My Lime Green Kitchen

Sweet & Sour Meat Loaf
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1 c. dry bread crumbs
1 teaspoon salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
2 eggs
1 – 15 oz. can tomato sauce
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. cider vinegar
½ c. white sugar
2 tsp. prepared mustard
This is a great recipe for doubling and putting one in the freezer.  Also, the leftovers make fantastic meatloaf sandwiches.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, bread crumbs, salt, ground black pepper, eggs, and 1/2 of the can of tomato sauce. Mix together well and place into a 5×9 inch loaf pan.

Push the meatloaf down into the pan forming a well for the sauce around all the edges.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the remaining tomato sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, white sugar and mustard. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.

After meatloaf has cooked for 40 minutes, remove from oven and pour sauce over the top of the meatloaf.

Return to oven and bake at 350 degrees for 20 more minutes. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

It’s pretty much the same whether you’re making chicken broth, beef broth, seafood stock . . whatever. Today I’m making chicken broth.

Start with a chicken! That part was easy, huh? This one was smoked in a Cookshack Smoker, which I highly recommend. Eat what you want, then pick the meat off the bones. You can leave a little meat on the bones if you’d like. Normally, I’d remove all the skin too but the skin has so much wonderful smokey flavor, I’m leaving it for the broth. It will mean more fat but I can skim that off. Depending on how your chicken was cooked, your broth will have different flavors for different batches. When the chicken has been smoked, the broth is great for beans, gumbo, etc. I sometimes roast a chicken with rosemary and lemons. The broth made from that chicken is great for Chicken Piccata and other pasta dishes. If your chicken was cooked with a definite flavor, you will want to note that on your jar so that you know what you’re getting. I wouldn’t want to use smokey chicken broth in a mild flavored dish, nor would I want lemon rosemary flavored broth in my gumbo.

Put the bones in a crockpot and begin adding whatever you want to add. In this picture I’ve added quartered onions (actually, it’s just half an onion because I had it left over from something else and it’s enough).

Here I’ve added carrots, celery, parsley, red pepper flakes, black pepper and bay leaves. Add whatever you want to add!

Fill the crock pot with water.

Cook on low overnight.

Tomorrow I’ll share the next steps in getting it into the jars and processed.

If I were making beef broth, I would start with some kind of bones. When we get half a cow, they ask me if I want the soup bones. Most people do not want them. I always say YES! And sometimes, I get some that other people don’t want. The bones are basically free because if I don’t want them, they don’t take anything off the price! Don’t you love the way I think?

So, I’d start with bones. I’d brown those bones in a little oil first. Then I’d put the bones in the crockpot, ad some chopped garlic to the oil and pan drippings and barely brown the garlic. Then deglaze the pan in order to get all that flavor. Pour the liquid, which will contain the garlic, into the crockpot. Add onions, celery, etc. Cover with water and simmer all night.

About the fat – I’ll mention it here again. If I’m making a small batch, I’ll put the broth in the fridge so the fat will harden and then I’ll remove it. If I’m making a big batch, I find it easier just to keep the fat because the broth has to be hot when poured into the jars. I just can it all and then before using a jar, I can stick it in the fridge and remove the fat at that point.

What we do tomorrow will be the same .. chicken or beef.

This recipe is a lot of work, but it isn’t “hard”.  It’s best to do it over a couple of days.  I’m going to write this recipe just the way I did mine.

You’re going to need a large pot in which you can steam the tamales.  They need to be steamed while standing on their end.  I used this basket in a large canning pot.  You will need to be able to put a couple of inches (or more) of water in the pot, without the water touching the tamales.

For the tamales themselves, you will need:

Corn Husks
MaSeCa
Garlic Powder
Cumin Powder
Salt
Black Pepper
Red Pepper

For the meat mixture, you will need

Pork Roast or Butt (8 – 10 pounds, depending on the fat content.)  I used a butt.
Corn Oil
Salt
Black Pepper
Red Pepper
Garlic
Cumin Powder
Chili Powder
Paprika

For the meat, cut the roast into chunks about the size you would serve at a meal.  Put in a pot, cover with water and boil about 2 hours, until the meat is tender.  Keep plenty of water in the pot.  You will need about 2 quarts of broth/liquid to add to the tamales. Do not add salt or pepper or other seasonings.

You could also use the pressure cooker to cook the meat.

Once the meat is tender, remove from the broth.  Save the broth! Put the broth in a bowl or jar and refrigerate so the fat hardens and can be removed.

Shred the meat with your fingers and remove as much fat as possible.

Soak the corn husks in hot water for at least one hour before using them.

To the meat, add:

1/2 cup oil (vegetable or corn)
3 T. chili powder
3 T. cumin powder
3 T. garlic powder
1 T. black pepper
1 T. salt
1 T. paprika (we’re not big paprika fans. If you like it . . add more)
1 tsp. red pepper

Mix the meat/seasonings and oil and make sure it’s shredded as well as you can shred it. Set the meat aside and refrigerate it if it’s going to be a while before you use.

For the Masa mixture:

Start with a 4 pound bag of MaSeCa. Pour about half of it into a mixing bowl. I weighed out 2 pounds.

Into that, add:
1 T. paprika (add more if you like more)
3 T. salt
2 T. ground cumin
2 T. chili powder
2 T. garlic powder

Mix all seasonings into the Masa. Add 2 cups vegetable or corn oil. Mix well. At this point, you may want to taste to adjust the seasonings. It’s going to taste very “grainy” but you can get a feel for the seasonings.

Remove any grease that has hardened from the broth. Heat up the broth til it’s warm . . doesn’t need to be hot but just warm.

Start with 2 cups and add broth as needed to get the mixture to the consistency of a thick peanut butter. If you run out of broth, use warm water.  Do not use storebought brother that has salt added.  You’ve already added salt to the Masa and it will be way too salty if you add salted broth.  I’ve heard that a ball of the Masa mixture should float in ice water when it’s the right consistency but I forgot to check that.

If the Masa mixture is too runny, add more MaSeCa in small amounts til you get it right.  If it’s too dry, add more broth or warm water.

Lay a corn husk out on a flat surface with the skinny end pointing to the left. Spread the mixture from the edge closest to you, to about 1/2″ from the edge fartherest from you. Also, don’t spread the masa on 1/3 of the thin end.  The Masa mixture expands a little during the cooking.  If you like a whole lot of the cornmeal mixture in your tamales, make it thicker.  If you like less, make it thin.  I made mine about as thin as I could spread it.

Then lay a thin later of meat — about 1 or 1-1/2 tablespoons meat per tamale.  I found that if some of the husks were really big, I just tore off a little piece from one edge.  No need to have some really big ones and some really small ones.

Start with the edge closest to you and roll up.  Then fold the left end up.  Lay them into a steamer basket, with the seam side down.  Keep stacking them til the basket is full.

Place the basket in the pot with at least a couple of inches of water but don’t let the water touch the bottom of the tamales.  Bring to a boil, turn the heat down, cover the pot and steam gently for about an hour. Make sure the water doesn’t all boil out of the pot.  Add more water if necessary.

Remove one (or two!).  Let cool and taste to make sure the masa is done (not runny or grainy).  If done, remove from heat and let cool before wrapping for the freezer.

Easy . . no crust!  And, good . . real good!

Ingredients:

24 Ritz crackers
3 egg whites, beaten
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup pecans, chopped

Directions:

Crush the Ritz crackers.  I put the crackers in a zipper bag and crush them.

Combine cracker crumbs and egg whites.  Add sugar.

Stir in baking powder, vanilla and pecans.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes.  Chill.  If serving the whole pie at once, top with sweetened whipped cream.  If serving individual pieces (like a piece today and a piece tomorrow), top individual slices with sweetened whipped cream before serving.

For those of us who could live by bread alone, these definitely need to be added to the menu!  Instead of using frozen bread dough, I used homemade dough.  I don’t think it would have made much difference in the end result but I didn’t have frozen bread dough and it’s so easy to make it myself.

At first I was worried that all the cheese was going to fall out but it didn’t at all.

Ingredients:

1 loaf frozen bread dough, thawed
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. each dried basil and oregano
3/4 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg
1 T. water
4 T. grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12″ square.  Combine butter and seasonings.  Spread over dough.  Sprinkle with mozzarella.  Fold dough into thirds.  Cut crosswise into 24 strips, about 1/2″ wide each.  Twist each strip twice.  Pinch ends to seal.  Place 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, beat egg and water.  Brush over the twists.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bake at 375° for 10 – 12 minutes or until light golden bread.

Caponata
1/4 c. olive oil (or more)
1/2 cup black olives, pitted and chopped
2 – 3 medium eggplants
4 ribs celery, finely chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
2 large tomatoes, diced
Salt
Pepper
Peel and slice eggplant into 1/2″ slices.  OK . . I used 4 eggplants but we also ate some of it on sandwiches for lunch.

Salt heavily on both sides. Place in colander and allow salt to drain some of the liquid from the eggplant.

Rinse and pat very dry with paper towels.

Heat oil in large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add more olive oil as needed.  The eggplant really drinks it up.  Add eggplant and cook until golden brown.

Almost burnt is the best way for us.  It’s so good . . another reason I cooked 4 eggplant!   See that piece on the fork . . it never made it to the salad!  Yum!

See the olive oil that’s draining out of the eggplant?  Olive oil is good for you so don’t worry too much about it but I scoop that out and use it to saute the onions, celery and garlic.

Cook for 10 minutes or until soft, as soft as you want — we like ours a bit crunchy.

Stir onions, celery, garlic into eggplant.  Add chopped tomatoes, parsley, olive oil and as much vinegar as you like.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Refrigerate til ready to serve.

We serve this as a salad but we also make sandwiches with it.

Surprise anyone who thinks they don’t like carrots. Even Chad loves this dish!

Carrot Souffle

2 pounds carrots, chopped
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350° degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add carrots and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash. To the carrots add melted butter, white sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla extract and eggs. Mix well and transfer to a 2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Ingredients

1 cup yellow corn meal
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt (if using for cornbread dressing,  you may want to put only 1/2 teaspoon salt – the broth you use may be salty)
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons shortening

Directions

Preheat oven to 450°.  Heat 2 tablespoons shortening in an iron skillet.

Combine corn meal, flour and salt in a mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk, milk and egg.

Add egg mixture to flour mixture.  Stir just til combined.  Add baking powder and baking soda.  Stir in 1/4 cup melted shortening.

Mix well but do not overmix.

Pour into hot pan.

Bake at 450° for 20 – 25 minutes or until golden brown on top.

These are good!  I like things you can serve from the same pan they’re baked in.

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 – 18 oz. yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg

Filling:

1 – 30 oz. can pumpkin pie filling
1 – 5 0z. can evaporated milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Topping:

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, butter and egg until crumbly.  Set aside 2/3 cup for topping.  Press the remaining crumb mix into a greased  13 x 9″ baking dish.

For filling, combine pumpkin pie filling, milk and eggs.  Pour over crust.

For topping, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon and reserved crumb mixture.

Sprinkle over pumpkin layer.

Bake at 350° for 40 – 50 minutes or until top is golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour.  Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup

Thanks to Gina for sharing this recipe! It’s very tasty — robust as Chad would say!  We have this soup often and love it!

1 lb Italian sausage
1 T. Olive Oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
6 cups beef broth
2 cups diced Roma Tomatoes (may use canned)
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 medium Zucchini, sliced
1 bag (1lb) baby spinach
1 large Carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry red wine ( Gina suggests drinking the remainder of the bottle!)
2 tablespoons basil
2 tablespoon oregano
1 1/2 cups purchased fresh cheese tortellini
Parmesan cheese, freshly shaved or grated if preferred
salt and pepper to taste, check for salt first.

Remove casings from sausage. Sauté Italian sausage in heavy pot over medium-high heat until cooked through, breaking up, simmer about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer sausage to large bowl. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from the pan. Add Olive oil,  onion and garlic to pan and sauté until tender & aromatic, about 5 minutes.  Return sausage to pot. Add beef broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, zucchini, carrot, spinach, wine, basil and oregano. Simmer until vegetables are tender, 45 minutes. Add tortellini to soup and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Season soup with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese in individual bowls and garlic bread.