Turkey Meat Loaf

Meatloaf is a classic comfort food. I always make mine with mashed potatoes. My hubby has decided he likes meatloaf for breakfast, too. I heat it up in a nonstick skillet and he likes two fried eggs on top of it. As a special treat I will also make him potato cakes out of the leftover mashed potatoes. I'm telling you there is no stopping the man from the meatloaf. He will not rest until he has made "all gone." My favorite brand ground turkey is Shady Brook Farms.

Turkey Meat Loaf

• 1 ½ lbs. ground turkey (93% lean)
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 small chopped onion, diced fine
• ½ (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
• 1 egg or ¼ cup egg beaters
• 1 ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper

Sauce

• ½ cup water
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. mustard powder
• ½ (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
• 1 Tbsp. vinegar

Mix turkey, bread crumbs, onion, ½ can sauce, egg, salt and pepper. Shape into a loaf, place mix into a 10 x 13 inch Pyrex dish. In a small sauce pan, mix rest of sauce, brown sugar, mustard, vinegar and water. Heat and stir until mustard and sugar are mixed. Pour over meat and bake at 350° for 1 to 1 ½ hours. I always serve this with mashed potatoes and peas or green beans.

Leftovers make a great sandwich. You may eat it cold or slice and cook in nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking oil. Heat one side then flip over melt a slice of cheese on top. Serve on toasted bread with lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. Yummy!

Shrimp Creole

Our craving this week: Shrimp. Mmm! My Stud Muffin requested this recipe and I'm so glad he did because I enjoyed this one just as much a he did. He said, "You nailed it!" Shrimpies are one of my all time favorites. This one will warm you up all over. I want to warn you that it is spicy, so if you are cry baby about that then don't try it. No cry babies allowed in Cajun country. So Let the Feasty Begin!

I am proud to say that we will be celebrating our 31st wedding anniversary this coming Sunday. I have attached a pic of Gary, a.k.a. Stud Muffin, and I. Happy Anniversary Stud Muffin!

Shrimp Creole

• 2 lbs. 10/12 count wild caught shrimp
• 1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
• 1/3 cup white wine (good enough to drink)
• 1 large sweet onion, diced
• 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
• 2 celery stalks, chopped finely
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp. butter or extra virgin olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• ¼ tsp. black pepper
• ¼ tsp. white pepper
• ¼ tsp. thyme
• ¼ tsp. paprika
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 cups uncooked long grain brown or white rice, cooked according to package directions

The first thing you need to do is peel the shrimp, but do not throw away the shells because you will need them. Once the shrimp are peeled you need to devein them and cut into bite size pieces. Then place them in a covered bowl in refrigerator until ready to add to creole.

In a 2 qt. pot add the tomato sauce, 1 cup of water and the shrimp shells. Yes, the shrimp shells. Simmering this will make a delicious shrimp base. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for one hour stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile in a 4 ½ qt. dutch oven pot add the remaining ingredients except for the corn starch. Bring ingredients to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover to cook for one hour as well. This is a perfect time to cook the rice.

Once the creole mixture has simmered you will need to take the tomato sauce, shells and water mixture and pour though a wire mesh strainer carefully pressing down with a large spoon on the shrimp shells to squeeze out as much juice as possible. Be careful not to let any shells fall into the creole sauce. Discard shells.

Cover and bring creole sauce back up to a good simmer again. Meanwhile mix 2 Tbsp. corn starch with 4 Tbsp. cold water making sure it is mixed well and there are no lumps. Add to simmering creole sauce and mix well, simmer for 5-10 minutes stirring occasionally. Once mixture is slightly thickened raise heat to medium and bring to a boil. Add shrimp at this time and cook for 10 minutes. Remove bay leaves and serve immediately over cooked rice.

Salted Chocolate Pistachio Bites

It just so happens that one of my favorites nuts are green. When I was a kid I thought that all pistachio nuts were red. Who in the world was the brianiac who thought we should only eat them dyed red? Kids used to love to have red fingertips after eating them. As an adult I think why dye? So now we pretty much see the pistachio all natural. YEAH!!! There is something special about that salty and sweet flavor that brings back my childhood memories for eating chocolate covered pretzels. It was love at first bite. So try my version of chocolate covered pistachios with a sprinkle of salt on top. May it be love at first bite for you.

Do your self a favor and buy the pistachios already peeled. Unless you are into pain, because after a while it feels like your ripping your fingernails off opening them. My pain management tip for the day. :)

Salted Chocolate Pistachio Bites

• 1 cup Ghirardelli bittersweet baking chips, 60% cocoa
• 1 ½ cups shelled Pistachios, roasted and salted
• Fleur de Sel salt or sea salt

Melt chocolate over a double boiler on low until melted, then mix well with a wire whisk to make sure all chips have melted down. Stir in pistachios and mix until nuts are completely coated. Remove from heat and you may drop dollops (about 1 heaping Tbsp.) on to a wax paper topped cookie sheet. Or you may drop into little mini muffin liners. Sprinkle a pinch of salt on top of each chocolate drop before it hardens. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until chocolate is completely set. This makes about 20 bites.

Pulled Pork Bar B Q

Super Bowl XLVI will be here this Sunday. This is an All American recipe for one of America's favorite season finales. So watch the game and enjoy eating a sandwich or two whenever you feel like it. These babies stay good for hours.

These are a few quotes from friends about my pulled pork: "I ate 8 sandwiches over the day and could not eat dinner last night." "I'm in love." "Wow, I can't believe I ate 6 of them." "It's so tender." This is a real crowd-pleaser and all of the work is done in advance. I just love that! It's a very requested recipe of mine. I have tried lots of bar b q sauces and hand down Stubb's spicy is the best. Let the game begin!

Pulled Pork Bar B Q

• 1 fresh pork picnic or butt roast
• 1 cup water
• 1 bottle Stubb's spicy Bar B Q Sauce 18 oz.
• Martin's potato rolls.

You will need a large crockpot for this recipe. When buying the pork have the butcher cut the picnic in half (this step is important so it will fit into crockpot) and have them cut the skin off and throw it away, you do not need the butcher to do this step if it's a butt roast.

The night before you serve pork place in a crockpot with 1 cup water (do not use more then one cup or it will overflow) set on low setting and cook all night long for 12 hours.

In the morning remove meat from crockpot and place in a large bowl and set aside. Strain and defat the pork broth and set aside. I pour broth through a wire mesh into a large pot. Then I skim off fat that has floated to the surfaces with a ladle or a large spoon.

Wash and dry crock pot. Then place a few pork pieces at a time on a cutting board. The meat will fall right off of the bones ( no bones if it's a butt roast). Pick through pork throwing away bones and pieces of fat. As you are cleaning pork put meat back into clean crockpot. When all of the pork has been pulled add the strained and defatted pork broth back into crockpot. Cook on low until just before you serve it add a bottle of Bar B Q Sauce and mix well.

On a hot day I cook mine outside overnight or if weather is bad I cook it in my garage because it will be stinky. Everyone loves this recipe.I always serve this with Martin's potato rolls and slaw. Enjoy!

Italian Style Roasted Green Beans

If you like green beans you will love this recipe. I had my neighbors over for dinner and they watched me open up the oven to stir the green beans. They said, "what do you have going on in there?" Well, we all enjoyed our veggies that night. Once you eat these babies roasted you will crave them this way. This is my cold winter-time way of cooking my green beans. They are very easy to make and you can not beat the flavor. So roast them up and warm up your kitchen. Who would have ever thought that green beans cooking would smell so good?

I buy the small french green beans at the wholesale food clubs. You can't beat the price and they are already trimmed and ready to go.

Italian Style Roasted Green Beans

2 ½ lbs. green beans, trimmed

4 Tbsp. olive oil

¾ tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. chopped garlic

¼ tsp. coarsely ground black pepper

2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp. loosely packed fresh oregano leaves, chopped

Preheat oven to 450°. In a large roasting pan (17” x 11.5”) toss green beans with 2 Tbsp. oil and ½ tsp. salt and garlic. Roast beans 25 to 30 minutes or until tender and slightly browned, stirring twice. Meanwhile,, in large bowl, with wire whisk mix oil and vinegar, oregano, black pepper, remaining 2 Tbsp. olive oil and remaining ¼ tsp. salt until blended. When beans are done add to vinaigrette in bowl with oregano. Toss until evenly coated. Serve immediately or at room temperature.

Cherry Chocolate Cake

This is one of my most absolute favorites and my friends and family love this cake, too. Not only is it one of the easiest to make, but hands down one of the most delicious cakes you will ever eat. I have made this recipe more times then I could ever begin to count and I will never tire of it. You will notice in the recipe that the melted icing is poured over a hot cake. How cool is that? No need to wait for this baby to cool before icing it. Also, it is the perfect travel cake to give as a pot luck or for a party. I keep a stack of disposable 2-packs of aluminum foil pans on hand. You can buy these very inexpensively at Wal-Mart. I love to be able to give and not worry about getting a container back. This recipe won the Pillsbury Bake-Off, and this is my variation.

Cherry Chocolate Cake

• 1 box Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge cake mix
• 1 (21 oz.) can cherry pie filling
• 2 eggs (beaten)

Do not use mixer. Add cake mix to beaten eggs and fold in pie filling. Mixture will be stiff, stir until just moistened through. It will look like thick mud.

Bake in a 10 x 13 greased pan at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes or until cooked through and tester comes out clean.

Frosting

• 1 cup super fine or dessert sugar
• 5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup Ghirardelli Double Chocolate bittersweet chips

Boil sugar, butter and milk for 1 minute stirring constantly until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat & stir in 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. Stir until melted. Pour evenly over hot cake as soon as it is removed from oven. Cool.

Also, if you heat the melted chocolate over very low heat for about 5 more minutes it gives the icing a fudgy flavor. You will notice it gets a little thicker, but be very careful not to burn the chocolate, as it burns easily.

The super fine sugar dissolves better and will not leave your icing with a gritty feeling.

Tortellini Salad

Get your Italian fix this week. This Tortellini Salad is not only a thing of beauty but it tastes awesome too. Whether you want this as a side or for lunch you can't go wrong. A nice bite of pasta seasoned with vinaigrette, roasted peppers, feta, fresh spinach and olives. I'm in love! This easy to make-ahead dish will be sure to woo your guests. You don't have to tell them how easy it is, it can be our secret.

Tortellini Salad

• 1 lb. Tri-Color fresh Cheese Tortelinni
• 1 (7 oz.) jar of yellow or red roasted peppers
• 1 (16 oz.) bottle of vinaigrette dressing
• 1 (4 oz.) pkg of fat free Feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 (DR.WT. 6 oz.).can large black olives, drained
• 1 (6 oz.) pkg. fresh baby spinach, only using half

Cook tortellini according to package directions. Meanwhile drain and slice peppers into slivers about 1 ½ inches long and set aside. When tortellini is cooked drain in colander and run cold water over to cool down and stop the cooking process.

In a large bowl mix together tortellini, peppers, vinaigrette, feta, and olives, toss together well. Tear off stems of spinach and place torn spinach leaves into salad. Reserving the rest for later use. Refrigerate overnight, stirring occasionally. This makes about 10 cups.

For testing purposes I used a 16 oz. pack of tri-color cheese tortelinni. You can find them in bulk at wholesale food clubs. I have also seen tri-color mini ravioli, that would work as well. If you can not get tri-color just get plain cheese. You may use a favorite vinaigrette of your choice. I like to use Newman's Own Greek Vinaigrette. Do not use a light vinaigrette. I also like to leave the olives whole (if someone does not like them they are easy to pick around). Also I use fat free Feta and it still tastes delish.