I have no idea why I haven't posted this recipe yet. Maybe because it's such an old standby I didn't think I needed to post it. I mean, meatloaf, how can that be exotic and sexy and fun to cook? It's comfort food, though. And very tasty.
My daughter told me a while back that she had no idea that meatloaf is usually made with bread crumbs until she was in college. We always used oatmeal. I had oatmeal in my pantry, but bread crumbs? Never. My mom used oatmeal, too, probably for the same reason. It worked when we were dealing with food allergies. I had one child allergic to oatmeal when he was little, though, but that's a whole different story. I'll just mention that mashed potatoes do not work as a binder in meatloaf. Still tasty. Rice can work as a filler, but only if it's cooked first. Now I'm getting off topic. On to the recipe.
Meatloaf
1 lb ground beef
2 c. oatmeal
1/4 c. finely minced onion
2 eggs
1/2 c. barbecue sauce
1/4 c. ketchup
Mix everything together. This works best if you squish it in your hands. Wear those disposable food gloves if you've got them.
Lightly grease a 9-inch loaf pan. Pat the meat mixture into the pan. Bake at 350° for about an hour until the edges are toasted and the meat is no longer pink in the middle.
Serve with extra barbecue sauce on the side.
For meatballs - shape into balls. Place on a baking sheet, the kind with a rim, and bake at 400° for 12-20 minutes, depending on the size of the meatballs. Once they are no longer pink inside, they are done. Glaze with a mixture of 1/2 c. jelly and 1/2 c. barbecue sauce.
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Monday, April 11, 2016
Yarn is My Weakness
I love yarn. Every time I walk into a craft store or the megamart, I have to find the yarn aisle. I drool over the colors. I touch the skeins to feel the texture. Is that yarn as soft as it looks? Is that one scratchy? How thin is that one? How fat and lumpy?
I adore the ombre yarns, the multicolored ones. Most of them are loud and scream, "I escaped from the seventies!", but that's what I love about them. When I work with them, I never know how the colors are going to turn out. That's part of what attracts me to them. They're chaos and anarchy in a bundle of fiber, but not really. There is a pattern to them, an order, but the only way to really see it is to make something with them.
This is where I run into problems. I get all fired up with ideas of what I'm going to do with that yarn. I know the exact thing I want to make from that gorgeous shade of lilac, or from that skein of mixed blues and purples and oranges, or from that whole pile of easter egg spring pastels. So I buy the yarn and bring it home. And it sits in my yarn bins because I either ran out of time or energy or I got bored with the idea or I can't find the pattern I was hoping to use.
Every once in a while I go on a burst of crocheting energy and finish stuff up, though. Yarn gets used. I work my way through skeins, leaving nothing but small balls of leftovers and finished projects behind.
My house would be overrun with crocheted doohickies except I've found ways to sell projects or give them away. It's all good. I keep the ones I really love.
I rarely crochet intricate things or fiddly patterns and I rarely use fine yarn and small hooks. Partly because I don't like fine work; my eyes are going bad and my coordination isn't the greatest. Crocheting little threads with tiny hooks is hard work, not what I'm usually craving when I sit down to crochet. I like to use thick yarn and big hooks and make things that work up quickly. I like to see progress.
Most of what I make are amigurumi - crocheted toys shaped like big-headed people or animals. It's fun, not too taxing on my eyes or brain, and people love them. Babies, especially, love the texture of the yarn and the squishiness of the toys. As long as I avoid using buttons for eyes, I'm good.
It's a creative escape. I get to play with fun colors and feel the yarn and end up with something at the end. The actual process can get boring, which is why I tend to stick to small projects. Working stitch after stitch of single crochet gets repetitive in a hurry, but sometimes that's what I crave. It's soothing. I get into a rhythm and just keep it going. I can see whatever it is I'm crocheting growing under my fingers. It's tactile, not intellectual.
And it gives me an excuse to buy more yarn. I really need more of that rainbow ombre...
I adore the ombre yarns, the multicolored ones. Most of them are loud and scream, "I escaped from the seventies!", but that's what I love about them. When I work with them, I never know how the colors are going to turn out. That's part of what attracts me to them. They're chaos and anarchy in a bundle of fiber, but not really. There is a pattern to them, an order, but the only way to really see it is to make something with them.
This is where I run into problems. I get all fired up with ideas of what I'm going to do with that yarn. I know the exact thing I want to make from that gorgeous shade of lilac, or from that skein of mixed blues and purples and oranges, or from that whole pile of easter egg spring pastels. So I buy the yarn and bring it home. And it sits in my yarn bins because I either ran out of time or energy or I got bored with the idea or I can't find the pattern I was hoping to use.
Every once in a while I go on a burst of crocheting energy and finish stuff up, though. Yarn gets used. I work my way through skeins, leaving nothing but small balls of leftovers and finished projects behind.
My house would be overrun with crocheted doohickies except I've found ways to sell projects or give them away. It's all good. I keep the ones I really love.
Most of what I make are amigurumi - crocheted toys shaped like big-headed people or animals. It's fun, not too taxing on my eyes or brain, and people love them. Babies, especially, love the texture of the yarn and the squishiness of the toys. As long as I avoid using buttons for eyes, I'm good.
It's a creative escape. I get to play with fun colors and feel the yarn and end up with something at the end. The actual process can get boring, which is why I tend to stick to small projects. Working stitch after stitch of single crochet gets repetitive in a hurry, but sometimes that's what I crave. It's soothing. I get into a rhythm and just keep it going. I can see whatever it is I'm crocheting growing under my fingers. It's tactile, not intellectual.
And it gives me an excuse to buy more yarn. I really need more of that rainbow ombre...
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Thursday Recipe - Ham Bean Soup
No, not "ham beans" but ham and bean soup. We had ham the other day, spiral cut with the bone in the middle. The bone makes tasty soup, so don't throw that away. And if it has chunks of ham still on it, even better.
This soup is best made in a slow cooker or crock pot. Long, slow simmering really pulls the flavors out. So make it the day before you want to eat it, or start it the night before.
Ham Bean Soup
2 c. dried white beans, like navy beans
1 ham bone
4 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced, use the center of the bunch with the leaves for best flavor
2 bay leaves
1 t. Italian seasoning
2 t. salt
1 t. ground black pepper
Rinse the beans under cold water several times. Put the beans in a large saucepan. Add enough water to generously cover them, about 6 cups. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover and let the beans sit for an hour.
Drain and rinse the beans. Add 6 c. of fresh water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 3-4 hours until the beans are tender. You can do this in a crockpot - cover and cook on low for 8-12 hours or overnight.
Place ham bone in a large slow cooker. Add beans and the rest of the ingredients. Add extra water if needed to cover all the beans and vegetables. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours until the meat is falling off the bone and the vegetables are very tender. Remove all pieces of bone and the bay leaves from the soup and throw them away.
Stir and add more salt if needed. Serve with crackers or fresh bread.
Makes about 3 quarts of soup, enough to feed at least ten people and still have some leftovers. Unless those people are teenage males.
This soup is best made in a slow cooker or crock pot. Long, slow simmering really pulls the flavors out. So make it the day before you want to eat it, or start it the night before.
Ham Bean Soup
2 c. dried white beans, like navy beans
1 ham bone
4 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced, use the center of the bunch with the leaves for best flavor
2 bay leaves
1 t. Italian seasoning
2 t. salt
1 t. ground black pepper
Rinse the beans under cold water several times. Put the beans in a large saucepan. Add enough water to generously cover them, about 6 cups. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover and let the beans sit for an hour.
Drain and rinse the beans. Add 6 c. of fresh water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 3-4 hours until the beans are tender. You can do this in a crockpot - cover and cook on low for 8-12 hours or overnight.
Place ham bone in a large slow cooker. Add beans and the rest of the ingredients. Add extra water if needed to cover all the beans and vegetables. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours until the meat is falling off the bone and the vegetables are very tender. Remove all pieces of bone and the bay leaves from the soup and throw them away.
Stir and add more salt if needed. Serve with crackers or fresh bread.
Makes about 3 quarts of soup, enough to feed at least ten people and still have some leftovers. Unless those people are teenage males.
Monday, April 4, 2016
Oh, the Possibilities
I got a big box of 64 crayons for Christmas one year. I think I was six or seven at the time. I was beyond thrilled. I spent hours playing with them, sorting them into rainbows, wearing those pointed ends down into rounded nubs. I have no idea what I colored or drew with them, just that I loved watching smears of color follow the crayon across the paper. I loved experimenting to see what shades I could get, what would happen if I colored over the top of a different color, or how different paper affected the crayon.
Where did that joy go? When did I decide I had to do it "right"? When did the joy of coloring turn into drudgery?
The other day my daughter was home sick from school. She begged me to sit on the couch and watch tv with her and how can you say no to that? So I did. But watching tv for hours gets boring so I do other things while I watch. My daughter has picked up that habit. She nests on the couch surrounded by projects. We crocheted for a while. Then she pulled out her colored pencils and I ran across this link for mandalas to color (scroll to the end of the post - you can choose to either download the mandalas by themselves, which is what we did, or download them as part of a calendar). I printed them out and showed them to her. Her eyes lit up. She fetched her crayons and markers to go with the colored pencils. We spent most of an hour coloring.
And I enjoyed it. I wasn't worried about staying inside the lines, not too much, or making the colors match or what I was going to do with it when I finished or what someone else might think of it. I just relaxed and colored. And it was fun. My daughter announced she wanted to tape them to her ceiling when they were done. I told her it sounded like a great idea. I haven't colored anything like that in years. I wish I had.
The mandalas aren't perfectly symmetrical and geometric. They are hand-drawn and things aren't exactly the same in each section but that's part of their charm. My crayons were always thin enough to color inside the lines, but that's also part of the charm.
I think I'm going to put this on my list of things to do at least once a month - color a picture. And do it like a little kid. I'm not going to worry about staying inside the lines or using the "right" colors. I'm going to experiment and play around and relax. And when I'm done, I might tape it to my ceiling or post it to my fridge to enjoy for a while.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Thursday Recipe - Chinese 5-Spice Mix and 5-Spice Cookies
More playing with spices. Looking for new ways to mix together the flavors I've already got. I've tried a few 5-spice blends from the store but wasn't impressed. With this one, using some whole spices makes a huge difference in the flavor. Not sure how to grind them up? Invest in a little cheap coffee grinder. They cost $10-$20. Just make sure you label it "spice grinder" and use it only for spices. It works wonders.
Another tip for getting great flavors out of whole spices is to toast them before you grind them. To do that, warm up a frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the whole spices and cook just for a minute or two until they get really fragrant. Pull them off the heat and let them cool down just a little before you grind them. The flavors will be more intense but be warned, they won't keep as long once you grind them so use this tip only for things you'll be using in the next day or two.
Just a note on whole spices - you can usually find them at any grocery store. If they aren't in the baking aisle, try looking in the hispanic or ethnic section. I found a nice size bag of star anise for a really good price in the Hispanic section. Look around, spend some time exploring what your local stores have to offer. Don't be afraid to try new things. The worst that will happen is you'll end up with something inedible and have to start over. Which really isn't that big of a deal. Don't be afraid of failing. Even if the cookies are ugly, they may still taste great.
On to the recipes!
Chinese 5-Spice Mix
3 star anise
12 whole cloves
2 t. whole black pepper
1 t. fennel seeds
1 t. ground cinnamon
Measure everything into a spice grinder. Pulse on high until the mix is a fine powder. Store in an airtight container for up to a month. Makes about 1 1/2 T.
For more flavor, try toasting the whole spices first.
Chinese 5-Spice Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. white sugar
2/3 c. brown sugar
2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
2 t. Chinese 5-spice mix
2 eggs
2 c. quick-cooking oats
1 c. whole wheat flour
Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add vanilla, salt, baking powder, 5-spice mix, and eggs. Cream until very smooth and light. Stir in oats and whole wheat flour. Mix together. Set aside for 30 minutes to let the oats soften and absorb any extra liquids.
Scoop by tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 9-10 minutes.
If you want more spice in your spice cookies, feel free to add extra cinnamon or ground black pepper.
Another tip for getting great flavors out of whole spices is to toast them before you grind them. To do that, warm up a frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the whole spices and cook just for a minute or two until they get really fragrant. Pull them off the heat and let them cool down just a little before you grind them. The flavors will be more intense but be warned, they won't keep as long once you grind them so use this tip only for things you'll be using in the next day or two.
Just a note on whole spices - you can usually find them at any grocery store. If they aren't in the baking aisle, try looking in the hispanic or ethnic section. I found a nice size bag of star anise for a really good price in the Hispanic section. Look around, spend some time exploring what your local stores have to offer. Don't be afraid to try new things. The worst that will happen is you'll end up with something inedible and have to start over. Which really isn't that big of a deal. Don't be afraid of failing. Even if the cookies are ugly, they may still taste great.
On to the recipes!
Chinese 5-Spice Mix
3 star anise
12 whole cloves
2 t. whole black pepper
1 t. fennel seeds
1 t. ground cinnamon
Measure everything into a spice grinder. Pulse on high until the mix is a fine powder. Store in an airtight container for up to a month. Makes about 1 1/2 T.
For more flavor, try toasting the whole spices first.
Chinese 5-Spice Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. white sugar
2/3 c. brown sugar
2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
2 t. Chinese 5-spice mix
2 eggs
2 c. quick-cooking oats
1 c. whole wheat flour
Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add vanilla, salt, baking powder, 5-spice mix, and eggs. Cream until very smooth and light. Stir in oats and whole wheat flour. Mix together. Set aside for 30 minutes to let the oats soften and absorb any extra liquids.
Scoop by tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 9-10 minutes.
If you want more spice in your spice cookies, feel free to add extra cinnamon or ground black pepper.
Monday, March 28, 2016
Book Review - Make it Mighty Ugly
Except failures and mistakes are part of life and sometimes the best part. Failing doesn't mean you're no good or a waste of space. Failing means you learned something and have space to try again. Failing can sometimes result in something even better than what you originally planned. Sometimes failing means you need to learn more, stretch your wings farther, or try a different approach.
Make it Mighty Ugly is a kickstart to creativity. The author, Kim Piper Werker, has a series of exercises to help. First, identify whatever you do well. Group them into themes. Then move on to the voices in your head and what they say to you. You know what I'm talking about - the voices that tell you that you suck, that you aren't good enough, that what you make is awful. Kim talks you through how to beat those voices into submission. You can't make them go away, but you can minimize their impact on you.
She has several other exercises after that including the one that inspired the name of the book. Make something ugly. As hideous as possible. Not cute-ugly or even appealing, but downright homely. This lets you focus on making it. And she suggests taking no more than ninety minutes to make it, start to finish. The idea is to let go of your perfectionist and critical voices and just have fun. It's supposed to be ugly and lopsided and not perfect. The outcome isn't important, just the process.
This was the kick in the pants I needed. Why do I write? Why do I create? Because I enjoy it. It's fun. Except it hasn't been lately. So I'm going to make it ugly for a while, until I'm back in touch with the joy of the process. That doesn't mean writing a novel isn't painful and hard and a lot of work because it is. But even while slogging through it, there should be joy.
I think this is what NaNoWriMo is aiming for. If you aren't familiar with it, it's National Novel Writing Month, usually in November although it's expanded to April, June and several other months. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. It doesn't have to be good or even coherent. The goal is to get the words flowing, to get in touch with your inner creative writer. Sometimes pushing the words out is the only way. Somewhere in those 50,000 words of crap, there are nuggets of good writing. Sometimes even brilliance. Diamonds buried in the sand.
That's the point of Make it Mighty Ugly. Just do it. Allow yourself room for failure. Allow yourself to not be perfect every time. Allow yourself to find your own way of expressing your creative impulses.
The book is worth reading. I give it five stars and a big thumbs up.
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Thursday Recipe - Berbere Seasoning and Ethiopian Inspired Pork Stew
I was looking for something different for dinner the other day. So I did what I usually do. I started browsing ethnic recipe sites. That's where I came across a recipe for berbere seasoning (the original is here). It's an Ethiopian seasoning blend. I tried something similar years ago and remembered it was good so I decided to give it a go.
I made a few changes and threw together the stew as a watchagot stew, as in, "What do I have in the fridge and the pantry?" Feel free to mix it up however you like.
If you're looking for something different than the usual, give this one a try.
Berbere Seasoning Mix
4 t. chili powder
2 t. paprika
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ginger
1/4 t. cardamom
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. ground cloves
Mix everything together. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 4 T.
Ethiopian Inspired Pork Stew
1 T. oil
1 lb boneless pork, cut into stew meat size chunks (trim off the fat if you want)
2 T. berbere seasoning mix
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
2 c. diced potatoes
1 c. sliced carrots
1 c. sweet potato, peeled and diced
1/2 c. diced onions
1/4 c. jicama, peeled and diced, OPTIONAL
2 t. salt
Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add pork. Cook and stir for a couple of minutes, just until it starts to brown. Sprinkle berbere seasoning mix over the meat, stir to coat. Cook for another minute, until the spices become very fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside. The pork is NOT COOKED at this point, but it will be by the end.
Meanwhile, put everything else in a large saucepan. Add enough water to barely cover the vegetables. Stir in the pork. Cook over medium low heat for 1-3 hours, until the vegetables are tender. The sweet potatoes should mostly disintegrate into the stew and help thicken it.
Add salt to taste. Makes about 8 servings of stew.
I made a few changes and threw together the stew as a watchagot stew, as in, "What do I have in the fridge and the pantry?" Feel free to mix it up however you like.
If you're looking for something different than the usual, give this one a try.
Berbere Seasoning Mix
4 t. chili powder
2 t. paprika
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ginger
1/4 t. cardamom
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. ground cloves
Mix everything together. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 4 T.
Ethiopian Inspired Pork Stew
1 T. oil
1 lb boneless pork, cut into stew meat size chunks (trim off the fat if you want)
2 T. berbere seasoning mix
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
2 c. diced potatoes
1 c. sliced carrots
1 c. sweet potato, peeled and diced
1/2 c. diced onions
1/4 c. jicama, peeled and diced, OPTIONAL
2 t. salt
Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add pork. Cook and stir for a couple of minutes, just until it starts to brown. Sprinkle berbere seasoning mix over the meat, stir to coat. Cook for another minute, until the spices become very fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside. The pork is NOT COOKED at this point, but it will be by the end.
Meanwhile, put everything else in a large saucepan. Add enough water to barely cover the vegetables. Stir in the pork. Cook over medium low heat for 1-3 hours, until the vegetables are tender. The sweet potatoes should mostly disintegrate into the stew and help thicken it.
Add salt to taste. Makes about 8 servings of stew.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)