Italian Meatloaf

May is a very busy month for me with all kinds of traveling for work. Thus, Joe is left home alone to fend for himself. If I have time between trips, I try to prep a meal or two for him so he'll still have some sort of homecooked meal while I'm gone. So at his special request before one of my trips, I whipped up an Italian meatloaf.

Ingredients

• Ground beef (enough to fill a meatloaf pan)
• Sliced pepperoni
• Mozzarella cheese
• Bread crumbs
• Spaghetti sauce
• 2 eggs (or egg-replacer equivalent)

1st layer: In a large bowl, mix together beef, crumbs and eggs. Grease your meatloaf pan, and line the bottom with a third of the mixture.

2nd layer: Spread pepperoni and cheese and sauce, completely covering the beef.

3rd layer: Add another third of the beef mixture.

4th layer: Spread pepperoni and cheese.

5th layer: Top with remaining beef, sprinkle with cheese, and a few tablespoons of sauce.

Bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes, or until meat is longer pink on the insider.

Weekend Salad

Weekends are for relaxing, spending time with family, planning meals for the week, and eating last week's leftovers. It is in that spirit that I bring the weekend salad. Made up of produce (lettuce, tomato, carrot, green onion & avocado) bought mid-week, chicken (for the husband) made for Friday's lunch and quinoa (for me) for lunches this week, we bridged the last week and this week and made our bellies happy in the process.

The salad pictured is topped with quinoa, avocado and Annie's Lemon & Chive dressing, which is my new favorite.

Two Bean Chicken

Honestly can't remember where I got this recipe from. Probably from an old recipe card set where you get sample cards in the mail. Anyways, for you vegetarians out there, this recipe tastes just as yummy without the chicken.


Measurements don't need to be exact. This recipe is very easy to alter: add more of the ingredient you want and/or less of the one you don't.

Olive oil

2 cups chicken, chopped

2 slices onion

1 tomato, chopped

1 can chickpeas

2 cups green beans, cut into small pieces

2 cups brown rice

Whatever seasonings you like - basil, parsley, etc.

1. Cook chicken in olive oil until cooked through.
   
2. Add onion and tomatoes. Reduce heat and cover; simmer for about 15 minutes.
   
3. Add chickpeas and green beans. Cook until softened.
   
4. Serve over rice.

Stromboli

From guest contributor Dena...

One of my family's holiday favorites (probably because that's the only time of year I make it). There is not an actual recipe for this, so I will just explain how I make it. I use Rhodes frozen bread dough (white). You can fill it with whatever you like. I use ham, salami, pepperoni, mozzarella and provolone. Roll it up. "Seal" up the ends. I egg wash the top for that shiny golden brown finish. Bake at 350 until nicely golden brown. This year I am going to try some veggie ones. I'll post an update if they work out.

Chicken Marinade

Found a soy sauce-based chicken marinade recipe on Cooks.com that I wanted to try out. Nothing complex. It was just a matter of mixing all the ingredients together and letting it soak for 24 hours.

From Cooks.com:

1/2 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. sweet basil
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. pepper

Combine all ingredients; pour over chicken pieces in non-metal dish. Cover and refrigerate overnight, turning occasionally. Use marinade to baste chicken while cooking. Great for grilling.

I mixed the ingredients and began soaking in the evening. I turned the chicken the next morning, to get both sides thoroughly soaked, then began baking around the 24 hour mark.

I baked the chicken at 350 for two hours, covered. This may have overdone it a little bit, so I'd recommend keeping a close eye on it after about an hour 15.

With veggies and a baked potato, it makes a great, full meal. Use the extra marinade to flavor the potato.

Cluck, cluck, cluck

Simple fall dinner tonight: Roasted chicken stuffed with apple and carrot cornbread dressing (extra shown in bottom picture), with roasted herb potatoes (I used the chive and parsley that's doing so well on our windowsill) and the obligatory sweet corn. Super simple and extra tasty.

Shepherd's pie

To celebrate the Celts bringing Halloween (Samhain) from Ireland and England to America, I've decided to commemorate with a homemade shepherd's pie.

Instead of ground lamb or beef, to make this veg I used Yves meatless ground round. If you're using meat, then make sure meat is thoroughly cooked first.

1. In a Pyrex bowl, layer starting with the "meat", then a couple cups of mixed vegetables, then top with mashed potatoes.
   
2. Cook at 350°F for about 30-40 minutes - whenever the veggies inside get hot.
3. Season with whatever you like and top with your favorite gravy. And Voila!

Pork Chops

While I'm happy to be primarily vegetarian most of the time, I still enjoy dabbling in meat eating. So when Helby was recently out of town, I took the opportunity to fix myself some pork chops.

Start, of course, by rinsing the meat. Put some whiskey in the bottom of the Pyrex dish -- maybe about four shots -- for some spicy flavoring. Add roughly the same amount of water to that (maybe a little more water than whiskey). Flavor the tops of the chops with your preferred herbs. Cover the pan with aluminum foil, to keep the meat moist.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Poke about five sets of fork-prong holes in the aluminum foil (in the pattern of five on dice) to allow alcohol vapor to release harmlessly as it warms. Allowing the vapor to build up under the aluminum could cause a fire or a dangerous blast.

Cook at 350 degrees for two hours. Then remove the aluminum foil and cook an additional 15-30 minutes, to tan and crisp the outside. A baked potato on the side makes this a traditional meat-and-potatoes meal.

Dinner, vegans cover your eyes

This is as simple as it gets. Buffalo steaks with salt & pepper. Awesome inky purple eggplant from the port townsend farmers market with salt, pepper, and finished with white wine vinegar. Eggplant grilled till gooey, steaks still mooing a bit. So, so good!

Posted via email from virtuallymeg's posterous

Eat steak, eat steak, eat a big ol' steer.

I feel almost bad posting this, since we've had a plethora of super tasty veg-friendly entries. But as much as I love making (and eating) vegetarian/vegan dishes, we're equal opportunity eaters in our house. Tonight's dinner:

NY strip steak with my own top secret marinade (grilled by my gorgeous hubby), sweet corn sauteed with butter and fresh chives, whole wheat pasta tossed with olive oil and sauteed Roma and cherry tomatoes, bell peppers and onions.

And aforementioned hubby enjoying his dinner with his favorite seasonal beer (Sam Adams Oktoberfest)