Mini Muffin Meatloafs & Roasted Butternut Squash

I got the idea of this meal from a friend who got the recipe from another friend. If I ever get a copy of the original recipe, I'll make sure to post it. The original recipe calls for a box of stuffing mix, but I very rarely buy pre-packaged boxes of food. So I just cut up a loaf of crusty bread and toasted it in a dry skillet before mixing in with the meat.
-Amanda

Mini Muffin Meatloafs

1 lb of ground beef
bread cubes (the same volume as the meat, so visually it's about half meat and half bread.)
1 egg
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp oregano
about 1 cup of bar-b-q sauce
1/2 diced grilled onion
1 cup cheddar cheese

Cut a loaf of bread into small cubes and crumbs. In a dry skillet, toast the bread, drizzle a bit of olive oil and stir continuously. In a large bowl, mix the ground beef, egg, and toasted bread. Add seasonings and grilled onion. Fill muffin pan with meat. Press an indentation in each mini-meatloaf and add about 1 tbsp of bar-b-q sauce to each meatloaf. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes. Halfway through sprinkle cheddar cheese on top of each meatloaf. Yeilds about 8-9 mini meatloafs, serve 2 per person.

Roasted Butternut Squash (and Potatoes)

1/2 of a Butternut Squash, peeled and cubed
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp finely diced rosemary
1 minced garlic clove
3 tbsp olive oil

In a large bowl, coat squash and potatoes with olive oil. Add seasonings and salt and pepper. Spread in one layer on a cookie sheet. Preheat oven to 450º and roast for 45 minutes or until soft and starting to brown.

Banana Yogurt Dip

My twins helped me make this dip that the had for snack. They helped me mush the banana and stir all the ingredients together. After eating it with toast sticks they practically licked the bowl! For the full story visit Ditt and Dott.
-Amanda

Banana Yogurt Dip

1 ripe banana
2 tbsp peanut butter
3 tbsp yogurt
1/4 tsp vanilla
honey or cinnamon

Mush up ripe banana and stir all the ingredients together and serve with graham cracker, pretzels or toast sticks to dip

Fool-Proof Popovers

I woke up a little after 6 this morning and was watching the Food Network. Melissa D'Arabian has a new show called $10 Dollar Dinners. She made these popovers look so yummy and easy. I have never tried making a popover before so I was ecstatic when they popped and stayed popped! She said the biggest secret is to have room temperature ingredients.
-Amanda

Fool-Proof Popovers
(Link Here)

3 tablespoons melted butter, divided
2 eggs
1 cup milk, warmed for 30 seconds in the microwave (should be lukewarm to warm)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Using a pastry brush, coat 8 muffin cups with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter and put the tin in the oven for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the eggs in a blender until light yellow. Add the warmed milk and blend. Add the flour, salt and remaining melted butter, and blend until smooth. Pour the batter into the warmed muffin tin and return it to the oven to bake until golden, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve warm.

Butternut Squash & Sausage Pasta

I bought a beautiful butternut squash a couple of weeks ago and I've been eyeballing it just trying to decide on what I want to make with it. I love squash paired with breakfast sausage. I'm not sure why but the flavors go really well together, I think. I put this together in my head, not really sure how it would turn out, but I think with a bit of adjustments its a winner! Next time I'll either roast the squash in the oven before I add it to the sauce or dice it into smaller pieces. (By the way, this isn't a super quick recipe! The squash takes about 15-20 minutes to peel and dice, prepped ahead of time, the dish itself took about 40 minutes to cook.)
-Amanda

Butternut Squash & Sausage Pasta

1/2 lb pasta (I used bow-tie)
1 package of breakfast sausage (I used low-fat)
1/4 onion
3 cloves of garlic (frequent readers know I LOVE garlic)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp oregano (I would have used sage, but didn't have any)
1 cup milk + 2 tbsp cornstarch OR 1 cup of heavy cream
1 cup chicken broth
salt and pepper

Cut ends off of squash and peel the thick skin off. Cut lengthwise scoop out seeds, and discard them. Cut squash into small cubes.

In a large saute pan (that has a lid) saute onions and garlic in the olive oil. Cook until caramelized to really develop the onions flavor. Add breakfast sausage and break it up into little crumbles. When sausage is mostly cooked through, add squash. Season with salt, pepper and oregano. Stir the squash occasionally but let it brown a bit. Set water to boil for pasta and cook pasta at the same time as sauce. While squash is cooking mix milk, chicken broth and cornstarch. Pour over squash. Cover and let simmer on low until squash is fork tender. You may need to add more chicken broth if it gets to thick.

Spanish Style Chicken

Someone please help me come up with a better name for this dish! I was inspired from a Food Network show. She called her's Chicken Marengo, but when I looked up a real Chicken Marengo it is supposed to have crawfish in it. My dish doesn't have crawfish and neither did hers. Anyway, this was really tasty and my husband said the leftovers were better than the first night. I wouldn't know because he didn't share. This dish could possibly be made in a crock pot, but I'm not that great at creating crock pot dishes so, I'm not sure. I did turn the leftovers into a bit of a different dish by shredding the chicken and adding rice. Read on...
-Amanda

Spanish Style Chicken

1 chicken cut into pieces
1 cup flour
3 tbsp oil
1 can of tomato sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes
1/2 sliced onion
3-4 cloves of garlic smashed
1 bell pepper, sliced
2 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
14-20 green olives

Place flour in a pie plate and season with salt and pepper. Dust chicken pieces in the flour. Brown chicken in oil in a heavy bottom skillet (cast iron is great!) Remove chicken and set aside. Deglaze the pan with the white wine bringing up all the browned bits. Add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Add chili powder, worcestershire sauce and chicken stock.

In a roasting pan (or lasagna pan) place sliced onions, bell peppers, and smushed garlic cloves. Pour the tomato mixture over the onions, bell peppers and smushed garlic cloves. Nestle chicken into the sauce. Cover and roast at 350º for 50 minutes or until chicken breast reaches 170º with a thermometer. Add olives at the end. I served it with mashed potatoes and green beans, pouring some of the tomato gravy on the plate.

The next night, I added brown rice to absorb the gravy and I shredded the chicken removing the skin. My husband John said it was better this way than the first night. Probably because you got more of the "gravy" and the flavors melded even more. This is what it looked like:

Meatballs

I was going for a meatball with pene pasta and melted mozzerlla cheese bake. But I didn't have any pene and I didn't have any mozzerlla. But I did end up with some very delicious meatballs despite the fact that they were turkey. I used rigatoni, Parmesan and some jarred marinara, but the meatballs, they were the star of the show!
-Amanda

Italian Meatballs

1.5 lbs of ground turkey
1/3 of an onion
2 cloves of garlic
4 slices of bread
1 egg
2 tbsp italian seasoning
salt & pepper

If your ground turkey is frozen, defrost over night in the refridgerator. Or go very very slowly in the microwave. You do not want the edges to start to cook in the microwave or your meatballs will not turn out right. Place ground turkey in a large bowl. Grate 1/4 of an onion over the meat. Grate the garlic also. I use a microplane. Using a food processor pulse the bread into breadcrumbs. You can substitute Panko Breadcrumbs if you wish to buy premade ones. Add breadcrumbs to the bowl. Add egg and seasonings. Mix gently with your hands just until all the ingredients are incorporated.

Use a 1 tbsp cookie scoop to scoop out balls onto a greased cookie sheet. Spray meat balls with cooking spray. Set broiler to HIGH. Place cookie sheet under broiler about 4 inches away. Cook meatballs for about 7 minutes or until brown. Flip them all over and broil the other side. If you just want the meatballs and not in the pasta dish, but them in the middle of the oven farther away from the broiler and cook for longer until cooked through.

Put the meatballs in a baking dish with cooked pasta, cheese and marinara. Return to the oven and cook through for 25 minutes or until meatballs are cooked all the way and cheese is melted. I made enough meatballs and pasta to make two casseroles. I froze the second casserole, so it just needs to be reheated through.

Spaghetti Pie

I'm not sure where I learned this dish, but it is really easy to make and I hope it can become a family favorite. This is a method, the ingredients are up to your imagination! I made enough for two pie dishes because the leftovers are so great!
-Amanda
Spaghetti Pie

1 pound of spaghetti noodles
2 cups of mozzarella cheese
1 cup parmesan
10 eggs
1 cup milk
3/4 cup diced ham (or whatever veggies/meat you'd like)
marinara sauce served on the side to dip

Pre-heat oven to 350º. Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain well and place half of the noodles in a greased pie plate, the other half of the noodles in the second pie plate.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, milk, cheese (reserve 1 cup of mozzarella to top the dish with), salt & pepper and any ham or veggies you'd like (mushrooms, bell pepper, onion etc.)

Pour egg mixture evenly in both pie plates. Take a spoon and wiggle noodles around to evenly distribute egg mixture. Top with remaining mozzarella.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and eggs are set all the way through. Cut into pie pieces. Serve with marinara sauce on the side. Serves 12.