Meatloaf with Polenta Wedges and Green Beans

With the incredibly nasty weather we're having today, it seemed like some comfort food was in order. I'm not normally a meatloaf person... but this is delicious. Jeremy loves meatloaf in general but he tells me this one is fantastic. Every time I make it the leftovers disappear quickly, usually before I get any. It's pretty simple too - just some mixing and then bake! It takes a little while to bake but once it's in the oven there isn't much to do so I usually get some work done while it's cooking.

I use venison for this (thanks to fairly regular deliveries from my parents) but ground beef would work just as well. I would recommend using a very lean ground beef since venison is very lean.

I'd never made (or eaten) polenta before tonight but I wanted a different side dish. I decided to try this... as I was making it I found the recipe I was following was a little too bland... so I added the parsley and cheese. Even with these changes, it was still too bland for us... so we added hot sauce. Next time (if there is one) I'll try making it with all chicken broth instead of water. I made the polenta and got it into the fridge before I started the meatloaf. That way the timing would work out so the meatloaf and polenta were done at the same time.

Recipe:
Meatloaf:
1 pound venison (or lean ground beef)

1 egg

1 c. milk

3/4 c. breadcrumbs (Italian style)

1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

1 1/2 tsp onion powder

1 1/2 tsp granulated garlic

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tbs dry parsley

1/3 c. ketchup

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Mix all ingredients except ketchup until fully integrated

3. Mold into a loaf in a 13x9 inch pan (9x5x1 inch loaf)

4. Cover with ketchup, spreading evenly

5. Bake 1 hour - until thermometer inserted in center reads over 160 degrees. 

Polenta:

1 c. cornmeal

1 c. chicken broth

2 3/4 c. water

1 tbs. margarine

1 tsp. salt

1 tbs. dried parsley flakes

1/4 c. parmesan cheese

1. Bring water to a boil. Mix cornmeal and chicken broth in a medium bowl.

2. When boiling, add cornmeal mixture to water, stirring constantly.

3. Cook 10-15 minutes until thickened. Add parsley, salt, margarine, and parmesan. Mix to combine.

4. Pour polenta into a 8x8 inch glass baking dish. Cool on counter for 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

5. In a 350 degree oven, heat for 25-30 minutes. Remove, slice into wedges, and serve. 

Jerk-ish Grilled Chicken with Chili Corn

Jeremy loves jerk chicken. I've tried various recipes but this one I came up with almost entirely on my own. It's not authentic jerk but has a lot of the same ingredients. It has a nice spicy flavor (thanks to the large amount of cayenne) but that can be adjusted according to your taste. It's also very aromatic thanks to the allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg. This chicken will certainly be made again. There was more corn in the recipe than we needed for dinner tonight but I'm sure one of us will be happy to finish it up tomorrow.

This morning before leaving for school, I mixed the marinade and let the chicken sit in the fridge for the day. This made it very easy to make dinner. I just had to take the chicken out of the fridge and cook it and the corn side dish. From start to finish, it took me only about 20 minutes this evening until the meal hit the plate.

Since Jeremy's off of school for the week, he made a delicious Whole Wheat Cuban Bread in our breadmaking machine. It was very tasty and rounded out the meal well.

Recipe:
Chicken:
2 chicken breasts
4 tsp. orange juice
2 tsp. cider vinegar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. dried parsley flakes
1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 scallion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 scallion, sliced, for garnish (optional)

1. Add all ingredients, except chicken, to a freezer bag. Shake to combine. Add chicken and marinate in refrigerator for 8-24 hours.
2. Heat a grill pan (or grill) over medium-high heat. Oil lightly with vegetable oil. Add chicken and grill 5-7 minutes per side until cooked through.
3. Remove from pan and let rest for approx. 3 minutes before slicing/serving.

Corn:
2 (15 oz.) cans corn, drained.
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
1/2 tbs. chili powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper

1. Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 tbs. olive oil. Add bell pepper and onion. Saute until softened.
2. Add corn, chili powder, and black pepper. Stir to combine. Cook for 3-5 minutes then serve.

Flounder with Scallion-Ginger-Garlic Sauce

Tonight Jeremy and I decided that we wanted something healthy for dinner. We bought some frozen flounder a little while ago but hadn't used any of it yet. Since I'm still trying to find more ways to cook fish, I decided to try to come up with a recipe from what I had around. I served this with some rice - made with a bit of margarine and dried cilantro - and some steamed broccoli.

I had some scallions in the fridge and a bit of ginger in the freezer (keeping it in the freezer makes it last longer and then I can just cut off a chunk and chop it up or grate it when I'm ready to use it). I always have garlic on hand. I thought the flavors would go together and add a nice dimension to the fish, so I gave it a try. A very good result.

Overall, the fish tasted really fresh (always a good thing for frozen fish). The flavors really complimented the fish and the sauce was yummy on the broccoli and rice as well. It was delicious even though the delicate fillets didn't hold together completely in the pan. We both really enjoyed this so it will definitely be made again.

Recipe:
Fish
2 frozen flounder fillets (approx. 5 oz. each), thawed
salt and pepper
3 scallions, sliced
1 inch ginger, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 c. chicken stock
1 tbs. margarine

1. Pat the fish fillets dry. Salt and pepper both sides to taste.
2. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tbs. olive oil. When the oil ripples, add fish to the pan (if there's skin, skin-side down - mine didn't have skin.) Cook 4-5 minutes per side (depending on thickness). Don't mess with it too much or try to turn too early or it could fall apart.
3. Remove fish and wrap loosely in foil to keep warm. Add scallions, garlic, ginger, and chicken stock to the pan. Stir to combine. Scrape any bits off of the bottom of the pan. Allow to reduce for 4-5 minutes until about half the liquid is gone. Add the margarine and adjust salt and pepper to taste. (I only added a few grinds of pepper.)
4. Serve fish with sauce on top.

Rice (I started the rice before the fish and the timing worked out perfectly):
1 1/2 c. water
1/2 tsp. dried cilantro
1 tbs. margarine
3/4 c. rice

1. Place water, cilantro, and margarine in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat.
2. When boiling, add rice. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer.
3. Cook for approx. 15 minutes until rice is cooked and liquid is absorbed.
4. Turn off heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Fluff before serving.

Chicken Pot Pie

I've been making these pies for a few years now. With the store-bought pie crusts, they're really easy to put together and taste great. I often add other veggies (frozen peas or broccoli) in addition to the ones listed. I've also made beef pot pies - substituting leftover pot roast and beef broth for the chicken/chicken broth. These are also great with leftover roast turkey or chicken but work equally well with the canned chicken I used tonight. This is also a great way to use up leftover veggies after a holiday meal. But since I want to have pot pies more frequently than I have leftovers, I make them with things I have around all the time.

I've made this using homemade pie crust - then I put it in individual pie plates so that we each get a whole pie (it makes four pies if you're using your own crust) but the store-bought crusts are so quick and delicious that I usually just use those.

Jeremy's quite a fan of this and it reheats fairly well in the microwave... the crust doesn't stay crisp but it's still delicious. We usually get two meals out of this - each of us eats for dinner and then we each get a lunch.

Recipe:
3 carrots
4 stalks of celery
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tbs. olive oil
2 tbs. margarine
2 tbs. AP flour
1 can (12.5 oz) of chicken, drained
1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 tbs. dried parsley flakes
1 pinch cayenne pepper
salt and pepper (approx. 1/4 tsp. each... adjust to taste)
1 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. milk
1 package Pillsbury pie crust

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Chop carrots and celery. Dice onion and mince garlic.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and veggies. Saute until beginning to soften. Add margarine, thyme, parsley, cayenne, and salt and pepper. When melted, add flour and mix. Cook for 1 minute. Add milk and chicken broth. Stir to combine. Add chicken. Lower heat to maintain a simmer. Filling is done when the liquid is thickened and coats a spoon.
3. Unroll one pie crust in a 9 inch pie plate. Spread filling evenly. Top with the other crust. Cut four slits in the top.
4. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes. Slice and serve.

Teriyaki Tilapia with Sticky Rice and Tamari Green Beans

This is another of my standby fish recipes. I discovered Kikkoman's teriyaki glaze a while ago in the Asian foods aisle and really enjoyed it. This is one of the only prepared sauces/marinades I buy. But the convenience and flavor are great. It's also very good on chicken. Since I buy frozen tilapia, I just make sure I thaw the fish completely before I begin the recipe. I've found that the frozen fish is often just as good as the fresh options since I don't usually get to the grocery store frequently enough to have fresh seafood around. And the convenience of frozen can't be beat when I'm never sure if I'll have time to cook on any particular night.

Overall, this is a fairly healthy meal. I often swap out the veggie for whatever I have on hand, or whatever's in season. Snap peas are very delicious this way. And by adding tamari instead of butter it adds lots of flavor without a lot of fat. If you don't have tamari, you can substitute soy sauce and it will almost be the same. And I love sesame seeds... so I tend to use a lot of them. I buy the sesame seeds already toasted from an Asian foods store and keep them in the fridge. Both the tamari and the teriyaki glaze are the low-sodium varieties. Because of the amount of Asian food I make I try to cut down on the sodium in the sauces I make. And I can't taste a difference.

For the sticky rice, any short gain will work but I've found that arborio or sushi rice works best. And the addition of the vinegar, sugar, and salt adds a delicious flavor and texture. This makes a little more rice than is necessary for 2 people... but Jeremy and I love our rice.

Recipe:

3 tilapia (or other white fish) fillets

3 tbs. Kikkoman teriyaki glaze

1 c. arborio (or sushi) rice
1 c. water
1 tbs. rice wine vinegar
1 tbs. sugar
1/2 tbs. kosher salt

2 c. green beans (mine were frozen)
1 tsp. tamari
1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Rinse rice in a strainer until the water runs clear. Place in a small sauce pan with the water. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for 12-15 minutes, until the water is absorbed. When water is absorbed, turn off heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
2. While the rice is cooking, place fish fillets on a sheet tray and brush teriyaki glaze over them, spreading it evenly. Bake for 12-15 minutes until fish flakes. (Time will vary depending on the thickness of the fish.)
3.  Place green beans in a microwave safe dish. Add 1/2 c. water. Cover and microwave on high for 8 minutes. (My microwave isn't very powerful... adjust accordingly.) Drain and add tamari and sesame seeds.
4. While the fish and veggies are cooking, mix vinegar, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add cooked rice. Using a spatula, make cutting motions down into the bowl, rotating the bowl to coat grains. (I also stir every once in a while just to try to distribute it a little more evenly.)
5. Place rice into a mound on the plate. Top with fish and green beans. Sprinkle with a couple dashes of tamari and extra sesame seeds.

Stuffed Peppers

Last week was a busy one... I didn't find much time to cook. Then with friends visiting, Jeremy and I ended up eating out a bit the last couple days (and eating leftovers when we didn't). Tonight I found the time to make some stuffed peppers in and around my work. These aren't very quick but since there isn't much to do while they sit in the oven, I usually don't count that time. :)

Growing up, I thought stuffed peppers were gross... of course my only experience with them was Stouffers... and I didn't like peppers then. Go figure. A couple years ago I decided to try to make my own and they turned out great. My recipe varies from time to time depending on my mood. Sometimes it has rice, sometimes breadcrumbs. Sometimes I steam them in some white wine, sometimes (like tonight) they cook in beef broth. But all-in-all, the basic technique remains the same

I make these with ground venison usually, thanks to fairly regular deliveries from my parents, but a lean ground beef works equally well. The beef would likely just need to be drained. I've made a vegetarian version of these (which I loved... although Jeremy said it caused "veggie overload"). The vegetarian version had edamame, more diced up pepper, and more rice in it. Still very delicious.

This recipe makes way too much filling for one dinner. I'll refrigerate the rest and either make more stuffed peppers later in the week or put it on bread for a messy open-face sandwich. Either way it's very tasty. 

Tonight, Jeremy and I each ate one pepper. We rounded out the dinner with a salad and some fresh Italian herb bread, thanks to a Christmas present - a bread-machine mix from Williams-Sonoma. :)

Stuffed Pepper with Italian Herb Bread

The Filling

Recipe:

3/4 c. rice

1 1/2 c. beef broth (or water)

1 lb. ground venison (or beef, turkey, etc.)

2 medium green bell peppers

1 large onion

4 cloves garlic

1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tbs. dried parsley

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flake

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 c. spaghetti sauce - plus a couple tablespoons for under/on top of the peppers (I used a tomato basil sauce)

1/4 c. parmesan cheese, plus two teaspoons for topping

2 tbs. Italian style breadcrumbs

1/4 c. beef broth or dry white wine

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Put the 1 1/2 c. beef broth in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add the rice and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer until liquid is absorbed (15-20 min.). Set aside.

3. Cut the tops off the peppers. Set the peppers aside. Dice the pepper tops to add to the filling.

4. Dice the onion and mince the garlic.

5. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add 2 tbs. olive oil. Brown the ground meat in the pan.

6. Add diced bell peppers, onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, oregano, parsley, crushed red pepper flake, and salt and pepper to taste. Saute until veggies begin to soften.

7. Add rice, mix to coat.

8. Add 1/2 c. spaghetti sauce and 1/4 c. parmesan cheese. Mix and reduce heat to low. Continue to simmer until liquid is mostly gone. Turn heat off.

9. In a glass baking dish, place one tablespoon of spaghetti sauce under each bell pepper. Fill bell peppers with the filling. Top each pepper with one tablespoon of spaghetti sauce, one teaspoon of parmesan cheese, and 1 tbs. of breadcrumbs. Add beef broth (or wine) to the baking dish. Cover loosely with foil - try to keep it off the tops of the peppers if possible. 

10. Bake for 45 minutes. Serve with any sauce/liquid left in the bottom of the baking dish.

Chicken and Bean Tacos

Tonight I wanted a fairly quick meal so that I didn't miss too much of the football games. Our fridge/cupboards are a little bare (we're going grocery shopping tomorrow) but tacos sounded really good to both of us and luckily I had all of the ingredients. I make these fairly frequently as the entire meal - from the start of cooking until when I sit down with a plate - comes together in about 20 minutes. Plus this makes quite a bit of filling so it ends up feeding us for a couple lunches as well. Just refrigerate the leftovers and reheat before placing in taco shells and topping. 

I've also made these with ground beef or ground turkey - also very tasty. These are even good without meat. If I have cheese on hand, I sometimes add some on top of the tacos but as I don't have cheese around most of the time, these (like usual) didn't have any. These tacos could be topped with anything - Jeremy usually uses just lettuce, jalapeños, and taco sauce or salsa (or both). I add tomatoes to mine as well (but I was out of those tonight - still yummy though!). Jeremy prefers to use soft taco shells but I've always been partial to hard. We keep both around so we're both happy.

Jeremy's Taco

My Tacos

 

The filling - mid-cooking.

Recipe:

1 medium yellow onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced

1 can (12.5 oz) chicken breast, drained

1 can (15 oz) pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 oz) corn, drained

1/2 tbs. chili powder

1 tbs. ground cumin

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried parsley flakes

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp. paprika

salt and pepper to taste

assorted taco toppings (whatever fits your taste)

1. In a large skillet, heat 2 tbs. olive oil. Add onion and saute until slightly softened. Add garlic and chipotle peppers. Stir and continue to cook until the onions are soft. 

2. Add chicken, beans, and corn. Add seasonings. Add 1/2 c. water (this is just to help the spices spread evenly over the filling). 

3. Cook over medium to medium low heat until the water is evaporated.

4. Spoon into taco shells of your choice and top with whatever you like.