Ma! MEATLOAF!

MMMMAAAA! MEATLOAF...Quick - what movie is that from? Makes me laugh just thinking about it.

I've never really liked meatloaf. I actually have a story about my distaste for meatloaf. You've heard me talk about the SSCC - well it was our second meeting and we were talking about the upcoming months theme. We decided to write everyones favorite dish on a piece of paper and put them in a hat. Whatever dish you picked out, you had to make. No one wrote their names on the dish so you did not know who put what in. So my turn to pick, I open up the little piece of paper and it's MEATLOAF. Of course I make a face and say MEATLOAF....who the blankety blank's favorite dish is MEATLOAF? Now mind you this was our second meeting. I thought Jenn was going to kill me. Thank goodness they let me stick around long enough to find out I'm not a complete b. But seriously, whenever my mom made meatloaf as a kid, I thought of it more like a punishment. Just the word meatloaf grosses me out. Thank goodness, over the years, my taste buds and likes and dislikes have changed. So I made the loaf of meat for SSCC and it turns out, that it wasn't all that bad.

The recipe I'm sharing today though is different. This is Ina's (Barefoot Contessa)Turkey Meatloaf - and if you follow the recipes measuresments (5lbs of meat), it's enough to feed a small army. So I've tweaked the measurements just a tad, because ground turkey usually comes in 2lb packages. The leftovers are just as good - I usually just heat up a drop of oil in a skillet and add some salt and pepper to the sliced meatloaf.

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

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.

Dill Mashed Potato Casserole

Please God let this week go by quickly. Saturday night I'm celebrating my b-day with my girlfriends. They are coming to my house for what should be a night full of sparkly headbands and blow up instruments. I'm anxiously awaiting my big gift, but I don't want to say anything until it happens. Check back on Monday to see if my dream and Brian's nightmare has come true.

In the mean time, here's a great recipe for mashed potatoes. What's so great about this recipe is you can make them ahead of time and chuck them in the oven to re-heat. Most mashed potatoes taste like crap if you don't eat them right away. This recipe was given to me by my sister in law, Suzie, and it's now an O'Neil staple. I've tweaked it just a smidge.

Ingredients:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup sour cream
3 lbs. potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
Dill

Mix together cream cheese, garlic salt, pepper, and sour cream until smooth; set aside. Prepare and boil potatoes, drain and using an electric mixer beat potatoes until smooth. Add a small amount (1/4 cup) milk and sprinkle of salt to potatoes to help soften them. Next add sour cream mixture and continue beating until fluffy and smooth, then add 1 teaspoon dill. Spoon potato mixture into a buttered shallow 3 quart casserole dish and dot with butter and sprinkle with dill. Bake covered in a 400* oven for 25 minutes and then uncover and bake for 10 more minutes.

Barefoot's Pan Fried Onion Dip

This dip is damn good - so good you could eat it with a spoon. If you love onion dip I think you'll enjoy this home made pan fried onion dip by Barefoot Contessa. I love a lot of her recipes but watching her show puts me to sleep. She's monotone and doesn't often get excited about what she's cooking, unlike Paula or Giada.

I put this in a bread bowl, but a dish and sliced french bread would do. It's also very good with plain kettle cooked chips.

Even Brian, who hates onions, ate it. Nuff said.

Ingredients:

2 large yellow onions

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup good mayonnaise

Cut the onions in half and then slice them into 1/8-inch thick half-rounds. (You will have about 3 cups of onions.) Heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions, cayenne, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes until the onions are browned and caramelized. Allow the onions to cool.

Place the cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the onions and mix well. Taste for seasonings. Serve at room temperature.

Mexican Rice

TGIF! I'm so psyched the weekend is finally here. No big plans, just doing some errands, dinner with friends, watch the Pats on Sunday, which is my kind of weekend. This week I went to see Spamalot for the second time and I'll also be going next week. I know, a little obsessive, but the show is THAT good. Even if you don't love Broadway, this is a show you just have to see, which is why I'm dragging Brian to see it with me next week. I've been listening to the soundtrack all week. Brian pleads with me to turn it off because he wants the show to be a surprise. I just think he's sick of me singing every single words to every song. If they ever need an understudy for Lady of the Lake, I think I might just be that person they are looking for.

Now onto the food....this is a recipe I made up and it's so easy. Instead of using boxed rice try making your own. There's no need for all of those preservatives and sodium. I usually serve this when I make Mexican but really you can have it with just about anything. I find the key to great rice is using chicken broth instead of water.

Ingredients:
2 cups of chicken broth or water
1 cup of white rice
1 tbs of olive oil
1 can of dice tomatoes (regular or Rotel)
1/2 cup of tomatoe sauce
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro
Lime (optional)

In a saucepan saute the rice with the olive oil over medium high heat. Stir rice so that it's evenly coated with the oil and does not burn. Once rice is golden brown, about 5 minutes, pour in water, tomatoes, tomatoe sauce. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and cover. Cook rice for 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle cilantro and maybe about a tbs of lime into the cooked rice and stir.

Caramelized Onion Chicken

This past weekend was beautiful. The warm sun had finally melted the last bit of snow away. Just in time for the Nor'easter. Well if you ask me, and remind you I'm from Texas, the big Nor'easter proved to be a huge disappointment. It started yesterday when Brian and I made a trip to Costcos. It was chaos. You would have thought they were giving away free food (think Super Market Sweep). I knew we were getting snow, but come on people. Then last night they started announcing school closings and I think pretty much every town was shutting down. When I woke up this morning I expected more than what I saw. I mean, sure it snowed, cars were covered, etc but they blow everything out of proportion. Most of the people made it into the office, besides the lucky few who worked from home. Ahhh, the joys of New England.

So here's a Caramelized Onion Chicken recipe from Cooking Light (but it was given to me by Sue). I love pretty much anything with caramelized onions. This sweet and savory dish will not disappoint. I think this is something kids would even enjoy. They can do what Brian does and pick out all the onions. I served this over jasmine rice and thought it was another quick and easy dish.

Ingredients:

1 lb of chicken breast or tenders cut into pieces

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp olive oil

1 cup of sliced onion (I used sweet)

1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

1 tbs red wine vinegar

1 tbs low sodium soy sauce

1 tsp bottled minced ginger

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add chicken to pan; saute for about 10 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove onion and chicken from pan and set aside.

Add jam and remaining ingredients to pan. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return chicken mixture to pan. Cook 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. However, the longer it cooks, the more thicker the sauce gets.

Olive Crostini

To some, I'm known as the appetizer queen. Typically when we are invited to a party people can rely on me to bring an appetizer. I was getting fed up with my regulars so I've added these to my repetoire. I love olives, any kind of olives, probably because of their saltiness. I know there is a fine line, people either love olives or they HATE them. I kinda feel sorry for people who don't like them, especially kalamata olives, because they don't know what they're missing.

So if you, or anyone you know loves olives like I do, they're sure to enjoy this quick and easy appetizer recipe. I found this recipe on my favorite food blog Simply Recipes. The link can be found under the blogroll.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup kalamata olives

1/2 cup green olives with pimientos

2 medium cloves garlic

1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

4 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup Monterey jack cheese, grated

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1 baguette

Chop olives in a food processor. Transfer to medium bowl. With machine running, drop garlic through the feed tube of the food processor and mince. Add Parmesan, butter, and olive oil, and process into a paste. Add butter mixture to bowl with olives. Fold in jack cheese and parsley. Cut baguette into thin slices and spread each slice generously with olive mixture. Cook under broiler until bubbly and lightly browned - about 2 minutes.

Serve right out of oven. Helps to make olive mixture in advance and spread right before you put in the oven. Makes approximately 24 toasts.

Enchiladas Verdes

If you know me, you know that I love Mexican food. I think my first words were "green limes and no beans extra rice." I could eat it morning, noon and night, and I'm pretty sure most Texans feel the same way. I'm convinced that I was a Juanita in my former life. We eat Mexican food so much Brian's dad thinks that our kids are going to be born with a sombrero and a mustache.

But it's hard to find good Mexican, or shall I say, Tex-Mex, in Boston. Nearly impossible. We live up the street from what I thought was fairly decent Mexican restaurant, Mexico Lindo, but when we took my dad there during his visit to Boston, he snubbed his nose at it. I've searched high and low and it's the best I can come up with. So I'm trying to recreate my favorites at home. It's not the same but it'll have to do until my next trip to H-town.

Here's an enchiladas verdes recipe that's become a favorite in our household. When I want to go all out, I make the verdes sauce from scratch. If you don't have the time, you can buy green sauce in the supermarket (La Victoria is my favorite brand). If you forgo the homemade sauce, this is a relatively quick and easy recipe, not to mention good for crowds.

The homemade verdes sauce calls for tomatillos and serrano chiles. I've included a picture for those who don't eat, sleep and dream Mexican food.

Ingredients:

1 pound of chicken breast
1.5 cups of light sour cream
½ cup of thinly sliced scallions
¼ cup of minced fresh cilantro
½ of a white onion
3 cups of chicken broth
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon of salt

½ teaspoon of garlic powder
2 garlic gloves minced
8 flour tortillas
1 cup of cheddar cheese

Verdes Sauce

2-4 serrano chiles (depending on how hot you want it)
1 pound of tomatillos, husks removed
¼ cup of minced cilantro
¼ cup of chopped white onions
1 tablespoon of cooking oil
½ teaspoon salt or to taste

To make the enchiladas:
Sprinkle chicken with salt. Place chicken in a skillet with the garlic and half of a sliced white onion. Pour in 3 cups of chicken broth or enough to cover the chicken. Simmer until chicken is no longer pink inside. Let chicken cool a little and shred with your hands. Put shredded chicken in a bowl with the sour cream, scallions, cilantro, ½ cup of shredded cheese, ½ teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder. Mix. Spray a baking pan with non stick cooking spray. Put two-three spoon fulls of chicken mix in a tortilla. Roll and place in the pan seam side down. I spread a little extra sour cream on each enchilada. Top with verdes sauce and cheese. Bake covered in a 350 degrees pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes. Last 5 minutes remove foil and back uncovered. I used another recipe to base this from but really I made this up so you can add anything you want to it.

Verdes Sauce:
Place chiles in a sauce pan with three cups of water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tomatillos, cover, and continue to simmer for an additional 8 minutes. The tomatillos should be cooked through but not falling apart. Remove chiles and tomatillos from pot and reserve the cooking liquid. Allow chiles and tomatillos to cool then move the stems and seeds from the chiles and cut into small pieces. Place chiles, tomatillos, cilantro, and the onions in the bowl of a blender and blend for about 30 seconds. The sauce should be well blended but still retain some texture. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add the content of the blender and ½ cup of the reserved tomatillo cooking liquid and simmer for about 10 minutes. The sauce should firmly coat a spoon. Add the salt and cook for another minute. Remove from the heat and reserve. This makes about 2 cups.

Arriba arriba!

Banana Bread

Well it's 60 degrees here in beantown today. No wonder everyone is sick. Riding home on the train today, there's people coughing and sneezing everywhere. Ahh, the joys of public transportation. Not sure which I hate more, the hacking or the lady who decides to gnaw on a hard boiled egg for breakfast in the seat next to me. She seems to park her smelly arse next to me at least once a month and I'm disgusted. Barf.

Okay on to the good stuff. I love me some banana bread. I've never had much luck with any other recipes until I found this recipe. Very moist (I know...I hate that word but I could not think of another way to describe it). I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Ingredients:

2 cups of flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 1/3 mashed over ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly greease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture and stir until moist. Pour batter into greased loaf pan.

Bake in a preheated oven for 60-65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool for 10 minutes, then turn out on a wire rack.

Yummy!

Pan-Seared Chicken with Artichokes and Pasta

I have to say this is one of my favorite dishes to eat and make. It's fairly easy and it's great if you're having a dinner party. However, Brian hates it. He destroys this dish by picking out the artichokes, olives and tomatoes. It makes me cringe when I see him doing this, although he does give me all his scraps.

When I make this dish I use my huge anodized calphalon pan because I'm able to fit everything in there. If you don't have a pan this size (and once I figure out how to write html, I'll include a link to the picture of the pan) just sear the chicken in a pan and then mix everything together in the pot you use to boil your pasta.

Oh and by the way...this is another SSCC recipe. Shout out to Sue, who I believe got this from a Cooking Light magazine. I make some changes to the recipe which I've noted below.

1 large jar marinated artichoke heart quarters, undrained
about 1 ½ lbs chicken (I use chicken breast but the orginal recipe called for thighs)
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
½ cup sliced green onions
½ cup dry white wine
4 cups cooked cavatappi or fusilli (I use the whole box)
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 tbsp chopped pitted kalamata olives
2 tbsp grated fresh parmesan cheese

Drain artichokes reserving marinade.

Dredge chicken in small amount of flour, salt and pepper. In a large skillet cook chicken in olive oil until done and slightly browned. (This is a one pan meal, so the larger the pan the better). Add garlic and onions. Sauté about one minute. Stir in reserved artichoke marinade and wine, scraping the pan to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and stir in artichokes, pasta, olives and tomatoes. Cook a few more minutes until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with cheese.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Man, it's ass biting cold here in Boston! For all my fans in other states I envy you right now. Sure it might be cold but I can guarantee you that it's not 10 below with the wind chill. Yes, you heard me right, 10 flippin' below zero! My Nana is coming home from California this weekend and it looks like she's bringing the warm weather with her. On Sunday, it's supposed to be close to 60 degrees. I'm not getting too excited because it's only the beginning of January and we have another 4-5 months before we can hang up our winter jackets. I often ask myself, why the hell I live up here!

But in the mean time, I'll make some of this hot buffalo chicken dip to warm up my insides. This recipe was given to me by a friend of the SSCC (South Shore Cooking Club) and every time I've made it at least 2 people ask me for the recipe. It doesn't look great but it sure does taste good.

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken breast - boneless skinless
1 8 oz. block cream cheese softened
1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup ranch dressing
1/2 bottle of Franks Red hot (approx. use to taste)

Cook chicken either by baking or boiling and let cool. Shred by hand. Mix in remaining ingredients together. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Yes, it's that simple. I serve with the Tostitos Gold chips which are strong enough to dual with this dip.

Blueberry Crumble

I don't love to bake...there I said it. There are a couple reasons why baking is not my bag, baby. One, because everything has to be measured out precisely. When I'm cooking I like to add a little of this and a little of that to create a masterpiece. And secondly, I don't love sweets. I hear you all gasping, but it's true. I'd much prefer salt over sweetness. But when I sit down after a meal with a "nice cup of tea" I do enjoy an occasional fig newton or graham cracker. Nothing too sweet, which I think is why I love this blueberry crumble cake.

The recipe was given to me from my aunt, who enjoys eating sweets as much as she does baking them. When we lived in South Boston she'd always send down a couple pieces of this delightful cake because she knew how much we enjoyed it. Then when we moved, we both started to miss the little treats she would leave us, so now I've started to bake this on occasion. Not too often, because it doesn't last much more than a day in our house and Brian likes to keep svelte. ;)

So here's the recipe....

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of margarine
1 egg
1/2 cup of milk
2 cups of flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
2 cups of blueberries (I only use 1 cup and it's the perfect blueberry/cake ratio)

Crumb mix:
1/2 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 margarine or butter room temperature

Preheat oven to 375.

In a small bowl mix together all the ingredients for the crumb mix. Mash with a fork to a crumble consistency.

In a separate bowl, blend sugar, margarine on medium speed (or just mix together if you don't have an electric mixer). Add in egg and milk on low speed. In another bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Then add to the wet ingredients a little at a time as you stir. Flour blueberries and then fold into the mix.

Grease and flour a 9x9 baking dish. Spread the cake mix and then sprinkle the crumb mix on top. Bake for 30 minutes.