Stuffed Meatloaf

August 20, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

I haven’t made a stuffed meatloaf in a long time. You can stuff it with any combination of veggies and cheeses based on your personal favorites. I decided to stuff mine with caramelized onions, oven roasted tomatoes and cheese. How can that combo not be good!! I had some very special friends coming for dinner and decided this was a bit of sophisticated twist on a homey comfort dish.

First I sliced and roasted several Roma tomatoes. Lay the tomato slices out on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil, scatter some smashed garlic cloves and salt to taste. Put in a 225 degree oven for approximately 5 hours.

Grate approximately 1 cup of cheese. I used asiago and Parmesan.

Next, slice a large yellow sweet onion and caramelize it over medium heat in olive oil.

Meatloaf Ingredients:

1 pound of ground pork

1 pound of ground beef

1 cup bread crumbs

2 eggs

2 T Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup fresh minced parsley

3 or 4 cloves of garlic minced

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 350.

Put all of the ingredients in a large bowl and, using your hands, mix together.

On a piece of parchment paper shape the meat mixture into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Top with the tomatoes and onion and sprinkle with cheese.

Using the parchment paper roll the meatloaf jelly roll style and place in a large baking dish.

Meat Loaf Topping Ingredients:

1 cup catsup

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup brown sugar

Whisk together.

Pour the sauce over the meatloaf and bake for approximately one hour. Allow it to rest 5-10 minutes before slicing.

I served it with oven roasted Brussels sprouts and new potatoes. Would also be great with smashed potatoes, corn on the cob… any sides you would typically serve with meatloaf.

Refrigerator Voyeur

July 25, 2015July 29, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Several years ago we were at an outdoor party, I think celebrating someone’s retirement. We were all gathered round in the backyard eating snacks and drinking adult beverages when one of the female guests went into the house to use the necessary room. We saw her turn on the light and she obviously used the toilet because for a minute or two she was out of view. Then some of us pretended not to watched as she went over to the sink and proceeded to open the medicine cabinet. She removed a couple items for closer evaluation and then put them back where she found them. She closed the medicine cabinet and bent down. We assume to look through the vanity drawers. The light went out and in a moment she was back outdoors with the rest of us. No one spoke a word to the medicine cabinet voyeur about what several of us had witnessed and chuckled quietly about.

When I go to visit my dad I am a refrigerator voyeur. Someone needs to be. Checking for expiration dates or foods that are penicillin material. Perhaps I’m not an adequate refrigerator peeping Tom because on one visit my nieces found some very very old milk in the back of the refrigerator. They asked me what they should do with it and I said pour it down the toilet. “Aunt Featherheadlady,” they said, “it won’t come out of the carton.” Well that says it all.

I’m always curious about what people in front of or behind me have in their shopping carts. Do they make meals from scratch? Bake a lot? Buy organic? Eat gluten free? Vegetarian or vegan? Junk food junkies? Do they have lots of children? Eat alone? Maybe I’ll start taking pictures of the content of people’s shopping carts and try to draw conclusions about their lives. I guess I’m just as nosy as the lady who combed through that medicine cabinet.

I thought I’d share a few of my refrigerator shelves with you. Most of these things I consider necessities for cooking savory dishes. I have specific places for specific things. When my husband is rummaging through the fridge I ask him what he’s looking for. Because I know where almost everything is in there. Almost everything.

Shelf #1

Sweet relish for making tartar sauce. Some people use it as a stand alone condiment but I do not.

Dijon mustard for making salad dressing, potato salad, deviled eggs, barbecue sauce, and for smearing on sandwiches or burgers.

Chipotle hot sauce??? Where did that come from?

Anchovy filets and paste for making pasta sauces and Caesar salad dressing.

Hoisin sauce for stir-fry or dipping sauces.

Horseradish for making cocktail sauce, bloody Mary’s, dipping sauce for beef brisket, or kicking up the deviled eggs a bit.

Shelf #2

Fish sauce for stir-fry, marinades, Asian vinaigrette.

Sriracha chili sauce for dipping sauces, glaze.

Franks red hot for so many things…macaroni and cheese, potato salad, bloody Mary’s, tacos, barbecue sauce…

A1 sauce for foods I cook that my husband thinks are dry or insufficiently seasoned.

Worcestershire sauce…Lea and Perrins…for so many things. (I think it’s wrong to take the paper off the bottle.) It has vinegar, molasses, sugar, onion, garlic, cloves, chili pepper extract and anchovies. Genius.

Shelf #3

Chili pepper for kicking up chili, dips, salsa, guacamole. A little goes a long way.

Toasted sesame oil for marinades, stir-fried dishes, rice noodles. A little goes a long way.

Soy sauce for stir-fry, marinades, sushi. Like Worcestershire and Franks, soy sauce is a necessity.

Lemon oil which is great for fish dishes and salad dressings.

Saigon sizzle stir-fry sauce when you want a good, not much extra effort, dinner in the wok.

That’s the left side of my refrigerator door. My cooking necessities. The other side has things like buttermilk, brooks tangy catsup, dark chocolate syrup, jalapeño peppers, lots of butter, mayonnaise, maple syrup, and a big container of Pepto Bismol.

Another time I’ll invite you into my cheese drawer.

Super Laundry Sauce

June 3, 2015 / featherheadlady / 2 Comments

Looks good enough to eat but it’s definitely not edible. It’s sauce for doing your laundry. It’s an excellent stain remover. It’s easy to make. And it’s economical. Very economical! You can do 128 loads of laundry for less than $2.00. I like a bargain as much as the next person but the real reason I keep making this is because it works so well.

Ingredients:

1 bar Fels Naptha

3 cups boiling water

1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax Powder

1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

2 wide mouth quart jars

You’ll find all of these ingredients in the laundry section in the grocery store.

Cut the bar of Fels Naptha in half and then chop each half into little pieces.

Put half the chopped up Fels Naptha in one jar, half in the other. Pour 1 1/2 cups of boiling water in each jar, cover, and let them sit until the next morning.

The next morning you can turn the jar upside down and the Fels Naptha and water will have gelled. Use a butter knife to score the gel.

Add one half cup of the 20 Mule Team Borax to each jar. Add one half cup of the Arm and Hammer Washing Soda to each jar. Put the tea kettle on and add boiling water just up to the shoulder of each jar. Leave about an inch and a half of headspace.

Using an immersion blender blend the mixture until it looks like mayonnaise. Or if your mason jar will fit the base of your blender whip until smooth and creamy. If you don’t own an immersion blender or a regular blender scrape the contents into a deep bowl and whip with a hand mixer. Once it’s whipped use a rubber spatula to work it back into the jar.

One tablespoon is all you need to wash a large load of laundry. Great for front loaders and high efficiency machines because it is low sudsing.

If you have a stain rinse the area with cold water and use some of the laundry sauce to pretreat. Everyone I know that’s made this sauce loves it!

I originally found this recipe on a site called Budget101.com.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

March 16, 2015 / featherheadlady / 3 Comments

It’s that time of year. Saint Patty’s Day. The day many of us enjoy the ultimate boiled dinner. For years a very good friend hosted a Saint Patty’s Day party and she cooked a lot of corned beef for the occasion. I had made corned beef brisket myself for years before her party but hers was the best I had ever tasted. No mustard required!

Ingredients:

Corned beef (of course)

1 large onion quartered

6-7 whole garlic cloves

1 T red pepper flakes

1 T crushed bay leaves

1 T oregano

1 T basil

1 T coriander seeds

salt and black pepper

…and that little seasoning packet that comes with the corned beef

Put your corned beef in a large Dutch oven or heavy kettle. Pour boiling water to completely cover the meat and bring to a boil over medium high heat.

Once the pot starts to boil, skim the white foam off with a slotted spoon. I know, it looks a little gross. Once you’ve removed and discarded the foam turn the heat down and add the onion and the garlic to the pot.

In a mortar and pestle combine and crush all of the dried herbs and spices and add them to the pot.

I add these after skimming the foam so that I don’t lose a lot of my seasoning in the process.

Add a generous T of salt, cover and simmer over low heat for 5-6 hours. Near the end of the cooking time prepare the vegetables.

Cabbage

Carrots

Red potatoes

Onion

Green Beans

Cut the cabbage into wedges removing the core. Scrub the carrots and cut into thirds. Cut the onion into quarters.

Cut the potatoes, rinse well and trim the green beans.

Remove the meat to a foil lined pan, along with a generous amount of the jus. Seal the foil and keep warm in the oven while the veggies cook.

Add the vegetables to the pot with the broth. Potatoes, carrots, onion, beans and cabbage on top. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer over low heat. Cook until the vegetables are all fork tender. About 45 minutes to an hour. The vegetables pick up the great spicy flavors from the broth.

Remove the meat about 10 minutes before serving. Allow the meat to rest for a few minutes and slice against the grain. Put all the vegetables in a large serving bowl or on a platter and top with the slices of corned beef. Fill up your plate and enjoy!

Serve with a good rye bread and a nice cold Irish beer like Guinness or O’hara’s Irish Wheat. This boiled dinner is a meal in itself and doesn’t need any other side dishes.

Leftovers are great as, well, leftovers. This is one of the meals I think tastes as good or better the next day. Or you can make a corned beef or Ruben sandwich. Maybe some corned beef hash for breakfast. It’s all good! Enjoy. Happy Saint Patty’s Day.

Middle Eastern Vegetable Salad

March 12, 2015March 17, 2015 / featherheadlady / 3 Comments

This is is one of my favorites salads; it’s a recipe I got from a dear friend and I make it frequently. The fresh lemon and herbs always taste like summer to me so I especially enjoy this salad in the winter!

Ingredients:

1 bunch green onions, green and white parts sliced thin

1 lb ripe tomatoes diced

1 cucumber peeled, seeded and diced

1/2 cup chopped mint leaves

1/2 cup chopped basil

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1 can garbanzo beans aka chick peas

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup olive oil

1 T minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste

8 oz fresh feta crumbled

Get out a large salad bowl and start chopping. Slice the green onion.

Dice the tomatoes and seed and dice the cucumbers.

I like to put all of my fresh herbs in the salad spinner to wash and dry them well. Then I remove all of the stems and put the herbs in my food processor and give them a few pulses.

Place the green onions, tomato, cucumber, and herbs in a salad bowl. Rinse and drain the chick peas and add them to the vegetables. Combine lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and minced garlic in a small bowl and whisk.

Pour the dressing over the salad and gently toss with a spatula to coat the vegetables. Add the feta cheese and salt and pepper to taste.

This salad is great on its own served with fresh or toasted pita bread. The cheese and beans provide plenty of protein for a good lunch. I think this salad pairs especially well with fish and pork. I served it for dinner with trout and smashed garlic cauliflower.

Enjoy!

Cream Puffs

February 16, 2015 / featherheadlady / 2 Comments

Cream puffs are one of my favorite desserts to make for guests. They look like a little fancy or, as my dad would say, “store bought.” The puffs only requires 4 ingredients that most everyone has on hand and are very simple to make. The filling I always use is one of my mom’s recipes; a recipe I think my mom got from her mother because my cousins remember it from their childhood as well. I grew up enjoying this filling in a pie. Graham cracker crust, sugar custard filling topped with a beautiful meringue. It’s a great memory. It was a great pie. And it tastes awesome in a cream puff.

Puff Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

1 cup water

4 eggs

1/4 tsp salt

In a heavy saucepan bring water to a boil and melt the butter in the boiling water.

Once the butter has melted add the flour and salt all at once and stir vigorously. Continue to cook and stir until the mixture forms a ball that won’t separate. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until smooth.

Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet.

Bake at 450 for 15 minutes.

Bake at 325 for 25 minutes

Turn the oven off, split the puffs, and put them back in the oven to dry for 20 minutes. Put dried puffs on a rack to cool.

Now you’re ready to prepare the filling.

Filling ingredients:

2 cups whole milk

1 cup sugar

3 T flour

3 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

Whisk together the flour and sugar in a heavy saucepan.

Whisk egg yolks.

Add milk and egg yolks to the sugar, flour mixture. Cook over medium heat whisking constantly until mixture comes to a full boil.

Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla. Allow the filling to cool. Assemble the cream puffs.

Serve with some fresh berries or drizzle with a little chocolate, caramel or hot fudge. Add a dollop or two of whipped cream if you’d like.

Cream Puffs. It’s what was for dessert tonight. And probably again tomorrow.

NOTE: Add coconut or bananas to the vanilla filling for a cream pie or pudding. Or, if you don’t have time to make cream puffs, serve the cream filling on its own with fruit of your choosing.

Scalloped Potatoes with Cheese

October 30, 2014 / featherheadlady / 2 Comments

Scalloped potatoes are one of my favorite comfort foods. They are one of my dad’s favorites too but he likes his “cheeseless,” probably because that’s the way my mother made them. If I made a ham a day or two earlier I would have cubed the ham and mixed it in with the potatoes but I’m cooking both the ham and the scalloped potatoes today. So they are served side by side. Scalloped potatoes and ham. It’s what’s for dinner tonight.

There are dozens and dozens of different ways to prepare scalloped potatoes. I’ve made them several different ways myself. But I like them with a lot of onions and a little cheese. Not so much cheese you’d mistake them for au gratin potatoes but just enough cheese to make them a little richer and creamier. You can make any modifications based on your personal tastes.

When I was in high school I took Home Economics. I took Home Economics because I was a girl. It was the class where I learned to outline textbooks. I believe outlining to be a skill with no real life purpose that I’m aware of. However, all of us learned to make a white sauce. Now that is a skill with a real life purpose. It’s enabled me to make great Mac and cheese, pasta sauces, gravies, and, of course, scalloped potatoes. Mrs. Little, my Home Ec teacher, would be proud of me for remembering the white sauce.

Scalloped Potatoes with Cheese

2 pounds small potatoes

1 large sweet onion sliced thin

9 T butter divided

6 T flour

4 cups milk

1 cup grated cheese (I used 1/2 cup smoked Gouda, 1/2 cup gruyere)

1 tsp dry mustard

5-6 fresh sage leaves (optional)

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

Preheat your oven to 400.

Scrub your potatoes and slice them thin. I use a mandolin so the potato slices are uniform thickness. I also prefer not to peel them. Rinse the potatoes thoroughly after slicing and drain well.

Thin slice the onion. For some reason I have trouble slicing onions on a mandolin so I just use a sharp knife.

Melt 6 T of the butter in a heavy deep skillet. Whisk in the flour and a couple of the sage leaves that have been thin sliced. Whisk for a minute or two.

Slowly add the 4 cups of milk continuing to whisk. Whisk in the ground mustard and continue to whisk until the sauce begins to thicken.

Use 1 T of the butter and grease a large casserole dish. Layer half the potatoes first, half the onions, sprinkle one half cup of the cheeses and half the sauce. Repeat.

Melt the last 2 T of butter in a skillet. Pulse your fresh bread crumbs with a few fresh sage leaves and fresh thyme. Toast on top of the stove tossing until lightly toasted. Sprinkle on top of the potatoes.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 30 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender and the top is golden brown.

Allow the potatoes to sit for about 5 minutes are taking them from the oven. I served mine with sliced ham, steamed broccoli and some spiced apple slices.

Use whatever cheeses are your favorites. If you prefer, omit the sage and thyme. Perhaps try some basil and/or parsley. Or go herb-less. Enjoy. It’s not fancy but you will find it comforting food.

Angel Hair Pasta with Oven Roasted Tomatoes

October 27, 2014 / featherheadlady / 1 Comment

This weekend we had very special friends visit from out of town. Pasta dishes are always favorites with them so I decided to make pasta two ways. Two ways that were both new recipe interpretations for me which is only a safe thing to do if your guests love you unconditionally. One pasta was a red dish, the other was white. One was meatless, the other had sausage. Both of them turned out very well. I’m going to share the meatless red here. Angel hair pasta with oven roasted tomatoes…it’s what was for dinner and again for lunch the next day.

This recipe is only something you’ll want to try if you will be home all afternoon and if you love the smell of roasting garlic and tomato. Everyone who walked in that afternoon commented on the strong aroma of garlic. You could roast the tomatoes without the garlic but the flavor would not be the same. The first part of this dish is the time consuming part…not a lot of work, just time.

Get ready to roast your tomatoes. Preheat the oven to 350 with the racks in the top third of the oven. I combined different kinds of tomatoes…Romas, beefsteak, and small heirloom tomatoes.

Slice the romas and the beefsteaks. Leave the cherry/grape tomatoes whole. Put the tomatoes in a large bowl, add 1/2 cup of olive oil and toss the tomatoes to coat. Spread them out in a single layer on jelly roll pans. Peel and smash a dozen or so cloves of garlic and distribute between the two pans of tomatoes. Lightly salt. Turn the oven down to 225 and put the tomatoes in. Roast them for six hours switching the position of the pans after three hours.

I told you this process was not at all difficult. It won’t take long and the garlic aromas will begin to permeate the kitchen. These tomatoes are so yummy. You won’t ever want to buy sundried, jarred tomatoes again. Throw the garlic away. It will be tough. The flavors have married the tomatoes and olive oil.

Now for the pasta sauce.

3 cups of oven roasted tomatoes (rough chop slices)

2-3 cloves of garlic thin sliced

5-6 anchovy filets

2 T olive oil

1 tsp crushed red pepper

2 T tomato paste

1 pint jar diced tomatoes

20 or so kalamata olives coarsely chopped

10 or so large green olives coarsely chopped

3 T capers

fresh grated asiago cheese

Bring salted water to a boil in a large pot and cook pasta according to package instructions.

Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet. Briefly sauté the garlic slices. Add the anchovy filets and sauté until they melt into the oil. Add the pepper flakes and tomato paste. Add the chopped tomatoes, the olives and capers, and the oven roasted tomatoes. Simmer until thoroughly heated.

Combine the sauce and pasta and toss. Add a half cup or so of the pasta water if necessary. Top with fresh grated asiago cheese. Serve with a tossed salad and some crusty bread.

If you have more than three cups of oven roasted tomatoes there are any number of uses for them in addition to just eating them straight up. They would be great in an omelet, on a sandwich, in a salad. I used the tomatoes I had left tonight when I roasted a pork loin with Brussels sprouts and baby Yukon gold potatoes. I added them to the vegetables when the cook time was almost up.

Pulla – Finnish Cardamom Bread

October 6, 2014October 22, 2014 / featherheadlady / 5 Comments

Okay! It’s the Finnish Dish and finally! A real Finnish dish. My grandmother used to make it best. She would make several loaves at a time and we would enjoy a slice or two with coffee. Whole cardamom seeds are a must vs ground cardamom. This bread reminds me of the unique way my grandfather used to drink coffee. Grandma always made coffee on the stove top in a percolator. No Mr. Coffee, Bunns or Keurigs. So the coffee was VERY hot. My grandpa would pour coffee from his cup into his saucer, balance the saucer on one hand and drink it with a lump of sugar in his cheek and a slice of buttered pulla to go with his coffee. But I digress. Let’s make a loaf.

2 tsp dry yeast

3/4 cups plus 2 T milk

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

4 T sugar

1 T whole cardamom seeds

2 eggs beaten

4 T unsalted butter melted

egg glaze made with 1 egg yolk beaten with one T water

Sprinkle yeast over warmed milk and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Stir to dissolve. Mix flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center and pour in dissolved yeast. Use a wooden spoon to draw in enough flour to form a soft paste. Cover the bowl with a dishcloth and let it sit for 20 minutes until frothy and risen.

Add the sugar, cardamom seeds, beaten eggs, and melted butter to the flour well. Mix in the flour from the sides to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, shiny and elastic, about 10 minutes. Or you can knead in a mixer with a dough hook. After kneading put the dough in a buttered bowl, cover with a dish towel, and let it rise until doubled in size. About 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350. Punch down and let the dough rest 10 minutes. Divide into 3 equal pieces and roll to form 3 ropes (about 16 inches each). Attach the ropes and braid. Place on a buttered baking sheet, cover with a dish towel and proof until doubled in size, about 45-60 minutes.

Brush with egg glaze and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes until richly golden and hollow sounding when tapped from underneath. Cool on wire rack.

If you’re Finnish or grew up around people who were hopefully each slice will bring back happy memories. If you grew up eating challah it may remind you of that. Pulla makes great toast, French toast or grilled sandwiches.

I watched an awesome video recently of a French lady making a variety of braided breads. Some had three ropes, some four, some five… They all looked easy when she did them. I tried the one with four ropes that I thought I remembered. Well, I didn’t remember and after several failed attempts to make it look as awesome as hers I gave up and just did my best. Hence the irregular shape of my finished product. Next time I’ll stick with three ropes.

TIP: I was always told that when dissolving yeast the water/milk should be the temperature of a baby’s bath. If you’re unsure use a cooking thermometer. Yeast can be killed by temps of 130F or over. Ideal temp is approximately body temp, 98.6F.

Lemon Breaded Breast of Chicken

October 6, 2014 / featherheadlady / 1 Comment

I have a dear friend who is famous for her lemon breaded chicken. She makes tons of it every year for her Fourth of July party and it’s one of the first things to go. I’ve never tried her special recipe because I know mine would never taste quite like hers. But today I decided to try my own variation and it was pretty darn good! I served it with Amish noodles in a creamy chicken sauce. It’s what was for dinner tonight.

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (cut each in 2 and butterfly)

2 T olive oil

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (home made are best)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 generous T lemon pepper

2 cloves fresh garlic

1/2 cup fresh parsley

salt and pepper

2 eggs

1 cup flour

2 T butter

4 lemon slices

Preheat your oven to 350.

Save your stale bread; that good crusty loaf that you didn’t finish makes the best bread crumbs for breading, topping Mac and cheese, etc etc. For this recipe cube your bread and run it through your food processor. After the first run through measure out 1 1/2 cups of crumbs and put them back into the processor along with the garlic cloves and parsley. Process once more and then put them onto a plate. Grate your Parmesan cheese and add it to the bread crumbs as well as the lemon pepper and toss to combine.

Get out a casserole dish and spread the olive oil in the bottom. Dip your chicken pieces first into the flour that you’ve added a little salt and pepper to, then the egg that you have lightly whisked, and finally the bread crumbs. I like to do this whole process with my hands but if you like you can use tongs and keep your fingers from getting gooped up. Lay the breaded chicken pieces in your greased casserole dish. Put a small pat of butter on top of each piece of chicken as well as a thin slice of lemon.

Bake at 350 for about 30-40 minutes or until chicken is 165 degrees. Bake time depends on the thickness of your chicken pieces but don’t over bake or your chicken will be dry.

I always like to have cranberry sauce with chicken dishes but I didn’t have any. That’s the next canning project! There will be plenty of fresh cranberries in the grocery soon and I’ll be grabbing up lots of those. The noodles sounded good tonight but any sides would go well with this dish.

Tip: I ended up with a few extra cups of breadcrumbs today. I put them in quart freezer bags, get as much of the air out as possible and I freeze them. I can take them out another time when I need them for topping a casserole or a vegetable dish. Just toast them on top of your stove in a skillet with a little butter. Good food is a terrible thing to waste.