I like to make mini meatloaves. They bake quickly and I can tailor them to fit different family members. They are kid friendly because kids love their "own" of everything. The kids usually prefer regular ol' mini meatloaf, but the grown ups like a creative twist.
Tonight I made the adult mini meatloaves all different. I made one with jalapeno, one with bacon, one onion, and one green pepper themed. Add in chopped bits of your chosen item to the actual loaf, then so you can tell them apart, and for an awesome pro look, drape a circle of onion on the top of the onion loaf, cup a thick slice of green pepper on the top of another, line 3 jalapenos on the top of one too.
Other ideas:
Cheese --experiment with different kinds blue cheese, Colby-jack, pepper-jack, cheddar
Cherry peppers
Shredded carrot
Peppers -red, green, yellow, orange
Salsa
Monday, October 24, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Pork Neck Bone Stew
We fed 9 people (incl. 4 little kids) with this. Good eating, all homecooking! Neck bones are cheap and yield more meat than you'd expect.
1 pound pork neck bones sprinkled with seasoning salt and 11/2 cup water
-slow cook in crock pot on low 6 hours or until meat falls off bone, then set to warm until you want to make the stew. Turn off and cool bones a while before making stew. DO NOT throw out the broth!
Assemble stew in large pot and boil:
3-4 cups water
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1-2 1/2 cup chopped red potatoes (more or less to taste)
1/4 cup chopped onion (I actually use a bit less because I have a kid that doesn't like onion chunks)
Several tablespoons barley 4-6 Tbs
Several tablespoons slow cooking rice 4-6 Tbs (I use Jasmine rice)
few shakes of seasoning salt
1-2 tsp of salt
1tsp black pepper
2 Tbs onion powder
Boil covered until all veggies are soft and barely is soft (barely takes longer than rice)
While this cooks take your neck bones and separate all meat from them. Use two bowls one for the meat, the other for the bones. BE CAREFUL to get all little bone fragments. Set meat aside. Go through the broth in slow cooker and remove all bone fragments as well.
When stew veggies are soft turn off and add all meat and broth to your age stew pot. Stir and taste, add salt if needed, add water if you want. The flavor should be rich but may need to be diluted a little depending on your quality of neck bones. Ours were great.
My husband ate his with bread. Everyone asked for more! Yum!
1 pound pork neck bones sprinkled with seasoning salt and 11/2 cup water
-slow cook in crock pot on low 6 hours or until meat falls off bone, then set to warm until you want to make the stew. Turn off and cool bones a while before making stew. DO NOT throw out the broth!
Assemble stew in large pot and boil:
3-4 cups water
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1-2 1/2 cup chopped red potatoes (more or less to taste)
1/4 cup chopped onion (I actually use a bit less because I have a kid that doesn't like onion chunks)
Several tablespoons barley 4-6 Tbs
Several tablespoons slow cooking rice 4-6 Tbs (I use Jasmine rice)
few shakes of seasoning salt
1-2 tsp of salt
1tsp black pepper
2 Tbs onion powder
Boil covered until all veggies are soft and barely is soft (barely takes longer than rice)
While this cooks take your neck bones and separate all meat from them. Use two bowls one for the meat, the other for the bones. BE CAREFUL to get all little bone fragments. Set meat aside. Go through the broth in slow cooker and remove all bone fragments as well.
When stew veggies are soft turn off and add all meat and broth to your age stew pot. Stir and taste, add salt if needed, add water if you want. The flavor should be rich but may need to be diluted a little depending on your quality of neck bones. Ours were great.
My husband ate his with bread. Everyone asked for more! Yum!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Beef Barley Soup
This is so hearty and filling! Perfect for the fall and winter months ahead. Most of the dinner things I make I just make after reading a few recipe ideas and then trial and error.
I start with a nice roast, I salt it and cook it all day (or night) with chopped celery, onion and a carrot and about 2 1/2 cups of water. Slow cook until it's falling apart.
I pull roast apart and cut up into small pieces. I use as much of the meat as I want for the soup and save/freeze or eat the rest.* In a crock pot with meat and *broth I add about 2 cups of mixed veggies (corn, peas, carrots, green beans), *1/2 cup of barley, salt, dashes of pepper, as much water as I want. Barely will thicken soup. I will add beef flavor (MSG free) if needed, I taste and see. You may want it brothy enough that when you refrigerate leftover it doesn't all get sucked up before you reheat and eat again.
(You can add tomato pieces if you want, I have kids that don't want that in theirs. I usually add a splash of garlic and some shakes of onion powder, I add those things to almost everythng for flavor.)
I simmer on low for several hours, until barely is super soft. Add salt to taste. This is normally a salty soup. I always cook with less salt and add more when we are eating.
*ideas for the extra meat: freeze and use in a future soup batch, make shredded beef tacos, make a sandwich. Feed it to a pack of hungry kids that just eat in with lunch the next day.
*If you feel your broth is too fatty then refrigerate just the broth and skim some fat off the top when it hardens. Then make soup.
*Sometimes I add 1cup of barley to stretch it, as I feed 9 people!
I start with a nice roast, I salt it and cook it all day (or night) with chopped celery, onion and a carrot and about 2 1/2 cups of water. Slow cook until it's falling apart.
I pull roast apart and cut up into small pieces. I use as much of the meat as I want for the soup and save/freeze or eat the rest.* In a crock pot with meat and *broth I add about 2 cups of mixed veggies (corn, peas, carrots, green beans), *1/2 cup of barley, salt, dashes of pepper, as much water as I want. Barely will thicken soup. I will add beef flavor (MSG free) if needed, I taste and see. You may want it brothy enough that when you refrigerate leftover it doesn't all get sucked up before you reheat and eat again.
(You can add tomato pieces if you want, I have kids that don't want that in theirs. I usually add a splash of garlic and some shakes of onion powder, I add those things to almost everythng for flavor.)
I simmer on low for several hours, until barely is super soft. Add salt to taste. This is normally a salty soup. I always cook with less salt and add more when we are eating.
*ideas for the extra meat: freeze and use in a future soup batch, make shredded beef tacos, make a sandwich. Feed it to a pack of hungry kids that just eat in with lunch the next day.
*If you feel your broth is too fatty then refrigerate just the broth and skim some fat off the top when it hardens. Then make soup.
*Sometimes I add 1cup of barley to stretch it, as I feed 9 people!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Grilled Cajun Chicken
Tonight we used the Cajun mayo from last nights salmon patty burgers. We slathered it all over chicken breasts. I made slits in the chicken breasts to get it inside too. Then My husband grilled them to perfection outside. We had a simple ranch green salad on the side, it made a quick and totally delicious dinner!! Kids loved it!
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| To make the mayo simply add any cajun seasoning to mayo and whip with a fork. Grill will care! Yum! |
Cream of Potato Corn Chowder with thyme
I cook down about 8-14 cubed (Yukon Gold) potatoes and a diced onion with enough water to cover them. When done I add:
- about a cup of milk
- stick of butter
- a few handfuls of frozen corn
- a few shakes onion powder and a dash of garlic powder
- a palmful of thyme
- salt to taste
- dash of pepper
- 2 tbs chicken flavor (Tones brand NO MSG).
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Grilled Teriyaki Chicken with vegetables!
We grilled some veggies and chicken to perfection heavily brushed with lots of peppery teriyaki sauce. It was simple and really yummy!
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| grilling the goodies |
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| All done! |
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Winter Beef Stew
We love stew. I discovered a way for my little ones to be able to enjoy it safely and easily is to cook the stew meat in the crock pot. This makes the meat so tender and soft and little ones can chew it. We all like it better too as the flavors are divine.
Generally this is how I make stew...
I start my stew meat and/or beef bones in the crock with a lot of water. 4-8 cups of water (depends on how much stew you are making. I use 1 lb stew meat and 3-4 meaty beef bones. Let meat cook ahead of time or with everything in the pot. If I don't have time to chop my veggies I throw my neat and water in the crock to start it ahead of time.
Add:
garlic powder to taste (1 tbs)
onion powder to taste (2 tbs)
salt (to taste)
sometimes I'll add a few teaspoons of organic salt-less seasoning mix
chopped onions (1/2 or 1 c I puree this because I have one kid that doesn't like chucks of onion)
chopped celery (1/4 c)
potato chunks or diced (2 c)
other options for good ad-ins (3/4 cup fresh or frozen): greens beans, chopped carrots, corn, peas, caned or freshly soaked lima beans, barely. I love butter beans in stew! YUM-O
Optional: tomatoes
Stew is what you make when it's cold, and what you make when you have a bunch of "stuff" on hand that will go in stew. Nothing says comfort food and relaxing home-time like stew!
Generally this is how I make stew...
I start my stew meat and/or beef bones in the crock with a lot of water. 4-8 cups of water (depends on how much stew you are making. I use 1 lb stew meat and 3-4 meaty beef bones. Let meat cook ahead of time or with everything in the pot. If I don't have time to chop my veggies I throw my neat and water in the crock to start it ahead of time.
Add:
garlic powder to taste (1 tbs)
onion powder to taste (2 tbs)
salt (to taste)
sometimes I'll add a few teaspoons of organic salt-less seasoning mix
chopped onions (1/2 or 1 c I puree this because I have one kid that doesn't like chucks of onion)
chopped celery (1/4 c)
potato chunks or diced (2 c)
other options for good ad-ins (3/4 cup fresh or frozen): greens beans, chopped carrots, corn, peas, caned or freshly soaked lima beans, barely. I love butter beans in stew! YUM-O
Optional: tomatoes
Stew is what you make when it's cold, and what you make when you have a bunch of "stuff" on hand that will go in stew. Nothing says comfort food and relaxing home-time like stew!
Homemade Enchilada Sauce
I love tortilla soup and enchiladas and just Mexican food in general. It’s my favorite. One day I finally found some MSG free enchilada sauce that didn’t taste gross (the MSG kind wasn’t that great to begin with anyway) and I concocted a whole mazing tortilla soup recipe using it as the base. Only problem was it gets expensive to buy. Plus, I like to make anything I can from scratch!
Since I’m cooking for a very large family I now make enchilada sauce in bulk. I researched a bunch of recipes online and tried my own. With tomato paste, salt, onion, garlic, cumin, chili powder, beef broth (you can use chicken broth I've heard, I boil beef soup bones and make my own broth) and water I had my own Mexican concoction bubbling on the stove in no time.
Some tips:
I feel water must be used to lighten the tomato paste flavor and to thin it.
I use both fresh and powdered onion and garlic.
I personally buy the huge cans of tomato paste from Sam's Club and make a giant pot of enchilada sauce at one time. I simmer it for a while on the stove and let it sit for the flavors to mesh. I have thought about cooking it a slow cooker but haven't yet. Then I can or freeze it. I found it takes quite a bit of chili powder to get the flavor right. The other spices are very important too.
Since I make such a big batch I just wing it and mix everything up to taste. I don’t have an exact recipe, but go ahead and try it! It's yummy! Or look online for similar recepies.
I know I used 2 quarts of beef broth, 6.5lbs of tomato paste, at least 3 cups of water maybe more, around 1/4 cup chili powder, 4-5 tbsp. cumin, then fresh and powdered onion and garlic.... I just add all spices then taste. Then add more... then taste LOL.
It’s really good! Really good! Tortilla soup recipe to follow soon.
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