Tag Archives: delicious

Meatloaf Bolognese

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Up until a few weeks ago, I hated meatloaf. Unrefined. Heavy. Covered in ketchup. Gross. Not my thing.

Then, along came Cooking Light, a magazine I’ve begun to subscribe to, and a recipe for meatloaf. I scoured the ingredients looking for ketchup so that I could turn the page and forget this recipe ever existed. But ketchup was nowhere to be found. So I kept reading. I was intrigued. I made. I devoured. This recipe has a complexity and depth of flavor that I wasn’t expecting. The three types of meat give it its complexity, the red wine gives it a nice tang, while the cremini mushroom sauce is the perfect complement to all of the above. This picture doesn’t do this meatloaf justice, but with how delicious it is, I’ll be sure to keep making it.

Meatloaf Bolognese

(Adapted from Cooking Light)

The Loaf:

  • 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
  • 2 ounces pancetta, chopped
  • 3 shallots, finely chopped
  • 1 cup carrots, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1/4 red wine
  • 1/4 2% milk
  • pinch kosher salt
  • pinch freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/3 lb lean ground beef (90/10 or leaner)
  • 1/3 lb ground pork (lean if possible)
  • 1/3 lb ground veal

The Sauce:

  • 1 tbsp butter (I don’t usually use butter – but definitely worth using here)
  • 4 oz cremini mushrooms, finely chopped (you can find these at Whole Foods if you’re having trouble finding them)
  • 1 shallot, finely chopped
  • 4 tsp flour
  • 1 cup lower-sodium beef broth
  • 2 tbsp 2% milk
  • pinch black pepper
  • pinch salt
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Heat a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat.  Add pancetta and saute for 2 minutes. Add shallots and carrots, and saute for another 8-ish minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Add tomato paste; cook for 1 minute. Add wine; cook until liquid is almost entirely evaporated (around 2 minutes).
  4. Remove pan from heat and let cool at least 5 minutes. It is important to cool this mixture before combining with other ingredients because if it is not cool, it will begin to cook the meat, egg, etc. Save the pan for making the sauce. Do not clean the pan or discard any of the crumblies that stick to the bottom of the pan. These will make your sauce better, I promise.
  5. Combine breadcrumbs, pancetta mixture, milk, salt, pepper, egg, and all three meats. Mix gently until all combined.
  6. Transfer mixture into a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan coated (heavily) with cooking spray. Not using the cooking spray will make you sad when it’s time to clean up. Do not pack the mixture in, but rather just spread it out so that it’s even.
  7. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.
  8. When there is about 10 minutes left until the meatloaf comes out of the oven, go ahead and begin your sauce.
  9. To prepare the sauce, melt the butter in the same saucepan as you sauteed your pancetta, carrots, and shallots in earlier. Add the mushrooms and shallots set aside for the sauce. Saute for around 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add flour and cook for 1 minute.
  10. Add 1 cup of beef broth and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in 2% milk, salt, and pepper. Cook for another minute. Serve with meatloaf.

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap and My Egg Nog Snickerdoodles

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This year I partook in the first ever Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. What did this swap entail, you might ask? It involved me baking three dozen cookies and sending them to three different food bloggers. It then involved me receiving three dozen DELICIOUS cookies from three different bloggers myself. Pretty cool if you ask me. It’s a great way to network in the food blogger community and a great way to chomp on some delicious cookies.

The cookies I made for the swap are my Egg Nog Snickerdoodles. They are my first EVER venture into a recipe that is 100% my own (read: no recipe to follow, chances for disaster very high). My process was:

Make the dough.

Bake one cookie.

Try the cookie.

Tweak the recipe.

Bake one more cookie.

Try the cookie.

Tweak the recipe.

I continued this process until I got it just right. I really think these taste like egg nog and I hope you’ll agree.

egg nog snickerdoodles

Egg Nog Snickerdoodles

  • 2 3/4 cups flour
  • 2 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp + 1 tsp nutmeg (divided)
  • 1 3/4 cups of sugar, divided 1 1/2 and 1/4
  • 1 cup + 2 tbsp  unsalted butter, room temperature (2 1/4 sticks)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 – 1/2 cup [Andrew's good] bourbon (I generally use more – closer to a 1/2 cup, but it’s a matter of personal taste – don’t tell Andrew)
  • 3 tbsp rum
  1. Preheat oven to 375. Set a cookie sheet aside. No need for non-stick spray or parchment paper. These bad boys don’t stick.
  2. Mix together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
  3. Cream the sugar into the butter and egg until smooth in a large bowl.
  4. Add bourbon and rum to the sugar, butter, egg mixture.
  5. Slowly pour the dry ingredients mixture into the liquid ingredients mixture, 1/3 at a time. Mix until all ingredients are combined and smooth.
  6. In a large, shallow bowl or on a plate, mix together 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 tbsp nutmeg.
  7. Take a piece of dough and create a ball roughly 1 inch in diameter. Roll the ball around sugar/nutmeg mixture until the ball is completely coated. Place ball on cookie sheet.
  8. Continue this with the rest of the cookie dough. Make sure that the balls of dough are no closer than 2 inches on the cookie sheet.
  9. Place cookie sheet on top rack of oven so as to ensure the bottoms of the cookies do not burn. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove cookies from over and let cool on the baking sheet for another 1-2 minutes. Remove cookies and allow to cool on a cooling rack.
Silly side note: while I was making these cookies, Andrew got tired

so tired

Then he got hungry

open sesame

As for shipping, I sent the cookies off in these tupperware containers from Container Store. Cute, right??

Now, on to the cookies I received in the swap. The first batch of cookies I devoured were from Vesta Vamps. They were amazingly delectable and perfectly sweet. They’re her Great Aunt Thelma’s Butterscotch cookies. Delicious.

The second batch of cookies I received were from Nora in Portland, Oregon who writes Cats and Commas. They were ginger snaps made with three different types of ginger. How inventive is that?? They were rich and complex with a degree of spice that perfectly offset the sweetness.

The last batch of cookies I received were from Addison at Changing My Destiny. They’re Dark Chocolate Dipped Oatmeal Chewies – a great new spin on a traditional (and delicious) oatmeal cookie. The dark chocolate paired with the oatmeal was a perfect balance!

All in all, the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to be a part of it next year. As for now, I’m gonna go chomp some more cookies…

Chicken Makhani (Indian Butter Chicken)

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Andrew and I don’t crave Indian food too often, but when we do we go all out. We prefer to make our own so that we can control what goes into the recipe (sometimes for health’s sake, sometimes for taste’s sake) and so that we can make sure we get exactly what we want. Last weekend I found myself with a few hours to cook and decided to make Chicken Makhani, or Indian Butter Chicken (adapted from allrecipes.com). This recipe was delicious the first day and was even better the second day. We served it with jasmine rice and naan bread, but it’d be just as good with any type of rice or side dish you see fit. This would also be great with some veggies thrown in: maybe some peppers or broccoli.

 

Recipe makes 4 servings

For the sauce:

  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 shallot, finely chopped
  • 1/4 white onion, chopped
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tsp lemon juice (yield from 1/2 fresh lemon)
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tsbp minced ginger
  • 1 tsp garam marsala (you can find this in the spice aisle)
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 bay leag
  • 1/4 c plain yogurt (I bought one individual container of Dannon Greek yogurt)
  • 1 c half and half (I only had heavy cream, so I used that and it turned out fine)
  • 1 c tomato puree
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 grind fresh black pepper

For the chicken:

  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 tsp garam marsala
  • 1 pinch cayenne pepper
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup water

half and half and yogurt combined, spices combined, and a beer for me to drink

First, the sauce:

  1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute shallot and onion until soft and translucent. Do not rush this or burn the shallots/onion.
  2. Stir in butter, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, garam marsala, chili powder, cumin, and bay leaf.
  3. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
  4. Add tomato sauce, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently
  5. Stir in half-and-half and yogurt
  6. Reduce heat to low, simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently
  7. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.

Second, the chicken:

  1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken until lightly browned, about 10 minutes
  2. Reduce heat and season with 1 tsp garam marsala and cayenne
  3. Spoon in a few spoonfuls of the sauce and simmer until the liquid has reduced and the chicken is cooked through
  4. Stir the cooked chicken into the sauce
  5. Mix the cornstarch and water, then stir into the sauce. Cook for 5 to 10 more minutes, or until thickened.

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I have to admit, I don’t love chocolate. I don’t like chocolate bars. I don’t like chocolate cake. I DEFINITELY don’t like chocolate ice cream. But there are some times when all I want is chocolate. Usually it comes in the form of a Reese’s peanut butter cup, sometimes in the form of a baby Hershey’s kiss. Rarely does it come in the form of a chocolate chip cookie.

This cookie recipe, however, has changed my mind about chocolate chip cookies. I can usually eat 1 or 2, which is like 23948712349876124 cookies in the world of people who actually like chocolate chip cookies. As in, 1 or 2 cookies leaves me on the floor sobbing with a headache from chocolate overload. But I do it anyway.

I got this recipe from a TF (TA to anyone who didn’t go to the H) in a History of Art and Architecture class. Let’s just say I wasn’t exactly the most copious note taker, nor was I really one to participate…or pay attention….WHATEVER it was a slide slow class and the lights were always dim. Anyway. My TF brought these to class one day and I must have missed lunch or been hungover, but either way I decided to chomp on a chocolate chip cookie. I was STUNNED. A chocolate chip cookie I actually liked! After class I asked her for the recipe. She was also stunned. Likely because this was the first time I’d talked to her all semester and the only time I ever stayed after class to chat. Anyway, I found out this recipe is just the recipe on the back of the bag of Ghirardelli chocolate chips. How funny is that?? Well wherever it came from, it sure is delish. And now, I share it with you.

hello beautiful.

up close and personal

i had to peek. doesn't my oven look really high tech and awesome? ha.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli, obvi)
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla (or vanilla extract)
  • 2 1/4 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (only if you want)

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt – set aside

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and both sugars  until creamy and light in color (easiest with a hand mixer). Add the vanilla and one egg. Mix until incorporated. Add second egg. Mix again.

Gradually blend in flour mixture until the dough forms a creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if you’re using them)

Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. (I like to take mine out a little early and let them finish on the baking sheet. It prevents them from burning.)