Mint Oreo Chocolates - St. Patrick's Day

I celebrated the green theme and taught myself to dip & coat with chocolate
by making these cookie balls that I found on the Kraft website:
Cool Mint Oreo Cookie Balls
I changed the recipe slightly and removed most of the brand names, though.

Ingredients:
8 oz. Cream Cheese
30 crushed Mint Oreos
28 oz. (2 bags) of baking chocolate chips
 - 1 white and 1 chocolate for double-dipping
1 box of Andes mints
8 drops green food coloring

Directions:

1. Blend cream cheese and broken oreos.
2. Form into small balls.
3. Freeze for 1 hour.
4. Melt white chocolate and add food coloring.
5. Dip balls into melted chocolate, lowering with a fork.
6. Refrigerate until set
7. Melt andes mints and chocolate together
8. Re-dip for a double coat

I made some of each, but please, don't judge my dipping skills just yet...

Bennight Meatloaf Sandwich

This is my classic meatloaf sandwich.

Meatloaf w BBQ glaze, and a layer of mashed potatoes & peas
served on pan-fried garlic bread.
I've been mincing roasted garlic into a paste
and then literally spreading it on the bread before frying in butter.

A meatloaf sandwich "Bennight" style.

Italian Meatloaf Sandwich

The best leftovers ever are a meatloaf sandwich...
I will be building and shooting several varieties this week.

The first is Italian,
which thanks to the chicken sausage in the meatloaf,
was an easy transition.

I made my standard marinara
and managed to keep the spicy peppers at bay.
I also made garlic bread with whole milk mozzarella
for both sides of the sandwich.
Never enough cheese, never...

Meatloaf & Mashed Potatoes with Peas

My favorite comfort meal of all time.
I used to request this on my birthday when I was a child
and we weren't going out to eat that night to celebrate.
The most basic meatloaf recipe is all ground beef with bread crumbs and uses ketchup,
though I've experimented with quite a few variations over the years.
Tonight, I subbed in 1 lb. of chicken sausage, celery and used oatmeal for the breading.
I also added some beer.
Feel free to add carrots, peppers, change the meat or breading, add liquids etc.
It's all about the ratios anyway...

Ingredients:
Meatloaf
1 Lb. Lean Ground Beef
1 Lb. Ground Chicken
1 C diced Onions
1/4 C minced Celery
1/4 C minced Garlic
2 Eggs
1/4 C Oakshire Brewing O'Dark:30 CDA
1/2 C Rolled Oats
2 T S & P (each)
2 T Yellow Mustard Powder
1 T Thyme
1 T African Bird powder
Glaze
1/2 C BBQ sauce
1/4 C Spicy Brown Mustard
4 T Honey
Potatoes
2 Lbs. Gold Potatoes
4 T Unsalted Butter
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
2 T Salt


Directions:

1. Beat eggs and soak oats with beer for 5 - 10 mins.
2. Add spices to egg mixture.
3. Combine meat, vegetables and egg mixture in a large bowl.
4. Press into a baking pan, filling the entire dish
5. Cover with foil & Bake @ 350 for 40 mins
6. Remove from oven and drain excess liquid from pan
7. Cover with glazing sauce and bake for 20 mins, uncovered
8. Remove and let cool before slicing ( I couldn't wait so my glaze isn't solid in the photo)

Mashed potatoes come in many different varieties, my family traditionally uses sour cream instead of heavy cream, though cream cheese, or even just whole milk will also do the trick.  Just boil, mash and mix to your desired consistency.  I love a pulverized potato, no lumps for me thank you, and I add peas on top for a healthy crunch.

Chili Verde Pork Tacos

 Chili Verde Pork Tacos were amazing this week.
Jeff came over with his tomatillo knowledge and we roasted the vegetables in the oven for a bolder flavor than boiling.

Sauce Ingredients:
2 Lbs. Tomatillos
1 Large Onion
8 Serrano peppers, de-stemmed
2 Poblano peppers
1/4 C Garlic
1 T Oil
1 t Salt
2 T Honey
1 Bunch chopped Cilantro

Directions:

1. Remove the husks from the tomatillos
2. Combine all prepared veggies (except poblanos and cilantro) in a baking dish, add 1 t salt
3. Roast the vegetables @ 350 for 30 - 45 mins
4. Coat the Poblanos with 1 T Oil and wrap in foil to roast separately
5. Once cooked, remove the poblano skins 
6. Blend everything together, adding honey and cilantro to taste

We then used some of the sauce (approx. 1 Cup) and mixed it with 1 Cup of chicken broth to serve as the marinade for braising our sliced pork shoulder for 1 hour.   I also threw a little sauce in with some boiling rice. Pull the pork, assemble and enjoy!

Baked Custard French Toast

 I stepped up my french toast game this week, by making a very simple custard instead of my standard recipe

Ingredients:
3 Eggs, well beaten
1 C Heavy Cream
1 C Whole Milk
3 T Sugar
1 t Salt
1 t Vanilla
1 t Cinnamon
4 - 6 thick slices of bread (preferably older or stale bread)

Cinnamon Toast Crunch French Toast

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients together except the cinnamon
2. Pour the mixture over slices of bread in a baking dish
3. Flip the bread so its soaks on both sides for aprox. 30 minutes
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
5. Coat with cereal or cinnamon and bake for 20 mins

Asparagus & Sausage Omelette - Bagel Sandwich

I love bagel sandwiches for breakfast, and made my classic veggie recipe yesterday.
Mixing it up, I wanted to add some meat and some heat this morning,
so I substituted jalapenos instead of red peppers and added some pork sausage patties


Yield 2 Omelettes
Ingredients:
1/2 Lb of fresh Asparagus
4 Eggs, well beaten
1/4 C Red Bell Peppers, chopped
4 T finely diced Shallots
4 T roasted garlic
2 T Butter
2 T Olive Oil
1 T crushed Red Pepper flakes
1 T Basil, chopped
S & P

Directions:

1. Place the asparagus in a baking dish and coat with olive oil, red pepper flakes, basil and S & P   
2. Add whole garlic cloves to roast them if you prefer (I do!)
3. Bake for 30 mins @ 350 degrees F
4. Chop and dice peppers and shallots
5. Once the asparagus is done, remove from oven and let rest for 5 mins
6. Heat a sautee pan @ medium heat, add 1 T of butter once hot
7. Sautee peppers and scallions until limp/clear
8. Remove from pan and set aside, add 1 T of butter
9. Pour eggs into butter coated pan
10. Dice 6 pieces of asparagus, I save several heads for a side and chop mostly stems
11. Add ingredients to omelette and fold, once hardened
12. Remove from heat at your desired egg consistency
13. Cutting the omelette in half, add to toasted bagel

I added 1 T of Maple syrup on top of the pumpernickel bagel, because I couldn't resist