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I Have No Idea Why This Turkey Meatloaf Is So Good But It Just Is

2/26/2012

I have no idea why this Turnkey Meatloaf is so good
but it just is.
Maybe it's the Worcestershire or the chicken stock, I don't know.

What I do know is that it has the most supreme taste AND I did not overcook it so it was very moist!!

Tim kept going back for seconds, thirds, fourths and fifths. I mean seriously.

When I asked Tim why he liked the meatloaf so well he said, "It was easy and it tasted good."

I'm making this meatloaf again today, only this time I will make the full recipe and freeze half of it. The original recipe calls for 5 lbs of meat and it serves 8-10. I recommend cutting this recipe in half like I did if you don't want a ton of leftovers.
Okay, update on that statement up above. I just got back from the grocery just now and I AM NOT buying 5 lbs. of ground turkey breast at $5/lb. That's $25 if I used all 5 lbs. I gotta start buying ground turkey breast on sale; it's just that I can never FIND it on sale. Arrrrgh!!!

What an easy line-up of fixins for this tasty meatloaf though.
These are the fixins for one large meatloaf.
I halved the recipe and used 2.5 lbs of turkey breast.
Oh, also this is the
simplest dish to make too!

But first I must fess up that I had some help in the kitchen.

Little Boy Blue and Tim decided to cook with me!

The blue thing above Little Boy Blue's face is a mirror. He LOVES looking at the baby in the mirror.

OH! by the way, They make the coolest play stuff for babies now. Tim and I haven't had a baby in the house for twenty years so we are in awe of all the cool things they make. This is a musical piano thing, the baby's legs kick the keys and music starts playing.
Little Boy Blue loves this and is getting ready to do some kicking, look at his cute yittle yegs.

I captured the cutest little grin on the bambino's face when his foot hit the music pedal.

Look at LBB kick his right leg!
Then the music starts playing.

He gets the biggest kick out of that thing.

So does Little Boy Blue.
:):):)

Baby: It must be close to nap time, I'm bushed. Gramps: It must be close to nap time, I'm bushed.

Both Little Boy Blue and
Gramps started getting tuckered out though.

So Gramps decided to read the bambino a book before naptime.

While Tim and the Wee One were occupying themseves with Dr. Suess, I went ahead and chopped up the onions and began to saute them in the pan.

Next I added the salt and pepper and thyme to the onions. Then the Worcestershire sauce, chicken broth and tomato paste. Stir well.

Cool to room temperature.

I just went ahead and poured the mixture into a different bowl to facilitate this along.

Next combine the turkey breast, bread crumbs, eggs and onion mixture together in a large bowl.

Mix well and shape into a rectangular loaf on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Spread the ketchup evenly on top.

And bake for 1 1/2 hours just until the internal temperature is 160 degrees.

While the meal was baking, yittle baby got hungry and in the process of feeding on his yummy formula, he decided all that activity was tiring and went night-night.

Looks like Gramps was close behind zzzzzz.

As soon as the meatloaf reaches 160 degrees, pull this tasty loaf out of the oven and let it rest a couple minutes.

It doesn't look like much, but man o' man, I'm gonna go back to, I have no idea why this meatloaf is so tasty. It just is.

And of course, my starch fetish is always at the forefront,

so what would meatloaf be without roasted garlic smashed red potatoes?

You're almost there; that's how quick and easy this Turkey Meatloaf dish is.
Although the cook time of 1.5 hours isn't quick, everything else was.
Slice up the meatloaf and load the plates.

And enjoy this down home goodness meal!!!

OHHHH! Almost forgot!!!

Recipes are below!!!

OH! OH! OH! UPDATE! SIX HOURS LATER!
I JUST MADE THIS RECIPE AGAIN TONIGHT AND IT CAME OUT DRY AND NOT AS FLAVORFUL.
I MUST NOT HAVE USED ENOUGH CHICKEN STOCK AND SALT AND PEPPER.
DANG!
ALSO I LET IT COOK PAST 160 DEGREES. FYI...DON'T DO THAT!
MAKE SURE THE LOAF IS MOIST WHEN YOU FORM IT.

Turkey Meatloaf
www.foodnetwork.com Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Check out Ina Gartens show The Barefoot Contessa
Courtesy of www.turnkeyqualitycars.com

Angie’s Note: Please keep in mind I halved this recipe! You can make the whole recipe but you will have leftovers as the full recipe serves 8-10.

Ingredients
3 cups chopped yellow onions (2 large onions)
2 tablespoons good olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried)
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 teaspoons tomato paste
5 pounds ground turkey breast
1 1/2 cups plain dry bread crumbs
3 extra-large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup ketchup

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a medium saute pan, over medium-low heat, cook the onions, olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme until translucent, but not browned, approximately 15 minutes. Add the Worcestershire sauce, chicken stock, and tomato paste and mix well. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Combine the ground turkey, bread crumbs, eggs, and onion mixture in a large bowl. Mix well and shape into a rectangular loaf on an ungreased sheet pan. Spread the ketchup evenly on top. Bake for 1 1/2 hours until the internal temperature is 160 degrees F. and the meatloaf is cooked through. (A pan of hot water in the oven under the meatloaf will keep the top from cracking.) Serve hot, at room temperature, or cold in a sandwich.

Hope you're enjoying the

weather...

Spring is coming up soon eh???!!!

Can't wait!!
Talk at ya soon!

Tim and Angie's Romantic Dinner At Home With Tortellini, Chicken Sausage and Kale

2/23/2012

You know what I like?

I like EASY.

Easy, easy, easy.

Vinny and Pepper like it easy too.

Easy
like a Sunday morning.

Take it away
Lionel...

Easy like a romantic dinner
on a Tuesday night after a long, hard day at work...

With pretty glowing candles and good wine...

Setting the mood with a velvet red, black, and white color scheme...

Serving nice~n~easy nourishment...

Easy Romantic Menu

Whole Wheat Cheese Tortellini with Marinara

Sauteed Kale

Chicken & Apple Sausage

See this whole wheat tortellini?
It cooks in seven minutes.

Seven minutes!

Just throw it in water and boil for seven minutes. It's done when the tortellinis float to the top.

It's fab.u.lous.

I find this fresh pasta in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Fareway doesn't carry it but Hy-Vee does.

This is Chicken Sausage.
It is fully cooked and fully out-of-this world fabulous!

This Aidells company, out of California, makes several flavors, I've tried and like them all. This Chicken & Apples flavor is my favorite.

I have the Roasted Garlic & Gruyere Cheese in my freezer right now. It's gluten free, minimally processed, no artificial ingredients and such.

I found this in the refrigerated section.

Did I mention these are fully cooked so all they need is heated up for a few minutes?

My romantic meal menu was so easy!! The meal came together leisurely and quick.

I whipped up some easy marinara from this recipe I wrote about last July.

That's the tortellini boiling in the back pan.

I even sauteed up some kale.

Look at those chicken sausage pieces in back. I simply sliced the links and warmed them over low on the stove while I sauteed the kale. So tasty, not even kidding you, yum!

Three easy ingredients for the Sauteed Kale.

1. Kale
2. Olive oil
3. Chopped garlic
oh, and salt and pepper of course.

Okay, that's like five ingredients but S&P is a given.

Wash the kale, dry it off real good with a paper towel and separate the leafy part from the stems.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat, add the garlic but do not let it get too dark because it will get bitter.

Leisurely saute the kale a few minutes; add a little salt and pepper as needed.

That's it!
Pretty easy!

Now for the fun, relaxing part.
Put on a nice candlelight dinner jazz CD, slip into the dining room chair, say blessings, and converse and laugh until the hours waste away late into the evening.

Uh huh.

Yup,

that's how we do it at our house.

Romantic candlelight dinners.

All.

The.

Time.

Wait a minute.

What's that noise by the wine bottle?

Tim, do you hear a noise?

WHAT is that?

It's the freaking cat!
Holyfield! Get down!
You're ruining our nightly candlelight romantic dinner that we have every night of the week,
all the time, because we are romantic.
Duh.

Tim!! Turn on the lights!! I think I just got cat hair in my mouth!!

Just turn on the lights!
That's fine. Whatever.

For some reason, it don'ts looks so romantic with the lights turned on, now does it!!!!!! :):):)
Yes, I said looks. And don'ts. It's proper; look it up.

Candlelights and camera angles really hide a lot of crap, eh? Hehehehehehehe. :):):):):):)
I'm giggling so hard right now as I type this!!!!!!!!!!!

Although I will say, the meal and tiny portion of the dining room table truly did look seriously spectacular and glowing in the candlelight.
Also I've come to believe food and beverages taste better in candlelight.
And Tim and I did have a nice meal and conversation.
For like twenty minutes.
Then Tim needed to go back out to the shop and I had to return a few emails.

And this is a terrible picture of the food with normal lighting but Ima tell you,

it was fantastic!!

One more picture though!

I love these glasses with the tea lights in them. One is a champagne, the other is a super lovely cut aperitif glass and the little one is a salt I think. The tea lights are nestled in shiny swarovski cut crystals that I bought for our oldest daughter's wedding decor three years ago. I luuurrve them!

Hope you enjoyed this silly post today :):):):)
I'm still smiling quite broadly.
Matches my silhouette.
Now I'm just killing myself with my own jokes.
Must. stop. now. *giggle*

See ya next time!!!

Apple Of My Eye...an Apple 'n' Pepper Saute Side Dish

2/21/2012

So easy, so quick, such a

deeeeeelicious side dish!

Apple 'n' Pepper Saute

I made this saute just last night!

So few ingredients...so cheap to make, such entirely sweety-yumminess! Seriously!

Look how cheap this is to make and how healthy!

Green pepper...50 cents
Red pepper.......$1.50 if not on sale
Yellow Pepper....$1.50 if not on sale
Apple.......what, 50 cents maybe?
Red onion....maybe 80 cents
The garlic, basil, rosemary and soy sauce you just have on hand.
That's like five bucks to make this sweet side dish! and it really is fabulous!

Doesn't it look fabulous and
fresh?

I'd invite you to pull up a chair and have some goodness except Tim and I ate almost all of it.

I have embedded the recipe below to print out, but I also attached it at the bottom of this here post.

Okay, start by slicing your peppers, onion
and
apple.

Git yer garlic,
spices
and
soy sauce together.

Saute the peppers, onion and apple in olive oil over medium-high heat.

Saute until crisp-tender...
Pull out the warmed, tender sweet apple slices and eat them real quick. And then during supper, wonder why there's not more apple slices in the dish.
And then realize you ate most of them when they were still sauteeing in the pan. Crap, I hate it when that happens. Doi.

Next easy step is to add garlic and soy sauce....

Cook

and

stir

until

heated

through.

That's it!!!! Oh my gosh,
wasn't that the easiest thing ever????

And it plates up so pretty!!

I do think this saute would be awesome with a pork roast especially.

So here's the recipe for those who can't see the embedded document (hey Ma, what's up.)

Apple ‘n’ Pepper Saute
Tasteofhome.com Originally published as Apple 'n' Pepper Saute in Taste of Home December/January 2003, p53 Courtesy of www.turnkeyqualitycars.com

Ingredients

3 medium sweet peppers, julienned
1 small red onion, sliced and separated into rings
1 medium apple, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 teaspoon dried basil

Directions

In a large nonstick skillet, saute the peppers, onion and apple in oil until crisp-tender. Stir in the soy sauce, garlic, rosemary and basil. Cook and stir until heated through. Yield: 6 servings.

Warning...icky food picture coming up....

So this is why I did not show you the meat dish we ate with the saute last night.
This looks nasty but it tasted good...a whole wheat bread crumb, fresh Parmesan skillet chicken breast. Hmmm, just didn't turn out aesthetically appealing, that's all.

Kind of like when someone messes up a piece of warm cheesecake by taking it out of the pan too early and it gets all moistly crumbly all over the place; looks dubious but tastes pretty good.

Anyway:):):),

Happy

eating!!!

Have a good

day!!!

See ya soon!

Someone Stole My Kitchen!!!!

2/19/2012

Someone stole my kitchen.

Right out from under me!!!!

Kitchen thievery is a

VERY!

SERIOUS!

CHARGE!!

I'm gonna be discreet so as not to embarrass anybody.

Just sayin', that's all.

They started out by stealing all my pictures and created a beautiful entryway that they stole from me.

They stole pictures and plates...see that small rectangle landscape picture with the green frame over to the lower right, under the print of the little baby.....?
Uh huh, you got it........S-T-O-L-E-N.

The bandits stole artwork and photographs....

and this was just in their entryway!

Seriously,
did
they
think
I
wouldn't notice
they
lifted
my
stairs
too
?!?!!!!
*sigh*

Herb,

whach yu lookin' all innocent for?

You don't look nervous at all.

You act like you OWN this kitchen.
This beautiful, functional, joyous piece of art kitchen....

that was mine first!

It's mine, it's mine!!! Whaaaa!!!
M - I - N - E
MINE!!!

I want it! I want it!

I WAAAAANT it!

*foot stomping* *arms flailing*
*tears streaming* *sticking out tongue*

And I want this too!!!!

I want it all! I want this wall of cupboards with that cubby hole with all that bright, shiny stuff in it!!!

See the round tray on the lower shelf with the fruit. I DID have that at one time.
In my barn.
When I ran an antique and junque shop out of it.

Just for the record, Peaches did not steal that tray.
Unlike the kitchen and entryway anyway.

Every dang thing is functional
in Peaches and Herb's kitchen.

Every.

Thing.

It is a cook's kitchen.

They even have a warm, cozy

sitting area in there...

Tim parked his hard-working self in that cozy chair and had a few appetizers with Sherry.
Sherry the wine, not Sherry the girl :)

And you can sneak a peak of the warm living room from the kitchen...

I love the color of the walls, that blue,
it looks like old-world leather.
It also feels very contemporary and refreshing at the same time.
And there's beautiful artwork in there; I took a quick snapshot on the left, of a vignette on one of the living room walls.

And I love the simplicity of the potted plant on the old green painted plant stand up there in the photo on the right. That green contrasting with the red, orange and blue...absolutely loved it.

And look who I discovered in the living room...

a very sleepy Millie!
Hi Millie!!

Of course, one is never without furry companions at Peaches and Herb's house. The other furry canine who I loved as well is not in these pictures; Sal must have been sunning his pretty brown-haired doggie self somewhere.

Well I hope you enjoyed reading about and seeing pictures of the kitchen that Peaches and Herb kind of stole, or not really stole, but still, stole from me. Stole from my heart anyway.

I always love a space where form and function meet and their warm, cozy, beautifully functional kitchen sure meets the bill on that one.

Hey, have a great evening and talk at ya soon!!!!!

Peaches and Herb and Yorkshire Pudding

2/17/2012

Do you know what Yorkshire Pudding is?

Clearly I didn't because this is Yorkshire Pudding.
And it's not pudding.

It's a puff pastry!!!!!!

Say WHAT??????

I'm forty blah blah years old and I thought
Yorkshire Pudding was,
well,
PUDDING.
From freaking ENGLAND.

In particular, oh, I don't know,
YORKSHIRE!

No, I learned Yorkshire Pudding is a
puff pastry,
served traditionally with beef.

T'aint nothing like a Sunday dinner shared with wonderful folks who cooked the meal :)

Tim and I had the best time on a lazy Sunday afternoon, having dinner in the kitchen of Tim's cousin Peaches and her partner Herb.

Clearly those are fake names.
Remember Peaches and Herb?
Reunited and it feels so good, reunited cuz, well I don't know the words but you know who I mean.

Herb is an amazing chef!

Look at his humble little kitchen he has to work in.

Oh my gosh, I about fainted when I walked in!!! The colors, the commercial stove, the equipment, the decor, the food!!!

The word SWOON comes to mind with this one folks.

Clearly this kitchen is huge and gorgeous and colorful and every single thing is FUNCTIONAL!!!!

Every! Single! Thing!
Functional!

This is a cook's kitchen. It just happens to be supremely beautiful as well.

I'm going to show more pictures of Peaches and Herb's supremely fantastic, uplifting kitchen in my next post this weekend but for now I just want to share the Sunday dinner Herb made for us.

The Sunday dinner was a traditional English meal.
Fortunately Herb is from England and he learned much from his mother who was an excellent cook who learned from her family's cook in South Africa when she was a little girl.
So Herb shares his gift often with family and friends.

Thank goodness Herb cooks like a chef. See that Yorkshire Pudding up there? See that beef? Crap, now I'm really hungry!

Tim and I knew things were going to be amazing when we saw Herb slicing the roast after it had rested a bit.

After some nice chatting and catching up....we sat down for a relaxing Sunday dinner.

Notice who was first to sit down?

Hi Stud Muffin.
:):):)

And then because I am annoying, I made everyone stop so I could snap a couple pictures.

Let me tell ya, all I wanted to do was start with the inhalation of this fantastic meal.

There were these gorgeous green beans but look at that colorful trivet too??!!
Too cool!!

The contrast of the white dishes and food was so pretty and appealing.

Wait!!

There were cooked carrots too!

Such a natural sweetness.
Yum!
I could have ate those all day and night.

And roasted potatoes. Simply amazing.

And tangy roasted parsnips too although I forgot to take a picture of them.
Tangy roasted goodness is what they were.

And we had gravy in gravy boats!!!

I love gravy boats!!

I use them myself sometimes but it's so fun to have gravy in someone else's boat sometimes too you know!

Oh yeah, here's the scoop on Yorkshire Pudding....
It's a very old food custom....

Yorkshire Pudding was originally used as a first course filler for poor people who could not afford much meat. Years ago, when the meat was cooked on a spit or trivitt, the batter was put underneath and the fat and meat juice dripped onto the batter. If there wasn't enough meat to go around the children would get Yorkshire pudding and gravy as their main meal. Now the dish is almost always served with a roast beef main course to form part of a 'traditional English dinner'. From H2G2.com website.

And it's made with beef fat dripping at a super high heat; 450 degrees.

Herb is a master at Yorkshire Pudding.
Seriously, Tim and I were in Food Paradise.

And of course I loved that the meal was served on Herb's mother's china,

just like a traditional Sunday dinner would be.

Of course we toasted to this

wonderful meal

and friendship...

See the plate in the lower left corner, THAT'S MINE!!! Doesn't it look fab!!

After all that food and drink, all we wanted to do was move Cal out of the over-sized chair and plop down and nap.

Me Cal and me say you no wan 2 touch me or make me mooove. Capiche?

Cal had other plans for the chair, so we let him be.
And instead devoured apple tartlets and brownie oatmeal bars! Uh huh, that's right. Imagine that. Tim and I eating dessert. Huh.

Tim and I are not shy with food, that's for sure.
We had a lovely afternoon, shared our appreciation, Tim joked that we would see them next week, same place, same time, and finally said good-bye.
Ten bucks says they couldn't wait for our waddling bottoms to hit the door :):):):)
I am so excited to share a few other pictures from Peaches and Herb's kitchen, so watch for my next blog post this weekend.

OH!
I've been cooking a lot too but sadly, several of the dishes and pictures will end up in the my Icky Food Blech posts.
But there has been a couple gems!

Hey, have a great Saturday!!!

Enjoy the weather!!!

Talk at ya soon!

I Am So Making This For Valentine's Day...Ribeye and Double Deep Fried Fries

2/11/2012

Happy weekend everybody!
And by the way....

I love steak! I love fries!
I especially love them together!

This meal is such a cheat night meal,

Ima make it
again for
Valentine's Day on Tuesday.

Mmmmmmmmm Mmmmmmm Gooooooooood!!!

See those fries down below?......Double deep fried, crispy seasoned goodness like you've never had!!!
See that Rib-eye?....Chin dripping juicy goodness is what that is!!!!!!

See that savory, tasty Beurre Blanc sauce on top of that Rib-eye up above?

.....No?
......... You don't see it?

....On top of the steak?

Of course you don't see it,

CAUSE IT'S NOT THERE!!!!

I FORGOT TO LADLE THAT DELICIOUS SAUCE ONTO THE RIB-EYE!!!!!!
In fact, I forgot about it until the next morning when I was cleaning up, took the lid off the saucepan to wash it, and there was my bee-utiful Beurre Blanc sauce, 15 hours old *sigh*.

Raise your hand if you're dumb and forgetful!!!!!!

Why does my right hand look like a half plucked daisy?

Dumb,
dumb,
dumb,
diddley-dee
dumb! Dumb.

And the sauce looked and smelled so good too!!!

Q: Who needs a brain transplant?
Easy answer: Angie!

Oh well, I'll continue on with this post and talk about the Ribeye without the Beurre Blanc and those yummy, crispy fries. Cause they really were terrific!

I don't have a beginning line-up picture for the fries but it starts with peeled potatoes and raw sugar.
See how I peeled these potatoes?

I guess if you want fancy restaurant french fries, you peel only the middle and leave the skins on the end like this picture.

Pour your raw sugar, not regular sugar but raw sugar (which is found by the regular sugar) into the bowl with warm water and soak the fries for an hour.
(It's taking everything I have to refrain from referencing Def Leopard right now).

Oh!

Make sure after you soak the fries, that you dry them off with a paper towel.

You do not want water from the potatoes spattering from the hot oil up onto your pretty dress (cuz I wear so many of those.) Don't laugh. It could happen.

Oh, very important too for super crispy, restaurant style fries...

Buy yourself an oil thermometer.
I found mine at Fareway Grocery Store for $2.50!!!

Two dollars and fifty cents.

I put off buying one for a year because I thought they were like twenty bucks (and I'm cheap.)
But no...
$2.50.

You will need a thermometer in order to cook the fries correctly cause you will deep fry them twice, which is the norm for quality, crispy fries.

Seriously, what the heck is duck fat? Oh wait, I have that in my pantry. Uh huh. Right by my stash of caviar.

Anyway, heat the duck fat (yeah, right...like I used duck fat, NOT!)

I used canola oil...Heat the canola oil to 325 degrees. Blanch 1 cup of fries at a time until cooked but not crispy, about 5 minutes. Remove from oil and dry on paper towels.

While these are drying on paper towels...

don't let the thermometer fall face first into the hot oil.

Dis not good.

Okay, now here's the deal. Raise the temperature of the oil to 375 degrees.
Fry in batches again until golden and crispy, about 3-5 minutes.

See the thermometer on the top right?
It's amazing how the temp goes down so quickly when a handful of potatoes are thrown in.
See how golden and crispy these fries are getting? Yum!

Let set on paper towels again and sprinkle with cayenne (yowza!) and black pepper and salt.

And here we have the completed masterpiece...soft on the inside but super crunchy and golden on the outside.

Absolutely perfect!

Go ahead, take one.
I'm sharing.
As long as I'm not asked to share my cheesecake, it's all gooood.

Okay, Ima run through quickly, the directions for the Beurre Blanc sauce since I saw fit not to use it after I made it!

Oh my gosh, you tell me: white wine vinegar
dry white wine
shallots
butter
tarragon
and salt and pepper!!!

Sounds kind of tasty for a sauce to go over steak, doesn't it?

Well, pretty much, these are the only pictures I have of this lovely sauce.
It smelled so good while I was making it...with the shallots sauteed in butter and that tarragon...tarragon is a-mazing oh my!

Now we move to the Ribeye steaks.

So easy to make.

In a pan on the stove!

But you'll need the steaks, a couple tablespoons canola oil, salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons butter.

Salt and pepper the Ribeyes and cook until medium-rare or however you like your steaks.

Usually 3 1/2 minutes each side for medium rare.

They should look and smell pretty amazing by the time they are cooked to your specs.

Set steaks aside and tent with aluminum foil while you get the french fries on the plate.

And

plate

it all

up.

Sweetness does not look real convincing that she wants a hunk o' that juicy Ribeye.

Oh, just a heads up,

if you think of being kind of cute and funny and ask your vegetarian daughter if she would like some big, juicy, meaty steak...
she might do this.

Just sayin', that's all :)

Okay, Get a big ol' napkin ready cuz you're gonna need it!
So tasty, so amazing.
My mouth is watering just writing about this Ribeye and Fries!

The recipes are below!
If you can see the recipe on the left hand side, just click on it and then click print if you want to print it off.

Have a great rest of the

weekend!

See ya soon!

Rib Eye Steak in Beurre Blanc with Duck Fat Fries
From cookingchanneltv.com Nadia G’s Show Bitchin Kitchen
Courtesy of www.turnkeyqualitycars.com

Ingredients
FRIES:
2 cups warm water
1/2 cup raw sugar
2 russets, cut into 1/4-inch fries
3 cups duck fat
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Freshly cracked black pepp
Sea salt

BEURRE BLANC:
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup good-quality dry white wine
2 shallots, minced
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold butter, cubed
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly cracked black pepper

STEAK:
2 tablespoons canola oil
Two 1-inch-thick rib eye steaks, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons butter

Directions
For the fries:To the warm water, add the raw sugar and whisk. Soak the fries in the sugar water for 1 hour, or up to overnight. Strain and dry off in a salad spinner.

In a large pot, heat the duck fat to 325 degrees F. Blanch 1 cup of fries at a time until cooked but not crispy, about 5 minutes. Once all batches have been blanched, raise the temperature of the oil to 375 degrees F. Fry in batches again until golden and crispy, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with cayenne, black pepper and sea salt.

For the Beurre Blanc: Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the vinegar, white wine and shallots. Let boil and reduce down to 2 tablespoons of liquid. Take off the heat and let cool for about 1 minute. Put the saucepan back on the burner without turning on the heat. Throw in a few butter cubes at a time; whisk until the butter is melted. Continue until all the butter is melted. Add the tarragon, salt and some pepper. Mix. Cover, turn the heat to very low and let sit.

For the Steak: Heat the canola oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the steaks with the salt and some pepper. Cook for 3 1/2 minutes per side for medium-rare. For the last minute of cooking, add the butter and melt. Remove the steaks from the heat, tent and let rest for 5 minutes.

Place the steaks and fries on plates and top with some beurre blanc.

Soft Chocolate Cookies Before Bedtime?

2/9/2012

Little Boy Blue needs to wait a few months to eat these Soft Chocolate Cookies.

Hey Cool, Young, Hip Grandma,

Can I have a cookie before I go to sleep? The warm formula in my bottle will help wash down all those cookie crumbs.

What??

3 1/2 months is too young to eat cookies??? For reals Grandma??

Well, what about the cookie dough then?
Care to share that with a yittle growing baby boy?

Nice try Little Boy Blue...maybe in a couple months we can discuss the cookie dough thing.
Until that time, can you believe how good these cookies are?

See how soft they are?

Mmmmmmm!
Not kidding.

These cookies are mildly chocolately, not overpowering at all and very soft.

I love these Soft Chocolate Cookies!

They say, "Eat me, I'm soft. With just a hint of chocolate. That means you can eat twice as much. Trust me, I'm a cookie, would I lie to you?"
Hehehehe.

So I was looking for a cookie recipe where I had all the ingredients in my pantry.

I found this online at allrecipes.com and it had like five hundred thousand excellent reviews, so I blindly tried it.
Here's the fixins for these soft yummy cookies.

And the recipe is embedded below to print off.
By the way, this cookie recipe is unbelievable easy!!!

I am no baker by any stretch of the imagination (I dislike baking in fact), yet I was able to throw this recipe together exceedingly easy!

Soft Chocolate Cookies
From www.allrecipes.com Submitted by Beth Struble
Courtesy of www.turnkeyqualitycars.com

Ingredients

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup baking cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
confectioners' sugar

Directions

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle. Roll into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten with a fork if desired. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are firm. Remove to wire racks. Dust warm cookies with confectioners' sugar.

Hey, what's fun though is it that I can show pictures of my baking skilz.

I've noticed on other baking websites, the baking pictures always look so purty!

Like look at this picture of the butter and sugar...purty I tell ya!

Well, mix that butter and sugar up.

Mix it, mix it and lick it but don't let other people see you do that cause they will think it's gross you licking the butter and sugar off the beater.

Too bad, so sad :(

Add the eggs and beat...whirrrrr, whiiirrrr, whiirrrrr, whiiirrrr, clunk, Don't ask.

See,
didn't I tell ya these pictures are so buttery pretty!

Squirt some of that vanilla in there and stir more.

Now let's continue on with the dry ingredients...the flour...boring!

Yawn.

Add cocoa and mix together...Now...so not boring!
Oh add the baking soda and salt too.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, a little at a time, with a mixer.

Geez, I have to do EVERYTHING around here.

No need to refrigerate like the directions say.

No Siree.
Just roll into 1 inch balls with two spoons and plop down onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Use parchment paper!! Less burning and cleanup!

Cook for 10 minutes only (they will look undone), take them out but LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!
DO NOT take them off the cookie sheet at this time,
they will fall apart.

Do not try to pick a cookie up, it will fall apart.
Do not eat these warm,
they will fall apart.

Let cookies set 15 minutes until they are fully cooled.
If you don't , they will fall apart.

Be mature about this and let them be...no picking at them, don't do it! I did and all I got was crumbly messes. (Notice that was plural?) (I picked more than once, each time, they crumbled apart....all four times in fact. *sigh*)

Listen to John, Paul, Ringo and George and LET IT BE! For Pete's sake!

Let It Be album cover from Wikipedia.org

Actually let's

listen to

Ray Charles

version of

Let It Be...

so beautiful

Hello, I am a sweet soft chocolate valentine cookie. Won't you make me please?

Once you let them (the cookies) be, about fifteen minutes, run over there, pick one up and ea...

no, take a picture of it for your blog real quick,

then eat it!!!!

See the insides there?

They look soft, don't they?

You won't lose a crown in this cookie, I tell ya.

Oh, go a head and grab a handful.

I'll get a take home baggie for you.

Remember, these freeze super well!!!!

Okay kiddos,
next time Ima talk about some
Ribeye Steaks (shut.up, get.out, yes I am!)
and the best Homemade French Fries
ever known to, well, you know, people.duh

Be prepared to be hungry after seeing these pictures!

Dang!! I'm hungry now!

I hate it when that happens!!!

Talk at ya this weekend with a sssssizzzzlin' steak recipe....Yowza!

Have a great Friday!!!!

Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos

2/7/2012

It snowed just a bit the other day.....

What the heck you mean I don't mind, fool?!?!!!! Seriously woman, I'm freezing!!!!!

Mindy

Peaches

didn't

seem to

mind.

So it was a nice day to to stay inside and make

Addictive Sweet Potato

Burritos!!!

You likey?

And to show off my vintage Homer Laughlin dinner plates.

Don't ya love them and their pretty, fiesta, festive colors??!!

Well just in case you weren't smitten a second ago, are you smitten now with the close-up?

Huh?

Huh?

You want them, don't ya?

Well, you can't have them. Cuz I love them. Love.
LOVE them.
Not more than my kids or anything but they're right up there.

Also right up there on my love list are these
Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos.

Absolutely fantastic is what these are!

They don't look like much on a plate but they are exceedingly healthy, packed full of protein and beta carotene AND if you eat vegan, all you have to do is eliminate the cheese from the recipe!

Everybody who eats a bite is prepared to go "ewww" but instead they eat the whole thing and more! Kids love them too!

Sweet potatoes, black beans, spices AND cheese.
That's the way, uh huh, uh huh, I like it, uh huh, uh huh Duh.

So let's start with the fixins for these burritos.

By the way, you can eat these as a meal or just a snack. They are very filling.

And the directions are sooo simple.

First, microwave or bake your sweet potatoes until soft and scoop them out and mash them.

Of course, chop up your onion and garlic and saute them until soft.

By the way, you need 6 cups of black beans, drained.
That is four whole cans!

Fortunately I had four cans in my pantry because I did not think that 6 cups of beans was a whole total four cans.

Still, beans are pretty reasonable priced so that's cool. Also sweet potatoes are reasonable too. This is an economical meal really.

Anyway,

stir in

the

beans.

And mash them.

This takes a bit of time, a few minutes.

Just pretend like the beans are someone who said something really mean to you at sometime in your life and mash, mash, mash those suckers up!
MASH EM' TO A PULP! MASH 'EM!
Hehehe, who needs some therapy?

Gradually

stir in the

water and

heat until

warm.

Remove from heat and stir in the chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper and soy sauce.
Don't forget the soy sauce.

Get yer work station set up with the
black beans, mashed potatoes, cheese and tortillas.

BTW, I used whole wheat tortillas and they were great!

Don't be grossed out but I set all twelve tortillas out on the kitchen counter to fill each one evenly.
Divide the beans and the sweet potatoes between the twelve tortillas.

Shmush
the beans and the sweet potatoes down with a spoon and top evenly with the cheese.

Fold up the tortillas burrito style and place on a baking sheet.

These make an even dozen with 10" tortillas. Don't grease the sheet. Do NOT grease the sheet.

Folding these tortillas up was E-A-S-Y!

Bake for 12 minutes until lightly browned or warm.

Wanna see what they looked like after 12 minutes in the oven???!!!

That super crispy browned one on the lower right is mine. Get your hands off it!

Loverly.

That's what they looked like!!
Loverly.

And there ya have it.

These are fantastic!

I knew I would LOVE these.
Tim was more dubious....
However, after he took one bite, he ate the whole thing.
Plus another one!!!

See that steam coming off that top burrito half?

My teenage niece initially did not want to try one because she barely likes sweet potatoes she said.

I cut off a small bite for her. She was hesitant.

But after tasting it, she said "Give me the whole thing."

I asked her why she liked it and she said she liked the beans and the cheese and the sweet potato was soft and had a sweet taste to it.

By the way, I have the cutest vintage pieces to set a quick Latin-inspired centerpiece with.

See this cute little Latin guy on a donkey??!!

He is carrying oil and vinegar condiment canisters up on top and salt and pepper shakers on the bottom.

See the oil bag and the vinegar bags here down below?
And the little salt and peppers down below that?
See that face on the "V" and "O" canisters?
How funny!

How 'bout

this little

workhorse

donkey?

He's carrying little salt and pepper shakers.
I love how the salt bag on the right has a dollar sign running through it.

And this cute little donkey is missing his little salt and pepper shakers
I think.

He has two bags and nothing to put in them.

Kind of like alligators who have all them teeth but no toothbrush.

:):):)

And aren't these napkin holders so cool?

Okay, I won't bore ya'll anymore.

Seriously though, I just KNOW you will love those Addictive Sweet Potatoe Burritos.

Try them out! Recipes are below.

Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos
Adapted generously from allrecipes.com Submitted by Karena
Courtesy turnkeyqualitycars.com

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups canned black beans, drained….that equals 4 cans
½ to 3/4 cup water or leave out entirely
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
3 tablespoons soy sauce
4 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes…for Angie, this came out to 4 ½ medium/large sweet potatoes
12 (10 inch) flour tortillas, warmed
12 ounces shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese or a combo of Mexican and Cheddar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Heat oil in a medium skillet, and saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in beans, and mash. Gradually stir in water (if you’re going to use), and heat until warm. Remove from heat, and stir in the chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper and soy sauce.
Divide bean mixture and mashed sweet potatoes evenly between the warm flour tortillas. Top with cheese. Fold up tortillas burrito style, and place on a baking sheet. No need to grease baking sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven, and serve.

Okay, see ya'll next time!

Soft Chocolate Cookie

recipe coming shortly....

I think!!! Maybe.

See ya then!

The Night Diane Came to the House With Steaks And Kale And Potatoes and Old Time Supper Clubs

2/4/2012

Did you know Steak Diane is an old-skool way of cooking a steak?

And that it was popularized in Supper Clubs; whose heyday were the 1950's-60's?

Steak Diane with Kale with Roasted Beets and Bacon and Creamy Mashed Root Vegetables.

explorewisconsin.com, the Al-Gen supper club, still operating outside of Rhinelander, WI

Let me just say for the record,
if I had unlimited funds and could start up any business I ever wanted,
it would so be a Supper Club!!!!!
I love supper clubs, love them!!! They're so old-skool and vintagey, you know?!?!

And
Steak Diane was a mainstay on every
Supper Club menu back in the day.

Q: What is Steak Diane?
A. Standard answer is "A dish consisting of a pan fried filet mignon with a sauce made from seasonal pan juices." According to Emeril Lagasse.

Q: Why is Steak Diane called "Steak Diane?"
A: Supposedly named for the Roman goddess of the hunt, Diana (or Diane) style was originally a way of serving venison. Through the years, though, the preparation has come to mean sauteing thinly sliced or pounded filet mignon in butter and then flambeing and basting it in a rich Cognac sauce. Uh, according to Wikipedia.

flickriver.com

Q: Why are you boring us with this information?

A: I have no idea other than I LOVE old skool Supper Clubs...you know what I'm talking about....the places where relish trays were brought out to the table with crinkle cut carrots, radish roses, crackers, crunchy bread sticks and that soft cheese spread, oh my!

flickr.com

Q: Oh my gosh, you're gonna bore the heck out of us and talk more about Supper Clubs, aren't you?

A: Yes!
And they were usually dark with mood lighting and did you know the majority of Supper Clubs were located in the Midwest in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan? Even though the absolute first Supper Club started in California, it was started by a Milwaukee native. And the reason Supper Clubs grew so much in the 40's, 50's, and 60's and stayed strong until the 70's was the development of federal and state highway systems and the rise of recreational auto travel. Yup, 'tis true according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

captainnemosupperclub.com

Oh my gosh, remember the giant iceberg salads that would come to your table!?!?

Huge steaks and seafood and onion rings.

All brought by a friendly wait staff dressed in black and white and scurrying on garnet colored shag carpet? And sometimes the carpet climbed the walls? Remember?

Spring Lake Inn, Prairie Du Chien, Facebook page

Tim and I have been to this "Inn" outside of
Prairie du Chien, WI
several times and we love it.

They specialize in steaks and seafood and they have a real Supper Club "feel" including a relish and cracker tray brought immediately out to your table!!!

And their Prime Rib is out of this world awesome!!!

But I digress.

Let's talk about the old skool
Steak
Diane
that I made from Guy Fieri's recipe.

These are the fixins.
Mmmmmm is all I can say with that filet, buttah, mushrooms and olive oil.

Just wanted to make sure you saw the filet part of this meal.

Mmmmm again!

Wanna touch it, don't ya?
Well, don't! Unless you wash your hands first.

By the way, filet is expensive. Ouch! But worth it! I had the meat dude cut me fresh pieces.

By the way, I must let you know, this filet recipe ended up so tender, all we used to cut the meat was a fork. Tender, tender, tender!
Tim sates,"It was like a slice of Heaven."

So we start with the "Diane" or sauce part, by adding 2 cans beef stock to a pan and reducing it to 1/2 cup.

It takes a bit of time over medium high high heat.

Be patient, it will reduce.

Sprinkle the steaks on both sides with salt and pepper.
In a large skillet or cast iron pan, heat 2 tbsp. of butter and the olive oil.
When the butter has melted, add the steaks.
Brown on both sides. Transfer to a plate.

Add the mushrooms and shallots to the pan.
Add the garlic, wine, brandy (be CAREFUL, this can ignite if you get it too close to the flame!), mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and the reduced beef stock.

Simmer for 2-3 minutes,
return steaks to the pan and finish cooking to desired temperature,
2 to 4 minutes.

This is Tim's separate pan...
Tim does NOT like mushrooms,
so his two steaks were sauteed separately.

Although he was more than happy to finish off my second steak that was sauteed in the mushroom sauce, oddly enough!

Add the remaining
2 Tbsp. butter to the sauce to melt.

Uh, delicioso!!!!
Oh my goodness,
don't even get me started what kind of flavor that last shot of butter brought.

Okay, steaks are tented up with aluminum foil.

Now let's start on the Kale with Roasted Beets and Bacon and the Creamy Mashed Root Vegetables.

I will not comment on the bacon, will not, won't do it, I have will power. No I don't; I LOVE BACON!

Here's the lineup for the
Kale with Roasted Beets and Bacon.

Wash and trim the beets, removing both ends.

Place them on aluminum foil, drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Seal and roast until fork tender about an hour.

In a large skillet, cook the baon until medium-crisp or however you like it...
Tansfer the bacon to a paper towel lined plate.

Increase the heat to high and add the kale, stirring to coat.
Cover and cook for a few minutes, then add the chicken stock and 2 Tbsp of the vinegar. Stir to combine , cover and allow to wilt for 6-8 minutes.

Peel and cut the beets into chunks and add them to the kale.
Stir in the remaining 2 tbsp. vinegar. Add the bacon, stir to combine.
Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Okay,
now onto the Creamy Mashed Root Vegetables.

Here's the fixins!

Not many ingredients and I LOVE the tanginess of the turnips in these potatoes.

These are definitley not fat free potatoes, let me tell ya!

Put a large pot on high heat and add the milk, cream, salt, thyme and bay leaves.
Peel and cut the turnips into 1-inch chunks. Add those to the pot and cover partially with a lid. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 30 minutes.

Cut the potatoes into 1 inch chunks. After the turnips have cooked 30 minutes, add the potatoes and continue to simmer until tender.

Discard the bay leaves and thyme, drain the potatoes and turnips, reserving 2 cups of cooking liquid, then mash.

Add the cooking liquid and butter and season with salt and pepper.

Starch

addiction

anyone?

Yup, Angie is raising her hand wildly!!!

And here we have the completed meal.
By the way, the beets with the kale and bacon; fabulous!
If someone in the family doesn't care for beets, leave them out, that's fine too. But I will say the beets provided a nice complement to the big flavor of the Steak Diane, which was amazing too!

Okay, so all three recipes are embedded below.

Try out this old-skool Steak Diane recipe sometime.

If you like beets, make certain to print out a copy of the kale recipe too.
And the potatoes are lip-lickin' good!

Steak Diane
Guy Fieri, Food Network, Backyard Bites: Steak Diane episode
Courtesy of turnkeyqualitycars.com

Ingredients
1 quart low-sodium beef stock
Four 6 to 8-ounce filet mignons
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups thinly sliced cremini mushrooms
2 shallots, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup brandy
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions
Pairs well with: cabernet.

Add the beef stock to a saucepan and reduce over medium-high heat to 1/2 cup, about 1 hour.

Sprinkle the steaks on both sides with the salt and pepper. In a large skillet or cast-iron pan over medium-high heat, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter and the olive oil. When the butter has melted and the oil shimmers, add the steaks. Brown the steaks on both sides, 3 minutes per side. Transfer the steaks to a plate and set aside, lightly covered with foil.

Add the mushrooms and shallots to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently, adding oil if needed. Add the garlic. When the garlic is lightly colored, add the brandy (be careful, it can ignite). Add the wine, mustard, Worcestershire and the reduced beef stock. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes more. Return the steaks to the pan and finish cooking them to the desired temperature, 2 to 4 minutes, depending upon the size of the filets and desired temperature/doneness. For medium-rare, cook to 135 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter to the sauce to melt.

To serve, place a steak on each plate and pour the sauce over the steak.

Kale With Roasted Beets and Bacon
Ingredients
2 beets (about 14 ounces)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
6 thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon slices (8 ounces), diced
1 large bunch kale (about 1 1/2 pounds), washed, stemmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/3 cup low-sodium chicken stock
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Wash and trim the beets, removing both ends. Place them on a 12-inch square sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Drizzle with the olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Seal up the foil packet and roast until the beets are fork-tender, about 1 hour.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until medium-crisp (or however you prefer your bacon). Transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate. Increase the heat to high and add the kale, stirring to coat in the rendered bacon grease. Cover and cook for a few minutes, and then add the chicken stock and 2 tablespoons of the vinegar. Stir to combine, cover and allow to wilt for 6 to 8 minutes.

Peel and cut the beets into chunks and add them to the kale. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons vinegar. Add the bacon, stir to combine and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Creamy Mashed Root Vegetables
Ingredients
5 cups whole milk
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 fresh bay leaves
2 pounds turnips
2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
Freshly cracked black pepper

Directions
Set a large pot over high heat and add the milk, cream, salt, thyme and bay leaves. Peel and cut the turnips into 1-inch chunks. Add to the pot and cover partially with a lid. Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the turnips for 30 minutes.

Cut the potatoes into 1-inch chunks. After the turnips have cooked for 30 minutes (it takes longer than the potatoes to cook), add the potatoes and continue to simmer until all the vegetables are very tender, about 20 more minutes (the tip of a paring knife should go through with little resistance). Discard the bay leaves and thyme. Drain the turnips and potatoes, reserving 2 cups of cooking liquid, and then mash. Add the cooking liquid and butter. Mix well and season with salt and pepper.

Have a great rest of the

weekend!

I love weekends!!!

See ya soon!