At Long Last

Here I am again after a month long hiatus... no excuses, just seemed to get caught up with other things around the house.

I've brought you a tasty recipe though, so with any luck you'll forgive my disappearance! It's moist, it's flavorful, it's filling and it's certainly meaty!

Mama-Mia Meatloaf

6 slices bread

1c milk

2 lbs ground beef

1 cup parmesan cheese

1 tsp seasoning salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp thyme

4 eggs

10 slices of bacon (about 1/2 package - save the rest for breakfast!)

Start by ripping your bread slices up into a bowl and pouring the milk over the top. Let soak while you prepare the meat mixture.

Also preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Combine your seasonings into a bowl (parmesan, seasoning salt, pepper, basil and thyme).

Now dump in your ground beef and eggs as well as your bowl with the bread and milk. Mix well with your hands until everything is fully incorporated. You'll need to break up the bread a bit as you mix.

Now form your mixture into a loaf-like mass on a baking sheet. Cover with the strips of bacon, tucking the ends underneath the loaf.

It's time for the sauce:
1.5 cups ketchup
1/3 c brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard

tabasco (add as much as you like depending on your spice preference)

Stir ingredients together.

Using about 1/3 of the sauce mixture, spread over the meatloaf evenly.

Bake for 45 minutes.

At 45 minutes remove the meatloaf from the oven and cover with another 1/3 of the sauce mixture. Continue baking for 20 minutes.

When it's done it will be nice and browned up.

Let rest 5-10 minutes. Slice and serve hot - preferably with mashed potatoes! Use the remainder of the sauce mixture for dipping.

PS - the end pieces are the best!

Source: Adapted from The Pioneer Woman.

Until next time...!

Guess what... Brussel Sprouts!!

Do you know that up until a week or so ago, I thought brussel sprouts were retched vegtables. In fact hubby will tell you that a few years ago at a farmers market I asked, perplexed, what is this toddler sized tree looking thing? He just thought it was hillarious that I had never seen brussel sprouts on the stalk before. Cmon this gal is from Oklahoma, I don't recall driving along the sides of the road seeing these things growing.

So to get back to the point... as you know from the title of this blog, my motto is, "Just Add Butter!"

Lindsey's Buttered Brussel Sprouts
1/2 stalk of brussel sprouts
4 tbsp butter
2 tsp minced garlic




Cut the sprouts off the stalk and clean well

Slice each sprout in half vertically.







Just add in your butter and garlic.









Saute until well browned.


Easy peasy!




I've been eating them non-stop!!

Marathon Canning Session

Here are the fruits of a marathon canning session this past weekend... more to come!!

That pocket thing full of cheese and such...

At least that's what hubby says when he wants me to make these. Really they are more like calzones, or maybe pizza pockets?

Actually I'll be honest. The name I think of in my head is stromboli. But hey since we're being honest here, I really have no idea what a stromboli really is! I think maybe it was the name of the bad guy in Pinnochio??

Well regardless of what you call it... they're good, so here's the recipe!

Lindsey's "Strombolis"
1 batch pizza dough

1 cup ricotta

bunch of basil

1/4 artichoke hearts

cracked pepper

slices of salami

1/2 cup shredded cheese

1 cup marinara sauce

First off, let's make the dough! Now if you are like I was a few weeks ago, you think homemade dough is impossible. Actually it's a breeze! You're looking at 10 minutes to make, tops. But keep in mind the dough needs to rise at least 90 minutes before you use it, so plan ahead!

Basic Pizza Dough
4 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup warm water

2 1/4 tsp instant yeast (or 1 packet)

1 1/4 cups water (separate)

2 tbsp olive oil


To start, prepare 1/2 cup of warm water. As you can see I used my Pyrex measuring cup - it's just easy. Pour the yeast into the warm water and stir slightly to moisten. Now leave this alone for about 5 minutes

Meanwhile, combine the flour and salt with your mixer. As you can see here I'm using the paddle attachment.

After 5 minutes have passed with the yeast, add the additional water and olive oil.

Turn the mixer on low and pour the liquids in slowly - mix until just incorporated. The dough will look pretty gunky. Now it's time to switch to your dough hook!

Oops... I had a Captain Hook moment here...

Okay, NOW attach your dough hook.

Mix the dough on low speed about 4 minutes. It will become a cohesive mass.

Place your dough into a greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.

If your hands don't look like this after moving the dough, you did it wrong... or cheated... or something!

Hide the dough somewhere nice and quiet for about an hour and a half. Here's my secret spot.











With the magic of the internet, 90 minutes have passed and here's the dough!! It was actually quite a bit larger but I poked it a few times to deflate the dough.

At this point you will want to divide your dough. I wrapped mine in plastic and stuck it in the freezer for later.

Now it's time for the filling. Fresh basil is idea here. I just cut this from the garden.


Also, go ahead and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the basil, ricotta, artichokes and pepper in a food processor. Pulse for a minute to combine and break up the basil into small bits.

Prep your cheese. I usually use parmesan, but in this case there was a small bit of garlic cheddar on the verge of going bad sitting in the back of the fridge... so naturally I had to use it up!

Now, divide your dough into 2-3 equal sized pieces.

You can be all high tech and use a rolling pin to get the dough ready, but this dough is so easy to work with I just use my hands. You'll want to make it roundish and about the size of your hand.

Spoon about 1/4 cup of the cheese mixture onto one side of the dough.








Top with a few slices of salami.









Sprinkle a bit of cheese on top.

Now carefully take the "naked" side of your pocket and fold it over the fillings. Pinch or roll together the edges to seal it up!


Repeat with all of your dough and filling. Place the strombolis on a greased baking sheet in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Right before the strombolis are done baking, pour your marinara sauce into a bowl and warm it up. You're going to want to dip these babies in the sauce, trust me!

Yes, you could make your own sauce.... but for the that was just asking too much!

Cut in half, and enjoy!!

Sunday Mornin'

Sunday morning went out for a bite in downtown PDX.


Little hole in the wall, diner-type joint called Byways Cafe. I had never heard of it before! Apparently we need to get out more!









The decor was very quaint... you could tell the place had been around for awhile. Here you could see a collection of State themed plates.

To the left of our booth was a ton of travel/touristy themed memorabillia from all over the country. I don't know if the owners collected it all over the years or maybe patrons bring stuff in?


Hubby had a huge omelet...






And of course I went for good ol' fashioned biscuits and gravy.



I clearly did not know what I was getting myself into!



Before...





And after... I hardly made a dent!








If you're looking for some stick-to-your-ribs breakfast fixins in the Portland area, I'd recommend giving it a try!

Byways Cafe - 1212 NW Glisan (between 12th and 13th)

Tomatoes... take 2

Okay... I'm here talking about tomatoes (yes, again). I mean the weather up here has been nuts, first no tomatoes, then we had tons.... then it seemed that summer was over and yet here we are again with 80 degree temps and the tomatoes that I had written off for the year are ripening on their vines!

So I racked my brain for an easy chock full of tomato recipe and of course I thought of Bruchetta! I remember my parents loving this when I was a kid. Which of course meant I wanted nothing to do with it. Uncooked tomatoes... little pieces of bread... ick! Clearly much too grown up for me.

My how times have changed... Okay so there's no official recipe here. I honestly threw some stuff together:

Lindsey's Bruchetta:
A few juicy/ripe tomatoes
handful of basil
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp minced garlic
kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
1/4 c shaved or shredded parmesan
1 loaf of fresh bread (preferably the crusty bakery kind)


First, turn your oven to broil. While it's heating up, dice your tomatoes and basil. Add all other ingredients in a bowl. Stir to combine.

Try not to slop over the edges of the bowl like I did!

Set the bowl to the side and let the flavors mingle a little bit. Slice up your bread and lay slices on a baking pan.



Pop these under the broiler for a few minutes to crisp the bread. Be sure to watch them... burnt bread=no good! If you want to be extra fancy and garlicy then you could also rub a sliced clove of garlic over the bread before crisping.

As soon as you pull your crisped bread out of the oven, spoon your tomato mixture onto each piece. Top with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.!


Ah I feel so adult!!

Tomatoes Part 1

Tomato salad?!



Tomatoes
Blue cheese
Caesar dressing or vinagrette









Top with some fresh basil!

Chops!

What do you do with a pint of blackberry juice (leftover from my canned blackberries that were used for cupcakes)??

Make a marinade of course!


Pork Chops in Blackberry Marinade:
4 pork chop cutlets
16 oz blackberry juice
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
seasoning salt to your liking


Easy stuff here, toss all above ingredients into a ziploc freezer baggie and swish a bit to mix up. Let rest in the fridge 24 hours, turning baggie once to mix.

End result? An extremely juicy pork chop - slightly crunchy on the outside from the carmelized sugars. Though I can't take all the credit, hubby did some amazing grilling :)





Source: a Lindsey Nicolescu original!

Bacon, Egg & Toast Muffins

Made these little beauties for Mom & hubby. They are great because you put them all together, then just pop into the oven - and you can make as many or as few as you need!

Unfortunately I don't really have any (ie: none) process pictures. I blame mom for yacking my ear off while I was cooking. Not like perfect little ol' me would ever be so forgetful while trying to document for my blog... *gasp*...

Anyway here's the recipe:

Bacon Egg & Toast Muffins (yeild: 6 total or 3 servings)
3-6 slices of bread (your choice here, but let's try and be healthy and go for some whole grains ok)
6 eggs
6 slices of bacon
1/2 cup cheese - shredded (I went with good ol Tillamook cheddar)

Basically here's what you do...

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease up a muffin pan. Don't be shy here because I'll tell ya, mine ended up sticking even after liberal butter application.

Use a round cookie cutter or the mouth of a drinking glass to cut 6 rounds out of your bread. You want them to be about the size of the bottom of your muffin pan.

Place your bread rounds in your greased muffin pan. Take a slice of bacon and wrap it around the edges of each bread round. The idea is the bacon is the sides of your muffin and the bread is the bottom. You'll need to tuck the bacon between the bread and the sides of the pan. (I know I know, this sounds very tricky... and well, it is. But this is the hardest part I swear!)

Now sprinkle a bit of your cheese onto the middle of each "muffin" and pop each one off with an egg.

Ta-da!! You're muffins will look like this after being assembled.




Slide these bad boys into the oven for 10-15 minutes. This part really depends on how done you like your eggs. Check them regularly and take them out when the bacon and eggs are cooked to your liking.







Fresh out of the oven... errr...minus the three I ate already!!











Yum yum.




Some notes on what I would do different next time:

I'll probably opt for english muffins as the base. My 12 multigrain bread was just a little much. Also in an attempt to avoid giving my family salmonella I overcooked the eggs... so be careful how long you leave yours in for :)

I Have Returned Victorious!!

So my work decided to have a cooking contest today... and of course that meant I was in it to win it...

The theme was "Summer's Bounty" - anything fresh from the garden/farmers market. I chose blackberry cupcakes for my entry!!

Cupcake Ingredients (yeild 24):
18oz blackberries (mine were freshly picked a few weeks prior and then canned)
1/3c milk
6 egg whites (scramble up those yolks for breakfast like I did, yum!)
2 tsp lemon juice
2 1/4 c flour
1 3/4 c sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
12 tbsp butter (melted)




First thing, puree all of your blackberries in a blender or food processor. Then you'll want to strain them into a new bowl through a fine mesh seive (the idea is to nix those funky seeds - I've got nothing against seeds mind you, but they really ruin the texture of cupcakes). You want to end up with close to 1 cup of blackberry puree.


Preheat your oven to 350 and prep 2 muffin pans with nonstick spray or butter.




In a mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until just combined.









In a new bowl, mix 2/3 cup of the blackberry puree with the egg whites, milk and lemon juice until well combined.








Now, add the butter to the dry mixture in your mixer and mix until combined. The batter at this point will look crumbly. Scrape down the sides of your bowl before the next step.

Add in the wet egg/blackberry mixture and mix at medium speed for 1-2 minutes until well combined. Scrape down the sides of your bowl as needed.

You'll end up with a lovely mauve colored batter. You'll want to fill up your muffin pans or liners about 3/4 full. Pop these in your pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.




Allow your purple cupcakes to cool while you make the frosting.








Blackberry Frosting Ingredients:
16 tbsp butter - at room temp
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (use the real stuff here gals - no skimping!)
1/4 tsp almond extract
4 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 tbsp cream of tartar (ok I know this is a weird ingredient - but it helps keep your frosting together, trust me!)
1/4c + blackberry puree (this should be about what's leftover)
24 (or so, depending on how many you end up eating) whole blackberries as toppers





In a clean mixing bowl whip the butter, vanilla and almond until very fluffy and smooth. Mix in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Add in cream of tartar and crank that baby up to high for about 3 minutes. You want to get your icing as smooth as possible.

Now, add in the blackberry puree and mix another minute or so until well combined. You'll end up with this pink looking stuff!





Frost your cooled cupcakes at your leisure. I had a fun time experimenting with my new icing set!

Of course as the cook, you get to try one like I did!







Top each cupcake with a blackberry (for presentation's sake!). Serve and enjoy!!


Oh and for the record, the cupcakes were a hit!!







Recipe adapted from foodiebride.