Menu-Plan Monday

...and we're back! I hope your holidays were tasty!

Here's what's coming up at our house this week:

Monday
Shepherd's Pie

Tuesday
McDonald's (after 4-wheeling)
OR
Grilled Chicken Salad with spinach, toasted almonds, feta, and homemade raspberry vinaigrette

Wednesday
Loosemeat Sandwiches
Jo Jo Potatoes
Corn Dish

Thursday
Roast Chicken
Homemade Noodles
Salad

Friday
Chicken Tetrazzini w/Spinach

Saturday
Extended Family Christmas: Subs and munchies

Sunday
Pot Roast w/gravy
Glazed Carrots
Rissole Potatoes

I have lots of planned recipe posts this week, so stay tuned!

Meatloaf

Everyone has a meatloaf recipe, right? I've had a bunch. I've tried meatloaf recipes from umpteen cookbooks, and it never ends up being what I want it to be: juicy and flavorful without crunchy bits in it, with a sauce on top that complements without overwhelming. After lots of experimentation (remember, I have 50 pounds of ground beef in my freezer), much of it prompted by make-do situations, I think I've hit on it: my ideal meatloaf.

I realized it after one bite, proclaiming to Abe that this was the best meatloaf I'd ever made. He agreed. The good news: it is even better the next day on a sandwich, which is (let's be honest) the real reason meatloaf exists.

So, hey: give this a try! It's easy. And juicy and flavorful and delicious.

Meatloaf

2 lb. ground beef
1 med. onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped (how finely you chop the onion and celery depends on your personal preference.)
2 Tbsp. parsley
Salt to taste
4 Tbsp. butter
4 slices white sandwich bread, crumbled (don't stress about this too much--just tear into pieces.)
2/3 c. milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp. pepper

For the Glaze:
1/2 c. ketchup
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. mustard
1 Tbsp. brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Saute the celery, parsley, and onion in the butter until the celery and onion are tender. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, add the bread pieces, salt, pepper, and milk. Make sure the bread is all covered with the milk and allow to soften for just a minute or so, until the bread is all soupy and soggy. This is a very important step. Then, add the ground beef and eggs to the bread mixture, toss in the cooled onion, celery, parsley, and butter, and combine well. I do this with my hands, since I've never found a spoon to be effective in mixing the ground beef.

In a small bowl, combine ingredients for the glaze and set aside.

Line a cookie sheet with sides with foil. It is important that you use a pan with sides, since the meatloaf will give off a bit of fat and you don't want it to spill all over the bottom of your oven. Now: You can either shape this into one large loaf, two smaller loaves, or tiny individual loaves. I usually do two loaves, for two reasons: 1) it speeds up the cooking process somewhat, and 2)then I can have slices the next day for my sandwich. But obviously, you can do whatever you want; just adjust the cooking time accordingly. At any rate, slather the top with the glaze before you pop it into the oven.

True confession time: I use a digital cooking thermometer set at 160 degrees, stick the probe in the middle of one of the meatloaves and just wait for the alarm to go off, so I don't set a timer for the meatloaf and don't therefore know exactly how long it will take. Also, your cooking time will vary according to how wide/deep your loaf is. But if I had to guess at cooking times, I'd guess thusly:
One large loaf: approx. 1-1.5 hours
Two medium loaves: 45 min to 1 hour
4-6 mini loaves: 30-40 min.
No pink should remain, and any exposed beef should be a nice, deep brown. Remove from the oven, let it sit for a few minutes (makes it easier to cut), then dive in and enjoy!

Christmas Morning Sticky Rolls

I got the idea for this one from my dear mother-in-law. She makes these delicious rolls every time we get together for Christmas (which, except for this year, is not usually Christmas Day). In fact, she usually makes at least two pans of them, because they go FAST. They are ridiculously easy to prepare, and perfect for Christmas morning, since you do all of the work (if you can call it that) right before you go to bed the night before.

The recipe calls for a bundt pan or a tube pan. Easy enough. The first year that I pulled my wonderful husband away from his family on Christmas morning so that he could celebrate with mine, I thought I'd bring a bit of home to him and make these rolls. The only glitch was that the pan that I found to use wasn't a bundt or tube pan, it was an angel food pan. With a removable bottom.

I didn't honestly think anything of it . . . until I smelled the acrid odor of burnt sugar and saw smoke billowing from the oven. Putting two and two together ("Get there FASTER!") I realized that using the angel food pan with removable bottom was misguided. The caramel syrup that had leaked out of the bottom of the pan and charred on the bottom of the oven was proof enough of that. My mom and I tried to salvage the rolls, but to no avail. So let this be a lesson to you: bundt or tube. Not angel food.

And now for the recipe, which is pretty darn similar to my mother-in-law's, with only a few modifications.

Land sakes, you're going to love this one.

Christmas Morning Sticky Rolls

1 pkg. frozen yeast rolls--use 12-14 (or 16; whatever) rolls
1 stick butter or margarine, melted
1 3 oz. pkg or half of a 6 oz. pkg. cook-n-serve butterscotch pudding (instant pudding will not work)
1/2 c. brown sugar, tightly packed
3/4 c chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Spray a tube pan or bundt pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle nuts in the bottom of the pan, if using.

Evenly distribute rolls in the pan, then sprinkle pudding mix evenly over them, followed by the brown sugar. Evenly.

Pour melted butter or margarine evenly over all. "Evenly" is a good word to make it seem like you're actually doing something which requires skill. Some versions of the recipe instruct you to mix the melted butter and brown sugar together, then pour it over. It’s up to you—I’ve done it both ways.

Cover pan with a cloth or plastic wrap and let the rolls rise (on the counter--you don't even have to put them in the refrigerator!) 6-8 hours or overnight. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Loosen rolls from the side of the pan with a knife and immediately invert onto a serving plate. Leave pan over the rolls for a couple of minutes to allow all of the caramel mixture (and nuts) to pour out. Remove pan and serve warm.

Serves shockingly few, because everyone will want to eat the whole pan. Move fast so you get some!

Posting Will Resume...I Promise!

Hello, all!

I have seen a few new visitors in the comment section, which is exciting! Hopefully, I'll be able to maintain those visitors with tasty recipes and intriguing menu plans...

but not today.

In fact, I have something to confess: even though I have (intermittently) posted menu plans, I have not followed them, even a little. I hope you don't think less of me, but I have a good reason: I have been sick. Progesterone poisoning. Because I am carrying a baby.

Yep, a baby!

I've been posting plans to keep up the ruse--we're usually cautious not to share our news too much within the first trimester (both of our mothers had multiple miscarriages, so I've always been a bit fearful), so all of the pretending that I was cooking a lot was intended to throw you off the scent. Ellen's comment on one of the menu posts ("No chicken?") was a wink-wink sort of comment, since she knew the good news, and also knew that because of my "morning" sickness (a misnomer if ever there was one) I have been completely unable to cook any chicken, or pork, or any meat except beef, if I was able to cook at all. I am now wrapping up my first trimester and all of the sickness and fatigue that entails, and things should begin looking up in the kitchen! In fact, I was able to bake some chicken last week, which is a big step in the right direction.

So, faithful reader, thanks for checking back in, and I have a really easy Christmas Morning recipe to share with you tomorrow, so stay tuned! It will become one of your new favorites, I promise!

Baked Potato Soup

(Sorry for all of the funky spacing you're about to see. Silly Blogger is having its way with my post.)

BooMama has created a Soupatcular bloggy carnival today so people can showcase their favorite soup recipes. I've given you this recipe already, but it's a good one! So if you haven't tried it yet, get to it! And while you're at it, check out lots of other tasty soup recipes at BooMama's blog.


This soupy story begins post-college. I had procured a job teaching with an educational company called Readak that sends its teachers for a month or two to private schools all over the world to teach kids better study skills. My first assignment was in Orlando, Florida, where a lovely single lady who taught at my first school offered to house me during my stay there. At her house, I ate well--home cooked meals, as you might expect. I had no complaints, except for the fact that, as a good southern girl, she had been taught that vegetables must be cooked until they are grey and mushy. She told me it was the southern way. Hopefully that isn't true. One day, I cooked--and when I told her the fresh green beans shouldn't take any more than about seven minutes or so, she looked at me like I had flipped. Of course, she drank her Sweet Tea so sweet, it was practically syrup, so to say we came from different culinary backgrounds would be an understatement. Moving on...





My second assignment took me to a boarding school just a bit north, in Altamonte Springs. There, I was housed by the school in one of the spartan "hotel" rooms on their campus usually reserved for visiting parents. When I say the room was spartan, I mean it--no phone, no TV, no refrigerator, no cooking device of any kind--so I did all of my eating (ALL OF IT) out. I tried the cafeteria at the school, hoping for a lower-cost meal option, but the school was a Seventh-Day Adventist school, and they served only vegetarian fare. Apparently, the highlight of their menu was their faux sea scallops. Considering I don't even like the real thing, I opted out of that particular delicacy, and all of the other pseudo-meat meals they offered. I had family in Florida at that time, though, and they recommended to me a then-new restaurant called Bennigan's. Yep, that Bennigan's. They told me that I must go there, and that furthermore, I must partake of their Baked Potato Soup. Having no reason not to take their recommendation, I went, and suffice it to say that I loved that soup. Thick, creamy, and served steaming, topped with generous portions of crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese, and sliced green onions, it was a comfort food I eventually came to crave--even when it was November in Florida and still hotter than Dante's Inferno. I think it goes without saying that I made many trips back to Bennigan's for this comforting soup--though, it's so thick and so rich, the name "soup" barely applies.





Fast forward a few years, when I've moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they drink tea that isn't syrup and green beans that aren't mush. That Bennigan's soup was still a favorite, but since I was now paying rent and utilities and working full-time for a non-profit ministry, I had considerably less disposable income to apply toward meals out. I determined to re-create Bennigan's soup at home, so I set about scouring the internet for a recipe that sounded similar. I found two. The first used mashed potatoes and chicken broth as a base; it looked healthy and relatively easy, and, as a connoisseur of mashed potatoes, I was comfortable with the cooking processes involved. When my parents came to visit shortly thereafter, I decided to try out this fantastic recipe for dinner, wanting to show them just how delicious and life-changing this soup could be. We were all very disappointed. The recipe said it was a copycat recipe, and "just like" the original, even promising that we "wouldn't know the difference!" But we did. I tossed that recipe bitterly, cursing its failed promises of deliciousity.





I still had the other recipe I'd found, but two things held me back from trying it: 1)I was so disappointed at being burned by the first recipe, I just wasn't ready to trust again, and 2) it required that I make a roux, which sounded way too difficult.





Fast forward again, to the beginning of my marriage. I was unemployed at the time, and so had all sorts of time to experiment in the kitchen. Feeling adventuresome, I made another dish that called for a roux, and found it to be very easy--all you do is melt an amount of butter, add an equal amount of flour, whisk until no lumps remain, and cook over low heat for just a minute. What had I been afraid of all those years? It turned out my fears were completely unfounded. Roux were simple. And then an alarm sounded in my head--a ROUX! I knew how to make a ROUX! Maybe, just maybe, it was time to dust off that second Baked Potato Soup recipe and give it a go. So I did. Lawsie. It was good. It was very, very good. It quickly became The Recipe That Everyone Wanted a Copy Of, and I was happy to acquiesce. Over the years, I have tweaked the original recipe, so now, it's even better. It has become a family favorite, and that's the truth. So without further ado, here's a recipe that will change your life.





Baked Potato Soup





6 lg. russet (baking) potatoes


3/4 c. butter


3/4 c. flour


6 c. milk


3/4 tsp. salt


1/2 tsp pepper


1 tsp. chicken base (like Better Than Bouillon, available in your soup aisle)


8 oz. sour cream





Garnish with:


Shredded Cheddar cheese


Crumbled bacon


Sliced green onions





Bake potatoes at 400 degrees for 1 hour. When they are cool enough to handle, scoop out the potato and discard the skins. Slightly mash up the potatoes, and set aside.





In a large pot, make a roux with the butter and flour. Gradually add milk, whisking well to avoid lumps, and cook over medium heat just until thickened and bubbly.





Stir in potato, salt, pepper, and chicken base. Cook just until potato is heated through--do not boil.





Add sour cream, and again, just heat through. It won't take long.





Sprinkle individual servings with the cheese, bacon, and green onion. Add a lovely salad, and you've got yourself a humdinger of a meal!





Serves 6.

Menu-Plan Monday

April, rest assured we did not really believe that you ate McDonald's all the time. Of course, we didn't know you were such a caffeine addict, either, so I guess there's a lot we have to learn about you. :)

On to this week's menu plan!

Monday
Meat Loaf
Scalloped Potatoes
Steamed Broccoli

Tuesday
Pork Roast
Herby Noodles
Green Beans Amandine

Wednesday
Cuban Sandwich Panini
Yellow Rice
Black Beans

Thursday
Taco Salad (using leftover yellow rice and black beans)

Friday
Out to dinner and a concert!

Saturday
Fend for Thyself

Sunday
Roast Beef
Roast Potatoes
Roast Carrots

Menu-Plan Monday: The Return

Honestly, I'm touched. I didn't think anyone would notice if I missed a few Menu-Plan Mondays. We've been out of town, you see, visiting with my family. I wasn't planning a menu while we were away because it wasn't my show. But now we're home, the family is hungry, and I've got some planning to do.

So thank you, April, for making me feel needed. :) And come Sunday night (or Monday morning--who are we kidding), I will once again post a menu plan, and you will be freed from the greasy snare of McDonalds!

Perhaps in the meantime, I will post a recipe. You'll just have to wait and see!

Alton Brown's Turkey

A few years ago, we had (temporarily, it turns out) trimmed down the number of people at Abe's family's Thanksgiving meal. Where we usually have a crowd numbering about 30 or so, on this particular year, there would be only about 8. My mother-in-law usually makes the turkey, but her oven had been unreliable for a few years and was finally kaput and awaiting replacement, so because our number was so small, the task automatically fell to me.

I've cooked a good many things in my life, but up until that point, a Thanksgiving Turkey wasn't one of them. Needless to say, I was glad to know that if I wrecked it or dried it out past the point of palatable, very few people would be affected. Even so, I know the reception that dry turkey receives (not good, not good at all), and I figured that if we were going to spend that much time and money preparing a big bird for this feast, it may as well be really good. So I studied up. Boy, howdy, did I study.

I watched hours of Thanksgiving-related shows on the Food Network, scoured cooking magazines and websites for helpful hints, and I can honestly tell you that one TV special--Alton Brown's "Romancing the Bird"--and its turkey recipe changed my life. I followed all of his instructions to the letter, except for the brining, even investing in a digital cooking thermometer with an alarm on it.

The results were astonishing.

It felt as if it had been years since I'd had a piece of turkey I had enjoyed, and now, here was a 30-pounder (I know) that I could enjoy every morsel of! It was tender, it was flavorful, it was juicy . . . it was good eats. Good work, Alton.

After all was said and eaten, here's what I think helps make Alton's turkey great: 1) the aromatics, which not only keep the cavity from drying out, but also impart a wonderful flavor to the meat, and, most importantly, 2) the thermometer. With this thermometer (mine cost $10), you insert the probe into whatever meat you're cooking (turkey, in this case), set the alarm to go off when the meat has reached a desired temperature, and walk away. Never, ever, ever trust a pop-up timer that comes with a turkey--they will almost always cause you to dry out your turkey. With this digital thermometer, there's no chance that your turkey will get overly done. It will be perfect--moist and juicy every time.

There's also the fact of the resting. Give your turkey a good half hour to rest out of the oven before you carve into him--that way he'll retain all of his juices and stay moist. Don't worry that he will get cold; there's plenty of mass there to keep him piping hot.

This year, I plan to give brining a try. I hear it makes a remarkable difference in the flavor and juiciness of the bird. And I figure, if Alton's recipe is as good as it is without the brine, it will be even better with it.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! And if you're cooking the turkey this year, definitely invest in a digital thermometer with alarm--you will wonder how you ever made a turkey without one!

Pineapple-Almond Rice Pilaf

This recipe was born of necessity one night when I was making Hawaiian Ham Steak. What goes with Hawaiian Ham Steak? I thought. Not noodles. Not mashed potatoes. Maybe au gratin potatoes, but we eat so many potatoes as is; we need a rice dish.

Well, I have this leftover pineapple. And I love rice pilaf . . . how can I make this work?

I found a recipe for "Rice Baked in Chicken Stock" in The Joy of Cooking and modified it a bit so it would use up the remaining pineapple and also include almonds (just 'cause I love 'em.). This recipe is very easy, and mostly hands-off, once you get past the browning part. It's prefect with the Ham because its flavors won't overwhelm the Ham and complement it very nicely; also, you can begin preparing it, and in the time it's finishing in the oven, you can put together the ham dish. Nice!

Pineapple-Almond Rice Pilaf

1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. slivered almonds
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
1/2 lg. can pineapple chunks, drained; quarter the chunks
1 1/4 c. uncooked long grain rice
2 1/2 c. chicken broth or stock
2 Tbsp. dried parsley
2 Tbsp. melted butter (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a heavy, lidded saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, rice and almonds to the butter and saute until onions are translucent and the rice and almonds are beginning to toast. Add pineapple, and stir to combine. Then add chicken stock and parsley, stir to combine, and cover with lid.

Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand a few minutes before you remove the lid. Then stir in melted butter (optional, of course), and serve alongside the ham, pineapple, and glaze.

Pilaf serves 4-6 as a side dish.

"Hawaiian" Ham Steak

There are certain things you can be sure of, when you're approaching a new dish: Whenever you see the phrase "French" vanilla on your ice cream, you know that it has eggs in it. Likewise, call anything "Florentine," and it will undoubtedly include spinach. That's the way it is with "Hawaiian"--its inclusion in the name of anything usually means that there's pineapple in it somewhere. Do Hawaiians have a corner on pineapple? So Florence-ians (or whatever they're called) have a corner on spinach? Are the French the only ones who use eggs in ice cream? Hardly. These are culinary stereotypes, people. Culinary stereotypes I will now perpetuate.

My apologies to any Hawaiians I might offend in the process.

One rainy, fall day, I was trying to think of what to make for dinner when our house was STRUCK BY LIGHTNING! The house was fine, but when the bolt struck, I was touching ham with one hand and a can of pineapple chunks with the other. The jolt ran a current through me from the ham to the pineapple, I had a moment of supreme clarity, and this dish was born!

Not really. There isn't much back story to this dish; I don't even remember when I started making it. But it's so (embarrassingly) easy and so (surprisingly) good, I have to share it with you. So here's all the back story I've got: I thought ham and pineapple with a brown sugar glaze sounded tasty, and slightly tropical, but didn't want to prepare an entire ham, so I found these Ham Steaks and hawaiianized them.

Sorry, Hawaii, if this really has nothing to do with you, but it was a tasty dish and needed a name, and besides, it had pineapple in it, so my hands were tied. Here's my simple recipe for

Hawaiian Ham Steak
approximate time: 10 minutes

1 lg (1lb. or greater) bone-in ham steak
1 lg. can pineapple chunks, drained, divided, juice reserved
2 Tbsp. brown sugar

Preheat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly score the fat around the ham steak to prevent curling, and place in the pan. Brown on each side, about 1-2 minutes.

Drain the pineapple chunks, reserving the juice, and quarter the chunks (or, alternately, you could buy the giant can of Dole Pineapple Tidbits and skip the quartering.). Toss half of the pineapple bits into the pan, still over medium-high heat, until they start to brown and caramelize a bit. Then add all of the juice and the brown sugar to deglaze the pan, and whisk to combine. Allow mixture to come to a boil and reduce slightly, then add the ham back into the pan until it is warmed through. (Save the other half of the pineapple bits to make Pineapple-Almond Rice Pilaf, a great accompaniment)

Cut the ham into sections (removing the bone) and serve with the caramelized pineapple. Drizzle with the sauce, and say Aloha to great flavor!

Serves 2-3.