Sweet Country Meat Loaf

The meatloaf has European origins; meatloaf of meat was mentioned in the famous Roman cookery collection as early as the 5th century. Meatloaf is a traditional German, Belgian and Dutch dish, and it is a cousin to the Italian meatball. American meatloaf has its origins in scrapple, a mixture of ground pork and cornmeal served by German-Americans in Pennsylvania since Colonial times. However, meatloaf in the contemporary American sense did not appear in cookbooks until the late 19th century.

This variation of the meatloaf provides a firm but juicy loaf with a rich flavor and a sweetened ketchup based glaze on top.  Sweetened with brown sugar and made savory by a dash of Worcestershire sauce, this loaf is a top-notch combination of lean beef and vegetables that everyone is sure to love.

What you need:

1/2 cup Ketchup
1 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 Cup packed Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Milk
1 Egg
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Cup Italian Seasoned Breadcrumbs
1.5 Pounds Lean Ground Beef (anything leaner than 80/20)
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 of an Onion, chopped
1/4 tsp Ground Ginger

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a 9"x5" loaf pan and place 1 slice of bread on the bottom.  This absorbs grease from the loaf as it cooks and keeps the meatloaf from getting soggy and grease-logged.

Mix ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar together in a small bowl.  Mix all other ingredients together until well mixed, shape into a loaf and place the meat mixture into the loaf pan.  Spread the ketchup mixture on top and bake for one hour.  The center of the loaf should be near 170F when measured with a meat thermometer.

Orange Glazed Salmon with Oriental Slaw

This is a wonderful and fragrant dish that is versatile and low on fat.  It can be served as a hot fillet of fish with the cold slaw to compliment, or you can flake a generous portion of fish into the slaw and serve the whole dish cold as something of a salad.  The original dish was created by Chef Frain Salazar, Chef of the Sheraton Hotel in Irving, Texas.  This dish is a variation of his modified to my liking.  I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Recipe for Oriental Slaw

1 pound green cabbage
1/2 pound napa cabbage
2 ounces shredded carrot
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 ounces chopped celery
2 Tbsp chopped red bell pepper


Dressing for Oriental Slaw

2 ounces rice vinegar
3 Tbsp Sesame oil
1 1/2 Tbsp Srirachia
2 1/2 Tbsp sweet & sour sauce
2 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Blueberry Muffins

This is not my recipe, but I made it because the muffins looked really good.  Turns out, THEY ARE!  If you're ever in the mood for some nice large muffins with your morning coffee, use this recipe.  Grease the muffin pan with Crisco and dust lightly with flour, then fill each cup level with the top for a nice large muffin top.  I will definitely make these again.  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/to-die-for-blueberry-muffins/detail.aspx

Cheers!

Farmer's Pie

I've always enjoyed a shepherd's pie, the flavorful mix of vegetables, mashed potatoes, and ground beef topped with cheese.  I had an idea from the place I work, since they feed mostly slop to their employees... whatever happens to be left over.  This basically equates to a beef and vegetable stew without the potatoes in it, but served atop a pile of creamy mashed potatoes with the skins left on.  Since it's not quite a shepherd's pie, I've named it Farmer's Pie since you could probably find most of the ingredients in a typical well stocked garden.  I used a slow cooker for the stew, but you could easily use a large pot on the stove.  This recipe started as a pure experiment, but turned out quite good.  It makes a ton, so be prepared for a lot of leftovers, or to share it with friends.  Enjoy.

What you'll need:
2 Pounds ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups frozen sweet corn
2 cups frozen sweet peas
1 cup carrots, diced
4 cups shredded cabbage
2 Tablespoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons pepper
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
1 bay leaf
4 cups beef broth
2 cups water
1 28 ounce can tomato sauce

For the potatoes:
You can use boxed instant mashed potatoes if you want, just follow the directions on the box. For me though, I like the taste of fresh mashed potatoes, and I leave the skins on!
4 pounds potatoes
1/4 pound butter
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt

Brown the ground beef with the onion. Drain off excess fat and return to the pan. Add flour and coat the onion and beef, cook for an additional 2 minutes stirring frequently, it will be a thick sticky mess.

Add to slow cooker the beef, onion, and flour mix, beef broth, water, tomato sauce, corn, peas, carrots, cabbage, pepper, parsley, basil, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, thyme, and bay leaf.  Turn the cooker on high to heat.

The stew will stay in the slow cooker for 6-8 hours.  It's done when it's nice and bubbly and the vegetables are tender.  I prepared mine just before bed and left it on overnight on high.

Mashed potatoes are easy.  Cube your potatoes and boil in water until they're tender.  Stick them with a fork to test for tenderness; you're basically looking for the cube to split in half when you stick it with a fork.  Don't overcook them.  When your potatoes are tender, drain them and add the butter, salt and milk.  Then either use an electric mixer or a hand-masher to mix everything together to get a nice creamy pile of mashed potatoes.

Add some stew to the top of a pile of potatoes and top with some shredded cheese if you like!

Pizza

Everybody loves pizza!  Well, probably not everybody, but at least everybody who's normal does.  This is homemade pizza the way it should be... Homemade crust, homemade sauce, and fresh toppings.  Okay, so I don't make the pepperoni myself, or grow my own onions, but come on, there has to be limits somewhere.

Warning: This takes 2 to 3 hours to make.  The more experienced you get, the less time it takes, but if you don't have at least 2 hours to put into this... don't start.  Once you open the yeast packet, there's no turning back!

Some important notes to think about before you start.  You need to consider that baking bread (which is what pizza crust essentially is) is a science.  Yeast eats sugar and produces gas causing dough to rise.  The time it takes to rise is determined by quite a few things, but namely, the type of yeast used, the amount of sugar (if any) used, and the temperature of the dough.  High altitudes also play a role.
This recipe controls the yeast type and the amount of sugar used in the recipe, but you should take a moment to think about where in your home the best place to let the dough rise is.  Ideally, you want the air temperature to be as close to 80 degrees Fahrenheit as possible.  If it's 80 degrees outside, just set the dough outside (covered of course).  If 80 degrees just isn't going to happen, that's fine; it'll just take a little longer to rise if it's cooler than 80, or a little shorter rise time if it's hotter than 80 (up to about 110 degrees, anything warmer than this is bad news).

Okay, you're ready to start... good, so am I.  What took you so long?

What You'll Need:
1 packet Rapid Rise, Active Dry Yeast
1 tsp. White Sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (120-130 degrees Fahrenheit)
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
2 tbsp. plus 2 more tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
About 4 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
About 1 1/2 cup Enriched Yellow Cornmeal
1 Recipe Pizza Sauce, prepared (blog keywords "pizza sauce")
3 cups Mozzarella Cheese
Choice of Toppings.

This recipe will make enough dough for 2 large (14 to 16 inch) pizzas, or 4 small individual 9 inch pizzas.  It also offers the versatility to prepare the pizzas and freeze them for later use, or you can bake them now.  I will differentiate in the directions between the two.

Directions:
Heat two cups of water in a small saucepan until the temperature reaches about 120-130 degrees. You can use a meat thermometer to keep track of the temperature. You only need 1.5 cups of the water, but heating 2 cups will allow room for some of it to evaporate off during heating. I heat mine up a little bit too much, I'm just waiting for it to cool down to 130 degrees.


When the water is at temperature, measure 1.5 cups and put it in a mug, then add the packet of yeast and the 1 teaspoon sugar. Stir until dissolved and let it sit, uncovered for 10 minutes.

While you're waiting out the 10 minutes, measure 3 cups of flour into a mixing bowl with 1 teaspoon garlic powder. Then, using your hand, flour a big circle on the counter top to knead the dough on, like in the photo below.


After the 10 minutes are up, your yeast/water/sugar mix should be nice and frothy on top.


Add the salt and 2 tablespoons olive oil to the water mix and stir well. Then add the water to the mixing bowl of flour. This is where things start getting messy, and I do mean messy. You're about to put your hands into the stickiest goopiest mess ever, so be prepared. You're going to want to have extra flour sitting around to knead into the dough, but you're also not going to want to put your hands back in the flour bag after they've been in the mix. Set aside about a cup of flour to mix in.

Using your hands, mix the water and flour until all the flour has been moistened, then turn out the mix onto the floured counter top. Start kneading the dough, adding more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. If you're new to kneading, have a look at this article at WikiHow .
When you're done, you'll have a nice ball of dough. Place the dough in a large bowl, or on a cookie sheet seam-side down. Spray the dough with some cooking oil spray to prevent the dough from crusting while it rises, then cover it with a towel and set it in a warm place (80 degrees) to let it rise.


It will take 45 minutes to 1 hour for the dough to rise at 80 degrees. Remember, cooler than 80 means more rise time. Dough is properly risen when it is about double the volume of when it came from the mixing bowl, or about 50% greater in diameter. Under-risen dough is tight and springy, and when gently poked, the indentation tends to spring back. Over-risen dough is loose and has a ripply surface caused by large air cells. When poked it loses gas and collapses. If it has already collapsed or smells like beer, it’s severely over-risen and should not be used. Properly risen dough will hold an indentation when gently poked but won’t lose gas and collapse. If you're not sure how long it will take your dough to rise, check it after 30 minutes by poking it gently with your finger (just enough to indent the dough). Watch for the dough to spring back out. If it does, let it rise for another 15 minutes, then check it again. In the picture below, you can see the dough has doubled in volume since the last picture, and has indentations in it from being tested (poked).


Turn the risen dough out onto the counter. If you're making two large pizzas, cut the dough-ball in half. If you're making four small pizzas, cut the dough in fourths. Then gently reshape the portions back into round balls and place on the counter covered loosely in plastic wrap.



Sprinkle the counter top with cornmeal. It doesn't have to be a thick layer, just enough to keep the dough from sticking to the counter while rolling out. Place one dough ball in the center of your cornmeal and press it down a bit so you can get started rolling it out. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out, turning it after each roll to keep a round shape until it is about 9 inches in diameter (small pizza) or 14-16 inches (large pizza). If you have trouble with the dough sticking to the counter, toss a little more cornmeal under the dough, just try not to get any on top of the dough. Once the dough is rolled out, brush a light layer of olive oil over the top.


Now put the dough in a 425 degree oven for 4 minutes to par bake the crust. Par baking is a process of partially baking the crust, so that after adding the toppings, the crust will be fully baked by the time the toppings are hot and the cheese is melted and slightly browned on the edges. If making frozen pizzas, par baking helps a lot here too, since the toppings will thaw a lot faster than the crust in the oven. If the dough was raw coming out of the freezer, the toppings would be charred by the time the crust was done. If you have one, put the dough directly on a pizza stone. If you don't have a pizza stone, use either a pizza pan or a cookie sheet, just don't put the dough directly on the oven rack. Repeat this process for the other balls of dough, one at a time.
Here is the crust after par baking for 4 minutes.


Top the crust with pizza sauce (blog keywords "pizza sauce") using as much as you like. Then sprinkle with a layer of mozzarella cheese. Place whatever toppings you like on top and sprinkle with just a bit more cheese, which helps hold the toppings in place once the pizza is baked.


If you're planning to eat now, put the pizza back in the 425 degree oven and bake for about 8 to 12 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned on the edges. You can try brushing the crust with butter if you choose before baking.

If the pizza is for freezing, wrap each fully assembled pizza in plastic wrap separately. It will probably take two sheets of plastic wrap side-by-side to wrap the pizza completely. Stack the wrapped pizzas on top of each other, then wrap the whole stack in aluminum foil and place in the freezer.


When you're ready to bake a pizza, place a frozen (not thawed) pizza on a pizza pan, stone, or cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven until the toppings are hot and the cheese is all melted. Enjoy!

At a later time, I will post this recipe in short-form so that you don't have to read all the tips and such each time you make these.

Pizza Sauce

This pizza sauce is very tasty, and easy to make.  It can also be used as dipping sauce for breadsticks, mozzarella sticks, or whatever else you like.

Prep Time: About 10-15 minutes
Ready to use in: 2 hours

If you're using this sauce for making the homemade pizza from this blog (blog keyword search "Pizza"), prepare the sauce before starting into the pizza.  The longer this pizza sauce sits, the better the flavors blend.  For best results, make the day before using, so that it sits overnight in the refrigerator.  It can, however, be used after about 2 hours if you're in a time crunch.

What You'll Need:
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
1 6oz. can tomato paste
1 tsp. Oregano
1 tsp. Basil
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Paprika
1 tsp. White Sugar
1 tsp. White Vinegar
1/2 tsp. Onion Powder
1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
1/4 tsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a non-metallic bowl and mix until well blended. The acids in tomatoes will do not-so-nice things to bowls made of metal, so use a Tupperware container with a lid so you can just mix the ingredients and pop it in the fridge.

Chile' Con Queso

I had endeavored for ages to find a queso recipe that didn't involve simply mixing melted Velveeta cheese with a can of Rotel® or a jar of salsa.  Granted, the simplicity of doing that has it's place, like when you're expected to bring a dish to a get-together you don't really want to go to.
Velveeta cheese isn't really cheese, which kind of defeats the traditional name of Chile' Con Queso, which translates to chiles with cheese.  Even still, Velveeta (or some other form of American cheese, like Land O' Lakes American Cheese) melts beautifully, providing the smooth creamy texture you would expect in a Queso dish.  Attempts I've made to use real cheese, such as Cheddar or Jack cheeses have failed to fully incorporate into the sauce, leaving a curdled mess that doesn't look or taste good.  Even following other people's recipes exactly using real cheese have failed, despite best efforts to incorporate the cheese slowly and in small amounts at a time.
I decided I'd had enough of wasting money on expensive cheeses that supposedly work well for Queso, like Longhorn cheeses.  I went back to Velveeta and Rotel®, but I've made it my own recipe by adding ingredients that turn this dish into something satisfyingly smooth and tasty.  Your friends will ask you how you made this, and it's so simple that anyone can do it and not fail.

What you need:
1 Large or 2 Small Cloves Garlic (chopped)
1/2 Cup White Onion (chopped)
2 Jalapeno Peppers Diced (seeds and veins removed)
3 Serrano Peppers Diced (seeds and veins removed)
2 Tbsp Salted Butter
16oz Velveeta Cheese (cubed)
1 can Rotel (original or hot depending on your tastes)
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Black Pepper
Cilantro to Taste (fresh is better but dried okay)

Directions:
Combine the butter, chopped onions, chopped garlic, and diced peppers in a medium saucepan over medium heat.


Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 4 minutes once everything starts to sizzle in the pot, stirring occasionally.
Add the can of Rotel and the Cumin, Black Pepper, and Cilantro. Stir until the spices are blended, then add the Velveeta. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir constantly until the cheese is melted and well blended. If you stop stirring or if the heat is too high, it's easy to scorch the cheese.


You can serve the Queso immediately, or separate into 1/2 pint jars as individual servings for later.