Meatloaf Mondays

Ok, I've been terribly behind with teaching, coaching, grad school and wedding planning plus this fabulously cold weather has been wanting to enter into hibernation and not come out. But this past Monday we decided that we needed meatloaf and whipped up my favorite that my mom always made when we were little. These Lil Cheddar Meatloafs can be formed into little individual loafs or (like I did) make into one big loaf. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a bowl, mix:

1 egg (beaten)

2/3 c milk

1/2 c quick cooking oats

1 c shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 c chopped onion

A dash of salt & pepper

A couple splashes or Worchestshire sauce. 

Then mix in a pound of ground beef. At this point I really do recommend putting rings and watches up high and start squishing with your hands. 

Spread it into a greased casserole dish. 

Mix up the meatloaf sauce by combining 2/3 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 2 tablespoons yellow mustard and a splash of Worchestshire sauce. Stir together an door in top of meatloaf. 

Bake it for 45 minutes or until it's temperature is 165 degrees. 

Teriyaki Beef Stir Fry

The real crowd (fiance) pleaser is the homemade teriyaki sauce for this recipe. The whole meal comes together in under 30 minutes, especially if you have a cute fiance to help cut up the meat.

Make the teriyaki sauce ahead of time. In a sauce pan combine the following:

1 cup light soy sauce

1/4 cup rice vinegar

3 TBSP sesame oil

1/4 cup brown sugar

1-2 tsp each garlic powder and ginger powder

Mix well and bring to a boil. Boil and stir for a minute. Mix together 2 tsp of corn starch and about an inch of water in a coffee cup. Stir it together real well and add it to the boiling sauce. Keep stirring and boiling until the mixture thickens to a sauce consistency.  Remove from heat and let cool. 

Stir Fry Ingredients

1 pound of steak. I like boneless ribeye

1/2 bag of Kirkland (Costco) Stir Fry Veggies

1 cup Jasmine Rice

In a 2 quart pot, add 1 cup of rice and fill with water until it's about 2 inches above the rice. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn it to very low and set timer for 20 min to steam. 

In a large skillet add about a tablespoon a vegetable oil and heat. Add 1 pound of steak sut into thin strips. Sauté until approaching medium. Add in the veggies and sauté until done. Toss with some of the homemade teriyaki sauce and a little Sirracha for heat. Serve over rice and enjoy!

BLAT Cobb Salad

A salad you can eat with a knife and fork, now that's one I can get behind. For dinner tonight I took one of my favorite things, a BLT and turned it into a hearty salad. Romaine hearts make for a fancier version of the garden variety cob done with icebergs. This salad makes enough for two and rolls in under 300 calories each!

What you need:

1 heart of romaine, sliced in half length wise

1 avocado, diced

1 Roma tomato, diced

1 hard boiled egg, diced

3 slices of bacon, fried crispy & crumbled (I use leftovers from the day before)

1/4 c. Shredded cheddar cheese

Sprinkle the ingredients evenly across both halves. Top with a light dressing of vinegar and oil. 

New Year Tradition - Black Eyed Peas

For as long as I can remember, my mom would cook black eyed peas on New Years Day. Sometimes called cowpeas, this southern tradition is supposed to bring prosperity for the new year. I just think they're tasty. You'll find as you follow this blog that many of my recipes get modified for the crockpot. My mom cooked hers on the stove but I tweaked the recipe I grew up with so it could simmer away in the crockpot during the New Year day.

Ingredients

1 pound dry black eye peas; soak overnight (pick through for funky looking ones and random pebbles)

1 32 oz Carton Swanson Low Sodium Sodium Chicken Stock

Chop:  2 Bell Peppers, 4 Stalks Celery, & 1 Vidalia Onion

1/2 lb Chorizo or Andouille Sausage

2 tsp each Oregano, Smoked Paprika, & Thyme

Frank's or Louisiana Hot Sauce

Turn Crockpot on high and pour in the soaked black eyed peas and the chicken stock. 

Sauté in a skillet all remaining ingredients until sausage is done and veggies start to get soft. Add into the crockpot. I add a little more of the seasonings at this point and pour in some hot sauce. 

Let it cook 6 hours and it's ready to go. It reduces quite a bit as it cooks so if you like yours more like soup and less like chili add some more chicken broth to yours.  You can even serve it over rice and add some more hot sauce (I sure do!)  If you're on a vegetarian kick, feel free to leave out sausage and use vegetable stock. 

Enjoy and have a happy and prosperous new year. 

New Year, New Blog

My name is Jennifer and I'm a teacher by trade but I'm kicking off 2014 by starting a cooking blog to share my adventures in the kitchen. I joke with my fiancé that I'm a throwback from the 1940s-1950s. He sits back and enjoys the results. If I wasn't teaching I would love to run my own restaurant. Or a cooking show. I could settle for my own show. :-)

I grew up watching my mom and grandma cook wonderful meals from the simplest ingredients. Some of my fondest memories are learning how to bake.  Here I am at 3 years old helping frost a cake for Easter. My grandma is providing the guidance. 

It is my goal to share some of my family favorites and my new discoveries with you along the way.  I love to garden and believe using the freshest possibly ingredients every chance I can get. 

My fiance laughs because he enjoys good food almost as much as I do. If we're not cooking we enjoy dining out on our favorites. In a recent trip to Memphis, I made a point of us hunting up some favorite places we saw on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. We were not disappointed. 

So welcome to my adventure. Hopefully, you will learn a few favorites along the way. 

Four Cheese Bacon Cheddar Bourbon Fondu - Happy New Year 2014

As the New Year kicks off, so does my cooking blog. I have alway said that if I wasn't teaching I'd be cooking so this is my movement into that area. Hopefully, along the way you can learn some of my favorite recipes. 

Today I made one of my favorite dishes, fondu. There are so many variations and it is one of the easiest dishes that you can experiment with. A staple to have is a good fondu pot. Yes you can use a double boiler but it makes portability tricky. My personal favorite is the fondu pots cousin to the electric skillet. 

I use the Cuisinart because any option with an open flame is a little scary when you have four cats who mouch for all food. This has a safe break away plug if it gets pulled to prevent it from getting turned over. It is also safe to sit on any surface. To shop for your own check out http://www.bhg.com/shop/kitchen/cookware/fondue-pots-a2556.html

Today I made a Bacon Cheddar Bourbon Fondu that we enjoyed with salami, deer sausage, Granny Smith Apples and crusty French bread. Perfect for a New Year Day meal. 

Ingredients

Shred 6 oz each extra sharp cheddar, white cheddar and fontina cheese and 3 oz Ermenthler (Swiss) cheese.  (This is my fiancé's job. He was handed this task while watching football.)  Do not use preshredded cheese. You will not be happy with the lump mess you are left with for your end results. Toss with 1/8 cup all purpose flour. This helps to thicken up the fondu. Set aside. 

In fondue pot, turn to a medium setting (I use 4 on mine) and add a small spoon of prepared horseradish, 2 tsp dry mustard, 4 tsp Worchestshire Sauce, 1tsp finely minced onion and 3 strips of fried bacon crumbled. Stir together until it forms a paste. Add one light beer. Keep stirring and let it boil 30 seconds to cook off the alcohol.  While stirring, add the cheese a handful at a time. You may not need all the cheese. You want the fondu to coat your food, not too runny or too thick. Stir until it is all melted. 

Finally, add 1/2 a shot of good bourbon. Keep stirring and cooking another 30 seconds to cook off alcohol and leave the flavor. Turn fondu pot down to a warm setting and start enjoying!