Meatloaf Burgers

Tonight’s dinner!

 I didn’t feel like fussing so these burgers hit the spot.

Meatloaf burgers, topped with Swiss cheese, lettuce and Mayo on an artisan crusty roll.

Watermelon pieces as our side dish.

I lb. ground beef or meatloaf mix

1 tsp. Salt 

Pinch pepper 

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs 

1egg slightly beaten

I small onion grated 

I tsp.Worcestershire sauce

1/3 cup ketchup 

4 slices Swiss cheese

Grate onion over ground beef, add breadcrumbs, half of the ketchup, egg, Worcestershire sauce. Salt and pinch of pepper.

Using you hands mix well.

Divide mixture into 4 equal balls and shape each into a patty.

Arrange on baking sheet and broil until the tops of patties firm up.    About 3 to 4 minutes. Flip patties and broil for another 2 or 3 minutes.

 

Brush each patty with remaining ketchup and top with cheese Continue to broil another 30 seconds or until cheese melts.

Enjoy!

Extra creamy macaroni and cheese

Note:  the creamy macaroni and cheese is 

           On top of picture.

I was determined to get my recipe for macaroni and cheese to be creamier and the below recipe is as close to perfect as you can get.

My family raved over it saying it was the tastiest, creamiest and delicious macaroni and cheese I ever made.  

Can’t totally say where I found it but it might have been Food  network.

I followed the recipe pretty much but where the cheese was added I added out favorites...***

I did make a few substitutions which we loved! 

▢ 1 lb. dried elbow pasta

▢ 1/2 cup unsalted butter

▢ 1/2 cup all purpose flour

▢ 1 1/2 cups whole milk

▢ 2 1/2 cups half and half

▢ 4 cups grated medium sharp cheddar cheese(***I used yellow sharp American cheese) divided (measured after grating)

▢ 2 cups grated Gruyere cheese divided*** ( I used white American cheese)(measured after grating)

▢ 1/2 Tbsp. salt

▢ 1/2 tsp. black pepper

▢ 1/4 tsp. paprika

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease a 3 qt baking dish (9x13").  Set aside.Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  When boiling, add dried pasta and cook 1 minute less than the package directs for al dente.  Drain and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil to keep from sticking.

While water is coming up to a boil, grate cheeses and toss together to mix, then divide into three piles.  Approximately 3 cups for the sauce, 1 1/2 cups for the inner layer, and 1 1/2 cups for the topping.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over MED heat.  Sprinkle in flour and whisk to combine.  Mixture will look like very wet sand.  Cook for approximately 1 minute, whisking often.  Slowly pour in about 2 cups or so of the milk/half and half, while whisking constantly, until smooth.  Slowly pour in the remaining milk/half and half, while whisking constantly, until combined and smooth.
Continue to heat over MED heat, whisking very often, until thickened to a very thick consistency.  It should almost be the consistency of a semi thinned out condensed soup.  
Remove from the heat and stir in spices and 1 1/2 cups of the cheeses, stirring to melt and combine.  Stir in another 1 1/2 cups of cheese, and stir until completely melted and smooth.
In a large mixing bowl, combine drained pasta with cheese sauce, stirring to combine fully.  Pour half of the pasta mixture into the prepared baking dish.  Top with 1 1/2 cups of grated cheeses, then top that with the remaining pasta mixture.
Sprinkle the top with the last 1 1/2 cups of cheese and bake for 15 minutes, until cheesy is bubbly and lightly golden brown.  
Enjoy!

Pineapple Ricotta Squares

 If you didn't catch this recipe earlier, here it is again!




My mother- in- law made these delicious baked pineapple, ricotta squares during the holidays and we all loved them.  It was something I really looked forward to when we would visit.  I never had the courage to make them myself because she said the dough was very hard to handle and I never felt very confident in making anything difficult.  Since I ventured into blogging my goal has always been to share family recipes so I decided to make this my end of the year challenge.  I gathered all that I needed this past week and tonight after my granddaughter left to go home, here I am making this supposedly difficult recipe late tonight. This is my mother in laws shared recipe and it has cooled and hubby and I tasted it..Yummy!  Light cake,  light  crust,, sweetened pineapple and a light custard like ricotta topping. This is not a rich dessert!  You can certainly eat more than one piece..I can attest to that!!!

 Happy Baking and Cooking!

This recipe has been copied from my mother-in-laws own writing.  The only difficulty I had was that my dough was very soft so I had to piece it to conform to the cookie sheet. Other than that it really turned out fine and the crust was tender.  Note:  Just allow yourself time to make this recipe and you will have a great dessert that will be loved by anyone who has a piece of it....It is truly yummy!




 Pineapple Filling

2 cups crushed pineapple juice included #2 cans

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Cook for a few minutes until thickened

Set aside to cool.

Step 2

Prepare Crust

2 ½ cups flour

2 ½ tsp. baking powder

pinch salt

½ cup soft shortening (spry, butter or margarine)

¼ cup sugar

2 eggs

½ cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix above.. Let stand for a few minutes

Roll out thin

I had to add about 1/2 cup additional flour.(Dough was very sticky) Place in greased cookie sheet (2 inches or higher) 15 ½ by 10 ½   Note:  My cookie sheet was larger than the suggested size so my squares did not bake as high as hers..I would have preferred to use my smaller cookie sheet..Will definitely use smaller cookie sheet next time..

Step 3

Ricotta Filling

In a mixing bowl put 1 ½ lb. ricotta and 4 beaten egg yolks(save whites)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup evaporated milk (carnation)

Mix well then fold in 4 egg whites that have been stiffly beaten..

Spread pineapple filling on bottom of unbaked crust, then ricotta filling on top and bake 350 degrees for 1 hour.. Refrigerate after it is cooled. Note:  Mine was baked after 55 minutes..oven temperatures vary.


From my kitchen to yours,

12/19/11

Volcano Pork meatballs

 Another simple recipe created when you have ground pork and do what seems easy.  Stuffing the inside with a cube of mozzarella makes it better than ever.

1 lb. fresh ground pork 

1egg beaten well

1/2 cup grated fresh Romano cheese

1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs 

1tsp. Dried Parsley 

1/2 tsp.  Pensey Garlic granules ( that’s what it says on label)

 3/4 cup Mozzarella cheese cut in cubes

Moisten hands with cold water and mix above ingredients together.

I made these meatballs LARGE so I could push in the center of the meat with a cube of mozzarella and roll until smooth.

Place meatballs on a well sprayed with cooking spray cookie sheet.  Bake approximately 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

Place baked meatballs in your favorite red sauce and cook about 1/2 hour.

When you cut them the mozzarella oozes out.  Yummy!

We had them with homemade rolls.

Pineapple Coconut Brulee Bread Pudding

Broil to get the crispy brown/golden top. Be careful Broil on low a few minutes as in 2....

I don't know if it's winter and being in the house a little more makes me want to bake but ever since I had a  taste or two of this dessert at a restaurant when we were away, I was determined to make one similar.

I checked out the web and found a few recipes that seemed to be on the right track so combining a little from this and a little from that I developed this recipe to share with you.


Hubby and I really like to have a dessert after a meal. Well hubby does and I like to taste it at least by a spoonful or two but this one I had to practically plead (kidding) with him for a few more spoonfuls.

It was made in a ramekin so there was not a whole lot so needless to say I had just enough to crave it from the moment we left the restaurant.

Here's my recipe.  I made it in a bread pan because quite honestly there are only two of us and if I had made more I could not stop eating it and that is NOT a good thing!

1/8/18

4 cups of broken in pieces french bread. It was not super soft
4 T melted butter
1/2  cup coconut
1-8 oz. drained crushed pineapple
4 eggs beaten
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla (madagascar)extract

2 T Turbinado sugar for topping

Butter generously the bread pan.  In a large bowl place bread pieces,melted butter, drained pineapple and coconut. Toss together. I used my hands

In another large bowl place eggs,sugar, vanilla and heavy cream. Whisk until blended. I did it several times.

Place bread mix into buttered bread pan. Slowly pour cream mixture over bread. With a spoon push gently down on bread so as all bread it pretty much covered with the cream mixture.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow to set on counter for 30 minutes or refrigerate overnight.

Heat oven to 325 degrees

Remove cover and place bread pan in a water bath(a pan larger than your bread pan) filled with warm water.  

 Bake for "approximately" 50 minutes or until the center jiggles slightly. Remove from oven . Sprinkle with Turbinado sugar and broil on low for 2 to 4 minutes..WATCH CAREFULLY SO AS NOT TO BROWN TOO MUCH.  

Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes. It needs to set slightly and enjoy. It's awesome...YUMMY!

I had to try it while quite warm so allow it to set for more than ten minutes if you an WAIT...lol

Note: You can certainly make this recipe using whole milk, half and half or a mixture of the two. I used all heavy cream because I wanted a real custard type cream mixture entwined with the bread.

3/24/19 original