Monday and Tuesday Supper with Leftover Meatloaf

Sept 15 2013

Monday I used some of the meatloaf for a sandwich. I toasted a cheese roll and had a slice of the meatloaf, topped with some of the balsamic vinegar onions and some fresh mozzarella cheese. I melted the cheese under the broiler. That was a tasty sandwich!

Sept 16 2013

It was a busy day today, a trip to Walmart to get some mashed potatoes and new handle grips for the grandson’s bicycle. Then it was shave and shower then off to see my wife at lunch time. I then had a little nap, and put new sugar water out for my hummers, and back to see the wife at supper time.

I left at 5:00 and had time to set out back awhile before fixing supper. I have had 3 young hummers that are hanging on before they head south. The evening sun was good so I got my camera out and shot over 70 shots of the humming birds. I saved about 25 of those and will probably end up with 4 or 5 keepers. I will post as soon as I have time.

This is my third meal with the meatloaf. I nuked some Bob Evens mashed potatoes, boiled some thin sliced carrots in a little water until gone then added a couple pats of butter and sautéed, made some brown gravy with Pioneer brand brown gravy mix, toasted a cheese roll, heated up a slice of meatloaf and served it up.

It tasted great! It didn’t seem like I ate meatloaf 3 days in a row but had 3 tasty meals that were better than I could get at a restaurant, and two of the meals were quick and easy!

The daughter in law and grandson stopped in, she put his new handle grips on. Their dog and mine had a good time playing. They went home and I was tired so went to bed without doing the dishes. I miss my dishwasher; she never went to bed with dirty dishes setting around! She is doing well and will be back to walking normal soon! I won’t tell her I let the dishes set!

Midwest Meatloaf and Balsamic Onion Stack

Sept 14 2013

I have not posted much lately since my wife had both knees replaced and I am busy visiting her in rehab twice a day. She had the operation Monday Sept. 9^th. Thursday I took her to a local rest home for about two weeks of therapy. She is doing well and walks pretty good with a walker.

After eating out some and eating leftovers I was getting hungry for a good meal. I decided to make a meatloaf and I could eat leftovers several days.

I found a recipe for Midwest meatloaf that sounded good and I would have left overs for several days of eating.  I also found a recipe for balsamic onion stacks I adapted for a smoker and since they are done in a muffin pan I would have some sweet potato stacks too.  I have done regular sweet potatoes before but had some white yams to use this time. Since it would be just me I did one onion stack and two sweet potato stacks.

I did the meatloaf in the morning then went to visit the wife. I had a little over two hours to relax some before going back to see my wife before supper.

When I got home I had my first beer for the day AHH! I sliced the white sweet potatoes thin on a mandolin and coated them with some half and half cream. I layered some in the muffin pan topped with a slice of Swiss cheese some bacon bits and salt & pepper, then repeated the layer. I covered the muffin pan with foil and smoked at 300 deg. for 25 minutes then uncovered and grilled my onions and added the stack to the muffin pan and cooked about 15 minutes longer; added a slice of mozzarella to the onion stack and did 5 more minutes.

I turned the smoker down to smoke mode while I heated a couple slices of meatloaf and toasted a cheese roll and topped it with some gorgonzola garlic chive butter.

It all hit the spot, meatloaf was good, and the onion stack is to die for! The white sweet potatoes are a little more dry than the orange so next time I would add more half & half cream.

Printable Meatloaf Recipe

Printable Onion Stack Recipe

Meatloaf

Making the potato stacks

Ingredients for onion stacks

Grilling the onions

All in the smoker

Sliced stacks

My Supper

Traeger Panini Sandwich

Sept 07 2013

I thought about making Cuban pork for sandwiches earlier in the week but then thought I didn’t want a lot of leftovers. Monday my wife goes in for both knee replacements and will be in rehab for two weeks.

I am going to try to use up some leftovers from the freezer while she is gone.

I was still hungry for a Cuban sandwich and we had some leftover mac & cheese that would go good with it. I went to Krogers this am and got the stuff for some pressed sandwiches. I got focaccia bread, some sliced herb garlic chicken, black forest ham and some Swiss cheese. Not a true Cuban sandwich but close.

I had the perfect Panini press for use in my Traeger, grill grates and a 9 inch cast iron skillet. I made up some of Wing Commanders Dr. Burger sauce for mine and the wife just wanted regular mustard and a little mayo.

I cut the bread and some Dr. Burger sauce on mine, mustard and mayo on my wife’s, two slices of chicken, Swiss cheese, two slices of black forest ham and some dill pickle slices. The meat was doubled so like 4 slices of each.

I had the Traeger preheated to 300 deg. I spayed the bread with a little olive oil and on the grill grates topped with the skillet about 5 minutes per side.

Tasted great with the mac & cheese, I love the focaccia bread for sandwiches and the Dr. Burger sauce was delicious.

I am taking Mama out for a big brunch at Bob Evans tomorrow; she has to have a light supper and then nothing more before her operations.

Skillet Fried Chicken and Mac & Cheese

Sept 06 2013

Ever since I cleaned and re seasoned my Lodge 12 inch cast iron skillet I have wanted to fry chicken outdoors on my gas burner. I have had the gas burner a long time but never fried chicken on it.

I wanted to do a good meal for my wife since Monday she will be getting two new knees. We both love fried chicken so I would fix it for her. I just happened to see one of Tricia Yearwood’s shows and she did fried chicken and some Crockpot Mac & Cheese. I printed out her recipes and followed them.

I got my chicken cut up and in brine early this morning. It would be in the brine about 5 hours and then air dry in the fridge about two hours. After lunch I did some cornbread muffins on my Traeger that came out real nice. I used my favorite mix, Miracle Maize sweet style.

I got the mac & cheese mixed and in the Crockpot for a 3 ½ hour cook on low.

I got my skillet on the burner with a good ½ inch of vegetable oil and a couple pats of butter at 5:00 PM and figured on eating at 6:00. It was coming up to temp slow so I figured I had time to get all the chicken dredged in flour and ready to fry. When I went out the oil was too hot; just over 400 deg. When I finally got it cooled down to 380 deg. I put the chicken in. The recipe said 375 deg. and 15 minutes on a side.

I had partially covered it with the lid but ended up taking it off. The temp was a little harder to keep controlled than I had thought. I removed the chicken to a wire rack and drained while I served the wife and me. We had some sliced red beets for a side.

It tasted good, moist and crispy skin even though I had some a little burnt. I think I can do better the next time. The mac & cheese was good and easy enough I will be using her recipe again.

Muffins in the smoker

Cooling & my favorite mix

Ready to flour

Ready to fry

In the skillet

Mac & Cheese

Draining

My Supper

Poor Mans Surf and Turf

Sept 04 2012

My stomach is back to normal now so it’s time for some good food. I had to take my dog for a bath and haircut so I went shopping while he was getting groomed.

I went to Meijers grocery to get some Thai red curry paste for a future recipe. I looked for something good for supper and got two bacon and cheddar stuffed Angus beef burgers and two jumbo shrimp. The two burgers were 2 1/8 lbs.; more like a small meatloaf.  It was just over $5 for the two shrimp. I am calling this Poor Man’s Surf and Turf.

My supper is a no brainer; all the prep has been done. My side would be Bob Evans hash brown casserole, Meijers did the stuffed burgers and Mother Nature did the shrimp! The only prep I had to do was about an hour before cooking I seasoned the burgers with some Webers gourmet burger seasoning and a little olive oil and chili lime seasoning on the shrimp. I made a small salad; lately I have been sprinkling some dried garlic flakes over my salad and dressing, it gives you garlic taste with a little crunch. I melted some garlic butter to dip the shrimp in.

I did the burgers on my Traeger at 300 deg. on the back of grill grates. I turned them after 15 minutes.

In 10 more minutes the burgers were at 140 deg. IT so in another 5 minutes I put the shrimp on. They took a little longer than I thought and to finish I had to turn them on their edge. I should have started them when the burgers were 140 deg. IT since I thought they were slightly overdone. I think Meijers used too lean of ground beef mix too.

It all tasted great to me, some real food! I think all the cheese stayed in the burger and the large shrimp was about like eating lobster!

Stuffed burger

My supper

Thin cut Chicken Breasts with veggies and rice

Sept 03 2013

For tonight’s supper I was still trying to stay with something mild and light, since I just got over the stomach flu. I was getting pretty tired of not eating much or very bland unseasoned food.

I had a bag of frozen garden veggies with edamame and asparagus. I thought some chicken breasts and rice would be good too. I found some nice thin cut boneless skinless breasts and bought a box of Zatarains yellow rice.

I seasoned the breasts with some Stubbs pork seasoning; it is chili lime base so good for chicken too, covered with saran wrap and in the fridge a few hours before cooking.

I started up my Traeger to heat to 325 deg. and got the rice cooking in the rice cooker. After the rice was on for 20 minutes I added the veggies to the steamer basket then I got the breasts on my smoker using the back of grill grates. Ten minutes on a side would be good for the breasts and the rice cooker would be in warm hold by then. I checked the temp of the breasts and they were done so took them inside and covered with foil while I plated up and warmed up some leftover cheese garlic biscuits.

When I plated my wife’s dish I thought that sure would look and be better with some sauce. I got out some Mae Poy’s Korean sweet chili sauce and poured some over mine. That sure tasted good to me, the chili sauce is sweet and some heat. I could have used more but I didn’t want to push it. The breasts were a tad on the dry side but good. I had thought I didn’t need to brine with a short cook time but next time I will.

Veggies and rice

Ready for the smoker

Chickens done

My Plate

Hummers are Headed South

Aug 30 2013

In about 20 years photographing humming birds I finally got some decent photos of two doing a little aerial combat. Usually the battles are so quick and the two are gone before I can ever get a shot. These two today seemed to not be that aggressive and they were staying close to the one feeder. I sat in a chair about 10 feet away and shot 80 photos.

The hardest part is getting the birds in focus; the birds are too small for me and the camera to get a good focus on the birds. I have to focus on the feeder and hope the birds will be in focus. After looking at the photos I could see the reason they were not that aggressive is it was two young birds and on the one I could see it was a young male just starting to get his red throat. They were probably born around here and not transients.

This time of year they are starting their migration south. I think my place is marked on their built in maps as a place to stop and tank up a day or two. For the past two weeks I have seen them a lot every day. Here are four of the better shots I took.