Classic Meatloaf

Ingredients
1-1/2 pounds lean ground beef or turkey
3/4 cup Quaker® Oats(quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup catsup
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Combine all ingredients in large bowl; mix lightly but thoroughly. Shape meatloaf mixture into 10x6-inch loaf on rack of broiler pan.
2. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until meatloaf is to medium doneness (160°F for beef, 170°F for turkey), until not pink in center and juices show no pink color. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing. Cover and refrigerate leftovers promptly and use within 2 days, or wrap airtight and freeze up to 3 months.
Servings: 6 TO 8

* Sometimes I cook the meatloaf in a cupcake pan which makes little personal meatloafs and only takes about 25 min to cook.
* Also, to make the best meatloaf sauce, just mix ketchup with brown sugar and warm it up a little, if you put it on the meatloaf about 5 min before taking it out of the oven it makes a nice glaze!

Chocolate Chip Cookies aka "CCCs"

1 cup shortening (butter-flavored Crisco)

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Cream these ingredients together. Then add

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix some more until well blended. Add:

2 1/4 cup sifted flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

Mix until dry ingredients are incorporated. (Too much mixing produces a tough cookie.)

Now mix in the good stuff:

1 cup chocolate chips (Nestle semi-sweet is my favorite.)



Spoon about 2 tsp./cookie onto baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

I like to undercook them slightly. Pull them out. Let them "set" on cookie sheet for about 1 minute and then put them on a cooling rack. Since warm CCC's are the only ones worth eating, just make 1 doz. at a time. Put the rest of the cookie dough in the frig or securely wrap in Saran wrap and freeze. (I know you're not supposed to eat raw eggs, but my mother & I have been sneaking raw cookie dough from the frig and freezer for years & have never suffered any ill consequences.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced onion
10 ounces fresh spinach - rinsed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces
1 quart strawberries - cleaned, hulled and sliced
1/4 cup almonds, blanched and slivered

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and onion. Cover, and chill for one hour.
In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds. Pour dressing over salad, and toss. Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Faux Jerk Chicken

INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 scotch bonnet chile pepper, minced
1/4 cup minced green onions with tops
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

DIRECTIONS
In a large dish, mix the olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, sugar, thyme, allspice, cinnamon, salt, and cayenne pepper. Stir in the scotch bonnet pepper, green onions, and garlic. Pierce chicken on all sides with a fork, and place in the dish. Cover, and marinate up to 24 hours in the refrigerator, turning occasionally.
Preheat the grill for high heat.
Lightly oil grill grate. Discard marinade, and grill chicken 8 minutes on each side, or until juices run clear.

Pretzel Jello

Pretzel Jello

Bottom Layer:
Combine
3/4 bag of pretzels crushed and
1 Cup butter melted

Pat into a 9x13 pan. Bake 450 for 10 minutes

Middle Layer:
Combine
2 Cup sugar and
2-8 oz cream cheese, softened

Mix and spread on baked pretzels--cool in refrigerator

** Make SURE that you completely seal off the pretzel layer or else the jello will seep through and make the pretzels soggy. A warm knife works well to spread the cream cheese mixture. **

Top Layer:
Combine
1 lrg box raspberry or strawberry jello and
1 bag frozen raspberries or strawberries and
2 Cup boiling water
Pour over middle layer


Let chill

Top with cool whip or whip cream

Jake's Birthday Cake

This is Jake's favorite cake in the world - for best results I always double the filling and the glaze!

THE CHOCOLATE CAKE
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cups milk
3 eggs (1/2 to 2/3 cup)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate pieces, finely chopped (in food processor)
1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts (for obvious reasons, we don't use these)

Heat oven to 350 deg. Grease and flour 2 round layer pans, 8 or 9x1.5 inches (I put parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, only grease the paper, don't grease the sides). Measure all ingredients except filling, walnuts and glaze into a large mixer bowl. Blend 1/2 minute on low speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes high speed, scraping bowl constantly. Pour into pans.

Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool. Fill layers with Butterscotch Filling, sprinkling nuts over filling. Spread Chocolate Chip Glaze over the top of the cake.

BUTTERSCOTCH FILLING
1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon butter

Stir together sugar, cornstarch and salt. Stir in water. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. Blend in butter. Cool.

CHOCOLATE CHIP GLAZE
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Heat all ingredients over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is melter. Cool slightly.

A Super Simple Dessert

This is a really easy dessert I tried last night.

Pineapple sherbet, one large scoop per serving, softened slightly
Diced banana, a spoonful per serving
Frozen raspberries, a spoonful per serving

Gently mix all the ingredients together and serve with a simple wafer or butter cookie. This can be made ahead of time, portioned into small dessert dishes and kept in the freezer to serve at the very last minute.

Any flavor of sherbet would work with this, as would any kind of frozen berry. You can substitute sorbet if you want to make a dairy-free dessert.

Chunky Spaghetti Sauce

1/4-1/2 lb hamburger or sausage
1 small yellow onion
4-5 cloves garlic
1 bell pepper, whatever color you like (red gives it a nice sweetness), diced small
1 small zuchini chopped into chunks
1 can of tomato sauce
1 can of stewed tomatoes, crushed or diced are best
1/2 tsp or so of crushed red pepper flakes (more if you like it spicy, less if you don't)
About 10 fresh basil leaves
Dash of salt
2 tbsp or so of lemon juice

Brown the hamburger
Drain fat and then add onion and garlic
Saute for a few minutes, and then add vegetables.
Add tomato sauce and tomatoes, then pepper flakes, basil leaves, and salt.
Bring it to a simmer and let some of the liquid evaporate, until it's a consistency you like.
Add lemon juice just before you serve it.
this covers about 4 servings of pasts.

YUMMY!!!

Ever since we've been married I've wanted to collect favorite recipes from both sides of our family. I finally decided to start a blog specifically for this purpose.

Friends and Family: If you have yummy dishes to contribute, email me and I will add you as an author to this blog. I only have 2 requests:

1 - "Label" your blog entry with the type of course.. ie: Chicken, Pie, Salad, etc
2 - Don't post any gross recipes - only the delicious ones! :)

Hopefully this will give us great ideas for dinners (so we don't continue eating the state of Connecticut's hot dog storage)