You’d think for Mother’s Day I’d post about something that my mom at least likes, but nope, not me. I’ve got a schedule around here—I try to write about things in the order we make them, and today, it’s time to talk about Meatloaf. Sorry, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day, though!

Crazy thing? This is one of those recipes that came off of the Weight Watchers message boards, where it’s been floating around for ever, as far as I can tell. And despite the fact that it starts as a healthy “lightened up” version of meatloaf…in spite of how basic and simple this recipe is, it’s also my favorite meatloaf. It’s moist, and flavorful, with an absolute minimal amount of work.

The meatloaf mix itself takes some real shortcuts. This is a four ingredient recipe. While I enjoy shortcuts, especially on a weeknight, I usually recognize the trade-off I’m making. Not so, in this case. The ingredients are simple, the assembly couldn’t be easier, and using muffin tins in place of a loaf pan not only shortens the cook time, but builds in portion control (if you’re into that sort of thing).

Meatloaf Muffins

• 1 lb ground beef, turkey, pork, or a combination. (I used ground beef, because that’s what we keep on hand).
• 1 box stove top stuffing, prepared without fat
• 1 egg (If you want to make this as light as possible, feel free to use 2 egg whites in place of a whole egg)
• 1/2 cup ketchup

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 6 muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Prepare stuffing mix according to package directions, omitting the butter or margarine (using only water). Set a side.

3. In a medium bowl, use your fingers to combine ground beef, egg, and box of stuffing. Mix until everything is combined, but do not over mix. Shape into six muffin size patties, and place into prepared muffin tins.

4. Top each muffin with 1-2 tablespoons of ketchup. Bake in 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until cooked all the way through.

Fried Macaroni & Cheese.

Man I want to make this stuff again!

There’s a lot of David’s favorite foods floating around this blog these days. The fajitas, the potica, the bruschetta…and now cinnamon rolls. David loves cinnamon rolls. But really, who doesn’t?

Along with potica, this was one of those things that we were waiting for more counter space. Now that we have it, I finally decided to bake some up. I borrowed this recipe from Kristen at Dine & Dish. The recipe was relatively easy to follow, and the cinnamon rolls were extremely tasty. I’m interested in trying other recipes, to see what difference they make in the final product, but overall, I was very happy with this recipe, and I probably would make it again.

Saturday Morning Cinnamon Rolls
Adapted from Dine & Dish

For the dough:

1. Proof yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water, with 1 teaspoon sugar added; Set aside for five minutes.
2. Put milk, sugar, salt, and about one cup flour in a bowl of a stand mixer, and beat with the paddle attachment until well-mixed.
   
3. Add eggs and yeast mixture and a couple cups of flour and beat again, until combined.
   
4. Switch to the dough hook. Add the soft butter and the rest of the flour, adding the rest of flour very slowly, while the mixer is running. Continue needing with the dough hook until all flour has been incorporated and dough is firm.
   
5. Turn the dough out onto a floured counter, and knead the ball of dough until it is smooth and satiny, adding only enough to keep if from sticking.
6. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to grease all sides.
7. Let rise in warm place until double, about an hour,covering bowl with a towel or plastic wrap.
8. Punch down, kneading for about 30 seconds to remove bubbles; Cover and let rise again.
9. Punch down dough again.
10. Cut with a knife into four parts, and shape into balls; Roll each ball into a 8 X 14 inch rectangle.
11. Spread the dough with about 3 tablespoons butter, leaving far edge unbuttered.
12. Spread with one fourth the cinnamon sugar mixture.
13. Roll up; roll tightly; Pinch edges; Cut into slices.
14. Place in greased pan and let rise until double in size, 45-60 minutes.
15. Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.
16. Frost with softened cream cheese frosting.
    

Note: This recipe makes about 2 dozen cinnamon rolls—enough that David’s been eating them for breakfast every morning since! He’s not complaining though.

The original recipe called for all of the mixing and kneading to be done by hand. I adapted it for the Stand Mixer. I also sprinkled two of the dough quarters with chopped walnuts, for a change of pace. They were good, but David thinks “pecans would have been better,” so we’ll probably try that next time.

I’m not going to say that oatmeal is my favorite thing to eat for breakfast. And I’m not going to say that this recipe for steel cut oats has changed my life. I am, however, going to say that this recipe for steel cut oats has changed my opinion on oatmeal.

Steel cut oats are the less processed form of oatmeal. Old-fashioned oats or instant oatmeal are made from rolled oats, but steel cut oats are, as it sounds, cut instead. This changes the texture completely, from a soft, mushy cereal, to a nutty, slightly chewy bowl of oats. Really, steel cut oats remind me more of rice than they do the gross packets of oatmeal that I was used to.

This recipe is based on the flavors of those little packets of peaches & cream instant oatmeal, but is so much tastier!

Peaches and Cream Steel Cut Oats
Adapted from Hannah is Hungry

• 1 1/2 cups steel cut oats
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup canned peaches, chopped
• 1/2 cup peach juice (from the canned peaches)
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 Tablespoons of whole milk or cream per bowl

1. In a medium pot bring 1 1/2 cups steel cut oats, 3 cups water and a couple pinches of salt to a boil.

2.  Turn down to a simmer and let it go for 25 minutes.

3. Add 1 cup chopped canned peaches and 1/2 cup of the peach juice. Continue cooking for 10 minutes or until it reaches your desired consistency.

4) Scoop into 4 bowls and top with chopped walnuts and and a little bit of whole milk or cream. You probably won’t need added sugar because the peaches sweeten it up.

Note: This oatmeal reheats well. We ate it just one serving at a time, and kept the leftovers in the fridge for about a week while we ate through the whole pot.

In honor of cinco de mayo, David and I had steak fajitas for dinner. Fajitas have long been one of David’s very favorite foods, especially when we were eating out. These days, I think he prefers the ones we make at home. As we do so often, we borrowed this fajita recipe from Alton Brown. We’ve used this recipe many times without fail.

Alton Brown’s Skirt Steak Recipe (Steak Fajitas)
Adapted from the Good Eats Episode “Raising The Steaks“

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 4 scallions, washed and cut in 1/2
• 2 large cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar or Mexican brown sugar
• 2 pounds inside skirt steak, cut into 3 equal pieces
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 2 green peppers, sliced

1. In a blender, put in oil, soy sauce, scallions, garlic, lime juice, red pepper, cumin, and sugar and puree. In a large heavy duty, zip top bag, put pieces of skirt steak and pour in marinade. Seal bag, removing as much air as possible. Allow steak to marinate for 1 hour in refrigerator.

2. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium high heat. Add about a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the bottom of the pan. Remove steak from bag and pat dry with paper towels. Cook the steak pieces for about 3-4 minutes per side, until cooked to desired doneness. Remove from the pan to a cutting board and tent loosely with foil while the meat is allowed to rest for at least 10 minutes.

3. While meat is resting, add sliced onions and green peppers to the skillet and cook until tender.

4. When steak has rested for at least 10 minutes, slice thinly across the grain of the meat.  Serve with grilled peppers and onions, tortillas, beans, cheese, sour cream–whatever you like.

Note: We also had chips and guacamole. You will not be surprised to learn that we often use Alton Brown’s recipe for guacamole. I know you will not be surprised to hear that. We’ve made it many times, and it always turns out delicious–and much better than anything you’ll find pre-made at your grocery store. Definitely worth the extra trouble. I’ve included the recipe below, because if you want to make guacamole 100% from scratch, this is an excellent place to start.

Alton Brown’s Guacamole

• 3 Haas avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced

In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat. Drain, and reserve the lime juice, after all of the avocados have been coated. Using a potato masher add the salt, cumin, and cayenne and mash. Then, fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.

That being said…

I also want to mention our favorite substitute for “from scratch” guacamole, because it’s another excellent alternative to the pre-made tubs at your grocery store: Frontera Grill Guacamole Mix. This blend of tomatillos, tomatoes, chiles, garlic, and spices comes in a jar, and it couldn’t be easier to turn it into tasty guacamole—just mash 3 avocados with the contents of the jar. It’s a nice work-around if you find yourself in a hurry to make fresh guacamole. We’ve bought three packs of the mix at Costco, but you can also buy individual jars at your grocery store.

Dave and I are taking our friend Leah to her first Cubs game at Wrigley Field tonight. Between that, Cubscast on the way to work this morning, and a couple of fantastic Cubs games over the weekend, I guess you could say I’ve got baseball on the brain.

So I’m here to ask: What are your favorite baseball game snacks?

I mean, I know baseball stadiums have really been stepping it up in the food department. There are tons of stories about Dungeness Crab Sandwiches in San Francisco, Fajitas at MinuteMaid Park in Houston, Fish Tacos in San Diego and Shake Shack burgers at the new Mets stadium in New York.

I guess I’m a traditionalist, though. I don’t expect to find anything more than the standard ballpark fare. Hot Dogs and Pretzels. Nachos. Peanuts and Cracker Jacks.

When I hear about the full service restaurants at the new Yankees Stadium, I can’t imagine what people are thinking. Who wants to sit down and eat prime rib at a ball game?

Not me.

What about you guys? Take the poll, or leave your comment below.

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One of my favorite things about summer is the abundance of fresh, ripe tomatoes. While summer isn’t quite here just yet, the tomatoes at our local supermarket have been showing some promise–enough that I took a chance on them and went ahead and made some Bruschetta.

Bruschetta is actually one of the very first things that David and I started to make when he moved into his first apartment and we started cooking. The tricky part is that our Bruschetta is one of those “a little of this, a little of that” kind of recipes. I’m going to do my best to capture it below.

Fresh Tomato Bruschetta with Pannetini

Ingredients

• Tomatoes (Roma tomatoes, if available)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Minced Garlic
• Fresh Basil
• Salt & Pepper
• Parmesan Cheese
• Sun-Dried Tomatoes (optional – can be dry-packed or oil-packed, diced)
• Garlic Bread, thinly-sliced & toasted (other options include crackers, toasted Italian or French bread, or Panetini. The Panetini can be found at your grocery store, near the Bakery, with the bagel chips).

Directions

1. Seed and dice the tomatoes and put into a bowl with Olive Oil & Balsamic Vinegar. The exact amounts depend on how many tomatoes you use, but for about 10 servings, I use about 10 full size tomatoes, with ½ Cup of Olive Oil & 3 or 4 Tablespoons of Balsamic.
2. Add sun-dried tomatoes.
3. Add approximately 3 cloves of garlic, minced.
4. The basil needs to be chopped very finely or minced in a food processor (I have also used what we call “Basil Paste,” which you can find in your produce department with the little clamshell packages of fresh herbs).
5. Add the parmesan cheese…about ½ Cup to ¾ Cup.
6. Then, just mix together and add salt and cracked black pepper to taste.
7. Serve with the bread, crackers, or Panetini for dipping.

I don’t really measure as much as I mix and taste, until it comes out right. If your tomatoes are very acidic, a Tablespoon of regular table sugar added to the mix (strange as it sounds) will go a long way. You can add more or less balsamic vinegar, depending on your taste. The ingredients themselves can be very forgiving…the Parmesan can be anything from imported Parmigiano-Reggiano to the stuff in the green can for this, though I prefer the real stuff. Same with the basil…if you want to use dried basil, you can. It won’t taste quite as bright, but it will work. You need much less dry basil than fresh.  The bruschetta gets better the longer it gets to hang out, so making it the night before is best, but give it at least 30 minutes to an hour before eating, if you can.

Leftovers can be mixed with canned chicken to make an Italian Chicken Salad, put over
lettuce for a Bruschetta Salad, or put over cooked pasta to make a pasta sauce. You can also add diced fresh mozzarella if you want. (Like I did for this batch).

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Green City Market in Lincoln Park. Now from what I understand, this farmer’s market is a much bigger event during the summer, when it takes place outside, and we were there for one of the last weeks inside. No matter. We had a good time and picked up several tasty treats. One of those treats was a jar of Pear Butter from Seedling.

I’d never even heard of Pear Butter, but of course there were samples, and the samples were quite convincing, so we picked up a jar. If you’ve never had Pear Butter (or Apple Butter) for that matter, the term propbably requires some explaination.

According to Wikipedia, Apple Butter is a highly concentrated applesauce, made by cooking apples so long and slow that the sugars in the apples carmelize. Despite being called Apple “Butter,” there’s no butter, cream, or dairy of any kind involved. And the final product isn’t anything like butter, really. It’s more of a jam-like spread (though not quite as thick). We use it to spread on toast, mostly. The caramelization gives the apple butter a unique sweet taste. David, who favors apple jelly almost exclusively, likes apple butter a lot. His favorite use is to slather it on a toasted english muffin.

This Pear Butter was similar to Apple Butter—it had the same unique sweetness, but the pears gave it a little something special. I have been very happy to have it around.

The one other place I’ve seen apple butter at work is, oddly enough, in college. The dining hall made a surprisingly delicious sandwich with turkey, dill harvati, and apple butter. It sounds strange, I know, but the sanwhich was the perfect balance of salty and sweet. I decided to use the same flavors to make a panini using roasted turkey, leftover harvati cheese from our fancy Macaroni & Four Cheese, and of course, our new Pear Butter.

Pear Butter, Turkey, & Harvati Panini

For each sandwiches:

• Two slices of good quality bread (We like this sourdough)
• 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
• 1 tablespoon apple butter or pear butter
• 2 ounces thinly sliced roasted turkey (from the deli)
• 2 ounces harvati cheese, sliced
• 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

1. Preheat a panini pan and press over medium high heat.

2. Spread one slice of bread with the mayonnaise. Top with one layer of cheese, followed by turkey, and then another layer of cheese, in that order. Spread the remaining slice of bread with apple or pear butter to complete the sandwich. .

3. Spread the outside of the sandwich (both slices of bread) with butter.

4. Place in panini pan and top with press. The sandwich is done when the bread is crisp all around and the cheese is melted all the way through. Slice in half and serve immediately.

Note: I wouldn’t say these sandwhiches were perfect, but if I had the ingredients laying around again, I’d definitely try to perfect it. They were quite tasty as it was. The two differences were the use of sourdough instead of plain, from a bag, sliced wheat bread (I’d say the sourdough was probably an improvement), and using regular harvati instead of a dill-flavored harvati (this could have made the sandwhich better).

Apparently, May is National Egg Month. This post makes me excited for the weekend, when I actually have time to make eggs for breakfast!

How do you like your eggs?

Scrambled?

Over Medium?

Hard Boiled?

Over Easy?

Maybe you prefer fried egg sandwiches?

Or egg salad?

Of course, there are about a million ways to cook an egg. That’s part of what’s so amazing about them. Check out these cookbooks:

The Good Egg

The Farmstead Egg Cookbook

Or how about this Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook? I want it!

Of course, even if you don’t like eggs, you probably like something made with eggs. Like just about every cookie or cake recipe you can imagine. Like Lemon Meringue Pie, Custard-Style Ice Creams, Angel Food Cake, Egg Noodles…I could go on, but I hardly need to.

Tell me, what’s your favorite way to eat eggs? Leave a comment and share!