Quickie Expat Meatloaf and Biscuits

 

  I don't know about you, but I'm a big fan of having kids in the kitchen.  Sure, it creates a bigger mess, and maybe slows things down a bit, but cooking as a family is something that my husband and I make a serious effort to do.  I really believe that it builds confidence while teaching kids about what's in their food (which usually gets them to eat things they might not normally be inclined to try).

 

That said, there are moments when getting a kid to eat a vegetable is like pulling teeth from a snow leopard.  When veggie strikes come up, and this expat mama is craving some "American" style food like meatloaf, it makes it pretty darn easy to sneak in some vegetables. 

 

Now we have visited meatloaf before...there's "sneaky meatloaf" and also a couple of different ways to eat meatloaf when you have leftovers...but this recipe was made on the fly on a day when I had one egg in the house, some spinach, a couple of heels of bread, and some leftover pasta sauce.  I pureed the spinach in with the sauce, toasted and blitzed the bread in the blender, and mashed it all together with the egg in a large bowl.  After that, I baked it for about 40 minutes in a 350-degree oven, and voila, dinner!  The best part?  Kyle and Laela made Laela's favorite biscuits, and voila, we had ourselves a tastylicious American style dinner that took so little effort, Laela and her Daddy wound up playing "biscuit dough" for a half hour.  Fun times.

 

For this easy peasy meatloaf, you'll need:

• 1lb ground beef/meatloaf mix
• 2 heels of bread (toasted and then crumbled in food processor/blender)
• About 1 cup of pasta sauce
• 1 cup spinach (pureed)
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper to taste

 

Wednesday I'll be sharing a super easy cupcake recipe that Laela and I like to make when we're craving cupcakes, and don't feel like making a ton of effort!

Quickie Pepper Soup

Every now and then, I want to make a serving or two of soup without any hassle.  I don't feel like making a big batch and having to store it, or sometimes, I find myself with random leftovers, and see if I can whip up something quick and healthy for lunch, or dinner if I find myself in a subsidized single parenting situation.

Right before we moved, Kyle was away on a business trip.  I found myself in the odd situation of not having anything in the fridge (since we were cleaning the fridge out before our big move abroad).  I foraged through the fridge and came across some chopped peppers from a salad I'd had a day or two before and a frozen cup of pasta sauce, as well as a frozen cup of chicken broth in the freezer. It's amazing what you can come up with when you only have a few paltry leftovers in the fridge and you're sick to death of take-out!

This pepper soup is awesome and literally takes five minutes. 

Quickie Pepper Soup

You'll need:

• 1/2 cup pasta sauce
• 1/2 cup broth (chicken, veggie or beef will do)
• 1/2 red pepper (or a whole one, whatever you have in your fridge!- you can mix other flavored peppers in as well if you want)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Heat a medium saucepan to medium-high heat.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil (no more than 1tsp) into the pan.
• Roughly chop the pepper.  Toss it in the pan.
• Cook for 1 minute.
• Pour in the broth and pasta sauce.
• Heat the pan to high.  Bring the pan to a boil.
• Lower the heat to medium-high heat.
• Cook for 3 minutes. 
• Blend with a immersion blender or a blender until liquid.
• Serve!

**Since I was the only one eating this, I added a bit of hot sauce and sriracha!  Make it however spicy or mild you like!

Pizza Party!



 

I'm a little burnt out.  We're moving in a few weeks and even though most of the work is done, it's just draining.  What do we do when things are stressful?  We find ourselves some fun!

 

Laela's best friend, Bailey came over for a sleepover a few days ago.  We made all kinds of goodies- cookies, pancakes, and most importantly, PIZZA!  That morning, I had discovered something called "Fleischmann's® Pizza Crust Yeast" that claimed to make pizza crust in 15-minutes instead of having to wait for the dough to rise like with normal pizza crust.

 

The package didn't lie!  I made one batch of pizza dough with the girls, and we had 4 mini pizzas assembled and ready to be eaten in less than a half hour.  We had a lot of fun creating our own pizzas! 

 

The best part was that girls really enjoyed making their own dinner.  Laela and Bailey were so proud of their pizzas!  If you're the type to get nervous having tiny cooks in the kitchen, this is a really great way to have them learn about cooking without stressing you out- just put all of the toppings into bowls, help them mold their pizzas, and let them put on the toppings!               

 

30 Minutes or Less Pizza 

 

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

1-3/4 to 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 envelope Fleischmann's® Pizza Crust Yeast

1-1/2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup very warm water (120 to 130°F)

3 tablespoons oil 1Tb Italian seasonings or freshly chopped basil Toppings:

Pasta sauce

Other toppings as desired

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Combine 1 cup flour, herbs, undissolved yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add very warm water and oil; mix until well blended, about 1 minute. Gradually add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Dough should form a ball and will be slightly sticky (kind of like if paste and play dough had a baby). Knead ("fold, push, and turn" the dough, and repeat) on a floured surface, adding additional flour if necessary, until smooth and elastic, for about 4 minutes.  If the dough becomes too sticky, just add more flour and work it into the dough.
• If making 4 pizzas as we did, break the dough into 4 even sections.  Gently pat dough with floured hands to create a circle.  If you like thin crust, you can roll it a little less than 1/4 inch thick.  Don't go much thinner though, or it won't hold your toppings well.
• Grease the baking sheet/pizza pan/pizza stone.  I just sprayed our pizza stone with cooking spray.  *I highly suggest investing in a pizza stone.  They'll only run you about $15, and your pizza will taste a lot better.  It gives the pizza a really great crunch to the crust, whereas a baking sheet or pizza pan don't.
• If you like, spread some sauce on the crust. Top with desired toppings and sprinkle with cheese.
• Bake on lowest oven rack for 10 to 15 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and crust is browned.  If making thick crust pizza, add about 5 minutes to the bake time.
• Enjoy!

Quickie Chicken and Pasta

Kyle's been traveling a lot lately, so Laela and I haven't been eating the fanciest foods.  In addition to being a subsidized single parent,  I've been a little worn out from preparing to move.  To prevent us from living a life of take-out, I've been cooking a couple of chicken breasts in the crock pot, or tossing a few chicken breasts on a foil-lined baking sheet.  That way I have a bunch of protein ready to go, and can just add the chicken to some "quickie meals".

First, I'll share how I make the chicken.

Chicken in the Crock Pot:

You'll need:

• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 cup chicken broth  (or water with boullion)

Combine all ingredients in the crock pot.  Cook on low.  When the cooker is done, put the chicken in a container and refrigerate for various dishes throughout the week.

Chicken in the Oven:

You'll need:

• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• Salt and Pepper
• Cooking Spray

Instructions:

• Heat the oven to 350-degrees
• Cover a baking sheet with foil (this makes for less clean-up!)
• Spray the baking sheet with cooking spray.
• In a small bowl, combine the salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper.
• Sprinkle the spice mix on each side of the chicken breasts.
• Place the spiced chicken on the baking sheet.
• Lightly spray the chicken with cooking spray.
• Bake for about 6 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the chicken.
• Place in a container and refrigerate for various dishes throughout the week.

Quickie Chicken and Pasta
serves 2-3

You'll need:

• 1 large, cooked chicken breast
• Pasta
• 1 cup pasta sauce
• 2 cups frozen peas
• Basil (optional)
• Provolone cheese (optional)

Instructions:

• Cook pasta according to instructions.
• Place the pasta sauce and peas in a medium saucepan on medium-low heat.
• Chop or cut the chicken into cubes.
• Add the chicken to the pasta sauce and peas.
• After 2 minutes, add the pasta to the sauce, chicken and peas.
• Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until well heated and combined.
• Top with provolone cheese, or rip the provolone apart and gently mix it in with the pasta.
• Serve and enjoy!

Crock Pot Turkey Meatballs

Ugh.  Our laptop exploded.  Therefore, until we get a new laptop, there will be no pictures on CaraCakes.

Anyway, I promised some seriously awesome recipes this week, so let's get to it.

Who doesn't love meatballs?  Okay, vegetarians.  Vegetarian friends, try this with veggie crumble or ground tofu.  And double your seasonings. 

Crock Pot Meatballs

You'll need:

• 1lb ground turkey (I get the butcher to give me a mix of 85/95- otherwise it'll be too dry if you use all white turkey.)
• 2 cups pasta sauce
• 1/2 cup chicken/beef/veg stock
• 2 bulbs garlic, crushed
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup romano
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• Dash of salt and pepper
• 1tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:

• In a large bowl, combine your meat, egg, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, romano, parmesan, and breadcrumbs.  Squish all of the ingredients together with your hands.
• Form the meat mixture into balls (try to make them the same size).  If it feels to dry, add a bit of water to make it easier to mold.
• Turn the crock pot on low heat.
• Pour the pasta sauce and broth into the crock pot.
• Add the crushed garlic.  (you can add extra if you're a huge garlic lover.)
• Add the meatballs.
• This is a great meal to start in the morning, as it will be ready by dinner!
• Serve with pasta, on a roll, or on their own!

*This is another easy to freeze dinner.  You can freeze them with or without sauce.
*Tip- If you like crispy meatballs (we really do!) bake them for about ten minutes on a greased baking sheet at 400-degrees before you put them in the crock pot.

Enjoy!!

Fast Food My Way!

I have blood sugar issues.  I think it may be from years of working too many jobs at weird hours.  There have been times where I forgot to eat and didn't realize it until I was at a red light and was absolutely convinced that my car was going in reverse.  Yeah, my car was definitely not moving.  It was my blood sugar going into a code red.

When Kyle and I started dating, okay literally, the day we went on our first date, I gave him fair warning that I eat every three hours.  If I don't, there are different degrees of of my grumpiness.  Since then, he's actively tried to avoid the hungry, red eyed version of Cara that I become when I go too long without so much as a peanut.

I think the worst part is that my cravings are so acute that I won't just settle for whatever is being offered to me to eat, unless I'm on the verge of passing out.  Then, I'll happily scarf down your stale bag of smoked almonds that you found in the bottom of your gym bag.  Yum.  Sweaty tasting salty almonds.  Delish.

So why is this chic informing us of her blood sugar issues, you might ask?  Well, I encountered them big-time the day while I was stocking up on "supplies" to get us through the weekend.

Colleen, who has not known me a super long time (I think we're going on a month or so now?), gave me the look at the grocery store that indicated that I was slurring and not making any sense.  I said "what?" to which she replied, maybe we should get you a candy bar?

I grumpily trudged through the rest of our shopping, got us home safely, and started searching the pantry for something to eat.  We were about to order food when I went from amber (about to lose my mind with hunger) to straight up code red.

I decided that the delivery man would take too damn long, so I whipped up mussels cooked in my super easy pasta sauce with a cup of white wine, a tablespoon or two of butter, and a clove of garlic, finely sliced.

Hungry?  Want fast food?  Doesn't get much faster than this baby.

Super Speedy Mussels for the Ridiculously Hungry:

You'll need:

• 1 lb mussels
• 1 garlic clove
• Pasta sauce
• 2 Tb butter
• Pasta
• 1 cup white wine (any that's on hand will do)

Instructions:

• Put a pot of water, well salted, to boil.
• Add pasta.
• Cook to a little less than done.
• Cover the bottom of a large pan with water.  Bring to a boil.
• Add mussels to the pan.
• Lower your heat to medium heat.
• Add the garlic and white wine to the pan.
• Put on the lid.
• Check in 1-2 minutes.
• The mussels should open after less than five minutes.
• When the mussels are all open (if there are a few that don't open, just toss them), take the mussels out of the pan. 
• Set aside.
• Use all of the liquids used to cook the mussels to cook and add the butter and pasta sauce.
• Stir all of the ingredients together.
• Allow the sauce to reduce (get thicker) for a few minutes while stirring.
• Add the pasta and mussels to the pan.  Let the pasta soak up all of that delicious sauce.

Enjoy!

This took less than ten minutes.  Seriously.  Think about how long a delivery guy takes to get to your house, or how long it would take you to run out and get something that would make you feel like you'd been hit by a truck.

Let's redefine fast food.  Eat well.  Feel well.  Try it!