Meatloaf

I discovered this recipe last year around halloween time, i had originally planned to make a mummy meatloaf. But I lost interest and just tried the meatloaf instead. Ihave to say this dish is easy and delicious and it reheats well for sandwiches or just for eating with leftover potatoes.

Ingredients
½ lb ground beef
½ lb ground buffalo
½ lb meatloaf mix (I get this at stop and shop it's ground veal and ground pork mixed together)
1 slice bread, stale or toasted and left to harden I stick it in the Cuisinart mini prep plus till it’s crumbs
1 egg
1 small yellow or white onion , finely chopped
1 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 cup whole milk

Sauce
6 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed firm (to taste)
1/2 cup ketchup

1. Combine meat loaf ingredients and place into a 8x8 glass baking dish.
2. Smooth out top.
3. Sauce: Combine sauce ingredients and pour on top and sides of meatloaf. I also use a fork to poke holes in the meatloaf to make sure that the sauce gets everywhere.

4. Bake at 350°F about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until done. 170F with a meat thermometer.

The Zack and Katie project:: Swordfish

I used to HATE fish. I mean hate it. And I would never even consider making it at home. But then I got older and my tastes changed. Now, I don't hate fish, I am cautiously optimistic about it. I mean there are some yummy fishes out there and there is a lot of unexplored potential for cooking! The first thing I cooked at home was salmon, made in my oven with plenty of butter and dill and garlic, that recipe ( which I will share sometime) is delicious but not exactly falling on the good for you side of eating. So, when I tried Swordfish at a restaurant, and realized I LOVE IT, I decided to try and make it at home. This delightful swordfish preparation goes well with some white rice and grilled asparagus.

1/2lb swordfish cut into steaks

For the marinade
1 cup dijon mustard
the juice of two lemons
a handful of dill
4 cloves of crushed garlic

-Mix the marinade in a tupperware container that will fit all of the swordfish.


- Salt and pepper the swordfish. Then submerge it in the marinade, make sure that it is completely covered even if you have to spoon some of the marinade onto the top of the fish. Leave for an hour. Then grill until cooked to your desired liking.

YUMMY

Chicken Pasta Salad

This one is a regular staple around our house when I feel like I need to eat "healthy". Of course, healthy means something different for everyone. I hate to eat healthy so in my opinion if the food is: grilled, doesn't contain cheese, or involves more than one vegetable then I've achieved a healthy meal. I'm also not a big fan of salad, but in this one all of the veggies are offset by yummy chicken, pasta, and a lovely dressing that, frankly I could probably put on everything and be happy about. This one isn't too bad and it feeds 2 people for multiple days so, I think it can go in the healthy category.

Chicken Pasta Salad
1 red pepper cut up into bit sized pieces
1 yellow pepper cut up into bit sized pieces
3 carrots (I use a peeler to create shreds but you can cut them however you like)
3 stalks of celery cut on an angle to form bite sized pieces
1 package of baby spinach
1 package or one large ball of fresh mozz ( cut into tiny pieces)
1/2 box/bag of rotini pasta
2 chicken breasts
Brianna's Real French vinaigrette (though you could use any tangy vinaigrette dressing)
white wine vinegar

- Boil the pasta. (Make sure that you put olive oil into the water before you add the pasta, this is going to sit for a little while so you want to make sure it's not too sticky.) Drain the pasta when you feel it's reached its desired doneness and then, run cool water over the pasta, set aside.

- Marinate the chicken breasts in a mixture of 1/2 dressing and 1/2 white wine vinegar for 10-30 minutes. Then cook the chicken breasts on a medium to low heat until they are done, add more white wine vinegar if the liquid cooks off.

- Cut up the chicken into strips.

- Place the pasta and all the veggies into a large salad bowl and combine, add in the spinach and combine. Toss with the desired amount of salad dressing.

-Place the pasta, veggie, and dressing mix onto plates or into bowls for serving, add chicken and fresh mozz to individual plates. Enjoy!

Herb and Mustard Roast chicken

Roasting chicken can be a daunting prospect, there is prep work, and lots of cook time and basting. And the molesting of the chicken is downright well... gross. Particularly if you want to do it right, you really need to get in between the skin and the flesh.
However the rewards are well worth all of the problems. You can feed many people, and often enjoy leftovers. Like last night. I fed me, my husband and a couple of friends, and we will definitely be enjoying chicken pot pie made from the leftovers.

Roast chicken with mustard and herbs de provance.

I have no clue where I found this one. Somewhere on the interwebs but its deliciousness is only augmented by its simplicity.

1 onion sliced into 8ths
4 cloves garlic crushed
1 lemon sliced
1 stick of butter softened
1/2 cup of dijon mustard
4 T of herbs de provance
4 T salt
2 T pepper
2 chickens

Combine the mustard, butter, and herbs de provance until they form a paste (ew I know but necessary). Set aside. Work your hands between the skin and the flesh of the chicken. then rub the skin with pepper and salt. make sure you make the membrane between the core of the chicken and the legs. put some of the paste between the skin and the flesh and using your hand over the top of the skin, smooth out the paste so that it covers the flesh of the chicken under the skin. make sure to put some on top of the legs. Sprinkle the skin of the chicken with salt and pepper and lightly rub some of the paste over the skin, this will be harder to get to stick so just do the best you can. Stuff the chickens with the onion, garlic and lemon. pour some chicken stock inside the chicken. Then place inside the oven at 345 for an hour. After an hour baste with the juices under the chicken or with chicken broth. then cook for 2-2and a half hours, basting every 30-40 mins.
when the chicken is ready (around 170 degrees on a meat thermometer) remove the chickens from the oven and let them sit for 5 mins on the rack of the roasting pan. Then transfer them to a cutting board to sit for another 10-15 mins before they are ready to carve. ( make sure the cutting board has a groove for the juices to run into. scrape the pan with a spatula making sure you get all of the brown bits. Then, pour the contents of the pan through a sieve into a gravy separator, pour the dark brown liquid into a skillet and cook on medium heat until thickened ( you can add arrowroot to thicken the gravy).
Serve with your favorite sides and enjoy!!

Yeah, so I've been gone a while

So I haven't posted in a while. And I realized that aside from my insane work hours lately, the major reason is that I haven't been taking pictures of my food. So, I've decided to take the pressure off and food blog without pictures or with minimal pictures for a while. I think I'll concentrate on the writing and the food and if pictures happen then hooray. So, having said that I move forward hopefully with a lot more blogging in the future. Tonight we're haveing roast chicken... I might even write about it.

Products that will knock your socks off: Back to Nature's Fudge Mint cookies

This new feature on my blog is inspired by my love of Cocoa Metro. I needed somewhere to share some of the wonderful products out there that have simply knocked my socks off. These are items that my friends will hear about constantly until they try them. It can be a beloved flavored olive oil or a new bottle of Gin anything goes as long as I love it and want other people to give it a shot. For this first installment I offer a cookie to rival the infamous thin mint. Back to Nature's Fudge Mint cookies.

Are you tired of waiting for girl scout cookie time to roll around to get your thin mint fix? Did you miss the little darlings as they came around with their delicious wares this year? Well, then these cookies are definitely for you. I picked them up on a whim the other day when I was trying to fulfill a chocolate-mint craving without baking it myself. These cookies are, dare I say it, even BETTER than thin mints. They are fresh and they don't taste processed or preserved at all. There is no waxyness in the fudge surrounding the cookie. Not only that, but these cookies have a wonderful crispy crunch that many store bought cookies lack. That crunch combined with the melt in your mouth fudge and perfect dark chocolate mint combination makes for one heck of a satisfying cookie. I highly recommend these for anyone who has a love of chocolate and mint together. I found these at Stop and shop, but they are also carried at Whole foods. Next time you are craving chocolate and mint, give these a try I think you will be pleasantly surprised ( and then you will eat an entire box in one sitting :)