Great meat loaf, despite being too salty

Spicy Glazed Meat Loaf
The New Woman’s Day Cookbook Copyright 2005

¾ cup spicy tomato ketchup (or mix regular ketchup with about a teaspoon of hot sauce)
1 ½ lb lean ground beef
¾ cup seasoned dried bread crumbs
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup finely chopped onion
1 large egg
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground pepper

1. Put ½ cup ketchup with the remaining ingredients into a large bowl and mix with hands or wooden spoon until well blended. Form into a 7 x 4 ½ x 2-inch loaf. Place in 3-qt or larger slow cooker; spread top and sides of loaf with remaining ¼ cup ketchup.
2. Cover and cook 4 hours on high or 8 to 10 hours on low, or until a meat or instant thermometer inserted in center of meat loaf registers 160 degrees F. If your slow cooker is deep and narrow, cut loaf in halves or quarters before attempting to lift it out.

Serves 6

This meat loaf was so easy to prepare. I used the chopper attachment for my hand blender to process the onions and garlic very finely, tossed everything in a bowl and then into the crockpot. It literally only took a few minutes. I lined my crockpot with two wide strips of nonstick foil, criss-crossed, so I could life the meat loaf out easily. I would suggest you do that because this meat loaf was very soft when it came out of the crockpot.

I made this after work Wednesday to eat last night, Thursday. To heat it up, I used a technique I've seen others use, and I grilled the slices of meat loaf. I used my George Foreman grill. It came out great this way. I think this might have been a disaster had I tried to serve this right out of the crockpot, since it was so soft.

My only complaint was my own fault. I'm usually smart enough to leave the salt out of recipes that have Parmesan cheese and other salty ingredients but I forgot to omit it this time and the meat loaf came out too salty. Otherwise, this was great.

Something I observed is that despite the vast variety of jellies, peanut butters, mustards, pickles, sandwich spreads, etc in the condiment aisle, the ketchup section is oddly uniform. The entire section was basically three brands of regular ketchup (Heinz, Hunt's and store brand) and the only variation was a few bottles of Heinz organic ketchup and Heinz low-sodium ketchup. There was no spicy ketchup, no ketchup with onions, no colored ketchup (wasn't green ketchup in the market for a while?), no small mom and pop gourmet brands. Odd, given America's love of condiments. I have several types of mustard in the house yet I've never bought anything other than the standard ketchup, even thought they used to stock the variations in my local store.

This is one of my newest cookbooks. I have the 'old' Woman's Day Cookbook (1995) too. I haven't cooked from that one too much but I did make a killer chocolate torte out of that cookbook once, so even if I never cook from it again, it earned it's place on the shelf. Hopefully, I'll end up making more than this one recipe from the newer version .

No question today. I was up with a feverish child most of the night and my mind is blank. Have a nice weekend!

Maybe not perfect, but definitely very good

Buttermilk Cake Layers
Perfect Cakes Copyright 2002

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
2. Stir together the flour; baking soda, and salt in a small bowl, mixing well.
3. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for about 5 minutes, or until very soft and light. Beat in the vanilla, then beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
I used a hand mixer.
4. Reduce the speed to low and beat in one-third of the flour mixture, then half the buttermilk, stopping and scraping down the bowl and beater after each addition. Beat in another third of the flour, then the remaining buttermilk, stopping and scraping again. Finally, beat in the remaining flour mixture.
5. Scrape the bowl well with a large rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans (buttered and bottoms lined with parchment or wax paper) and smooth the tops.
6. Bake the layers for about 30 to 35 minutes, until they are well risen and firm and a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean. Cool the layers in the pans on racks for 5 minutes, then unmold onto racks to finish cooling.

I made cupcakes and cakesicles (not pictured) out of this recipe, instead of layers. I just topped them with a vanilla glaze and sprinkles. At first I thought there were just okay but they seem to be getting better everyday. I think this recipe would definitely make great layers - especially with a fruity filling.

This cookbook is from Nick Malgieri, a top pastry chef. This is one of those cookbooks that I've owned for quite a while and have no idea why I've never tried any of the recipes since they do look promising. I just don't really bake a lot of cakes and now isn't the time of year to start. I'll get around to more of these recipes, eventually.

Question of the Day: Do you have a stand mixer?

These shells have a great personality

Sausage-Stuffed Shells With Chunky Tomato Sauce
365 Ways To Cook Pasta Copyright 1988

Sauce:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup lengthwise onion slices
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into thin strips I only had red peppers
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (28 ounces) peeled Italian plum tomatoes, with juice I used diced tomatoes
salt and freshly ground black pepper

12 large seashell shaped pasta I had 'jumbo' shells which aren't very large - I had many more than 12 of them

Filling:
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings
1 cup chopped mushrooms
¼ cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 egg beaten
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. For the sauce, heat the oil in a medium skillet; add onion and green and red peppers; sauté, stirring over medium heat until tender and peppers begin to brown, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, sauté 1 minute. Add the tomatoes; stir, breaking up tomatoes with the side of a spoon. Simmer sauce uncovered, stirring occasionally, until reduced and slightly thickened, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Cook shells in plenty of boiling, salted water until barely tender, about 7 minutes. Lift from water with a slotted spoon and let stand in a bowl of cold water until ready to use.
3. For the filling, brown the sausage in a medium skillet; drain off the fat. Add the mushrooms and onion, cover and cook over low heat until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Add parsley; season with salt and pepper. Combine the egg, ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan in a large bowl. Fold in the sausage mixture until blended.
4. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter a 9x13-inch baking dish. Drain the shells and invert on paper towels to dry. Fill the shells, distributing the filling evenly. Arrange in rows in the baking dish. Spoon the sauce over the top. Cover and bake 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 4.

Some foods just aren't photogenic, no matter how good they might taste. I didn't even put any effort into making these look nice in the picture - I knew it was hopeless. Also, I was anxious to start eating.

The stuffed shells were very good but I wasn't crazy about the chunky sauce. Maybe had I used the proper tomatoes, it would have been better but the diced tomatoes I used seemed subpar to begin with. I would definitely make these again but without the chunky sauce, I would just use a basic jarred pasta sauce or other sauce from scratch. You could use anything - alfredo sauce, pesto sauce, or even just a bit of cheese (I might cook the pasta a little further along in that case). They're good enough on their own that they really don't need a heavy sauce. I might add a little garlic to the filling next time I make these. That might not be any time soon, since it's almost time to stop using the oven since the weather is getting warmer.

I couldn't find the large-sized shells I was looking for either. These were 'jumbo' and compared to small, medium and large shells that you might use for pasta salad, I suppose they were jumbo, but I thought there was a shell approximately the size of a manicotti out there. Is jumbo really the largest size? Does the size vary by brand? I didn't use every shell in the box for this recipe - I stuffed about 20 of them.

Woohoo, that was the last of the Italian sausage from the freezer. I had quite a bit of it at one point in time. I also used practically the last of the clearanced red bell peppers that were in the freezer. I used the very last of those in some quesadillas last night - I hope they have more on clearance soon. I refused to pay full price for green bell peppers which is just as well -they wouldn't have saved this sauce from mediocrity.

Question Of The Day: What are some of your favorite warm weather meals?

Back to basics

Honey French Dressing
Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook Copyright 1959, 1972

1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/3 c. cider vinegar
2 tblsp. honey
1 c. salad oil

In a small bowl, mix salt, pepper and dry mustard; stir in vinegar and honey. Slowly add the salad oil while beating with a rotary beater or electric mixer. I just shook it all up in a lidded jar.

Makes about 1 1/3 cups.

This was such a simple, delicious salad dressing. I really love putting together salad dressings from scratch. Sunday, my son got a small hive on his face while eating dinner at my in-law's house. I had looked at the ingredients on the salad dressing before giving it to him, but I looked again to make sure I didn't miss anything. There was quite a list of ingredients on that little bottle of salad dressing, even though it was 'all-natural'.

Sometimes I just want a simple iceberg lettuce salad. Iceberg lettuce was on sale for a buck and I think the croutons were too. I just added some red onion. This hit the spot. My son loved it too. I served it with some stuffed shells that I'll be telling you about soon.

Question of the Day: Do you make your own salad dressings?

A healthy treat

Cherry Oat Cookies
American Heart Association Low-Fat And Luscious Desserts Copyright 2000

2 ¼ cups dried cherries, dried cranberries, or dried blueberries, or a combination I used cherry flavored craisins and only a 6 oz bag (about 1 1/3 cups)
1 ½ cups water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons light tub margarine I used Promise stick margarine
2 tablespoons acceptable vegetable oil
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
whites of 3 large eggs
1 ½ cups rolled oats, uncooked
¾ cup oat bran

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a small, heavy saucepan, bring cherries and water to a boil over medium-high heat; boil for 4 to 6 minutes, or until cherries are plump, stirring occasionally. Drain cherries, reserving 5 tablespoons liquid; set both aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, cream margarine and oil. Add brown sugar and vanilla, beating until light in color, about 1 minute. Add egg whites and beat until smooth, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber scraper. Add reserved cherry liquid, beating until well mixed. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture with mixture running. Add rolled oats, oat bran, and cherries, stirring just until incorporated.

Using a small-portion scoop or tablespoon, drop cookie dough onto heavy ungreased baking sheets or regular baking sheets lined with cooking parchment, leaving about 1 inch between cookies. Bake for 15 minutes. Transfer cookies from baking sheets to cooling racks and let cool completely, about 20 minutes.

Last weekend my cookies went completely flat. This weekend they didn't spread at all - not one bit. Maybe that was because I used stick margarine since that's what I had on hand.

These were good but I think if the recipe had included a bit of salt, they could have been much better. They were sort of flat tasting due to the lack of salt. This recipe is from the American Heart Association and if you're on a strict diet for health reasons, these would probably be quite a nice treat. If you're not the healthiest eater and used to rich treats, these won't knock your socks off but they're a filling, low on guilt and really, not awful at all (though next time I would definitely add some salt). I forgot to copy the nutritional information but there are about 100 calories in 2 cookies (recipes should make about 72 cookies) .

This cookbook was from the library. The American Heart Association doesn't mess around. They certainly want their recipes to be appealing but health comes first.

Question of the Day: Do you have any health problems (or a genetic predisposition to health problems) that affect the way you eat?