Slow cooker meatloaf

Jeff loves meatloaf, but the one time I made it, it was too dry so I haven't retried it in years. But, since I've been using the slow cooker for successful, moist meat recipes, I decided to try that. & it was a success!

What I had:

For the loaf:

• 1.5 lbs ground beef
• 8 oz mushrooms
• 1 large red onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup 2% milk
• 1-1.5 cup bread crumbs
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sage powder
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp parsley flakes

For the sauce:

• ketchup
• Worcestershire sauce
• ground mustard
• brown sugar

What I did:

• Whisked the eggs, milk, all the dried spices together in a large bowl
• Added the bread crumbs
• Put the onion, garlic and mushrooms in a blender and blend till just chopped tiny
• Added this to the bowl
• Added the beef and mix well
• Formed in a loaf
• Lined a 6 qt crock pot with foil, put the loaf in the middle and crimped the sides to hold the shape
• Mixed the sauce ingredients - around 1.5 cup ketchup, 3 tbsp brown sugar, 4 tbsp mustard and 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce (tasted and adjusted accordingly)
• Cooked on high for 3 hrs till the internal temperature reached 160, basting with the sauce every half hour
• Moved the loaf to a baking pan, added more sauce to the top and broiled for 5 minutes
• Added some chipotle to the rest of the sauce and served meatloaf with the sauce on the side

Chicken rice casserole

Day 2 of our eating home cooked meals for 40 days and I have to tell you both meals have been under $15, with leftovers for both Jeff and my lunches. I can see we will be saving money! And, I am 2 for 2, as far as the family is concerned. They loved this casserole and it was so easy!

What I had:

• 3 chicken breasts (pick size for your family, it doesn't matter for this recipe)
• 1 cup uncooked, rinsed rice (I used basmati because that's what I had, you can use brown, long white)
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 lb mushrooms chopped (not too fine, you don't want them to disappear in the creamy sauce)
• 1 small can of cream of mushroom soup
• 1 small container of heavy whipping cream
• Salt, pepper, garlic, parsley,m whatever spices you like to taste

What I did:

• Spread the uncooked rice in the bottom of a 9X13 glass baking pan
• Spread the cooked quinoa over it
• Placed the chicken breasts over the quinoa
• Sprinkled the breasts with salt & pepper
• Mix the soup & cream in a mixing bowl, added the spices till I liked the taste. I had to add a little more water to make it runnier
• Pour this mixture over the rice, quinoa & chicken
• Bake for 60 minutes @ 350 degrees (I had really thick breasts so needed 5 more minutes
• Serve with any roasted/sautéed/boiled/raw vegetables your 6 year old will eat (or swallow whole as my kid to his asparagus pieces)

Roasted squash salad with warm bacon vinaegrette

I needed a side salad for my pork tenderloin and wanted to use up bacon and butternut squash I had at home. what I ended up with was so delicious it could have been an entree salad!

What I had:

• 1 medium butternut squash, sliced 1/4' around and then quartered
• 1 red onion thinly sliced
• 3 stalks of baby bok choy, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 cup thinly sliced red cabbage
• 8 strips of bacon, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1 cup red wine (I had a Malbec)
• 1 cup sparkling white wine (I used a Moscato d'asti)
• 1/2 cup walnuts chopped

What I did:

• Spread the squash on a pan, drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper, and roast at 350 degrees for 25 minutes
• While it cools, add the bok choy and cabbage to a salad bowl
• Add the walnuts to the salad
• In a large pan, cook the bacon till almost crisp. Add it to the salad bowl.
• Add the squash to the bowl
• Drain the bacon fat, reserving 1 tbsp in the pan and 2 tbsp aside for later
• Saute the red onions till soft in the bacon fat
• Add the wines (now I used these 2 wines because I didn't red wine vinegar and compromised, but it turned out so good!) Stir, scraping the bacon bits off the pan. Sprinkle some salt, pepper and garlic to taste.
• Cook on medium heat till you can't taste the alcohol, about 5-7 minutes
• Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss to combine

It was so good, the child declared the salad to be better than the bacon covered tenderloin!

Sausage, kale & tortellini stew



As part of my 40 by 40 in 40 weeks, I have new recipes I want to try. However, me being me, I don't follow the recipe to a T ever. I found this stew recipe in a Family Circle magazine, and then lost the clipping, so I did what I could from memory and taste!

I also used a new vegetable - lacinato kale - which counts as 1 of the 40 new veggies or fruits to try.

What I had:

• 1 lb sage flavored ground sausage
• 1 large red onion sliced
• 5 cloves of garlic minced
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 8 cups of lacinato kale chopped
• 4 cups water
• 1 package of frozen sausage tortellini
• salt & pepper to taste
• Italian seasoning

What I did:

• browned the sausage in a big stock pot
• took it out, leaving the sausage droppings in the pot
• sautéed the garlic and onions till soft
• added the sausage back in
• added the broth, kale, & water in & bring to a boil
• lowered the heat and added the tortellini
• let it simmer till tortellini is warmed through
• served with some warm bread

Smoked bacon explosion

Bacon explosion!

I made this bacon explosion years ago, but in the oven. After experimenting with the smoker for a while, I thought how much better this would be slow smoked? And, I tweaked the recipe a bit.

What I had:

• 2 packages of 12 oz bacon
• 1 lb hot pork sausage
• 1/2 medium white onion, chopped
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• dried parsley
• paprika

What I did:

• Browned one of the bacon packages
• Used the second bacon package to weave a tight mat

• Sprinkled the seasonings on the bacon mat
• Layered the pork sausage over the bacon mat
• Sprinkled the chopped onions and browned bacon on top of the sausage
• Sprinkled some more seasoning

• Rolled the sausage, without the bacon mat, backwards, trying to keep all the ingredients inside
• Then, rolled it back with the bacon mat

• Put it on the smoker at 225 degrees, bacon seam on the bottom

• Take it off the smoker when it reaches 165 internal temperature. Let it cool, slice it as thick or thin you want.

Southern biscuit & sausage gravy casserole

What I had:

• 1 can Pillsbury Southern style biscuits
• 1 lb hot sausage, browned and drained
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1packet gravy mix
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• Salt & pepper to taste

What I did:

• Cut the biscuits into quarters and lined a greased 9X13 pan
• Layered the crumbled sausage on top of the biscuits
• Layered the shredded cheese on top of the sausage

• Whisked the eggs and milk together with salt and pepper, poured it on top of the cheese

• Made the gravy according to package instructions and poured it over everything

• Baked 55 minutes at 350 degrees

• Enjoyed it a lot with some cholula hot sauce!

Things to change for next time:

• Double the amount of sausage
• Lower the amount of salt - there was enough in the sausage and the gravy mix
• Mix the eggs, milk and gravy together before pouring it over the biscuits and sausage

Rolled up French toast

What I had:

• Challah bread
• Eggs
• Confectioners' sugar
• Cinnamon
• Cream cheese
• Strawberry lavender jam (or whatever flavor you have)
• Chocolate chips

What I did:

• Cut the crust off the challah bread slices
• Created a spread with 2 tablespoon cream cheese and 2 tablespoon jam
• Spread that on half the slices
• Poured chocolate chips on the other half

• Rolled up the slices 

• Whisked eggs, cinnamon and sugar together
• Dipped the rolled up pieces of bread in the egg mixture

• Fried it on medium heat in a pan sprayed with Pam

• Made sure all sides were golden brown

• Rolled them in a sugar-cinnamon mix
• Enjoyed with or without forks
• Got 20 thumbs up from my 5 year old