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Brussel sprout hash

Apr 23rd, 2012
by ben.
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Brussel Sprout Hash

Date: 4/19/2012

Recipe:

  • 1 small sweet potato, diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 bunch brussel sprouts, quartered
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • ~6 strips of bacon
  • shredded cheddar cheese
  • one egg per person
Cook the bacon in a skillet. Remove from pan and save the grease. Cook the sweet potato, onion, brussel sprouts, and garlic in the bacon grease. While the vegetables are cooking, chop up the cooked bacon. When the vegetables are done (or nearly done) mix the bacon back in. Turn off the heat and top the mixture with the cheddar cheese and cover the skillet to let the cheese melt.
While the cheese is melting, fry up one egg for each person. Serve the hash in a bowl/plate and top each dish with a fried egg.

Time to table: 30 minutes

Servings: 2 adults, 1 toddler

Ben: Love

Erin: Like

Annie: Dislike

Notes: This is similar to another dish I’ve made before, but it was different enough that I figured I’d post it. I absolutely love this meal and would eat it very often. I also feel that in spite of the bacon and the bacon grease, it has enough healthy components going for it to be a guilt-free meal. Annie didn’t necessarily not “like” it, as much as she just ignored it, just part of being a toddler I guess. We’re sometime dumbfounded by what she decides she doesn’t want to eat. Veggies cooked in bacon grease, with cheese, and an egg?!?!  Whatever. :)

Brussel Sprout Hash

Pasta carbonara

Apr 22nd, 2012
by ben.
1 comment

Pasta Carbonara

Date: 4/13/2012

Recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/09/cooking-with-ryan-pasta-carbonara/

Modifications: None

Time to table: 40 minutes

Servings: 6 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Notes: Erin and I made this for a “stay at home” date night, where we put both kids to bed and then made ourselves dinner. It was a lot of fun to be able to just focus on cooking food and eating it without the usual distractions. We’ve made this dish before, and it was just as delicious and unhealthy as I remembered it :) It made a ridiculous amount and we ate it for several lunches in the next few days.

Pasta Carbonara

Pasta Carbonara

Meatloaf with broccoli and mashed potatoes

Jan 27th, 2012
by ben.
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Meatloaf, broccoli and potatoes

Date: 1/24/2012

Meatloaf recipe: http://kickassbbq.com/smoked_meat_loaf.html

Broccoli recipe: 1 head of broccoli tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Roast at 425 for 20 minutes.

Mashed potatoes recipe: Quarter the potatoes and boil them until soft, mash with butter, sour cream, and cream.

Modifications: We used turkey thigh instead of beef, and added garlic, shredded carrot, and only used 4 strips of bacon.

UPDATE 4/30/12: Made this again last night and wanted to document what I thought was a winning combination of ingredients:

  • 2 lbs ground turkey thigh
  • 1/2 large onion, diced
  • 2 stalks of celery, diced
  • 1/2 carrot, shredded
  • 1 jalapeno, diced
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 egg
  • 2 T bbq rub
  • 1/4 cup bbq sauce
  • 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped

Time to table: 30 minutes meatloaf prep, 90 minutes meatloaf grilling time. I made the broccoli and potatoes while the meatloaf was grilling.

Servings: 2 adults, 1 toddler, and several lunchs of leftover meatloaf

Ben: LOVE

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: This was simply amazing. We made this meatloaf before using the smoker, not the grill, but this time was tremendously better. I was surprised at how tasty the turkey thighs were, and the grill cooked the garlic more than the smoker did, so it turned out better. Annie surprisingly loved the broccoli tonight and continued to ask for more off of Erin’s plate. Everything came together great in this meal, AND I timed everything perfectly so that it was all hot when we ate it. I’m pretty great, if you ask me.

Meatloaf

Smoked meatloaf with roasted sweet potatoes

Nov 15th, 2011
by ben.
1 comment

Smoked Meatloaf

Date: 11/9/2011

Meatloaf recipe: http://www.kickassbbq.com/smoked_meat_loaf.html

Sweet potato recipe: Source: Cook’s Illustrated

3 pounds sweet potatoes (about 6 medium), ends trimmed, peeled, rinsed, and cut into 3/4-inch thick rounds (see note)
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons apple juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon table salt
Ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. Heat packed light brown sugar, apple juice, butter, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until butter has melted and sugar is dissolved, 2 to 4 minutes. Tosspotatoes in large bowl with oil, salt, and pepper to taste until evenly coated. Line 18- by 13-inch heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with nonstick cooking spray. Arrange potatoes in single layer on baking sheet and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Adjust oven rack to middle position and placepotatoes in cold oven. Turn oven to 425 degrees and cook potatoes 30 minutes.
  2. Remove baking sheet from oven and carefully remove top layer of foil. Return potatoes to oven and cook until bottom edges of potatoes are golden brown, 15 to 25 minutes.
  3. Remove baking sheet from oven and brush potatoes with half of glaze, flip slices over with thin metal spatula, and brush with remaining glaze. Continue to roast until bottom edges of potatoes are golden brown, 18 to 22 minutes longer. Remove from oven; let potatoes cool 5 to 10 minutes; transfer to platter and serve.

Time to table: 1.5 hours prep time, 5-6 hours cooking time

Modifications: I added 6 cloves of garlic to the meatloaf. Instead of hamburger we used 1lb ground turkey thigh and 1lb mild pork sausage. I used the pork rub that I used in the pulled pork we’ve made several times.

A note about the sweet potato recipe is that, in our case, it didn’t take nearly as long as they said to cook the potatoes. After the first 25 minutes they were done, but we had to cook them longer to cook the glaze, so you might be able to make the initial cook time shorter to save time.

Servings: 7 adult dinners

Ben: Love Love Love

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: My dad made this meatloaf over the summer when Annie and I were down at their place for dinner one day, and I knew I had to make it. I never really liked meatloaf growing up, but I’d never had meatloaf like this before. The smoky flavor combined with the pork rub and bbq sauce is amazing. I took the leftovers to work and made meatloaf sandwiches with cheese and sriracha and it was heavenly all over again.

We’ve had the sweet potatoes a couple times at Thanksgiving, from my brother-in-law Joe, so Erin whipped those up as a side dish. We had the neighbors over for dinner and there were still 4 slices for me to bring in for lunches.

I put the meatloaf on the smoker at 12:15 and by 5pm I still had 25 degrees to go, so I moved it to the oven to finish it off. The garlic still had a bit of a kick to it :)

Glazed Sweet potatoes

Annie eating meatloaf

Corn & cheese chowder

Nov 10th, 2011
by ben.
1 comment

Cheesy Corn Chowder
Doesn’t look like much, but it’s fantastic.

Date: 11/7/2011

Recipe: http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/soups/corn-cheese-chowder/?print=1/#sizeFP

Time to table: 1 hour

Modifications: I added a couple stalks of diced celery because we had some for other meals this week.

Servings: 5 adult dinners

Ben: Love

Erin: Like/Love

Annie: Love

Notes: This was an awesome soup that I’ll definitely make again, I can’t wait for the leftovers tomorrow for lunch (We saved the leftovers for dinner tonight). We didn’t use bread bowls, but I can imagine that would be delicious. We had this for leftovers tonight and I made the mistake of crushing up some crackers in Annie’s bowl. She recognized the crackers and proceeded to pick the cracker pieces out and just eat those. Ugh.

Annie chowing on chowder

Cheesy Corn Chowder

Pasta bolognese

Jul 17th, 2011
by ben.
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Pasta bolognese

Date: July 14th, 2011

Recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/spaghetti-bolognese-recipe/index.html

Modifications: I reversed the amounts of meat: 1 lb ground pork and 0.5 lb ground beef, just cause I like pork better. I also threw in some basil that we had and needed to use up. The directions say to simmer for 1.5 hours, but I liked the consistency after 45-50 minutes, so we went with that.

Time to table: 2 hours, over half the time is just simmering.

Servings: Probably had enough for 6 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Like

Annie: Love

Notes: This sauce was absolutely delicious. The butter and cream at the end just make it that much richer. At no point in the directions does it say to drain the fat from the bacon, beef, or pork, so this is an extremely savory dish. Annie seemed to like the food very much, but also seemed interested in playing so she didn’t take it down like other dishes she loves. We froze the leftovers because we already have plenty of other leftovers that need to get eaten and I didn’t want this to be wasted.

Pasta bolognese

Annie digging in

Pasta bolognese

Early stages with the bacon (and bacon grease!) and veggies for our base

Pasta bolognese

Finished sauce

Warm Potato Salad

Jun 22nd, 2011
by erin.
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Brat and potato salad

Date: June 19, 2011

Recipe:  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/New-York-Potato-Salad-1454 (very loosely based)

  • about 8 small red potatoes
  • 3 slices bacon
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons stone ground mustard
  • 3/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup greek yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 green bell pepper, diced
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 3 stems green garlic, chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • Chopped garlic chives
  • Salt & Pepper

1. Quarter potatoes and boil until fork tender.

2. Fry bacon, when done remove from pan and chop.

3. Add pepper, onion, and celery to bacon grease and saute until soft.

4. Mix vinegar, mustard, mayo, yogurt, sugar and paprika in a medium bowl, season with salt and pepper.

5. Put potatoes, veggies, and bacon in a bowl. Toss with dressing and top with chives. Can be eaten warm or cold.

Modifications: See above. I cut up the potatoes small for Annie. Garlic chives and green garlic were used because we have some from our CSA.

Time to table: 30 minutes

Servings: 4 side dishes

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: This was inspired by our recent visit to Black Forest Inn – I found a recipe that sounded vaguely similar on epicurious and just modified it to suit the way we remembered the potato salad there. This was delicious as a side dish to a grilled brat on a summer evening! Annie was not a huge fan of the potato salad but did enjoy her brat.

Potato salad

 

Breakfast Casserole

Jun 3rd, 2011
by erin.
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Breakfast casserole

Date: May 30, 2011

Recipe: http://weelicious.com/2010/12/09/breakfast-casserole/

Modifications:  I doubled this, since we were feeding 6 – we’ve made the original recipe twice and it is JUST enough for 4 adults and 1 toddler. We had a few leftovers. I used: red pepper, broccoli, red onion and corn for the veggies. I chopped the veggies REAL small to try to get the maximum amount hidden into each bite since Annie has the habit of picking out the egg and bread pieces and leaving the vegetables.

Time to table: 30 minutes prep, 1 hour to bake

Servings: 8 adults

Ben: Like

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: This is a really good basic breakfast casserole recipe that you can change to suit your fancy. I also baked Lemon Blueberry Scones to go with these.

Veggies

Breakfast casserole

Annie eating breakfast