Momma's Meatloaf

Momma's Meatloaf



2 lbs lean ground beef
1 handful of soft bread crumbs (example leftover hamburger bun in food processor) - or you could substitute a handful of dry rolled oats
1/4 cup of milk
1 egg lightly beaten
1/2 tsp hamburger seasoning (or steak spice) - could add a bit of ground summer savoury
1 teaspoon of worcester sauce
couple of drops of soya sauce
2-3 drops Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1 small onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic crushed (use garlic powder if you don't have fresh garlic on hand)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 pepper finely chopped (red, green or both)
(add leftover boiled carrots or other veg. if you have some in your fridge)
1/4 cup of ketchup for the topping

Method:
Set hamburger aside, then in a large bowl crack an egg and lightly beat it, add 1/4 cup milk and all other ingredients except the ketchup - stir and then gently add raw ground beef.  Do not push it together tightly, keep it loose and put in a 8x8" square baking pan.  Cover with a little more salt and pepper.  Push finger marks into top to allow to cook evenly.  Sprinkle with a bit more salt and pepper and finally lightly coat top with ketchup.  Bake at 350 deg. for about 45 minutes or until done.

 

Strawberry Jam Buttercream

 

Strawberry Jam Buttercream (enough to frost 12 cupcakes)



1/3 cup strawberry jam (warm)
1/4 cup salted butter (room temp)
1/8 cup milk
1/8 tsp vanilla
3 drop pink food colouring
2 cups icing sugar

Method:
warm 1/3 cup of strawberry jam in microwave for about 30 - 40 seconds - pick out any globs of berries larger than a marble
add 1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
beat with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes
add milk and vanilla and a couple of drops of food colouring - mix for a couple of seconds
add 2 cups of icing sugar
mix on low for about 1 minute, scrape down bowl then mix on medium for about 2 minutes - scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula and then whip on high for about 20 seconds...
if too thin add icing sugar by the tablespoon until it looks right, if too thick add milk by the teaspoon until it looks right.  (I ended up added about a teaspoon of milk and a teaspoon of icing sugar haha)

Place mixture in a clean re-sealable plastic sandwich bag - seal bag, cut tip off of lower corner of bag - making sure the hole would be large enough for the tip of your baby finger to fit.  Squeeze onto cupcakes.  Enjoy!

Best of Both Worlds - Creamy Unbaked Cheesecake

I took two of our family favourite no-bake cheesecake recipes (one with cream and one with sweetened condensed milk - to get the BEST OF BOTH WORLDS), added another block of cream cheese (cause who doesn't want more of that?) and reduced the overall sugar.  This cheesecake was a big hit at our house - I couldn't wait to share it with you to enjoy!

3 (8 oz) packages of light cream cheese (room temperature)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup powdered sugar
1 300 ml can light sweetened condensed milk (adding a little at a time)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup 36% whipping cream (beat whipping cream separately and fold it into mixture)
1 1/2 cup graham crumbs
1/3 cup melted butter

Directions:
Crust:
(optional baking for crust ONLY) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit -
combine melted butter and graham crumbs with a fork and press onto the bottom of 10" spring-form pan, bake 10 minutes & cool completely

Filling:
beat 3 packages of room temp cream cheese until not lumpy
add lemon juice, vanilla extract and powdered sugar.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add sweetened condensed milk a little at a time.
In a separate bowl whip cream until stiff peaks form.  Fold into other mixture.
Pour into cooled spring form pan.
Refrigerate for 3 hours.  Top with your favourite canned pie filling and serve.

Melting Moments

This is a borrowed recipe which has been altered slightly.
Orinigal recipe found here:  http://www.joyofbaking.com/MeltingMoments.html

Melting Moments
Beat together with electric mixer for about 2 minutes:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons salted butter, (must be room temperature)

1/4 cup icing sugar (confectioners or icing) 

pinch of salt
then add:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (sifted)

1/2 cup cornstarch (sifted)
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 drops of almond extract
(note - there is no other liquid, there is no egg)
blend for about 30 seconds with the mixer, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Place 1/2 of the mixture into a piping bag with a very large star tip.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Pipe one inch round stars x 1 inch height.  You should get about 18 stars with 1/2 the mixture.
Refill bag with remaining mixture and pipe remaining 18 stars.  Make them as even sized as possible.
Place cookie sheets in freezer for 10 minutes.  Moved them to the fridge for another 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake cookies on a rack in the middle of the oven for 14-16 minutes (or until edges are starting to turn a golden colour).  Once baked, let them cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them onto wire racks for about another 5 minutes before giving them a dusting of icing sugar.  Instead of dusting with icing sugar you could glaze them with thinned buttercream, or sandwich them with the following buttercream icing after letting them cool for 1/2 hour:







Buttercream Icing for Sandwiching Cookies:
Mix 1/4 cup salted butter until light and fluffy
Gradually Add:
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup icing sugar (confectioners sugar)
1/4 tsp of pure vanilla
1/2 tsp milk (or cream/sour cream)
(beat for at least 4 minutes with handheld mixer, continuing to scrape down sides of bowl).
For thinned glaze gradually add an extra tsp of milk or so ... just a few drops at a time until its thin enough for your taste.

Enjoy!

A birthday cake created for Patrick

Tonya's Chocolate Caramel Coffee Rum Cake aka "Patrick's Birthday Cake"

1 deep chocolate duncan hines mix
4 tablespoons of cocoa
1 package of chocolate instant pudding mix
3/4 cup liquid oil
1/2 cup of water
5 extra large eggs
1 tub of sour cream (1 cup)
1 teaspoon real vanilla

mix with beaters for about 2 minutes on medium - do not pour into pans just yet

heat up a couple of tablespoons of water and add:
2 tablespoons of instant coffee (Nescafe - french vanilla works well!)
1 table spoon of dark rum (or a large cap full of rum)
2 1/2 to 3 tablespoons of white sugar

Fold the dissolved coffee and sugar and rum mixture into the cake batter.

Grate 7 dairy milk bars - save about 1 1/2 bar's shavings for the decorations on top of the cake - set aside in refridgerator.  Stir the equivalent of about 1 grated chocolate bar into the cake batter.  There should be some larger broken pieces of chocolate - all the leftover bits, about 4 1/2 bars worth. Throw all these messy pieces into a pot - these will be made into icing later.

bake in two 9 1/2" rounds (greased with cooking spray and lined with parchment paper) for about 45 minutes @ 350 degrees.  Cool cakes in pans on a wire rack for about 8-10 minutes. Turn out onto racks and remove paper liners. You can throw them into the freezer now to cool quicker if needed.  Once cooled, slice crowns off cakes to level.

Icing:
4 to 5 dairy milk bars (in small pieces)
1 heaping tablespoon of coffee (again french vanilla is nice)
2 heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder
1 cup of heavy cream
2 Tbsp icing sugar

Melt all icing ingredients in a pan on top of the stove - just until all are blended together and chocolate is completely melted. Don't boil!

Leave to cool for a few minutes.

Use both the icing and dulce de leche (president's choice caramel) in between the cake layers. Slowly pour about 1/4 of the icing mixture on top of the cake - refridgerate a few minutes - then pour more mixture on continue until the icing is all on and between the layers. Swirl a little more caramel over the top of the cake and add about 1 chocolate dairy milk bar shavings over the edges (sides of the cake). Refridgerate.

It's now ready to eat!  Throw some birthday candles on top and give it to the person you love the most!

Tell them to ENJOY!

Tonya's Prime Rib for Two

2 rib *prime rib roast

6-8 small to medium yukon gold potatoes (washed/peeled)
6-8 small carrots (scrubbed or peeled)
1/2 large white onion (cut into 3/4" slices)
1 small turnip or parsnip (if desired)
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
pinch of celery salt
pinch of rosemary
pinch of mrs. dash or steak spice
2 envelopes of beef oxo
1/4 cup of favourite red wine or
1 Tablespoon each of ketchup and oshi sauce
3 Tablespoons of white flour
water


Preparation:
*At least two hours before: Remove meat from fridge and place on counter to bring up to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Use a large skillet or dutch oven without plastic handles. Wash and peel root vegetables, halving the potatoes only.

Place root vegetables in pan, making sure to place two discs of onion slices in the centre. Add enough cold water to cover the bottom of the pan by about 1/2 inch. Sprinkle lightly with pepper and celery salt.

Remove meat from package, *essential* pat dry with paper towel. Coat meat with a light sprinkle of the following: salt, pepper, rosemary, celery salt and either Mrs. Dash or your favourite steak spice.

Place meat on top of onions in the centre of the pan *fat side up. Use potatoes to prop it up if necessary.

Roast for 20 minutes. Without opening oven door, turn heat down to 300 degrees and continue to bake for 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Remove pan from oven. Meat should be rare to just medium on a meat themometer. If it's not done enough now, you can continue to roast it in the next step. If it is done to your liking now, place it on a cookie rack and cover the top and sides only very loosely with tinfoil.

Return oven temperature to 450 degrees. Place vegetables on a plate or cutting board (temporarily) - as they will need to continue to cook. Place pan on top of stove over high heat and gradually whisk in the flour. Continuously whisk and boil until the liquid is just barely covering the bottom of the pan and all flour lumps are gone. Add the beef oxo and red wine. If you would prefer not to use wine add a tablespoon of ketchup and oishi sauce (or soy sauce) and about 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a rolling boil.  Return the vegetables to the pan and return to 450 degree oven for 20 minutes. *return meat as well if you want it cooked longer.  

Rinse frozen peas and corn under hot water and add to pan 5 minutes before pulling it out of the oven. Hopefully there is enough leftover for next day's lunch!

Enjoy!

Apples and Cinnamon Porridge

Porridge (serves 3 to 4)

1 large Apple

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup milk (or another cup of water)

1/2 cup apple juice

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Method:

Wash apple, roughly chop, leaving skin intact and discarding core.  (You can use whatever kind of apples you have on hand, but if they are small - try using two!)  Toss chopped apple into a small to medium sized pan that has a fitted cover.  Add white sugar, cinnamon, salt, apple juice, milk and water.  (*note, you can opt just to use 3 cups of water without other liquid).  Bring to a rolling boil on top of stove over a medium heat.  Stir in rolled oats, remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes.  Top with a light sprinkle of cinnamon and either white sugar, brown sugar or maple syrup.

Enjoy!