KerriansKitchen

KNR, p. 231 “Meatloaf…Comfort Food”

 

If there are no paragraph separations in this recipe, please double-click on the title to create a more readable version.

Damp, chilly days require stick-to-your-ribs, tasty comfort food. Sheila and I like to combine weekend shopping trips with lunch at the local all-comfort-food diner, but sometimes the winter weather keeps us home. During a couple of rough weeks with sleet, snow, and ice pounding the area, we needed a LOT of comfort food, but the roads were dicey and we elected to stay indoors. What did we do? We came up with our own version of the meatloaf we had enjoyed so often downtown. The owner wouldn’t share his secret recipe and laughed when we asked, but we did a bunch of taste-testing and we think we came pretty close. There were no bodies lying on the floor after we ate, so we must have gotten it right. Try it and see for yourself.  🙂

 

Print
"Meatloaf...Comfort Food"
Author: 
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6-8
 
Ingredients
  • Meatloaf
  • 2 pounds ground beef, 90% or 93% lean preferred
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 2 heaping teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
  • 1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon condensed tomato soup
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup Progresso plain bread crumbs
  • 1 Tablespoon light brown sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon A-1 sauce
  • 1 teaspoon Gulden’s spicy brown mustard
  • Sauce
  • 1 cup condensed tomato soup
  • 2 Tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons A-1 sauce
  • 2 teaspoons Gulden’s spicy brown mustard
  • *1/2 teaspoon Canola oil for pan, not for meatloaf mixture
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400.
  2. Lightly coat sides and bottom of a 9x5 loaf pan with Canola oil to reduce cleanup time.
  3. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix all meatloaf ingredients together.
  4. Press meatloaf mixture evenly in loaf pan, slightly mounded in the center, lengthwise
  5. Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
  6. Increase oven temperature to 425, uncover and bake for 30 minutes more.
  7. While meatloaf is baking, mix sauce ingredients together in small bowl and set aside.
  8. Meatloaf will shrink away from the edge of the pan when almost done.
  9. Remove from oven, spread 1/2 cup of the sauce on the top of the meatloaf and return to oven for 5 minutes more.
  10. Remove from oven and let stand for ten minutes.
  11. Heat the remaining sauce.
  12. Slice the meatloaf in half-inch slices and serve with sauce, greens beans, and mashed potatoes.

You can thank us later.  🙂

 

 

KNR, p. 231 “Meatloaf…Comfort Food” Read More »

KNR, p. 93 “Kerrian’s Chestnut-Sausage Stuffing”

 

Did somebody say stuffing?

Sheila and I eat roasted poultry all year round, so we have a go-to stuffing recipe. We mostly alternate between turkey or Cornish game hens for the various holidays and this is our favorite, flavor-filled stuffing.

You’re going to love it! (and we promise that nobody ever died after eating one of our stuffed birds)

Print
"Kerrian's Chestnut-Sausage Stuffing"
Author: 
Recipe type: side dish
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 6 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 cups celery, diced
  • 2 cups finely chopped onion
  • 1 cup chopped, cooked chestnuts (available seasonally pre-packaged, already shelled & cooked)
  • 4 slices lightly toasted potato bread, cut into 1 inch cubes – about 4 cups
  • 1/2 pound mild Italian sausage – about 1 cup
  • 2 cups thinly sliced fresh Portobello mushrooms - about 2 medium caps
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon mild paprika
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • One jumbo egg, lightly beaten to moisten the stuffing
Instructions
  1. In a heavy frying pan, add butter, celery and onion and sauté on medium heat until light golden brown – about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
  2. Drain and chop chestnuts, medium fine. Set aside.
  3. Remove stems from mushroom caps, peel darkened skin from caps, then slice caps into thin (quarter inch) pieces. Set aside.
  4. Lightly toast bread in toaster, let stand in toaster to dry out bread for five minutes, then cube.
  5. Squeeze meat out of sausage skin and sauté in a second pan, breaking up the meat with a large spoon just until no longer raw. Do not overcook.
  6. Remove sausage and in same pan, sauté mushrooms just until colored, add paprika and garlic powder and mix with mushrooms.
  7. Lightly beat the jumbo egg in a small bowl, add sea salt and continue to mix until well blended.
  8. Combine all ingredients in large bowl and stir until well mixed.

The cooked stuffing can be stored in the refrigerator or frozen if left over.  The recipe makes enough for a 16 pound bird. We’ve also served it as a side dish (when we’re serving chicken legs) and baked it in a buttered pan, covered with a glass lid in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

 

Sheila says to tell you that this is the basic recipe. “It has a well-rounded flavor, ready to use with any poultry. If you’d like to add herbs to the mix in order to complement a savory chicken or Cornish hen, do so with care. Just add a teaspoon of your favorite (sage or thyme or rosemary) to the basic recipe, being careful not to overpower the other flavors on your menu.”

 

I told you she’s a great cook!

 

*Photo by Patti Phillips

KNR, p. 93 “Kerrian’s Chestnut-Sausage Stuffing” Read More »

KNR, p. 126 “75 Second Mookies”

If there are no paragraph separations in this article, please double-click on the title to create a more readable version.

I’ll admit it. I’ve got a sweet tooth. That’s not a secret, but the doc says I should drop ten pounds and that means cutting back on calories. No more eating a dozen cookies in one evening, or having two of those amazing chocolaty chocolate muffins for breakfast, or several of the Vegetarian Detective’s super brownies at one sitting. I could have gotten away with extra helpings of everything before I got sidelined from my very active job, but no more.

We plan a pretty balanced menu, with lots of fruits and veggies, but it’s the extra potatoes and slices of pie that do me in. Exercise burns some of it off, but pushing away from the table is the best diet plan out there.

The Doc and Sheila and I came up with a way to help me lose the weight and it’s mostly about reducing the desserts. She promised not to bake batches of three dozen cookies/muffins at a time and I promised not to hound her or sneak out to the bakery. The Doc admitted that I might feel deprived if I gave up dessert completely, so the new plan could include a daily ‘something’ for my sweet tooth – just not five daily ‘somethings.’ He hinted that fruit between meals might change my cravings, but I’m hedging my bets on that.

So, here’s what Sheila came up with: single serving cookies. That way, there won’t be yummy leftovers calling me from the kitchen, tempting me. She tells me the idea has been around for a long time, but she never had a reason to try it before.

I call them mookies, because to me they’re like a cross between a cookie and a muffin. So simple to make, not a lot of cleanup involved and I can make one myself. All you need is a microwave and a few ingredients and in less than ten minutes of prep and cooking time, you’ve got a dessert. 

Chocolate Chip Mookie

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients for Chocolate Chip Mookie

1 Tablespoon butter or margarine

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon Mexican vanilla extract

pinch sea salt

1 egg yolk

4 Tablespoons King Arthur’s cake flour

2 Tablespoons Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips

 

Ingredients for Pumpkin Mookie

1 ½ Tablespoons butter or margarine

2 Tablespoons light brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon Mexican vanilla extract

pinch sea salt

1 egg yolk

1 ½ Tablespoons organic pumpkin puree

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

4 Tablespoons King Arthur’s cake flour

2 Tablespoons Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips

(Topping is frozen vanilla yogurt and a sprinkle of cinnamon)

 

Double Chocolate Mookie

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients for Double Chocolate Mookie

1 Tablespoon butter or margarine

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon Mexican vanilla extract

pinch sea salt

1 teaspoon Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder

1 egg yolk

4 Tablespoons King Arthur’s cake flour

2 Tablespoons Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips

 

Preparation for all varieties

Use a medium sized glass or ceramic mixing bowl.

Melt the butter for 20 seconds in the microwave. (Doesn’t have to be completely melted)

Add all ingredients for the chosen mookie to the melted butter.

Mix thoroughly using a fork.

Transfer mookie dough to a ramekin or other cup-sized glass or ceramic dish.

Place in microwave and cook for one minute + 15 seconds (75 seconds).

Serve immediately in the ramekin.

The ramekin will be hot, so handle with care.

 

*Photos by Patti Phillips

 

 

 

KNR, p. 126 “75 Second Mookies” Read More »

Scroll to Top