Pot Roast

Laura
This pot roast was an issue from the get-go.  For starters, how can one expect the Italian girl from NY to know what pot roast is?  I picked up pork shoulder the first time around.  That wasn't right.  In my defense, it said pork roast.  I was making a roast, wasn't I?  On my second trip to the grocery store to rectify the situation, I had to text Meredith a million times to verify that I got the right meat. 

I have no idea what it's supposed to taste like.  I have no idea how to make it.  Hell, I don't even know what pot roast is.  The good news is that it's really easy to make.  The recipe I used, I found here.

Ingredients
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
1 1/4 cups water
5 1/2 pounds pot roast

Directions
In a slow cooker, mix cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix and water. Place pot roast in slow cooker and coat with soup mixture. Cook on High setting for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low setting for 8 to 9 hours.

See, it doesn't say "beef" or "pork".  Anyway, moving right along . . .
I added carrots and celery to the bottom of the slow cooker.  When there were 90 minutes left, I sliced some mushrooms and added them to the slow cooker, too.
 
I would definitely make pot roast again.  Next time, I'll just make less of it.
 

Meredith

Pot roast might be my favorite meal ever. It’s a commonly requested birthday dinner. So the idea of not knowing what it is was just so bizarre to me that we HAD to make it. Laura HAD to know why I love/make/eat it so much. That being said, I tried to do a couple things differently than my old standard. This time, I actually seared the meat first and after taking it out of the pan added roughly chopped onions, baby carrots and garlic and roasted the veggies in the oven for about 20 minutes. Everything then went into the crock pot with beef broth, onion soup mix, salt, pepper, etc. A couple of hours later I dropped a handful of mushrooms in for the duration of the cooking. I don’t think I noticed much difference in that extra effort. I made green bean casserole and these weird potato pancakes on the side. And I blame the photo quality this week on the mimosas ;)

 And Laura? Don’t make less next time... just give what you don’t want to me, ok?

Honey Grilled Shrimp

Honey Grilled Shrimp

Ingredients

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 tablespoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 tablespoons Italian-style salad dressing
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined with tails attached
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Skewers

Directions
In a large bowl, mix together garlic powder, black pepper, 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce, wine, and salad dressing; add shrimp, and toss to coat. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat grill for high heat. Thread shrimp onto skewers, piercing once near the tail and once near the head. Discard marinade.

In a small bowl, stir together honey, melted butter, and remaining 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce. Set aside for basting.

Lightly oil grill grate. Grill shrimp for 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until opaque. Baste occasionally with the honey-butter sauce while grilling.

Laura

I've made this recipe before and I loved it. I didn't baste, though. I put the honey into the marinade instead. Also, I fake grilled. Yeah, I said it - FAKE GRILLED. I let George Foreman grill for me and he did a GREAT job. I sprinkled some red pepper flakes on top. It was a nice kick to counteract the sweetness of the honey.

As a side I made Pineapple Salsa and it was really yummy. I approve of both recipes. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get one of those brownies that I made today. No, I didn't bake them from scratch. Hey, there are some things better left to the professionals. Baking is one of them!

Meredith


I was a little overzealous on this dinner plan! My “sides” for the shrimp were a New York strip, Crispy Smashed Potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts. As a result, I ended up slightly overcooking the shrimp, BUT the meal was delicious in any case.

To be honest, the marinade is almost identical to what I usually do for skewered shrimp. I added a little cayenne (next time I’ll add more), substituted olive oil for the Italian salad dressing and put some honey in with the marinade itself. I like using honey in grilled things – it does this kind of crusty, sticky glaze thing that is just heavenly. And yes - I “real” grilled of course.

The potatoes had some issues. They tasted good, but I couldn’t quite get the smashed part right. I think if I use smaller potatoes and cook them a little longer it might work out better. I’m not sure what the fix is, but rest assured I’ll keep trying.

The roasted Brussels sprouts really were the star of the show for me. I tossed raw sprouts with sliced shallots, garlic, bacon, olive oil, salt & pepper and roasted in a 450˚ oven for 25 minutes. I deglazed the roasting pan with a splash of white wine before serving. And as the star I believe they deserve a pic of their own!

Cheesy Tortilla Lasagna

1 cup (3 medium) chopped plum tomatoes
1 cup julienne-cut zucchini
1/2 cup finely chopped green onions
1 (15oz) can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 (10oz.) can Old El Paso enchilada sauce
1 (8oz.) container southwest-flavor sour cream dip*
8 (6 inch) corn tortillas, halved
8 oz. (2 cups) shredded colby-jack cheese
1 tbsp. chopped cilantro

*can be made by mixing 1 cup sour cream with 1 tbsp. taco seasoning

Heat oven to 375ºF. Spray 13x9 inch glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. In medium bowl, combine tomatoes, zucchini, onions and beans; mix well. Reserve 1/3 cup enchilada sauce; set aside. In another medium bowl, combine remaining enchilada sauce and sour cream dip; blend well.

Spoon 2 tablespoons enchilada sauce mixture in bottom of sprayed baking dish. Arrange 8 tortilla pieces over sauce, overlapping as necessary. Spoon half of the vegetable-bean mixture over tortillas, sprinkle with 2/3 cup of the cheese. Spoon half of the remaining sauce mixture over cheese. Repeat layers, reserving 2/3 cup cheese for top. Top with reserved 1/3 cup enchilada sauce. Cover with foil.

Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Uncover; sprinkle with reserved 2/3 cup cheese. Bake, uncovered, an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Laura
Let's see . . . I suppose I should start with the question on every Italian's mind: What the heck is a tortilla lasagna? It's a Mexican casserole. (Yeah, that answer didn't help me either.) Anyway, instinctively, I wanted to replace the tortillas with lasagna noodles. I would have too, if I could have found oven ready whole wheat noodles. Someone get on that, okay? The changes I did make were easy. I marinated chicken in a southwest marinade, then cooked and shredded it. I added yellow sweet peppers just because I had them and jalapenos because that sounded delicious. Had I remembered that I wanted to add corn, I would have done that too. Hey, leave me alone . . . I was out of my element here. I didn't have a southwest flavor dip so I used my Tastefully Simple Fiesta Party dip mix.

I made jalapeno corn bread in my bread maker as a side. If it was an Italian lasagna, I would have wanted bread so this made perfect sense to me.

The finished product was delish! I'm glad Meredith convinced me to make it. (Shh, don't tell her but I was totally on the fence with this one.) I would totally make this again. It will freeze well so I can freeze individual lunch size portions. I love that.

The only problem with the pictures of this lasagna is that you don't get a feel for how much stuff is in it. It looks prettier in person. If I was recommending other changes, I'd nix the zucchini and add corn instead. I think the chicken and jalapenos are a must. Then, with the extras (there will be extras) make a pretty plate and give some to your mom. At least, that's what I did. I should be on Top Chef when they deconstruct dishes. I could deconstruct Mexican casserole!

Meredith
To be fair, I've made this recipe several times. I've made it by the letter with no changes; I've added ground beef; I've swapped veggies; I pretty much do what I like and have on hand. This time I added corn, fresh jalapeños, a red pepper. I also marinated chicken breasts in Badia's Mojo, grilled, then shredded and sauteed them in taco seasoning with a half an onion. For cheese, I did the Mexican shredded mix and some pepper jack. On the side I had some quick nachos and a Mexican side salad. Yum!

Once I'd made all my additions, I had enough stuffing for TWO 9x13s. It's a good thing I love this stuff. I'll eat it all week and freeze an entire casserole for another time.

Fit to Be Thai’d - Spicy Thai Slow Cooker Chicken

Ingredients

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs (or breasts -- or a combination!)
1/3 cup reduced fat peanut butter
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
1/2 cup Sambal Oelek ground chili paste
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Directions
Place chicken (trimmed of visible fat) into slow cooker. Mix together peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, ginger, sweet chili sauce and sambal oelek. Pour over chicken. Cook on Low 8 hours or on High 4 hours. Serve 1 piece of chicken and sauce with chopped peanuts and cilantro as garnish.

Number of Servings: 6
We Found the Recipe Here

Meredith


Umami! Yeah I have no idea if this was umami or not but I loved it. I ate it for a week straight and would eat it right now if I still had some left (I do have some left. It’s just in the freezer). I used the combination of boneless, skinless breasts and thighs, didn’t measure any of my ingredients and went for the red curry paste instead of the Sambal Oelek because that’s all I found. I also threw a couple dried red chiles into the pot on a whim. I ate mine with brown rice, sauteed broccoli and carrots and topped with green onions. I found the dish to have a slow, not so in your face heat that the peanut butter may have cooled. In any case, the PB added a creaminess and extra element of flavor (maybe umami?). I think this will end up being a go-to meal for me, especially since I don’t think that it necessarily NEEDS the crock pot. Thumbs up!

Laura

Ok, here's what I changed. I used more reduced fat peanut butter than what the recipe said. (I have an unnatural obsession with peanut butter, but that's an entirely different blog.) I used ground, rather than fresh, ginger. I couldn't find chili paste so I used an entire bottle of red curry paste because, well because it seemed like a good idea. Finally, I used the whole bottle of chili sauce.

This was really flavorful. It was aromatic. It tasted like some sort of Thai / Indian fusion dish. It was spicy, but not hot. It was . . . umami? Okay, not umami. I guess I'm trying to say that the dish had heat but not in that hot, red pepper kind of way. My suggestion would be to either make less of it or serve it to people. It's a really tasty dish but not something that I wanted to eat for a whole week straight. I guess I could have frozen it, but there's no room in my freezer anymore. (Again, an entirely different blog topic.)

The bottom line: Very appetizing. The dish reminded me of take out. It had that kind of feel to it. I ate it as a wrap and with rice on the side. Either way, it was enjoyable. So go ahead, try it.

Smoke ’em if you got ’em! (BBQ!)

It’s Smoker Week! (And apparently LOTS of pictures week) I spent some time last month building a terra cotta flower pot smoker à la Alton Brown on Good Eats. I went from Home Depot to Lowes to Taylors to the little Feed ‘n Seed on the corner in search of my parts and pieces:

• 16" terra cotta pot
• standard hot plate
• replacement grill grate
• metal pie pan
• 16" round terra cotta planter (This was ridiculously hard to find*)
• replacement grill temperature gauge
• bricks and/or planter “feet”
  

It finally came together with a price tag of around $50. They had a metal smoker at Home Depot for about that price. I could explain why terra cotta is better than metal... heat insulation, blah blah blah - but you know what? Take a couple minutes to watch Alton's video up there and see what he has to say.

On to the build! Once I had gathered everything I needed, I started assembling. The best piece of advice I ran across on the Internet was from Dave Naffziger’s blog post regarding getting the heating element OUT of the smoker itself. A little tricky on the reconnect of the wires through the pot, but otherwise a piece of cake. We want the temperature knob outside where we can adjust it!

Next goes the metal pan with the wood chunks. I used applewood and soaked them overnight. The first time I used the smoker, I skimped on the soaking time and had some flare ups and more smoke than I’d have liked. The grill grate sits nicely in the lip of the pot near the top.

Place the lid on top, stick the temperature gauge in the hole in top and we’re done!


Plug it in and voila! Smoke!

My first attempt at smoking I brined and rubbed a turkey breast with average results. In my opinion, it was too smoky BUT the lessons I learned from this trial run definitely paid off for my hunk o’ pork.

1. Preheat the smoker! It'll take at least 45 minutes to get to 215˚F.
2. Don’t short yourself on wood soaking time. The longer the better... overnight won't hurt. You’ll have a slower, longer smoke and there is less chance of a random fire.
3. Have LOTS of aluminum foil handy. I don’t remember what for, but I know I ran out at 6am and wasn’t very happy about it.
4. Don’t keep opening the lid. You’ll only let heat out and if air hits that smoldering wood down there.... again with the fire. Not fun.
   

And without further ado, the pulled pork (ahem- BBQ) that almost made Laura cry...

Pulled Pork BBQ
I used Alton’s recipe for the brine and rub with a couple of adjustments for my tastes. Starting with a 7 pound Boston Butt, I brined it from Wednesday night to Friday morning in a huge container filled with pickling salt, molasses, water, minced garlic and black peppercorns.

When the alarm went off at 5:30am, I got the smoker set up and going and pulled the meat out of the brine to take the chill off. At 6:15 the alarm went off again and I trudged into the kitchen to apply the rub I’d made the night before: ground cumin, ground coriander, chili powder, onion powder, paprika, garlic powder and a little black pepper. I used already ground spices because that's what I had on hand. Alton grinds his own :P

Ready to go:

At this point the smoker was at temperature, so I added a couple of chunks of applewood, put the meat on and went back to bed! About halfway through the smoke (at about 5 hours), I replenished the wood. At 10 hours I started checking for doneness by trying to pull the meat with a fork. I decided to let it go for one more hour and took it off at the 11 hour mark, wrapped it in foil and let it rest for an hour.

And then the pulling began.... (and initial sampling that made me go “WHOA! That is GOOD!”)

All pulled, chopped and out on the platter. Turns out it didn’t need any sauce at all, so I served my two saucy concoctions on the side along with some Frank’s Red Hot.

Rounding out dinner, we had baked beans (also Alton’s recipe), macaroni salad (Laura’s specialty), and coleslaw for the BBQ, of course. Delish! I honestly couldn’t have hoped for it to come out any better than it did.


Next time Boston Butt goes on sale I’m stocking up my freezer. In the meantime, I’ll be plotting what to smoke next! Beef maybe? Oh and I’d be remiss to not mention dessert: monkey bread and homemade honey ice cream!

*at time of posting, I have since broken the impossible to find lid to my smoker. I know what I’m doing this weekend since I’ve promised my parents BBQ for their birthday dinner!

Laura
Really, WHO gets up at 5:30 in the morning to make dinner? Slow cookers are for meals that take all day, aren't day? Millions of cookbooks were based on “fix it and forget it”. Not a single cookbook that I’ve ever seen talks about how to spend ALL DAY making dinner for your friends by fussing every hour with temperatures and wood. Naturally, I rolled my eyes. As far as I was concerned, this was just some quirky idea that was just going to make everything taste like smoke. I have a hard enough time making things on the grill not taste like smoke. Do I really want that on purpose?

Fast forward to noontime. Smoked food smell is wafting through Meredith’s house. Wait, I think SHE smells like the smoker. Oddly, I’m not repelled by it at all. It’s delicious. I was expecting the smoke smell that cigarettes give off. I was pleasantly surprised.

The rest of the process is a blur because I wasn’t going anywhere near that thing. This was her baby – I was staying out of it. I was planning on politely nodding when asked if it tasted good. You can imagine my surprise when I actually got to taste it. It was absolutely delicious. I’m going to be honest with you; it took all I had to wait for everyone to get to her house so I could eat.

I learned a lot from that meal. First, pork butt is not bad. (Meredith’s aside: It’s not the pork’s BUTT! It's its shoulder!) It may not sound like something you want to eat, but made correctly, it’s worth it. Second, barbecue is NOT something you make by turning on the grill. Finally, monkey bread is awesome.

Let it be known that I mentioned wanting to set up a smoker at my house. Let it also be known that I’m not going to do it. I don’t know that I have the patience to wake up early and constantly check temperatures.

Here’s my bottom line: If you have a free day and want to make something that tastes unlike anything else, then by all means go for it. Otherwise, do what I plan to do and request it at Meredith’s house. Now if I could just get her to make me some banana ice cream.

Meatloaf Mania

Laura
Some things are difficult to nail down with a recipe.  For example, everyone makes sauce in different ways.  The same applies for meatloaf.  There was no way we were both going to agree on one recipe that we wanted to use.  I have a standard recipe, but I thought that this would be a good time to try a stuffed meatloaf.  My normal meatloaf is a comfort food for me.  I wanted something out of the norm, but not too crazy.  I've seen recipes for meatloaf stuffed with spinach so that's what I looked for.  I found a Cheesy Spinach Stuffed Meatloaf recipe that I wanted to try.  Here's the recipe with my changes noted:

Cheesy Spinach-Stuffed Meatloaf (Pinwheel meatloaf aka Tournade)

Meatloaf:
1½ pounds lean ground beef (I used meatloaf mix)
¾ cup soft bread crumbs (1/2 cup used instead)
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt (I omitted the salt)
⅛ teaspoon pepper

Topping:
3 tablespoons ketchup
¼ cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (I didn't top the meatloaf with more cheese)

Filling
1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, defrosted, well drained
½ cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (1/3 cup of cheese used instead)
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning (I used Mrs. Dash Italian blend)
¼ teaspoon salt (Again, no salt - the Mrs. Dash took care of that)
⅛ teaspoon garlic powder

1. Heat oven to 350°. In medium bowl, combine filling ingredients; mix well. Set aside. In large bowl, combine meatloaf ingredients, mixing lightly but thoroughly.

2. Place beef mixture on waxed paper and pat into 14 x 10-inch rectangle. Spread filling over beef, leaving ¾-inch border around edges. Starting at short end, roll up jelly-roll fashion. Press beef mixture over spinach filling at both ends to seal. Place seam side down on rack in open roasting pan.

3. Bake in 350° oven 1 hour. Spread ketchup over loaf; return to oven and continue baking 15 minutes. Top loaf with ¼ cup mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with additional Italian seasoning, if desired.

4. To serve, cut into 1-inch thick slices.

Okay, so the rolling of the meatloaf seemed a little odd.  It certainly went a lot better than the Chicken Cordon Bleu rolling.  Once I got the hang of it, the rest was easy.  The next time though, I'd use less spinach.  There seemed to be a lot of it in every bite.  Other than that, I thought the meatloaf was delicious. 

Meredith
I'm soooo tired! And yet I made THREE meatloaves? oy. I didn't plan very well for this other than having the ground beef thawed and so eventually winged (wanged? wung?) it once I got to the kitchen. I started with a basic mixture of lean ground beef, finely diced onions, minced garlic and a couple of eggs; split that into three bowls and went from there.



To the first bowl I added: some grated Parmesan, Italian breadcrumbs and a spoonful of the red pasta sauce I made last weekend. Formed a simple loaf and topped it the last 10 minutes of baking with a mixture of ketchup, dried minced onion, brown sugar, pepper and dry mustard. To the second bowl I added: diced green chiles, panko breadcrumbs and stuffed the loaf (no rolling- just layered) with roasted red & yellow peppers and some pepper jack cheese. It was topped at the end with salsa.



To the last bowl I added: Worcestershire, onion soup mix, panko and stuffed it with a couple slices of muenster cheese. I topped it with the marsala/mushroom sauce that I'd made yesterday at dinner. All three loaves were served with mashed potatoes and an assortment of roasted veggies.



I actually liked them all. The Italian-ish one was most like my mother's that she used to shape into a heart for Valentine's Day. The beefy, mushroom-y one was just that – bold, rich and paired very well with the potatoes. The Mexican loaf was the most interesting I think – great flavor, I see potential here for something really fun.

Pizza (That's Amoré)

Laura's Pizza
Pizza?  Hell yeah I'll make pizza.  I love making pizza.  I have a bread machine that makes the dough.  Anyone who thinks it's a piece of equipment that just takes up space needs to taste the difference between premade dough and bread machine dough.  Sure, I could make it all by hand, but I'll save that for the professionals.

My pizza of choice was pesto margarita.  The layers are:
dough - pesto sauce (I made pesto months ago and froze it in ice cube trays for easy use) - diced tomatoes with jalapenos (drained well) - shredded mozzarella - fresh basil - minced garlic

To grill or not to grill.  That was the question.  If not for the rain, I would have (maybe) attempted to grill it.  Maybe I would have made one personal pizza on the grill and the other in the oven.  Weather conditions as they were, they both were baked in the oven, on a pizza stone.  If you're going to make pizza, please invest in a pizza stone.  The crust just crisps up so much nicer with one.

The pizza was delicious.  I never made a pesto margarita pizza before.  It came out better than I had expected.  The crust was crispy enough to stand up to the bite test.  (My pet peeve is when you order a pizza and you go to take a bite just to have all the toppings slide off the slice.)  If people wonder why I'm not a fan of ordering pizza when I go out, this is why.  So, bottom line, I'll definitely make this pizza again.  I think I'm going to enjoy finding different toppings to use.  I'd love to know what everyone likes to put on their pizzas.  Doesn't everyone have a favorite?

Meredith's Pizza

OH Today was BUSY! I have no clue why I decided to build a smoker, smoke a turkey, make pasta sauce, grill some chicken AND make pizzas. I'm exhausted!

I made two different pizzas. I took the easy road and used two doughs I bought at Trader Joe's. On the first (whole wheat) dough I did: my homemade sauce (spicy!), pepperoni, roasted onions, roasted red peppers and mozzarella. I tossed fresh red peppers and a vidalia onion with some olive oil, salt & pepper and roasted at 375 for about an hour. I think the pepper was my favorite part of the entire meal.



The second crust (garlic and herb I think?) got a white treatment. I made a white sauce by sauteing onions and garlic in olive oil and then stirring in some light cream- finished with a little salt, pepper and fresh thyme. This went on first followed by a ricotta mixture (ricotta, thyme, garlic), caramelized onions, roasted garlic, prosciutto, and mozzarella.



To be honest I preferred the traditional red sauced pizza. The white pizza came out heavier than I'd have liked and the prosciutto ended up being moot- I think it was too delicate to hold up to the richness of the cream sauce and the ricotta. Bacon would have gone nicely here. The grilling of the pizzas is something I'd like to perfect in the future. My first attempt proved slightly undercooked in some spots- I feel the right temp on the grill and a better stretching of the dough is key.


(I couldn't decide on a pic)