mix on low speed until combined. Increase speed to medium and continue kneading until dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl (about 3-4 minutes). If the dough seems too moist, add flour 1 tbsp at a time.

Remove dough from bowl and knead into a ball. Using vegetable oil, grease the inside of a bowl. Place dough ball in the bowl and grease with oil. Cover with a clean towel and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, or about one hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Bring the water to a boil and add baking soda.

Remove dough from bowl and place on the counter. Divide into 8 equal pieces. I found a pizza cutter good for doing the job. Roll each piece into a long rope about 24" long and using the pizza cutter, slice into one inch pieces. They kind of look like pizza poppers!

Boil pretzel bites in baking soda water solution in small batches of about a dozen at a time. Gather up the pieces in your hand so you can quickly drop them into the water one by one. Boil for approximately 20-25 seconds and then remove with a slotted spoon.

Place pretzel bites on a greased baking sheet. They will be wet and slimy, but that's okay. Make sure they're not touching.

Brush the tops with egg wash and season with Kosher salt. Bake for 15-18 minutes until they are puffed up and golden brown.

This recipe makes a bazillion little pretzel bites - like, 4-5 dozen easy. Good thing too...they're addictive! Oh, and if the baking soda and water makes a mess of your stove, don't worry - I totally did the same thing...

Adapted from Bobby Flay



Cheese Fondue

Ingredients:

1/2 pound Jarlsburg cheese, shredded
1/2 pound Gruyere cheese, shredded
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 cup white wine
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground mustard
Pinch nutmeg

Directions:

In a small bowl, coat cheese with cornstarch and set aside.

Rub the inside of the ceramic fondue pot with the garlic, then discard.

Over medium heat, add wine and lemon juice and bring to a gentle simmer. Gradually stir cheese into the simmering liquid. Melting the cheese slowly makes for a smoother fondue. Melted too fast, it can get gritty.

Once smooth, stir in ground mustard and nutmeg.

Transfer to a hot fondue pot and enjoy with a variety of dippers! We often dip steak, bread, shrimp, granny smith apples, cauliflower, broccoli, or pretzels. This recipe makes enough for about 4 people to snack on. Adjust accordingly.

Adapted from Tyler Florence

Soup Weather

I love the winter. That's right people, I love it. The snow, wind, freezing temperatures - I love it! I know its technically still fall until later this month, but you know what I mean. Between Christmas, snow, sledding, and hot cocoa - what's not to like? One of my favorite parts is soup. Sure, you can make soup year round, but there is something special about coming home to a warm house and a crock pot full of delicious home cookin'. With snow falling as I was meal planning this morning, it put me in the soupy mood.

Here are my favorite soup recipes for the cold weather! Some links are mine and others are from other blogs and recipe sites.

Cheesy Chicken Corn Chowder

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Slippery Pot Pie

White Chicken Chili

Cheesy Veggie Chowder

Spicy Black Bean Soup

Lentil Soup

Roasted Red Pepper Potato Soup

Classic French Onion Soup

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

Slow Cooker Taco Soup

Beef Barley Soup

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

Home Style Chicken Noodle

Slow Cooker Minestrone


Do you have a favorite soup/chowder recipe? Link it in the comments!

Surviving Growth Spurts

With the dreaded 3 week, 6 week, 12 week, etc. growth spurts on the horizon I know I'm in for a lot of time on the couch feeding G.

If you're unaware, growth spurts absolutely suck. You go from being a confident breastfeeding master to a sobbing mess. All of a sudden, your little one isn't satisfied and spends most of the evening crying through feedings and rooting all over the place. It can be mental torture and seriously hard on the boob esteem.

There are a few things you can do to try and prepare for this fun milestone/right of passage. First is to get plenty of rest (funny, right?), second is to keep nursing on demand as much as possible, and last, try to boost your supply through diet. A quick Google search of "lactogenic" foods will turn up a ton of sites with lists of how to boost your supply. None of them are scientifically proven, but a lot of Moms swear by them. All are healthy anyway, so why not give them a shot. Foods such as oatmeal, legumes, fruits and veggies with a lot of folic acid and fiber, grains such as barley, and of course plenty of water. Lots and lots of water.

A delicious and fun way to get in some good stuff is through lactation cookies. You heard me right - lactation cookies. Think oatmeal cookies on crack. I got this recipe from The Leaky B@@b and made them this week. They. were. delicious! I had to practically hide them from J, threatening that if he ate too many and lactated he would need to help with late night feedings. ;-)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
• 4 tablespoons of water
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons brewer's yeast
• 3 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

• If not in milled form, soak the flaxseed in the water for a few minutes to soften.
• Mix dry ingredients.
• Cream together butter and sugar, add eggs, flaxseed, and vanilla.
• Add to dry ingredients.
• Drop on cookie sheet
• Bake 8 - 12 minutes on 375º (I cooked them for 10 and they were perfect)

This recipe easily made 4 dozen cookies! The hardest thing to find ingredient wise was the Brewer's Yeast. I ended up finding it at WalMart in the vitamin section for about $3 a bottle. It came in pill form, but it was easy to crush up with a rolling pin.

So, I've got my oatmeal for breakfast, cookies for a snack, lentil soup for lunch (recipe to come!), and plenty of water. While I wish I could solve the world's breastfeeding issues with cookies, another piece of surviving growth spurts is patience and perspective. Enjoy the time with your baby, keep on nursing, have confidence in your ability to feed your baby, and remember....this too shall pass.

Bring it on, growth spurts.

52 Recipe Challenge: Slippery Pot Pie

While I've fallen behind on posting about it, no worries, we're still keeping up with the 52 Week Recipe Challenge! This week (#9), we're trying out a recipe for Slippery Pot Pie.

What is Slippery Pot Pie, you ask? A delicious Pennsylvania Dutch take on the classic pot pie, but without the flaky crust on top. Instead, there are thick squares of soft egg noodles floating around the hearty stew of chicken (or turkey, beef, ham) and veggies. SO delicious!

My kitchen helper

There wasn't actually one central recipe for this one. I read over lots of recipes and made up my own for fun. Its a cold, snowy week here and this was the perfect remedy.

This recipe has the potential to take two to three days (roasting the chicken, making the stock, then making the soup), but you can always use precooked chicken and/or boxed stock. You can also purchase the pot pie noodles in a bag to make this recipe even faster, but I'll warn you - its just not the same!


Slippery Pot Pie

Chicken & Stock Directions

• Cooking the Chicken: Cook roaster chicken in a crock pot on low for 8 hours. We add veggies underneath for flavor, but no water or other liquid. You want all the good chicken juices to come out. 
• Making the Stock: Pick the chicken, chop meat into small pieces, and put in the fridge for later. Put all of the bones, skin, and fat back into the crock pot full of chicken juices and add six cups of water. Cook on low for 8 hours or overnight. In the morning strain the stock and put in the fridge. After it cools, you can scoop off the fat solids if you want a lower fat stock.

Pasta Dough Ingredients

1 1/2 cup flour
1 egg
3 tbs cold water (more or less to form the dough)
1/2 tsp salt

Directions

Mix flour, salt, and egg. Add water. Knead to form ball, then cover and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Roll out thinly and cut into 1 - 2 inch squares.


Filling Ingredients

Cooked, chopped chicken from one roaster (about 1 pound)
8 cups chicken stock
1 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup onions, raw chopped
3/4 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup potato, peeled and diced
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
Pot pie noodles
1tsp salt
1tsp black pepper

Directions

• Simmer stock, chicken, vegetables, and salt/pepper for about an hour and a half.
• Bring to soft rolling boil, stir in cream of chicken soup. 
• Add pot pie noodles one or two at a time so they don't stick together. Stir frequently. Cook for an additional 10-12 minutes.

Yields approximately 6 hearty 2 cup servings.

Yes, this soup can be time consuming, but its incredibly worth it. Freeze extras or double/triple the recipe to feed a small army. With bone-in chicken being inexpensive and the stock being essentially free bonus, you can make this cozy eats-like-a-meal soup for approximately $8 a pot ($1.33 per 2 cup serving). Enjoy!

52 Recipe Challenge: Week #2

This week's recipe is absolutely perfect for the icky, wet weather we've been having. It's warm, hearty, and everything that is right with the world: Loaded Baked Potato Soup from Tide and Thyme. Another winner from Pinterest, this soup starts by making bacon, then using the drippings as your soup base. Yes, that kind of amazing exists.

Bacon onion garlic fabulousness

The recipe calls for the use of a crock pot, but when we made it, we didn't plan ahead for that so we adapted it a little. We boiled the potatoes as we chopped the onions and garlic and then let it all simmer for a bit before the potato mashing step. It came out perfectly! I appreciate having the flexibility of it being a quick meal or a crock pot meal.

The recipe made dinner for the three of us, then four 1 1/2 cup portions for lunches throughout the week. With a little milk mixed in to loosen it up, it reheated just fine. This will definitely be sticking around our recipe book!

My little bacon thief.

Want to join the recipe challenge? Link up below and share a new recipe you tried this week!

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52 Recipe Challenge: Week #1

This first week of the challenge, we turned to Pinterest (as we often will) for a quick new recipe for dinner. You can easily see based on my pins what my favorite foods are - macaroni and cheese and pizza. So, when J suggested pizza muffins I was all about it!

reallyfrompinterest.blogspot.com

The recipe, from the awesomely named blog, "All My Great Ideas Are Really From Pinterest," was super simple and delicious. Even C could help make them without much of a mess or hassle. He has taken a lot of interest in helping us in the kitchen, so any recipe he can help with is great in our book.

We didn't have mini pepperoni, but regular size ones worked just fine. With some tater tots and salad, C quickly downed his whole meal.

There were a few left over and they reheated well. We'll definitely make these fun little pizza treats again!

Want to join the recipe challenge? Link up below and share a new recipe you tried this week!



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