Food for a guys' guy

I love Meatloaf.  Seriously.  Whenever I am listening to my local light radio station, I can't stop myself from rolling down my windows and belting out along with him....I will DO anything for love, but I won't do that....

Meatloaf rocks.  Even though I have no clue what that really is.

Even though I love Meatloaf, I can't stand meatloaf.  I mean, I really really really can't stand meatloaf.

But, for some reason, the other day I got an urge to make a meatloaf for Mr. McGhee.  See Mr. McGhee is a guys' guy from Wisconsin that now, because of me, eats salmon and salad instead of filet and potatoes.  So every once in a while, I like to treat Mr. McGhee to a guys' guy type of dinner.  

Plus, Mr. McGhee is very handsome and the other day I caught him looking at my favorite catalog and circling the things he thought I would like.

To find a meatloaf recipe, I went to my favorite site, Our Best Bites.  And the ladies at Our Best Bites didn't fail me with their recipe for bacon-wrapped meatloaf.  That's serious guys' guy type of food.

I made the recipe exactly as written.

Bacon-wrapped meatloaf

Glaze

• 1/2 cup chili sauce (or substitute ketchup, but I liked chili sauce)
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons cider vinegar (or white vinegar in a pinch)

Meat Loaf

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion , chopped medium
• 2 medium cloves garlic , minced
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt (or whole milk)
• 1 pound ground beef chuck
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1/2 pound ground veal (I used more pork instead of veal)
• 2/3 cup Saltine crackers , crushed (about 18), or quick oatmeal, or 1 1/3 cups fresh bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
• 6 – 8 ounces bacon , thin sliced (8 to 12 slices, depending on loaf shape)

1. For the glaze: Mix all ingredients in small saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Simmer for 2-3 minutes or until slightly thickened and set aside.

2. For the meat loaf: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in medium skillet. Add onion and garlic; sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool while preparing remaining ingredients.

3. Mix eggs with thyme, salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, pepper sauce, and milk or yogurt. Add egg mixture to meat in large bowl along with crackers, parsley, and cooked onion and garlic; mix with fork until evenly blended and meat mixture does not stick to bowl. (If mixture sticks, add additional milk or yogurt, a couple tablespoons at a time until mix no longer sticks.)

4. Turn meat mixture onto work surface. With wet hands, pat mixture into approximately 9-by-5-inch loaf shape. Place on foil-lined (for easy cleanup) shallow baking pan. Brush with half the glaze, then arrange bacon slices, crosswise, over loaf, overlapping slightly and tucking only bacon tip ends under loaf.

5. Bake loaf until bacon is crisp and loaf registers 160 degrees, about 1 hour. Cool 10-15 minutes. While meal loaf is cooling, re-heat remaining sauce and brush some over meat loaf if desired.  Slice meat loaf and serve with extra glaze passed separately.

Make the glaze and set it aside.

As with most good recipes, start by sauteing garlic and onion.

Get your egg mixture mixed.

Add egg mixture to meat.

Mix together egg and meat mixture.  This is a tough step for those of you that are squeamish about touching meat.  I would be one of those people.  I kept myself distracted by daydreaming about this.

Slather your meatloaf with your glaze.

 Wrap that loaf up in bacon.  Tuck the ends underneath the meatloaf.

Bake until cooked thoroughly.

 Slather a little extra glaze on top before serving.

Mr. McGhee loved this.  In fact, all the minis loved it too.  Especially my middle mini, which doesn't surprise me...he's sort of a guys' guy too.   This is him, finishing his first 5k in 30 minutes!

I served my meatloaf with oven-roasted cauliflower.  

• 1 medium head cauliflower (about 2-1/4 pounds), trimmed and cut into florets
• 3 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1.  Heat oven to 450 degrees F. 

2.  Combine cauliflower and garlic in a large bowl. 

3.  Drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. 

4.  Transfer, in a single layer, to a large rimmed baking sheet. Roast at 450 degrees F for about 25 minutes, stirring once. Sprinkle with cheese. 

Everyone loved the cauliflower.  A huge hit and now on our weekly veggie rotation!

And to drink, we had spinach smoothies.  My best friend introduced them to me this weekend.  

Spinach Smoothie

• handful (or two) of spinach
• handful of frozen strawberries
• frozen banana
• 1/2 cucumber (peeled)

1.  Blend in blender.

Delish!  A meal you can totally feel good about feeding to your family!

Pizza night

Last night for dinner we had BLT's and fruit salad.  Now, I'm not going to share my BLT recipe with you because it's really simple.  Toast.  Bacon.  Lettuce.  Tomato.  Go crazy and skip the mayo and smear on some smashed avocado.  Easiest dinner ever.

When I was fryin' up the bacon, my middle mini came running up the stairs and said, "Mom, it smells like bacon in here.  Are you making bacon?  You are?  You are really making bacon?  Guys, guess what?!?  She is really making bacon.  We have the best mom ever."  Expect to see more bacon recipes from me in the near future.

Clearly, my minis love bacon.  In fact, they love it so much that Mr. McGhee convinced them to act like dogs and do tricks for bacon rewards.

They even wear shirts proclaiming their love for bacon.

Since the BLTs were such a hit, I decided to try another kid-friendly dinner for tonight, pizza.  However, we gave up processed food and I do not know how to make a pizza crust, so I found myself sort of in a bind.  And then I remembered seeing a recipe for cauliflower crust pizza that I found intriguing.  I was super excited when I read the recipe and realized that it called for ricing cauliflower because Mr. McGhee just got me this for my birthday.....

This food processor is totally bitchin'.  I have been wanting a food processor for years and this baby was worth.the.wait.  So, I was more than happy to fire her up today to rice me some cauliflower.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

• 1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower  (4 pulses in my processor, but who's bragging?)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (10 seconds and I had a brick of mozzarella shredded into 3 cups)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• olive oil (optional)
• pizza sauce, shredded cheese and your choice of toppings*

To rice the cauliflower:
1.  Take 1 large head of fresh cauliflower, remove stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. 
2.  Add to food processor and pulse until it looks like grain. Do not over-do pulse or you will puree it. (If you don't have a food processor, you can grate the whole head with a cheese grater.  Then, send your hubby a link to my blog and tell him that Mr. McGhee already did all the research, all he has to do is buy the processor). 


Cooking Directions
1.  Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes (some microwaves are more powerful than others, so you may need to reduce this cooking time). There is no need to add water, as the natural moisture in the cauliflower is enough to cook itself.


To Make the Pizza Crust:

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.2.  In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup cauliflower (you will have lots of leftovers), egg and mozzarella.
3.  Add oregano, crushed garlic and garlic salt, stir.
4.  Transfer to the cookie sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a 9" round. Optional: Brush olive oil over top of mixture to help with browning.5.  Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven. To the crust, add sauce, toppings and cheese. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted (approximately 3-4 minutes).

*Note that toppings need to be precooked since you are only broiling for a few minutes.*

To answer your question, yes, that crust tastes as good as it looks.  I snuck a taste, I couldn't help it!  Tonight, we will top it with pizza sauce, cheese, and green olive on the mini's pizza and pizza sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil, and veggies on the adult's pizza.  I plan on serving it with side salad.

Here is the pizza sauce recipe I made.  This is a VERY basic pizza sauce, but I thought it would be perfect with the cauliflower crust.

Pizza sauce

• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 (29 oz) can tomato puree
• 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomato
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1. In a large saucepan, saute garlic in oil until tender. 
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients. 
3. Bring to a boil. 
4. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until sauce reaches desired thickness. 

I am hoping that there isn't massive disappointment at the dinner table tonight when the minis realize there is not any bacon being served.   


COMING BACK HERE TO EDIT:  Oh My.  Delish.  This pizza crust was amazing.  The minis LOVED it. They had no clue that it was made of caulflower.  My oldest mini commented that it tasted different than some pizza crusts, and he thought it was from the italian spice.  My tiny mini ate FOUR pieces.  A total victory!

Fried Pickles!

So the minis are on spring break this week.  So far we have spent a day doing homework and a day going to the dentist, the local farm store, and getting haircuts.  WOOT WOOT, the McGhee family sure knows how to let loose spring break-style.  It keeps getting better, because tomorrow we have an all day doctor's appointment.  Oh, did I mention that today my middle mini got the worst.haircut.ever.  I would say the best part of the day was I taught my minis what the phrase, "that dude sucks and really needs to lose his job" really means.  Big day of parenting!


So, yeah...I'm sort of cranky.  And when I'm cranky, I cook!  So, good news for you!  Tonight Mr. McGhee put a stocking cap on the middle mini and then took all the minis outside to enjoy the 70 degree weather.  While he was out there, he fired up his outdoor kitchen and grilled some steaks.  We served my world-famous sauteed mushrooms and onions on top of our steaks.

Sauteed Mushrooms

3 Tablespoons Butter (or olive oil)
16 ounces, weight White Mushrooms, Sliced
1 yellow onion, sliced
1/3 cup Sherry Or Wine
Kosher Salt And Pepper To Taste

  
1.   Melt 2 tablespoons butter in large skillet and add sliced mushrooms and onion. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2.  Saute over medium-high heat for 2 minutes, then pour in sherry. Add salt and pepper. 
3.  Continue cooking for 6 to 8 minutes, or until all liquid is evaporated. 


This is an old picture.  Imagine this with onions in it as well.

**Sidenote**  You can use oil instead of butter.  I used a mixture of grapeseed oil and butter.  


For side dishes we had roasted cauliflower and baked carrots and apples.


Roasted Cauliflower

• one head of cauliflower, chopped into flourets
• few tbsp olive oil
• garlic powder
• few tablespoons fresh grated parmesan cheese
• salt

1.  Preheat oven to 400.
2.  Drizzle oil over cauliflower and stir to coat.
3.  Spread cauliflower out on parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
4.  Sprinkle with garlic powder, parmesan cheese, and a little bit of salt.
5.  Bake for 30-40 minutes until starts to brown.

Baked Carrots and Apples (from Rodale Whole Foods Cookbook)

• 3 cups thinly sliced carrots
• 4 apples, thinly sliced
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp flour
• 4 tbsp honey
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup orange juice

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.

2.  In a steamer, cook the carrots until beginning to get tender, about 10 minutes.

3.  Put half the apples in a shallow 1-quart baking dish and cover with half the carrots.  Season with salt and pepper.

4.  Sprinkle 1 tbsp of the flour.  Drizzle with 2 tbsp of the honey and dot with 2 tbsp of the butter.

5.  Repeat the layers.

6.  Pour the orange juice over everything.  

7.  Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the carrots are tender and the mixture is bubbling.  Serve hot.

And, the highlight of our day was dessert.....fried pickles!  


Ingredients

• 1 jar pickle slices (we like large, thick slices of Claussen dill pickles)
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp hot sauce
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
• Ranch dressing + hot sauce for dipping 

Directions

1. Turn oven broiler on high.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and flour. Add Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic powder, Cajun seasoning, and pepper. Mix well.
3. Place panko bread crumbs in a shallow dish. Dunk each pickle slice into the egg mixture, than dredge it in the panko bread crumbs.
4. Place coated pickles on a rack set above a baking sheet and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Place pan in the middle rack of the oven. Broil for about 3 minutes on each side.
5. Serve with Ranch dressing and a dash of hot sauce.   (We did not dip in anything, I guess you could say we went "dipless")

These were very easy to do and very delish!  In fact, they did elevate my mood.  Of course, I am still devastated over the worst.haircut.ever.  I am so thankful to have this picture, taken today at the farm store.  

Here is my mini again.  He won a medal last week for having the best.hair.ever. 

Tomorrow is another day!  Let's hope that prayer my minis said at bedtime is granted...and that he wakes up with a full head of hair tomorrow!

Oh, happiness!!!!

I have had several people tell me lately that I am much better at writing than I am at talking.  Now here's the thing, I will chat your ear off, but when it comes to talking, I struggle.  I can chat until the cows come home, but I prefer not to talk about things I am worried, stressed, or upset about.  The downside of this is that I usually keep things bottled up inside, the upside of this is that I am a good listener and people sense that.  I frequently have complete strangers open up and tell me their life story.  And sometimes it's a little weird, like the lady at Walmart who showed me her hysterectomy scar.  But, every once in a while, I connect with someone and hear a story that makes me wonder "how does this person not have a book written about them."  Last night was one of those times.  I am not going to share the details of the conversation, but I know that last night my minis went to bed late because we started talking about kindness, gratitude, and life and none of us wanted the conversation to end.  I wanted them to know that I think they are perfect just the way they are, I love them, I thank God for them, and tomorrow when they wake up I will be overjoyed to see them.  And we all agreed that is a pretty awesome way to feel about someone.  And then my wise 6-year old mini said, "what if everyone felt that way about everyone?"  And we all agreed, that would be a pretty amazing world.  So, I challenged them to try it....emulate that message to everyone you encounter each day.  And my mini McGhees agreed that I should challenge all of you to do it as well.

Are you rolling your eyes right now?  I know there are some perpetually pissy people out there that just can't fathom being gracious and kind and nice to strangers.  Well, fine.  Be that way.  But be prepared that there are people like the McGhee family that will hunt you down and spread our happiness germs all over you.  And your crankiness won't stand a chance against this.....

So it's not just the McGhee family that has a happiness project in mind.  I am a big fan of Dr. Andrew Weil.  He is one of those really smart medical doctors from Harvard, so as you would imagine, I sort of have a crush on him.  And by crush, I mean I want you to be my grandpa, not I want you to be my boyfriend type crush.  I am reading Dr. Weil's book, Spontaneous Happiness.  The book examines the causes of true happiness in life and then meshes Eastern and Western philosophy, conventional and alternative medicine to come up with strategies for people to find more happiness in their life.  The book is intended for everyone, from someone who is depressed to someone who wants to find more happiness in life.  I would say on the happiness scale in life, I am a 9.8 out of 10....that's pretty damn happy!  But, I am still finding the book fascinating.

And since this is a blog about FOOD, I thought I would share one of Dr. Weil's recipes that we love love love!!!!

Tart Cherry-Apple Crunch

This is what Dr. Weil has to say about this dessert....Food as Medicine

There is no better start to a dessert than with plump, tart cherries and apples. And the walnuts in here add not only a crunchy texture, they also contribute healthful omega-3 fatty acids. The insoluble fiber in apples attaches to LDL cholesterol in the digestive tract and removes it from the body; adding one large apple to the daily diet has been shown to reduce serum cholesterol by up to 11 percent.

Ingredients

1 pound frozen pitted tart cherries 1 green apple, cored and diced 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot powder 1/2 cup unsweetened cherry or apple juice Nonstick cooking spray 1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped 2 tablespoons whole-wheat pastry flour 3 tablespoons grape seed oil 1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to  400°F. 2. In a bowl, toss together the cherries, apple, brown sugar, and almond extract. 3. In a cup, mix the cornstarch and juice and add to the fruit mixture, stirring well. 4. Pour the mixture into an 8-inch-square baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. 5. Mix together the remaining ingredients. Crumble the mixture on top of the fruit. 6. Bake for 30 minutes. Raise heat to broil and brown topping lightly for 1-2 minutes. Remove from oven. Serve warm or cold.  (I say you're nuts if you serve this cold, serve it warm!!!!) Yeah!  A dessert even us health nuts are excited about!  We had ours after a dinner of meatloaf and cauliflower popcorn.  You all know I am not a huge meat-eater....it's gross when it's raw, it smells funny when it's cooking, and it's not all that tasty.  I would love for our family to go vegetarian, but here's the thing....Mr. McGhee is from Wisconsin.  And Wisconsinites love meat.  They also love cheese, beer, Carharts, and fast cars that race in circles.  When I suggested to Mr. McGhee that we go vegetarian, he told me no way because "I am a man and men need to eat meat."  So, I tried to disprove his theory by finding a picture of a hot, hunky male vegetarian and all I could find was this guy.  So maybe Mr. McGhee is right and men do need meat.  And since I live with 3 men, I decided to make meatloaf.  I followed a recipe from the Rodale Whole Foods Cookbook. Mr. McGhee's men-need-meat loaf 2 tbsp oil (I used olive) 2 medium onion, finely chopped 2 pounds ground meat (I used grass-fed beef) 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats 1/3 cup wheat germ (I used ground flaxseed) 2 large eggs 1/2 cup sour cream or plain greek yogurt (I used yogurt) 2 tbsp chopped parsley 1 teaspoon salt 1/3 tsp herbs de Provence 1/2 tsp pepper 1/2-1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (optional) 1.  Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet.  (I lined mine with tin foil instead) 2.  In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  Add onion and cook until tender.  Transfer to a large bowl and let cool. 3.  Add meat, oats, wheat germ, eggs, tomato juice, yogurt, parsley, salt, herbs de Provence, pepper, and cheese. 4.  Transfer the mixture to the baking sheet and with your hands shape into a 5 x 9 log.  (I made small mini loaves instead). 5.  Bake for about an hour and 15 minutes,  or until set, golden brown, and cooked thoroughly.  I cooked my small patties for about 40 minutes.   I halved this recipe.  I know men need meat, but not that much meat!  This was plenty for the 5 of us, we even had leftovers.   We had our meatloaf with cauliflower popcorn.  I roasted one whole head of cauliflower.  Next time I will roast two. one head of cauliflower, chopped into florets  (we prefer really small florets) few tbsp olive oil garlic powder few tbsp fresh grated parmesan cheese salt 1.  Preheat oven to 400F. 2.  Drizzle oil over cauliflower and stir to coat. 3.  Spread cauliflower out on parchment lined baking sheet. (I used tin foil) 4.  Sprinkle with garlic powder, parmesan cheese, and a bit of salt. 5.  Bake for 20-40 minutes until starts to brown. The cauliflower was delish.  I thought the meatloaf was okay.  The McGhee meat-lovers gave it two thumbs up.   Have a great sunshiny day!  And be happy!!!!