recipe

KNR, p. 231 “Meatloaf…Comfort Food”

 

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.  🙂

 

"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.  🙂

 

 

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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)

"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

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KNR, p. 155 “Triple Baked Beans with Bacon”

 

WTripleBakedBeansIMG_4591-2
It’s near the end of the Major League Baseball season and one of our teams made it into the playoffs! I won’t mention which one it is because I don’t want to jinx their chances. 😉

 

In honor of a great finish to the regular season, the neighbors are having a garage cookout – it’s too cold to stay outside in the backyard for long – and we thought we’d try a new baked bean recipe to go along with the hot dogs and hamburgers our buddies are serving.

 

Easy, tasty and we can make it last minute or the day ahead. Day before prep means that the flavors will be more intense on the day of the party.

 

Triple Baked Beans
Author: 
Recipe type: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4-6
 
Ingredients
  • 1 - 15 oz. can black beans
  • 1 - 15 oz. can pinto beans
  • 1 - 15 oz. can northern beans
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon mustard powder (Colman's has a great flavor)
  • 1 heaping Tablespoon green chilies
  • 2-3 strips bacon, cooked, drained & chopped
Instructions
  1. Pour off most of the liquid from each of the cans of beans.
  2. Place all the beans into a large mixing bowl.
  3. Add brown sugar, mustard powder, and chilies and stir until well mixed.
  4. Pour mixture into shallow 2 quart baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
  5. Stir the mixture and then add the cooked bacon. Stir again.
  6. Stir every 15 minutes until the beans are tender – about an hour total.

 

Serve with corn bread and enjoy!  🙂

 

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