Loafin' Around.....

When the cold weather sets in, it always takes me back to my childhood comforts.....the flannel nightgowns trimmed in eyelet lace that my mother made for me, the soups on the stove, the fresh cannister of cocoa that always appeared in the pantry ready for cold, windy days, the cans of condensed milk ready for snow cream......and meatloaf!

I have to admit that I wasn't always a fan.....I'd have rather she used it to make plump, juicy hamburgers!  The meatloaf my Mom made was full of oats, breading and lots of onions topped with lots of ketchup....and I've never been a ketchup fan!

Well, the cold weather has set in and it seems that meatloaf has also conjured up some memories for Dennis.  He was craving meatloaf!  After requesting this entree (?) several times, I finally caved in and decided to serve it up.....my way!

I try very hard to stay away from carbohydrates (most of the time I fail!), so I went to work trying to figure out how I could pull off this meatloaf without it being so dry......and without the globs of ketchup (which lasts much longer around our house now that the kids are on their own).

I had some ground beef, but decided to make a run to the store for some ground pork to add to it.  I also scouted out what I had in the vegetable drawer of the fridge.....mushrooms, tomatoes, green onions and roasted red peppers from the pantry....score!  The vegetables should help keep the meatloaf moist versus using oatmeal!

Now....what to do about the ketchup!  While at the store scouting out the ketchup section, I noticed chili sauce....lots more flavor and not so sweet......score #2.

I used my food processor to grind up the veggies semi-fine and added them to the meat along with an egg. 
Then I formed it into a loaf on top of parchment paper on my baking sheet.....baked it until it was somewhat firm (nothing worse than firm, dried out meatloaf!) and served it up.  It was a hit!

Since I made so much, I decided to take half and freeze it.....NOT a score!

 There was plenty for dinner.......but, as I found out later, not enough for a meatloaf sandwich the next day (not for me, mind you.....remember, I TRY to eat bread only on special occasions....like weekends at Melinda's cabin and holidays!)

Since I'm not so much a meatloaf lover, I wasn't quite sure it was a hit until it was served.......it got rave reviews.....along with requests for more!  I have to admit, for meatloaf it was awesome.....the best I've ever had!

Prime Time!

In our family, we're pretty specific as to what proteins we eat at our particular holiday meals. Of course, we have turkey at Thanksgiving and prime rib at Christmas....tenderloin for New Years....ham at Easter! With the holidays just around the corner, I decide it was time to start posting about the foods I love to eat during the holidays. AND since prime rib is on sale at Farm Fresh right now, it seemed appropriate to start with that! So, here we go with Prime Rib 101:

I do NOT normally recommend purchasing a boneless rib roast, as roasting with the bones adds flavor, but tonight we had a boneless prime rib, which meant I'd have to work a little harder to add extra flavor!

I started off with making slits in the top of the prime rib....down far enough to add portions of cloves of garlic.

Then I drizzled the top with extra virgin olive oil and poked the garlic pieces I'd cut into the slits...

...add salt and pepper.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and bake for 1 hour (30-45 minutes for pieces under 5 pounds), then turn the overn down to 325 degrees and cook until your meat thermometer reads 135 degrees (medium rare).

I added some fingerling potatoes to the pan so they would reap the flavor from the roast.

While you're enjoying your meal, you'll get "bonus bites" when you have a slice that includes one of the garlic cloves......SCORE! If you're planning to make a prime rib during the holidays, check out this great website for added information on making yours the best ever! I hope your holidays are the best ever!!!

I also made some horseradish sauce to go with the meat.....delish!

Channeling Julia.....

So..., we have tickets and we have our place to stay. We are really going to Paris! When we first started planning this trip it was my goal to try cooking lots of great French dishes in anticipation of cooking some of our meals while there. I've tried a few, but I'm nowhere near where I had hoped to be!
So this morning Shelby called wanting some ideas on cooking a pot roast for her 86 degree day in San Antonio (hey, that's cool for Texas!).
After our "chat", I headed for the grocery store in anticipation of making a pot roast, too. Then I remembered Paris.....and my hopes of conquering some great French recipes to cook while we're there. So I decide to try beef bourguignon! Because I made this decision AFTER heading to the grocery store, we did have to make an additional trip for things I had forgotten.

Julia's recipe is labled "difficult", but it really isn't.....there are just so many steps...and for my first time out, I didn't want to skip any.
The recipe calls for slab bacon, which you slice into 1/4 inch slices and then cut those slices into 1 1/2 inch squares.

Then you boil them in a 1 1/2 quarts of water (it really doesn't take that much water though!), drain them,

and dry them off very well !

Brown them in a tablespoon of olive oil. While they are browning, I cut my beef, onions and carrots.
I removed the bacon, added the beef (in several stages...no crowding!) and browned it.

I added the browned beef to the bacon, then browned the onions and carrots.

Put the meat and veggies back into the dutch oven with the onions and carrots, then sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of flour.....stir to coat.Put into a 400 degree oven for 4 minutes.....stir, then put back into the oven for an additional 4 minutes. Add 3 cups of red wine and 1 1/2 cups of beef stock. Then add the herbs, which consist of two cloves of garlic, 4 tablespoons of chopped parsley, 3 tablespoons of thyme (I just put in 6 or 7 stems) 1 tablespoons of tomato paste and 2 small bay leaves......

stir and bring to a slow simmer on the stove. Then put in the oven and adjust the temperature to keep it at a slow simmer for 2.5 to 3 hours or until the meat is tender. While the meat and veggie mixture is braising, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a saucepan and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.....this keeps the butter from burning. Brown approximately 18 to 24 pearl onions (Julia leaves the skins on....I took them off), remove and then brown 1 pound of mushrooms quartered.

Once the meat and veggie mixture comes out of the oven,

strain the meat and veggies, saving the sauce into a saucepan, >
which I simmered to reduce until thick enough to coat the back of your spoon.

Add the mushrooms and pearl onions to the meat.....
and pour the reduced sauce over them and simmered for an additional few minutes. Voila! I served Dennis' over wild rice with crusty bread. I ate mine without the rice. I have to tell you this is a fabulous recipe! The next time I think I'll reduce the amount of wine to 2 cups....it was just a little too rich!

I hope you'll try this recipe. It may seem intimidating, but it's really not that difficult. It's just time consuming.
You can find Julia's recipe here: Click Here

A Long Awaited Recipe!!!

So, Evan came over the other day and there on the counter was some leftover London broil from the night before that I was getting ready to reheat for lunch. When he saw it, he reminded me that this was his favorite meal of all time that I used to make for the kids when they were younger. I guess we did eventually get tired of it and I stopped making it. But when I saw a great buy on London broil, I decided to make it for Dennis. I have to tell you that it's truly, truly awesome!

Mix together in a large zip top bag:

1 cup ketchup
1 package Good Seasons Garlic and Herb dressing mix (just the dry mix)
1 tablespoon mustard
1 small bottle Italian dressing (I buy the cheapest stuff - even used oil and vinegar one time when I didn't have any dressing)
1 cup red wine (I've used white wine, sherry and vermouth - all were good, red is best)
1 tablespoon lemon-pepper (I usually put a bit more)
Handful of diced chives (I've used green onions, too)

Mix all of this well and add your London broil top half of the mixture.....it's best to marinate overnight, but at least 2-3 hours works. Grill to your perfection - mine is rare-to medium rare....slice, drizzle with the remaining marinade, and eat!