I was not expecting to make this week’s dish, but I just happened to have all but one of the ingredients on hand. So, one Sunday morning before a get-together with friends, I whipped together spanakopita-like spinach swirls.
Spinach swirls ingredients.
And they’re a real Frankenstein’s monster of my previous sheet pan recipes.
I had left over one sheet of puff pastry from the sausage “sandwich” I made earlier this year. I had bought a gigantic block of feta for the chicken meatballs, because it called for the brine too, and had quite a bit leftover. I had the basic idea of what it’d take to make it work from when I actually did make spanakopita. We even just happened to have dill around for some reason, and everything but spinach is a regular pantry item. So, I sought spinach.
While I made this frantically, because as usual I was running late for said get-together, it was super simple and comes together quick. Mine didn’t look as pretty as a similar-ish recipe on the back of the puff pastry box but still tasty.
My only issue is I took the back-of-the-box advice to brush on an egg wash on the dough before baking, which was fine, but it made the swirls stick to the pan, so I wish I had used parchment paper for easy cleanup. Oh, and I probably should’ve strained the spinach a bit. Other than that, simple and delicious.
So simple and so delicious.
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
1 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 sheet puff pastry
~1 c. crumbled feta (I’d bet a 4 oz. container of crumbled feta would be a fine amount)
½ c. Parmesan, shredded
2 eggs, divided
2-4 cloves garlic, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
Dill, to taste
Flour, for rolling pastry dough
Directions
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line a large rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper.
Squeeze out water from handfuls of spinach and place in a large bowl. Add feta, Parmesan, garlic, 1 egg, salt, pepper, and dill to the spinach, and stir well to combine.
Place a small handful of flour on a clean surface, and unroll the puff pastry sheet. Sprinkle with more flour, and then roll out to about 12 inches by 10 inches or so.
Place the spinach mix along the long side of the puff pastry. Roll up like a jelly roll. Cut into about 12 slices.
Place face up on the lined sheet pan.
Mix together the remaining egg with about 1 T. of water. Stir the egg wash on the edges of the puff pastry to coat.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the puff pastry is golden brown, and enjoy!
So, leading into the July 4th, I probably should have made something more appropriately festive for Independence Day.
But when I saw the most Polish of Polish recipes I was a) sad that I didn’t think to make it on the little-celebrated Casimir Pulaski Day and b) sure that I had to make it immediately. I mean, c’mon, it has kielbasa and pierogies. What more could I ask for? Oh yeah, it also has hot sauce.
The most Polish of dinners ingredients.
Almost better than all of that, you can basically throw it all together on a pan with some peppers, onions, oil and a couple of spices, and you have dinner in 30 minutes.
The only downside is my desire to find hippie, sustainable kielbasa meant we had to hit up more than one grocery store, but thankfully, Fresh Thyme once again came to the rescue. But of course, if you don’t care about that (even though you should, sorry not sorry), kielbasa does abound in grocery stores.
The recipe tells you to mix the ingredients in a bowl first. I was even too lazy to do that. In hindsight, it was a cramped fit on my sheet pan that made stirring the spices and olive oil more difficult on the pan, so it is probably preferred. However, if my sheet pan were bigger than its 15×13-ish proportions, it’d probably be fine, and honestly, stirring halfway through helped with the exception of one pretty spiced (and delicious) pierogi.
And two sheet pans or a bigger one would be nice to get all the pierogies touching the pan and therefore have a bit more crunch. But let’s be honest, pasta stuffed with cheese and potatoes is amazing no matter what.
OMG, that sausage is cooked to perfection, and look at those spices on the stuffed pasta. Noms.
Here’s the recipe that I found linked to off of Buzzfeed but comes from the Foodie with Family blog:
Ingredients
2 packages (14 oz each) kielbasa
2 onions, halved and cut into strips
2 bell peppers, cut into strips
24 frozen pierogies (2 packages)
3 T. oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 T. chili powder
2 t. hot sauce (I did not measure)
½ t. garlic powder
½ t. onion powder
Grainy mustard, for serving (optional)
Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut kielbasa into 4-inch lengths and arrange on the outside of the sheet pan. Add the onions and bell peppers with 1 T. oil as well as a little salt and pepper (or do this in a big bowl), and try to keep on the outside to save direct pan space for the pierogies.
Add the pierogies to the pan with the remaining oil, and the spices, and hot sauce (or, again, do this in a big bowl and then add to the sheet pan).
Bake for 30 minutes, turning the pierogies and stirring the rest halfway through, and enjoy!
I’m not saying anything profound when I acknowledge that social media, especially Twitter, when first introduced seemed like a great way to connect with people and now seems like a place to witness the worst of people and an endless scream of nonsense opinion.
So, now that I don’t need to check in on it for work I have been trying to avoid it in order to lower my blood pressure and increase my sanity. Of course, the news for the past 6 months (since I left media) has not always made that easy, and the *cough* president-created *cough* immigration crisis of the past couple weeks has been important enough to pay attention, no matter how awful.
But that doesn’t make it any easier day after day to click onto Twitter.com each day.
One tweet last week gave me hope, however. A reason to stay on it, besides being witness to the horrors that each day unfold.
Some wonderful human being posted out of the blue a delicious-looking, semi-healthy sheet pan recipe just as I was feeling like I was out of novel ideas and wanted to try something new.
Of course, because it’s a hell site that has introduced new people into my stream that I don’t even follow I now can’t find said wonderful human being. But thankfully Google still works well enough that I could find the Bon Appetit recipe for chicken meatballs with chickpeas and cherry tomatoes and get it made this week.
Chicken meatballs with chickpeas and tomatoes ingredients.
I feel faintly like an idiot because we checked three stores to get one of the main ingredients, harissa, which I’ve previously purchased online but was optimistic enough to assume I could find it in a college town. The fourth store had it. Thank you, Fresh Thyme!
So, that ingredient might be harder to find but the wonders of the Internet mean it’s never truly inaccessible. I’d say it could be substituted but it really ties the whole thing together. I’m sure another spicy paste or even some sort of sauce would work, but it’d just not be the same.
Other than our runaround, though, the recipe was super simple, cooked quickly, and was quite simply as delicious as it looked when I first heard about it.
That’s a spicy (and tasty) meatball.
Here’s what I did, mostly sticking to the recipe:
Ingredients
3-6 T. harissa paste (varies based on how spicy you want it/how spicy the harissa tastes, as it comes in mild and spicy varieties)
1 large egg
½ c. panko
8 oz. feta in brine, crumbled (this was also hard to find — thank you, Pammel Grocery — but I’m sure if necessary water could be substituted for brine)
⅔ c. chopped parsley, divided (I didn’t measure, just used up the small bunch)
6 T. olive oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, divided
Salt and pepper, to taste
12 oz. ground chicken (if it comes in a 1 lb. package, that’s what the recipe calls for, but my hippie organic stuff is smaller, but I found I didn’t need to manipulate the recipe to make 12 oz. work just fine)
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved if large
1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees and place a rack in the top of the oven.
In a large bowl, mix together the egg, panko, ¼ c. feta brine (or water), half the crumbled feta, half the parsley, 2-4 T. harissa, and 2 T. olive oil until well blended. Add in the 2 of the garlic cloves, salt, and pepper.
Add the chicken and work with your hands until just mixed.
Spread tomatoes and chickpeas on a rimmed sheet pan. Add 2 T. olive oil, 1-2 T. harissa, and any additional salt and pepper.
Grease hands and roll out meatballs into about 16 golf-ball size, and place on the sheet pan between the chickpeas and tomatoes.
Bake meatballs until cooked about halfway, about 12 to 15 minutes. Increase the heat to broil, and bake for another 8 to 10 minutes, rotating once if necessary, until the meatballs are cooked, the tomatoes lightly charred, and some chickpeas are semi-crisp. (If your broiler is on the bottom of the oven, then move your sheet pan there, but I was fortunate to just bump up the temp and leave the sheet pan.)
Meanwhile, mix together the remaining feta, parsley, and 2 T. olive oil in a small bowl. Add in the remaining garlic clove, and stir until all combined.
Once meatballs are done, let rest for a few minutes, and then sprinkle the feta mixture on top, and enjoy!
I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but for the third week in a row, I was in search of a recipe that was easy and quick. In fact, this is the first time this year that I made this week’s recipe on the same day I posted my blog.
Like any (recovering) journalist, I live for a deadline.
Thankfully, I picked another recipe this week that not only was as simple as it seemed but came together with little effort. I needed the latter after losing an altercation with a cat that has left my right hand only partially usable.
Strawberry shortcake bars also happen to be delicious and the kind of treat that will please my in-laws as we head to St. Louis this weekend to see them.
Strawberry shortcake bars ingredients (sans flour because I keep it in a big honkin’ container because I use that much).
Everything’s coming up Christinia!
Because I’m cutting it down to the wire (again), two quick notes on this recipe:
It’s pretty strong on the shortcake, which I like, but it may be a bit dry for others’ tastes. If that’s not your thing, maybe cut down on the flour or add a little more whipped cream to the topping.
It doesn’t specifically call for it, but a stand mixer works really well for this recipe. Creaming both the cake and the topping is enough of a pain when one’s hand is healthy but it was pretty much a requirement for me this week. A hand mixer would also work, but I really appreciated saving the labor this week.
Fresh from the oven (and cooled) and it was amazing.
Here’s what I did, mostly following a recipe I found randomly online:
Ingredients
For the bars:
1 c. (or 2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus a little more for coating the sheet pan (I used to use salted but we’re *trying* to be healthier)
2 c. sugar (like I said, trying)
4 large eggs
2 t. vanilla
5 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. salt
½ t. baking soda
For the topping:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 c. heavy whipping cream, whipped (or 8 oz Cool Whip but I like real cream, again, trying)
About 1 lb. strawberries, sliced
Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees, and grease a large rimmed sheet pan.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Then, add the eggs one at a time until well incorporated. Add in vanilla and stir until combined.
In a separate large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to the wet mixture and beat until combined. (The dough will look like cookie dough.)
Spread the mixture on the sheet pan, using greased hands to spread evenly onto the pan.
Bake shortcake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden.
Remove from oven and let cool.
Meanwhile, mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and remaining vanilla. Beat until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream, and chill until the bars are cool.
Spread the cream mixture on top of the shortcake, and then cover with the sliced strawberries. Eat immediately, or chill until ready to serve to in-laws, and enjoy!
A week late but I found the perfect “I don’t have time for this” sheet pan recipe.
The good news is it’s been another hectic week that meant I also didn’t have a lot of time to make something this week either; the bad news is, well, it’s been another hectic week. Please someone older than me tell me that life gets less stressful eventually.
Since I’m doubtful that someone will reach out to me, I’ll take solace in the fact that simple sumptuous scones exist and help make life worth living.
Lavender scone ingredients.
Lavender and lemon combine to make the perfect airy, floral, summery breakfast.
And as I might have mentioned, they’re fairly simple.
I’m not super picky when it comes to scones, and one of my favorites is Betty Crocker’s, but these had a nice fluffy texture that made it almost cake-like, while not really having more sugar than any other scone. They were a delight, and I’m absolutely sure I’ll make them again. I might even try to change it up and use different flavors, like my favorite raspberry and white chocolate chip.
Three quick notes:
The recipe calls for 2 sheet pans. I almost didn’t but decided to trust the recipe, especially since it’s from the the typically trustworthy Epicurious, and I’m glad I did. The scones don’t look so big but they expand, so use 2 sheet pans or bake in batches.
It also suggests serving with store-bought lemon curd. While lemon curd is a treat and does go well with the scones, lavender is such a subtle flavor that the lemon tends to overpower it, especially when lemon zest is already in the scones. So, use with that warning or feel free to pass if you love lavender.
Lavender made sound hard to come by, but my favorite spice shop Allspice in Des Moines has lavender flowers, and they ship if you can’t get to Iowa’s capital. And, if you don’t want to include them, I’m sure they’d be OK without it, if less exciting.
So delicious they help make bad days better.
Did I mention these were simple and amazing? OK, here’s what I did:
Ingredients
3 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for light kneading
¾ c. granulated sugar
1 T. baking powder
2 t. dried lavender buds (recipe called for 1 t., but like I said, subtle; I also sprinkled just a few on top of each scone for plating purposes and for a bit more taste, but you do you)
1 t. salt
½ t. baking soda
1 ½ sticks butter (preferably unsalted), cut into ¼-inch cubes
1 c. buttermilk, plus more for brushing (2-4 T.)
Zest from one lemon
1 t. vanilla extract
2 T. demerara sugar, or granulated sugar, for topping
Lemon curd, optional and to taste
Directions
Heat oven to 425 degrees, and arrange racks on upper and lower thirds of oven. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together the 3 c. flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, lavender buds, salt, and baking soda. Cut in the butter, using two knives, your fingers, or a pastry blender. Stir in the lemon zest.
Make a well in the dried ingredients and add the buttermilk and vanilla.
Stir slowly to mix. I found a fork worked really well.
Once a shaggy dough forms, turn out onto a floured surface and lightly knead until the dough forms together.
Use your hands to pat into an about 10-inch by 6-inch rectangle. Cut the rectangle in half lengthwise, and then cut each square into four squares. Cut each square into two triangles, so you have 16 triangles of dough.
Divide the triangles between the prepared baking sheets. Brush with the buttermilk and then sprinkle with the additional sugar.
Bake until scones are golden, about 13 to 15 minutes. Enjoy warm or at room temperature with lemon curd, if desired.
I’ve been wanting to make this week’s recipe for a few years now, ever since I spent a year making breads. Somehow these crackers never made the cut, but I’ve saved the link to the recipe for a time when I had the chance to make them.
Of course, I’ve had opportunities but when you like to make food as much as I do, the list of things you wish to make — while still making time for old favorites — is quite long.
But, still, these are everything bagel crackers. Everything bagels were my first and favorite bagel love.
Everything bagel crackers ingredients. If you dare to make them.
If I’m only getting a single bagel, it will be an everything bagel (with a plain shmear, if you’re wondering). If I’m getting a dozen, a quarter to half of them will be everything. Almost all of the remainder will be one of the toppings from an everything bagel — poppy seed, sesame seed, garlic, maybe onion. I might make an addition of an asiago.
Point is, it’s a little weird I haven’t made these crackers yet.
So, even though I didn’t have a lot of time this week, I love to make bread and I thought this was the perfect week to finally whip together this treat.
It didn’t go well from the start, which should have been a sign.
Most of it was my fault. I had to go get some ingredients so I got off to a late start; it went more slowly than I had anticipated; I misread the directions slightly so I got even more flustered; and it made more of a mess in our already messy kitchen than I had hoped.
But not all hope was lost. After all, these were topped with “everything.” It’d all work out.
And initial signs indicated it’d be OK. The first few that crisped at the edges got taken out a little early while the rest baked, and after slight cooling, they tasted pretty good.
Then, when I was putting them away, my spirits got totally crushed and I’ve vowed to get revenge on this recipe if it’s the last thing I do (OK, not really, I’m just feeling dramatic.).
The parchment paper lining, I thought, made for an easy way to wiggle the crackers into a Ziploc bag for safe storage.
But when I poured, all of the topping mix just came right off the crackers and sunk to the bottom of the bag.
The only thing that made them good sat in a layer so so so far away from the crackers. I could have saved the effort of brushing the crackers with oil and carefully sprinkling on the topping mix, and instead just dumped them on some plain wheat crackers.
A second batch was placed more carefully but it only salvaged a couple of poppy seeds. Plus, who wants to make crackers that have to stay right-side up for their toppings to stay on?
Ugh.
As for the crackers, they were merely OK. The salt stayed on, which meh. Mostly, I made it work by pouring the topping mix onto hummus and then scooping up everything hummus onto plain wheat crackers.
If you’re still brave enough to make this recipe after my rant, and not dissuaded, I do have two thoughts to make it work. First, mix the everything topping mixture *into* the cracker dough, or do most of it in the dough and sprinkle on some, and then *press* it into the dough with wax paper or more parchment paper. Second, just do it all on top, but *press* it into the dough.
Me, I’m just going to hit up an Einstein’s or make the mix and put it on something else.
They look pretty good, sure. But if you turn them upside down, that topping just slides right off.
Here’s what I did, mostly following a recipe from The Chew:
Ingredients
For the crackers
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. whole wheat flour
2 t. sugar
1 t. salt
1 ¼ c. water
5 ½ T. olive oil (plus more for brushing if you put the topping mix on top)
For the topping mix
2 t. dried minced onion, or onion flakes
2 t. dried minced garlic, or garlic flakes
2 t. poppy seeds
2 t. sesame seeds
2 t. Kosher salt
1 t. caraway seeds (optional)
1 t. fennel seeds (optional)
1 t. black sesame seeds (optional)
Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Line two large rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together the flours, sugar and salt. Stir in the oil and water. Mix together until well incorporated. (Add the topping mix here, if desired.) Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead to combine completely, without overworking the dough.
Divide the dough into three discs and cover two with plastic.
Roll one disc at a time to ⅛ inch thickness, and then cut into 2” pieces. (The recipe says to cut into triangles but TBH, I couldn’t figure out how to make discs make triangles of that size without a lot of effort. I thought at first cutting like a pizza but they were too big.)
Transfer the pieces to the parchment paper-lined sheet pan. (Here’s where I misread. The recipe has you do this in batches so you do one disc, bake, then the next disc. I missed that, but I’d rather get it done quicker by fitting it all on 2 sheet pans and baking at the same time.)
Repeat with the next two discs.
Just before baking, brush the triangles (or whatever) with oil and top with topping mix. PRESS into the dough.
One of the best cookbooks I got when I was first learning to cook was a collection of recipes from the sides of boxes, cans, etc. It wasn’t fancy, but that’s sort of the point of those types of recipes. Sure, it’s product-related, but it also is usually a quick, easy way of putting together something edible.
Aside from the best vanilla cream pie recipe (from Argo and Kingsford’s corn starch packaging), one of my favorite recipes from the book is a sausage and vegetable mix wrapped in puff pastry. And I knew from when I started this blog that it would be one of the recipes for my sheet pan year.
Sausage puff pastry ingredients.
There was just one problem. I couldn’t find it anywhere in the cookbook.
I scoured all relevant sections, and nothing.
I started to think it was one of those invented memories, like “Shazaam.”
So, I did what any totally normal and sane person would do; I went through the g-d damn book page by pain-staking page to find it. And buried near the end of the sandwich section of all flippin’ places, I found the recipe I remembered from before.
While I might like to complain about the delay, it actually worked out pretty well because we had a nice hot Italian sausage from the farmer’s market from Lucky George Farm that worked perfectly with the recipe. And if I’d made it sooner, I wouldn’t have used this excellent meat.
It was every bit as good — OK, a little better, because did I mention the awesome sausage?! — as I remembered, even if I forgot one ingredient (oops!).
So yummy and it looks pretty to boot.
Here’s what I did, with said forgotten ingredient included as optional:
Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry (Pepperidge Farm, if you wanted to know which box this originated from)
1 lb. ground sausage
1 small to medium onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped (optional)
1 ½ c. shredded Swiss cheese
3 T. parsley, chopped
Flour, for rolling out pastry dough
Directions
Thaw the puff pastry at least 20 minutes, and up to overnight.
Heat the oven to 425 degrees, and line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.
In a large skillet, cook the sausage until browned (about 10 minutes), and then add the pepper and onion and cook until the vegetables are tender (another 5 minutes or so).
Remove from heat (pour out fat if there’s a lot but my meat was as lean as you’d want sausage), and add the tomato, if using, cheese, and parsley. Set aside.
Meanwhile, unfold and roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface until it reaches approximately 14 inches by 10 inches. Transfer the puff pastry to the lined sheet pan (I do this by rolling up the dough around my rolling pin and then unspooling).
Spread the sausage mixture along the 14 inch side, near the edge. Roll up along the long side, like you’re making a jelly roll (this is what the ingredients in the book say too!).
Pinch the dough together to seal and then curve into an oval or horseshoe shape. Cut the dough about halfway through every 1 ½ inches.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the puff pastry is golden, and enjoy!
I had family in town this weekend, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone by making a killer rhubarb pie to impress my mom and stepdad and also something that’d fit for my year of sheet pans.
Luckily, I came across a rhubarb crostata (if you didn’t know, and I didn’t, it’s basically a free-form pie) recipe from Food and Wine a few weeks ago and ripped out the recipe to make it for their impending visit.
Rhubarb crostata (pie) ingredients.
It was the perfect time for a lot of reasons, but mostly because my stepdad loves rhubarb and, frankly, so do the rest of us.
While he’s been the most vocal, I learned from Mom this past weekend that she grew up eating the stalks (home-grown) like they were celery and dipping them into a bowl of sugar. And my stepdad loves another rhubarb pie recipe that my sweetie’s mom made him growing up. And, well, I’m not in the habit of making things I won’t enjoy myself as well.
But another reason it was great is because it was so easy.
Sure, like any pie, it took time, but it was small, bite-size bits of active time followed by plenty of down time to do things like go buy the wine or finally eat lunch after a day of cleaning. It was perfect for being impressive and fitting my schedule.
Oh, and it was amazing.
It probably won’t replace the rhubarb custard that was my sweetie’s childhood recipe, but it is quicker and comes with a creamy topping that makes it a reasonable substitute when we’re in a pinch.
So full of filling and flavor. Yummy.
Here’s what I did, sticking close to the recipe:
Ingredients
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. and 2 T. granulated sugar, divided
1 t. salt, divided
1 ½ sticks butter
¼-½ c. ice water
2 T. cornstarch
2 lbs. fresh or frozen rhubarb, thawed, cut into ½-inch pieces, divided
1 T. lemon juice
¼ c. chopped candied ginger, chopped (I did a heaping cup because we like ginger too)
Zest from one orange
1 egg, mixed with 1 T. water
2 t. demerara sugar
1 (8 oz.) container mascarpone
2 T. heavy cream
3 T. powdered sugar
Directions
Make the crust: Combine flour, 2 T. granulated sugar, and ¾ t. salt in a medium bowl. Cut butter into chunks and add into the flour mix using a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingers, until pea-size chunks form. Slowly add the ice water and stir until the mixture starts to come together. Pat into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and let chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Make the filling: Stir together the remaining 1 c. granulated sugar, the remaining salt, and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Add in 2 c. of the rhubarb and the lemon juice, and cook over medium heat stirring frequently. Cook until the mixture has thickened and the rhubarb has broken down (it’ll look like a lumpy jam). The recipe says this takes about 12 minutes; I didn’t time it exactly but it felt like nothing was happening and then it was totally thick, so keep a good eye on it.
Meanwhile, place the remainder of the rhubarb into a large bowl. When the cooked rhubarb mixture is done, pour it over the raw rhubarb. Add the chopped ginger and orange zest, and stir until well combined.
Put together the pie: Unwrap the dough, and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to 13-14 inches. Transfer to a parchment-paper lined rimmed sheet pan, and cut into a 12-inch round, discarding scraps. Spoon the rhubarb mixture onto the dough, trying to leave about 2 ½ inches around the border; I did less and it was a really full but it worked. Pleat the edges as necessary and press down to secure.
Finish the pie: Brush the dough with the egg wash and then sprinkle with the demerara sugar.
Refrigerate, uncovered, for about 1 hour until the dough is firm. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 425 degrees.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. The recipe says to cool completely before serving but we liked it better the second day where we re-warmed it, so I’d say cool for an hour or 2 and then enjoy with whipped mascarpone!
Whip mascarpone for serving on top: While the pie cooks, or before serving, mix together the mascarpone cheese, the powdered sugar, and heavy cream. Use a hand blender or a whisk to blend for 1 to 2 minutes until fluffy. Serve on top of the warm pie and enjoy!
My friend David loves meatloaf, so I knew as soon as I saw a sheet pan meatloaf recipe that I would be making it this year and sharing with him on one of our regular gaming days.
This past week seemed as good a time as any, as we were in the midst of an epic battle that required comfort food. Plus, I like meatloaf too.
Sheet pan meatloaf ingredients.
The recipe technically comes from a random blog I came across — Strawberry Blondie Kitchen — but I just made my regular meatloaf recipe and divided it as she suggests and also paired it with the recommended potatoes and green beans.
So, like a lot of sheet pan recipes, particularly the dinners, this recipe can be adapted to preferences. I’m sharing my meatloaf recipe but if you have a favorite, feel free to make it to your tastes. Don’t like potatoes or green beans? Feel free to alter with something else.
It’s been fun to have these recipes be so adaptable, and that was especially the case this week.
As the recipe calls for dividing the meatloaf into 8 patties, it was easy enough to make it to particular tastes. One friend hates onions, so I separated one pattie before adding the grated onions. One friend didn’t want spice — I used Sriracha in place of ketchup — so his pattie just had cheese.
With little effort, I could make everyone happy and share my yummy meatloaf recipe.
*drool* meatloaf *drool*
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef
1 c. milk
1 c. whole wheat bread crumbs
1 medium onion, diced or grated
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. oregano
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. ground mustard
1 t. dried parsley
1 large egg
Sriracha, to taste (or ketchup)
8 slices of sharp cheddar
Salt and pepper, to taste
Oil for coating
Olive oil for drizzling
12 to 16 oz. potatoes, cut into quarters or eighths depending on size
8 oz. green beans, trimmed
Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly coat with oil.
In a large bowl, mix together the beef, milk, bread crumbs, onion, Worcestershire sauce, spices and herbs, and egg. I just use my hands to mash it all together, which also helps determine if more bread crumbs might be necessary.
Divide the meat mixture into 8 even amounts and then shape into patties. Place on one half of the baking sheet, and squirt on a bit of Sriracha and then top with the cheese slices.
On the other end, place the potatoes and green beans, and drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.
Bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes until the meatloaves are fully cooked and enjoy!
This week’s recipe comes courtesy of my cousin’s husband’s family, whatever that relation is called. It melds the flavors of sweet and spicy, a combination I would have been skeptical of and probably never tried if my cousin hadn’t brought it to a recent family gathering.
But I loved the bourbon pecan recipe so much I asked her to pass it along.
Bourbon pecan ingredients; yes, I buy cheap whiskey.
As I made the recipe for the first time this week, it got me thinking about perfect pairings.
One of the more joyous things about growing up is seeing the people you love find their love. Maybe it’s just me, but it’s been wonderful to see the family grow to include these new people into our lives, and marvel as they put up with all of us, especially when we get together.
This is true throughout my immediate family, where my mom, dad, and oldest brother, found partners that complement them so well, and fit them to a T. But it’s also been true for much of my extended family, as well.
And, of course, it’s the case with my cousin Stephanie who shared this recipe and who married her sweetie 10 years ago this summer, just weeks before I met my own sweetie.
Since around that time, the Crippes clan has been trying to have regular get-togethers. At each, our family of foodies has shared our favorite recipes to try to impress one another.
Stephanie is overly kind in praising my contributions (her mom, Sue, however, deservedly gets credit), so she was especially pleased at how much I enjoyed this bourbon pecan recipe.
For my part, I’m just delighted that when she tried it, she thought of us and decided to share. Candied pecans coated in a cayenne spice mix might at first blush seem like they’re going to clash, but trust me, it’s a match made in heaven.
Soooooo good.
Here’s what we did:
Ingredients
3 oz. bourbon (2 shots, or 1/4 cup+2 tbsp.)
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. Angostura bitters
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 T. vegetable oil
1 lb. pecans (4 cups)
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground pepper
1 tsp. ground cumin
Directions
Heat oven to 325 degrees.
Simmer the bourbon to reduce it by half (3 T.). It happens relatively quickly so I kept a heat-proof measuring cup by the pot to keep checking it didn’t boil down too much.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, bitters, Worcestershire, and oil. Add the warm bourbon. Stir until sugar is nearly dissolved; the nuts will take care of the rest of dissolving if you’re not sure.
Separately, in a large pot, blanch the pecans for 1 minute in boiling water and drain. Add to bourbon mixture and toss, and then let it stand for 10 minutes.
Then, spread the candied nuts on a large rimmed sheet pan, pouring the remaining marinade over them. Bake for 30 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes.
When the nuts are crisp and lightly browned and the liquid has evaporated, turn nuts into a clean bowl.
In a small bowl, combine the cayenne, salt, pepper, and cumin and mix well. Sprinkle the spice mixture over the nuts while tossing them.
Turn out onto a clean non stick or foil lined cookie sheet to cool. When cool and dry, store in an airtight container, and enjoy!
