monday night meatloaf (so very, very good)

on monday, amidst wrangling this suddenly nap-refusing, walking-everywhere toddler, i managed to make meatloaf. i say managed because i know that you probably think i do barely anything all day and that making dinner should be par for the course. i'm a stay-at-home mom and how hard can that be, right? but this is simply not the case, even though it astounds even me how tiring a day that seems filled with relatively little (but how DEMANDING and ENERGETIC that little can be!;) can be.

this has very little to do with meatloaf, but i thought i'd make this story more interesting than "i made meatloaf." not succeeding yet? ok well, i tried.

this meatloaf recipe is actually pretty phenomenal. if i do say so myself, and i think i can because really it's just a liberally adapted from Pioneer Woman's meatloaf recipe, so i don't really deserve the credit. good enough for leftovers, i say! although frankly i say that about everything, especially if i've also made oven-roasted red potatoes and roasted parmesan asparagus to go with it, all while an overly tired baby wanders about destroying the kitchen.

i mean seriously, monday felt like a real stay-at-home mom day. do you know the kind? where you may look semi put together in the first half of the day — non-pajamas (yoga pants aren't pajamas in this one instance), makeup on, hair done — but by mid-afternoon, right about the time that a certain someone decides to wake up early from a very brief nap, you look kind of frightful and that's nothing to how the house looks.

when loverboy came home, he looked around and said "looks like you've had quite a day." i didn't tell him that it had actually been a normal day. the difference being that i spent the energy i normally spend putting everything back in its place for the umpteenth time on making the most amazing meatloaf. it made the mess worth it. and also, the fact that i will not be making dinner tonight. :)

Monday Night Meatloaf
adapted from the Pioneer Woman's recipe

Ingredients:

1 c. whole milk
3 slices bread

1 package dry ramen noodles, crumbled
2 lbs. ground beef
1 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. seasoned salt
3/4 tsp. salt
fresh ground black pepper
1/3 c. minced parsley
4 whole eggs, beaten
10(ish) slices thin bacon

Sauce:
1-1/2 c. ketchup
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1-2 Tbsp. spicy mustard

1-2 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk over the bread slices. Allow it to soak in for several minutes.

Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, ramen noodles, Parmesan, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper, and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beaten eggs. Mix the ingredients until well combined. 

Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, lined with foil, which will allow the fat to drain. Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.

Stir the sauce ingredients together and pour 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the bacon. Spread with a spoon.

Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top. Bake for another 20 minutes. Slice and serve with remaining sauce.

Sunday Best: Mexican Easter Tacos!

it's been awhile since i cooked for sunday dinner, hasn't it? well, it being a holiday sunday, i figured we really needed to get back into the kitchen, so i made barbacoa! loverboy said it was too spicy (he's crazy), but i thought it was perfect! if you've ever had chipotle's barbacoa, that is what we were shooting for. and in fact, the recipe is supposed to be a copycat of it. seriously, go make it! i also made this corn salsa, which i quite enjoyed. eat your barbacoa on tortillas with rice, beans, guacamole, cilantro, corn salsa, shredded lettuce and cheese, or skip the tortillas and make a bowl of it, chipotle-style. corn on the cob on the side is also a good way to go. plus, strawberries, if you have a few spice-sensitive tiny mouths to feed.

i always get nervous about making people wait while i take photos, so my photos come out awful, plus i hadn't even brought all the food out yet! oops.

suspenders on babies! yes. 

our own little hobbit! haha.

he was yelling for me to put him down. ;)

so excited to have a friend to play with!

5 seconds of calm after guests left and before i tackled the messy kitchen, the baby woke up from his nap and suddenly everyone needed to be fed again. what is with that? 

at the park!

i love this photo.

probably the last photo i'll take of my baby on his hands and knees. that's what it feels like anyways.

Chipotle's Copycat Barbacoa Recipe: 

via Food.com

1/3 c. apple cider vinegar
4 tsp. minced garlic cloves
4 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3/4 c. chicken broth
3 bay leaves
3 Tbsp. lime juice
3 -4 chipotle chiles in adobo (canned)
4 -5 lbs chuck roast

To make the adobo sauce combine vinegar, lime juice, chipotles, garlic, cumin, oregano, black pepper, salt and cloves in a blender or processor on high speed until smooth.

Remove most of the fat from the roast and then cut into large chunks (approximately 6). Pour oil into a frying pan and sear all sides of roast on medium-high heat until browned.

Place meat into Crockpot and pour adobo sauce over meat. Pour in the chicken broth and add bay leaves. Cook on high heat 6 hours or on low all day.

While still in the Crockpot, shred the meat with two forks and turn the heat to warm. Serve with all the sides i mentioned. ;)

sunday best: one whole chicken!

this may come as a surprise to you, but i've never cooked a whole chicken. and it's been sort of one of those benchmarks of really knowing how to cook. like, i couldn't call myself a proper cook, until i knew how to cook a whole chicken, you know? this recipe has been in an email in my inbox for awhile now (my collection site for recipes i want to make), and finally this weekend i decided to give it a try. i wish i could remember where i first came across it. probably another blog?

anyways, the whole chicken saga:

let me first just say that i am such a wuss about the whole chicken, and i would probably starve if i had to live off the land with my own bare hands. no matter how much my loverboy fantasizes about homesteading...i came to the conclusion, while staring down the gullet of this chicken, that it is not the life for me.

i admit to a modicum of squeamishness and a smidgeon of embarrassment as i screeched for loverboy to come pull out the bristly, alien looking body parts stuffed into its cavity (which he did, thanks loverboy!). and then the recipe called for me to rub the inside with spices? this was the part i had been dreading, which is why it's taken me until the age of 31 to cook a whole chicken. the vegetarian in me was dry heaving. seriously, there is nothing grosser to me than dead, raw, whole animals. except dead, raw, plucked, beheaded animals. i bet you're really hungry now, huh?

sundays are supposed to be a day of rest, and yet, there is this phenomenon of the sunday whirlwind at our house, nearly every sunday. i don't know. either someone is upchucking all over the place or we are trying to work around painted cabinet doors that have yet to be reunited with their cabinets, while fevers run high and to-do lists run long. and sometimes, when you've woken up late, the chicken didn't get started until lunch time, which means you've also got to make lunch, boil bottles, clean out the humidifier and unload/load the dishwasher.

amidst this serene domestic backdrop, the whole two feet of counter space i possess is groaning, and i'm thinking, do i really want to reach my hand down this chicken? i mean, i need at least a foot of demarcation between this unsanitary chicken and...everything else, so maybe this was all a mistake and the chicken should just hang out in the fridge for another day or so.

but then i shut my eyes, grabbed a fistful of spice and rammed my hand in.

six hours later, we had the juiciest, tenderest chicken i have ever made. which just goes to show: crock pots are magic.

and maybe chicken should be cooked whole. and eaten with asparagus. and possibly, a spinach rice casserole.

that is all.

unless you want the recipe:

Slow Cooker Roast Chicken
via kitchen simplicity

1 whole chicken
1 onion, sliced

Spice Rub
1 Tbsp kosher salt
2 tsps paprika
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp onion powder (original recipe called for 1 tsp dried onion, which you could do if you happen to have that, or fresh, minced onion, obviously, would work too;)
1 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground pepper

Rinse chicken under cold water; pat dry. Mix together all ingredients for spice rub. Rub the spices on the outside and inside of the chicken. Place in the slow cooker. Stuff cavity with sliced onion. Cook on low 5-7 hours, or until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken to serving platter and let rest for 15 minutes, before serving.

*edit: here is the spinach rice casserole recipe, that somehow disappeared between my typing it in and publishing the post. i'm pretty sure i originally found this via a friend's blog, but i can't say for sure...anyhow, here it is:

Spinach Rice Casserole
adapted from Tammy's Recipes

9 or 10 ounces fresh spinach leaves
1 Tbsp water
1 tsp onion powder
1 cup cooked rice
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp salt

Place spinach and water in a large pan or skillet. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until spinach leaves wilt. In a large mixing bowl, combine all other ingredients. Add the wilted spinach and stir. Pour into a greased 8x8-inch square baking dish. Bake at 325 degrees for 35-40 minutes, until set in the middle.

sunday best: french onion soup!

it's french onion soup! i have a confession: i have never liked french onion soup. but seeing as we were all feeling a little sickish, soup sounded good, and we've just had all the other soups one too many times this winter.

smitten kitchen, if you don't know her, is a culinary goddess. she has yet to let me down. so when i came across this recipe, sunday dinner was foretold. i won't tell you that i loved it, because i still don't love it. there's something about that combination of sweet caramelized onions and slightly sour beef broth that doesn't exactly tickle my palate. but! it was definitely not bad, and loverboy tells me it was really good. so.



should you wish this french onion soup to be a part of your life too:

French Onion Soup
from Smitten Kitchen

4-5 yellow onions, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
8 cups beef broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsp. brandy or cognac (optional--i made it without)
1 Tbsp. grated raw onion (optional, in my opinion)
1-2 cups swiss or gruyere (i used a combination)
1 Tbsp. butter melted
french bread, cut into 12-16 1-inch rounds and toasted till hard (or just toast and slice as normal)

Melt the butter and oil together in the bottom of a 4- to 5-quart saucepan or Dutch oven over moderately low heat. Add the onions, toss to coat them in oil and cover the pot. Reduce the heat to low and let them slowly steep for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, uncover the pot, raise the heat slightly and stir in the salt and sugar. Cook onions, stirring frequently, for 30 to 40 minutes until they have turned an even, deep golden brown (this didn't work for me using a stainless steel pot; i had to crank the heat up real high and it still took over an hour).

After the onions are fully caramelized, sprinkle them with flour and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add the wine in full, then stock, a little at a time, stirring between additions. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and simmer partially covered for 30 to 40 more minutes, skimming if needed.  Stir in the cognac, if using.

Smitten Kitchen has the following directions for toasting bread and baking it with the cheese on top of the soup in the oven which sounds delicious, but we didn't, because we're just foolhardy like that. The following steps are therefore optional in this recipe. If you feel you too lack the wisdom of the broiled soups, you can skip the whole oven step, top the soup with cheese and simply serve the bread on the side, with melted cheese on top.

Or, go ahead and be by the book, how nerdy of you. It's your call:

Preheat oven to 325. Arrange ovenproof soup bowls or crocks on a large, foil-lined baking sheet. Bring the soup back to a boil and divide among bowls. To each bowl, add 1/2 teaspoon grated raw onion and a tablespoon of grated cheese. Stir to combine. Dab your croutons with a tiny bit of butter and float a few on top of your soup bowls, attempting to cover it. Mound grated cheese on top of it.

Bake soups on tray for 20 minutes, then preheat broiler. Finish for a minute or two under the broiler to brown the top lightly. Grab pot holders, and serve immediately.

Enjoy! I mean, I guess. ;)

****EDIT: (3/4/14)
this soup was actually wonderful the next day! maybe it's better when it's had a chance to sit overnight. or maybe i just like it better when i have fewer onions to eat;)

an accomplishment of dinner

i really, really feel like it's in the cards for me to one day work a full, creatively fulfilling day, run five miles with lars, whip up a nutritious, not-from-a-box/freezer dinner, load the dishwasher, have brilliant, spirited conversations with lover boy, write something beautiful and touching on here—and be really happy doing it all, too. (come on, just go with it.)

i also think that one day i'll live on a farm with miniature donkeys, raise baby tigers and sleep under the stars. but that's not what this is about.

this post is about making dinner. dinner has not been on my list of things to do lately. i mean, i'm already making a living person out of my own body, what more do you want of me?? that's my take on it. which means we've been eating an awful lot of Buitoni pasta with pesto. and broccoli if i'm feeling exceptionally epicurean.

but maybe i'm finally getting that second trimester "energy burst" everyone keeps saying i'm going to get. or maybe it's the cookies and chocolate and pumpkin pound cake that keeps getting sent to our office at work (please make it stop, my huge belly begs you). either way, this week i made chicken tortilla soup for dinner (which has lasted us five nights so far!), and if you ready my last post you should know that this was an accomplishment of grand proportions. maybe even calling for a trophy. just saying.

anyways, i felt like since this was one of the handful of times i've actually taken the camera out for something other than a belly shot (not going so well either) in too long, it called for a blog post. right? i know, don't get excited.

(okay so, the chips are covering up the evidence. use your imagination!)

Lover boy says it's now a family recipe, never mind that it's basically the Pioneer Woman's recipe. it's that good. if you read nothing else in this post, read the recipe and go make it right now. you will probably want to give me a trophy afterward. 

Recipe Adapted from The Pioneer Woman: 

Ingredients:

• 1 Rotisserie Chicken
• Some Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 Diced Onion
• 1 Diced Green Bell Pepper
• 1 Diced Red Bell Pepper
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 can (10 Oz. Can) Rotel Tomatoes And Green Chilies
• 32 ounces, fluid Low Sodium Chicken Stock 
• 3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
• 2 cups Hot Water
• 1 Chicken Bouillon 
• 1 can (15 Oz. Can) Black Beans, Drained
• _____
• FOR THE GARNISHES:
• Diced Avocado
• Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
• Cilantro
• Tortilla Chips

Instructions: 

Take chicken off the bone. Set aside.

Heat some olive oil in a pot over medium high heat. Add onions, red pepper, green pepper, and minced garlic. Stir and begin cooking, then add the spices. Stir to combine, then add shredded chicken and stir.

Pour in Rotel, chicken stock, tomato paste, water, bouillon and black beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes, covered.

Check seasonings, adding more if needed---add more chili powder if it needs more spice, and be sure not to undersalt. Turn off heat and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes before serving. 

Ladle into bowls, then top with cheese, diced avocado, cilantro, and chips.

asian style party

we attended a dumpling party

tonight at some friends' house,

and it was so fun.

they even made me vegetarian ones!

another fall saturday night, 2011

dinner guests from athens

came over for butternut squash risotto

and brought pumpkin pie. (yay for fall food!)

but so sad i didn't get a picture with/of them!

how can that be? i must have been too busy 

enjoying the company:)

thanks for coming shawn and caroline!

 it was great to catch up, and i'm so happy

you're so close by now.

this calls for tea & crumpets

dinner tonight, 

courtesy of the instant-food section.

ah, the convenience of modern life.

sadly, it wasn't that good.

these photos of rosamund pike, however, are divine. 

i have a sudden urge to squat underneath a huge leaf.

in a pretty dress, of course.

tuesday at chelsea's

my weekly tuesday night girls' gathering

tonight was full of good food and laughter
and the best proposal story i ever heard.
maybe what i needed tonight.

lasagna...

first dinner guests

in our new place. 

i don't always like to take pictures when i have 

people over because i feel like it's sort of 

intrusive, and I'd rather focus on spending time

with our guests, than taking great pictures.

so then you get photos like this, which is

fine, but doesn't exactly do the meal 

justice;). so let me just tell you, it was really nice!

the veggie pumpkin lasagna i tried turned

out pretty good, too. i love cooking seasonal!

but honestly, it's the company that was

(and is always) the best part.

sunday night

jazz makes me grilled cheese

for dinner. 

:)