Ultimate Meatloaf

I have never really liked meatloaf. My husband however loves it. When I saw Tyler Florence make the "Ultimate" meatloaf I thought I would give it one more chance. I am so glad I did. The meatloaf includes a tomato relish and I think it really makes the meatloaf. The recipe included bacon over the top but Mike and I agreed it could be left off, shocking I know! The recipe also included bread soaked in milk instead of breadcrumbs, different. I served it with homemade mashed potatoes and fresh green beans. Mmmmmmm

Tyler Florence's Ultimate Meatloaf with tomato relish

Tomato relish:

Extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and finely diced
2 tomatoes, halved, seeded, and finely diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 (12-ounce) bottle ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Meatloaf:

3 slices white bread, crusts removed, torn into chunks by hand
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 eggs
Leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 bacon slices

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Coat a skillet with a 2-count of oil and place over medium heat. Saute the onion, garlic, and bay leaves for a few minutes. Throw in the red peppers and cook them for a couple of minutes to soften. Now add the tomatoes. Stir in the parsley, ketchup, and Worcestershire; season with salt and pepper. Simmer the relish for 5 minutes. Remove it from the heat.

Place the torn white bread in a bowl and add the milk to just barely cover, swish the bread around in the milk and let it sit while you get the rest of the ingredients for the meat loaf together.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef and pork with 1 1/2 cups of the tomato relish, the eggs, and thyme; season with salt and pepper. Squeeze the excess milk from the bread and add the soaked bread to the meat mixture.

Lightly oil a cookie sheet. Transfer the meat mixture to the center of the cookie sheet and form into a log about 9 inches long and about 4 inches wide. Coat the top of the meatloaf with another 1/2 cup of the tomato relish. Lay the bacon across the top lengthwise.

Bake the meatloaf for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until the bacon is crisp and the meatloaf is firm. Rotate the meat loaf while it's baking every now and then to insure that the bacon browns evenly. Remove the meatloaf from the oven and let it cool a bit before slicing. Serve with the remaining tomato relish on the side.

Dear Nutella...I love you!

I had never had Nutella until about 4 years ago. My sister said I had to try this hazelnut spread. She was right. Nutella is the best thing to spread on well just about anything! It is also rather delicious on a spoon =] I needed to find new ways to get Nutella in my belly so here is Nutella ice cream. It turned out like Nutella chip ice cream but still SO good.

Nutella Ice Cream
1 cup Nutella
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup whole milk
1 - 1/3 cups heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine the Nutella and sugar until smooth. Add the milk. Blend on low speed until smooth and the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream and the vanilla.

Place in your ice cream maker and let it run for 20-25 minutes. Let it sit in a freezer overnight.

Vegas baby!

This past weekend Mike and I took an early anniversary trip to Las Vegas. We got a great deal on rooms so we figured it was okay to celebrate early for a bargain. We ate some of the best food either of us have ever eaten...ever, so I decided I should blog about it. I think Mike got irritated every time food would come and he would pick up his fork and I would say WAIT! Take a picture! But he did it anyway, such a good husband!

Friday we stayed at the Golden Nugget. I was rather surprised at how nice the hotel and our room was. I would definitely stay there again. Fremont St is a great place to people watch. Once we got fancy in our going out clothes we went to Red Sushi inside the Golden Nugget. I was shocked at how awesome the food was. We split an entree of Chicken Katsu and NY Steak, SO good! It also came with sweet potatoes that were steamed then pan fried...YUM!Dynamite Roll

Red Tiger Roll...one of the best rolls I have ever had!

And a Sapporo, of course!

The next morning we had reservations at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill for brunch.

Mike has scrambled egg enchiladas. He loved them, especially the sauce.I had chicken and sweet potato hash. I am not crazy keen on sweet potatoes but I loved this!

After brunch we decided to check in to our room at The Mirage. We had booked a suite but were told that we had been upgraded to a penthouse for free! We were only one floor from the top of the hotel. It was rough but we managed =]

Saturday night we had tickets to see the Cirque De Soleil show 'LOVE'. It was by far the most amazing thing both of us had ever seen. Hard to describe but amazing!

After the show we had a late dinner at BLT Burger inside The Mirage, where we stayed Saturday night. BLT Burger is fancy burgers, fancy fries and fun milkshakes.

I had the classic cheeseburger. We didn't manager to get a picture of Mike's but he had a burger with bleu cheese, mushrooms and onions, all his favorites. The burger was perfection.

We also ordered fried pickles. Mike was unsure of them but I thought they were super good. I love pickles with a weird passion though. I wouldn't eat them everyday but they were fun!

Before we headed home the next morning we had already decided to go back to Mesa Grill for brunch again because there was so much we wanted to try. I had the Ranch Style Eggs Tostada, sauce was amazing! The eggs were the fluffiest eggs I have ever eaten. I enjoyed this one more than the hash the day before.

Mike had the Spicy Scrambled Eggs with Apricot-Mustard Glazed Ham and Buttermilk Biscuits. He liked it but enjoyed his meal the day before more.

Typically Mike and I have the worst luck with trying restaurants that we don't know. We usually get horrible service or ever worse horrible food. We never get upgraded to first class or a room upgrade for free so this trip was really amazing because we had the best luck ever....but not with gambling. But that is okay! We had a great time and have an awesome memory of our first anniversary.

Happy Valentine's Day

These are a little something I made in honor of Valentine's Day, mini cupcake truffles.
Hope yours was loverly!

Italian Chicken Sticks

Oh how I LOVE Paula Deen. She seems like the sweetest southern lady ever! Mike and I took a day trip to Savanna when we were in Georgia visiting his family over the summer and I must say they love them some Paula Deen. We intended to eat at her restaurant but we should have made reservations....whoops! We plan to go back soon WITH reservations. Anyway I saw this recipe for Italian chicken sticks and since it used a stick of butter I knew it would be good. Very simple weeknight meal.

Italian Chicken Sticks
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
11/2 teaspoons dried thyme
11/2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch ground red pepper
8 boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/2-inch strips
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
Marinara sauce or honey mustard, for dipping

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
In a pie plate or platter, combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan, thyme, basil, oregano, salt, garlic powder, and red pepper. Dip the chicken strips in the melted butter, then dredge them in the bread crumb mixture. Place the chicken strips in a single layer on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Serve the chicken sticks hot with marinara sauce, or serve hot or cold with honey mustard.

Pizza Bake

Not another hot mess of cheese I promise! I found a recipe for a pizza bake online and made a few changes. This came out like deep dish pizza, which I love but only in Chicago. The best way to describe Chicago style pizza is it looks like a cheesecake at first. This was also awesome leftovers!

Pizza Bake
1 pound Italian sausage (I used half hot half mild)
1 jar spaghetti sauce (I used Hunt's because it is cheap and tasty)
1 small can slice olives
Mozzarella cheese, use as much or as little as you like
1 tube store bought pizza dough

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Brown the sausage in a skillet. Drain if needed(mine needed it) Add the spaghetti sauce and olive and heat on low until everything is heated through. Spray a glass baking dish with non stick spray or grease with butter. Roll the pizza dough out and smoosh into the baking dish, mine cover the bottom and about half way up the sides, I think this is best. bake the pizza dough, without any toppings, for 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from oven. Sprinkle cheese over dough. Add sausage mixture, spreading it out evenly. Top that with more cheese and bake for another 12 to 15 minutes or until the crust is brown enough for your taste. Let it cool a bit before you cut it so it doesn't run everywhere and enjoy!

Mike's Monday Night Dinner/Product Review

This week Mike took a simple route when making his Monday night dinner. He still managed to cook something I had never had. It was good because I wanted to start doing product reviews on the blog too, so it worked out.

Mike made brown noodles. They are Korean but Mike says they are much better in Korean restaurant. The Korean restaurant here doesn't have the noodles so I will have to wait to have them in the proper form.

This is the type her bought at our local Asian market, which is one of my favorite markets:Chapagetti, sounds very Italian doesn't it? They are pretty starchy but good. They would be good with a pickled vegetable like cucumber kimchi (my favorite).

Overall they were good.

Crockpot BBQ Pork

I love my crock pot. I love just through stuff in and having dinner done when I get home from work. My crock pot is named is Carol and she is metallic red, who would have guessed?!?! Yes I name my kitchen appliances, don't judge me. This recipe for BBQ pork is very easy and very good.


Crock pot BBQ Pork


Pork roast between 2 and 4 pounds
Pappy's Seasoning (If you can't find this brand, I am sorry you are really missing out! HA - Use a poultry seasoning)
Rootbeer any brand will due , we used Dad's
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
Any type of bun or roll you like
**we added an onion the first time we made it and didn't like it so we left it out the second time**

Place the pork roast in the crock pot and season with a good amount of seasoning. Fill the crock pot with rootbeer about have way. Set crock pot on low for 6 hours. After the 6 hours drain the rootbeer out and shred the pork. Add BBQ sauce and mix. Spoon pork onto your bread of choice and eat.

Mike's Monday Night Dinner

I asked Mike if he would be interested in cooking dinner once a week to help me out, he gladly said yes. Lately he has been helping more and more with the cooking and I really love cooking with him. When I asked him if I could put this on the blog he said sure, it is very blog worthy. For his first round he made something his dad used to make, Saltine chicken. It was GOOD! I knew it would be coming from Papa Bailey.

Saltine Chicken
Crushed up saltine crackers
Pepper
Chicken breast sliced or pounded thin
2 to 3 eggs cracked in a bowl big enough to fit one chicken breast in
Enough vegetable oil for frying (we used about 1 and 1/2 cups)

Heat oil in large skillet hot enough that when you throw in a cracker crumb it bubbles. Mix the pepper and crushed crackers together. Coat the chicken in egg first them in cracker crumbs. Place into oil. Fry on one side 3 to 4 mins then flip and cook an additional 2 to 3 mins. Remove from oil and get to eating. This is very addicting!

Enchilada Pie

It may look like a hot mess of cheese but it taste just like an enchilada and it much easier to make. My dad made this first and I love it. It is basically layered enchiladas. Growing up we always had tri tip (beef) and enchiladas so that it was I made with it and it made me think of Sunday night dinner when I was a kid, yum!

Enchilada Pie
6 small corn tortillas
1 big can enchilada sauce (I used red)
sliced olives (I used the already sliced canned kind)
chopped onion
can of green chilies (this was my addition,I used canned here too)
Shredded cheddar cheese (or jack would be good too)

Spoon a layer of sauce in the bottom of your dish. Place corn tortilla on top. Layer in cheese, onions, chilies and olives. Repeat with the additional six corn tortillas, make sure you keep the layers thin so they all fit. Bake for 25- 30 minutes or until cheese is good and melted. Slice into portions and enjoy =]

Cake and ice cream, at the same time!

Mike's favorite Cold Stone ice cream is yellow cake batter. Once we got the ice cream attachment for the Kitchen Aid I knew he would love this recipe from Vicki's blog (http://healthyeatsandsinfultreats.blogspot.com/2008/08/cake-batter-ice-cream.html)
It is a very close match to the Cold Stone version. Slightly less sweet but that made me like the homemade version better. It is also very simple. We topped ours with a little chocolate frosting, because that is one of the best combos ever.

Cake Batter Ice Cream
Source: recipezaar.com

1 cup whole milk, well chilled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup yellow cake mix


In a medium bowl, whisk the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved.
Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla.
Stir in cake mix, making sure there are no lumps. (I sifted the cake mix)
Pour mixture into the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker and let mix until it has thickened (about 25-30 minutes).
Remove ice cream from freezer bowl and place into a separate container.
Place freezer bowl and the ice cream into the freezer to further harden.

The stuff dreams are made of...

Well my dreams anyway. Last year for Christmas my in-laws got me one of the best gifts anyone could ever give me...Betty. My red HOTT Kitchen Aid mixer. I have had a love affair with these thing ever since my parents bought one when I was maybe 12. She is just about the prettiest thing in my kitchen. I mix just about everything in Betty.

So this year with our Christmas gift from my in-laws I knew exactly what I wanted. An attachment for Betty. The newest attachment in a long line of attachments...the ice cream maker attachment. It is genius I tell ya! Mike and I made our first batch a few nights ago. Simple vanilla (recipe from the book that came with the attachment) but SO good. Mike said "I am still blown away that you made this" I asked why? he said "because you are suppose to buy ice cream in a store." Ahhhh sweet husband.

Here is a picture of Betty with her new friend. I think they look happy together!