Superior Meatloaf

3 Key Ingredients That Makes My Meatloaf Better Than Yours:

• Bacon. (Cooked and chopped and mixed right in AND right on top.)
• Barbecue sauce.
• Cheddar cheese (in the middle).

 Add these to your ground beef and you're all set. (Oh yeah... and don't forget 2 eggs, breadcrumbs, crushed garlic, diced onion, salt & pepper and some ketchup... there may have also been some paprika and crushed red pepper involved.) Serve with baked potatoes (with cheese and grape tomatoes -- sauteed mushrooms would have been a great addition, but unfortunately the boyfriend doesn't eat them so I rarely buy them, so when you make this meal have some for me) and broccoli.

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Not a Lonely Heart in the Bunch

You'll never find yourself like Miss Lonely-Heart on Valentine's Day with these treats -- no one can resist them. And they're so easy, they make do for a perfect last minute Valentine... or... since it's past Valentine's Day, they serve just as well as an impressive any time treat.

This was my edition of "Nutella Pop-Tarts." Last weekend Rachael made some s'mores pastry desserts that were just puff pastry wrapped around a graham cracker and a piece of chocolate with Fluff on top. (Genius, right?) I kind of combined the two ideas; instead of going through making my own dough and all that, like the pop-tart recipe called for, I decided to go with ready-to-go dough as well and added a few extra flavor touches. :D

What You'll Need:

• 1 package of pie crusts
• Nutella
• Raspberry jam or preserves 
• Egg
• Fluff
• Heart-shaped cookie cutter

Put it All Together:

• Spread out one of the pie crusts and cut out lots of hearts. Repeat with second sheet. (You can roll out the extras and get some more hearts out of it if you need to... They just might be a little thicker.)
• Place hearts on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. 

• Blob some Nutella on a heart and then a blob of Raspberry. Take another heart and put it on top, pinch sides down with a fork. Repeat until all your hearts are full.

• Brush the tops of the hearts with an egg wash.
• Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until their browned nicely on top.

They might leak a little bit if you leave them in a smidgen too long, but don't worry about it. The time between looking perfect and looking delicious is minuscule, but there's no taste difference. They'll be just as delicious. Top them with some Fluff for a super quick frosting. (I thought about doing a nice raspberry glaze, but was feel pretty lazy.)

Go make them! They're fantastic!

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Mascarpone & Basil Tomato Sauce with Chicken Sausage

You really can't go wrong with these basic ingredients, no matter how you combine them. But here's how I go about it:

What You Need:

• An onion, diced.
• Olive oil, a... dollop?
• A few cloves of garlic, chopped.
• 1 big can of crushed tomatoes with basil.
• 1/2 small can of tomato paste.
• Lots of fresh basil, chopped.
• Sun-dried tomato & basil chicken sausage.
• Mascarpone cheese!!

Put it All Together:

• Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat, add onion to soften. Add half your garlic when onions are almost done. (If you add the garlic with onion right away it tends to get bitter.)
• Pour tomato sauce & paste in. Add salt & crushed red pepper to taste -- as well as a sprinkling of sugar. Simmer for a bit.
• Add chicken sausage, cut into chunks.

• Add the rest of the garlic and lots of freshly chopped basil, turn the heat down low, partially cover and let it "simmer" for about an hour. (More like stew together.) Mix every so often.

• Just before serving stir in a few tablespoons of Mascarpone cheese (don't be shy) until melted.

Would have been even better with some freshly grated Romano cheese on top, but, alas... I had none. Nonetheless, it was delicious and super easy. 

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Chocolate Chip Cookie in a Skillet

How amazingly delicious does this look?!

 

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Chinese Food Re-Invented

So, you know how when you get Chinese take-out and you end up with lots of leftover sauces? And they just sit and keep accumulating in your fridge... Because the next time you get Chinese you end up with more sauces and they just keep piling up.

Weeellll... Tonight I finally put them to good use. Last time I ordered out I went the "healthy" route: I had steamed veggies and chicken, but it came with an amazing spicy, garlicky sauce on the side. A lot of it. So I used the leftover sauce and invented my own Chinese dish!

Marinade for pork chops. You're probably thinking, "Wow! Why didn't I think of that??" (Or maybe, "Yeah. No duh. I always do that... Where have you been?" If so, then sshhh.) I poured the sauce over a package of thinly sliced pork chops and added a few soy sauce and duck sauce packets (as well as one hot sauce) and let it sit for a few hours in the fridge this afternoon. And I just cooked them up on the stove for dinner, making sure I poured all that saucy deliciousness over the top as I went. I served them with brown rice (cooked in chicken broth for a little extra flavor) and some stir-fried veggies:

In the same pan used to cook the pork, pour a little bit of vegetable oil and some sesame oil and add a sliced onion and a few sliced carrots and cook about halfway to desired softness. Crush a few cloves of garlic in and soy sauce; cook a bit longer. When the veggies are just about to your liking (I like them in between soft and crunchy) add some frozen peas and sliced purple cabbage. The cabbage gets soft very quickly so it really doesn't need to cook long.

And there you have it.  A delicious, and pretty healthy, re-invention of Chinese food -- with all the flavor.

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Know What You Eat

Trying to stay healthy? ...Yeah. Me too. I thought I was doing a good job, reaching for banana chips as a snack. Err... wrong. I just looked them up on nutritiondata.self.com. 3 oz = 441 calories!! and 29 grams of fat!! (25 grams of saturated fat!!!!!) I wish I looked that up before I ate so many. Yuck. I feel gross now.

I'll be looking more foods up on that site before I even buy them from now on. 

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