Thursday, November 30, 2006

meatloaf

i know ton posted a meatloaf recipe a while ago, but i just tried this one and it is really yummy. it's from allrecipes.com - "Remple Family Meatloaf." It easy, moist, and very flavorful- secret ingredients being steaksauce and cheese- yummy!
enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1/2 cup crushed buttery round crackers
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons steak sauce

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, stir together ground beef, crushed crackers, cheddar cheese and onion soup mix until well combined. In a separate bowl, stir together eggs, ketchup and steak sauce until smooth. Stir the egg mixture into the beef mixture, adding a little water if necessary. Shape into a loaf and place in a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
Bake in preheated oven 45 to 60 minutes, until no longer pink.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Jack O'Lantern Stew

We had this for dinner last night. It was SO good. My kids really liked it, too. I got it from foodnetwork.com.

1 (9 to 12-inch) pumpkin
1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
1 red pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
4 carrots, thinly sliced into rounds
3 celery sticks, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 pound lean ground beef
1 pound ground chicken or turkey
2 cups cooked rice (instant is okay)
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 large can tomato soup

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cut the top off the pumpkin and scoop out the insides. Rinse well. Carve a spooky face onto the pumpkin, without going all the way through the flesh. (I didn't do this step.) Rinse well, oil outside of pumpkin. Bake the pumpkin shell for 30 minutes.

While shell is baking: saute the onion, green and red peppers, carrots, celery, and garlic until the vegetables begin to soften, about 8 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside. Brown ground beef and chicken. Add the veggies and cooked rice and cook over low heat, stirring often, for 10 to 15 minutes to let the flavors meld.

Remove pumpkin from oven and let stand 15 minutes. Stir the tomatoes and soup into the meat mixture. Place meat mixture into pumpkin. Put back in oven for 20 minutes. Serve on a platter with cheesy biscuits.

Friday, November 10, 2006

BBQ Turkey Wraps

Tortilla
Turkey
BBQ Sauce
Avocado
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Cheese

Layer bbq sauce, turkey, cheese. Microwave. Add avocado, tomatoes and lettuce. Enjoy with soup and/or salad.

Potato Soup

1 lb potatoes, diced to make about 2 Cups (red potatoes are a great variation!)
1 1/4 tsp. salt
2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 cups cheddar cheese
2 1/4 tsp. worcestershire sauce

Combine potatoes, salt and water in a medium pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, until potatoes are done. Don't drain off liquid. In another medium pan, melt butter. Add flour. Cook over moderate heat, stirring a few minutes. Gradually add milk. Stir constantly, until thickened. Remove from heat. Add cheese. Stir until cheese melts. Add to potato mixture, then add worcestershire sauce. Heat to serving temparture only. Do not boil.

Too Long!

Sorry everyone for my lack of recipes. I've been horrible, but somehow Devin and I have been eating home cooked meals! Sometimes all I need are ideas for things to make so here is what we've had this past week...

Potato Soup, homemade bread (breadmaker) and salad (recipe above)
Salmon, wild rice and peas
Turkey wraps, tomato soup and salad (simple, quick recipe for wraps above)
Pizza (surprise?)
Chicken and brocolli casserole...my sister's recipe and very tasty (recipe above as well)

We are having some friends over tomorrow and will bbq some salmon (SO easy and SO good). We are having tortellini tonight with some homemade foccacia bread. I will post the recipe for foccacia bread, but you need a breadmaker. If you don't have one, put it on the Christmas list. Very good in the winter to have homemade bread with a crockpot soup. And while it has been in the 90 degrees here, it cools down at night so soups are still good! And the early dark hour makes it reasonable too.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Spinach Soup

we had this at a friends house last night and it was delicious!!! so i thought i would share...we didn't have the garnish almond stuff but we did have the potatoes in it! so so yummy!
we also had some ham and cheese grilled cheese sandwiches with it.

Makes 8 cups
Total time- 25 minutes

For the soup base--
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
½ cup yellow onion, grated
½ cup carrot, grated
1 tsp. kosher salt, or to taste
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

For the white sauce--
6 Tbsp butter, melted
6 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup milk(whole or 2%)

8 cups spinach, stemmed, thinly sliced into ribbons
2 cups heavy cream
1 Tbsp lemon zest, minced

For the garnish:
2 tsp butter, melted
½ cup sliced almonds

Simmer broth, onion, carrot, and seasonings in stockpot for 15 minutes.
For the white sauce, melt butter in saucepan over low heat; whisk in flour until smooth. Whisk milk into butter mixture, stirring to prevent lumps. Cook 2 minutes to eliminate floury taste. Stir into simmering soup base.
Add the spinach to the soup and cook just to wilt, 1 minute. Off heat, add cream and zest.
For the garnish, melt butter in a small sauté pan over low heat. Add almonds and toast until they begin to brown, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp almonds over 1 cup serving of soup.

SHRIMP AND SPINACH CHOWDER
Prepare soup as above with these additions:
Add to soup base:
3 cups red potatoes cut in chunks( about 1 lb.)
Stir in with Spinach:
½ lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined