 Did you know that you can make meat loaf in a crock pot? If you did - you're one step ahead of me. I didn't even know crock pot meatloaf was even possible. Crock pot meatloaf - this opens up so many meatloaf opportunities for my meatloaf lovin girl. Slow Cooker Meatloaf 1 1/2 lb Ground Beef or Ground Turkey 2 Eggs 3/4 cup Milk 2/3 cup Bread Crumbs 1 tsp Salt 1/2 onions, minced 1/2 tsp Sage 1/4 cup Ketchup 2 tbsp Brown Sugar 1 tsp Mustard 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce 1 1/2 lb Potatoes
Shape into a loaf and place in the bottom of a slow cooker.  Place potatoes around meatloaf. If you can get your family to eat cooked carrots - add a few of those too. (Then tell me how in the world you get your family to eat them.) :) Cook on low for 5 hours.  Stir together ketchup, brown sugar, mustard and Worcestershire. Spread over meatloaf and cook on high for an additional 30 minutes.
Slice and serve.  Ooooo - the meatloaf possibilities are endless now. I just discovered my new favorite way to prepare my girls favorite meal. I hope that you give it a try.
Ciao!
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 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY What kind of delicious sweet does a girl who bakes cakes and cupcakes for a living - bake for to her sweet Valentines? My family has to navigate through a sea of cupcakes in the kitchen on a daily basis and to be honest, i think that are about as tired of cupcakes as I am. I really don't think they want to see another cupcakes on the counter for Valentine's Day so I had to come up with another sweet treat for my Valentines. I decided to go back to my Northern roots and make a batch of cannolis for Valentine's Day. (Not sure why I don't see many cannolis in Georgia but they seem to be a rare find in this state.) Taking on homemade cannolis - in a addition to the big meal that I wanted to fix for my family seemed like too much to tackle in one day so I decided to cheat - just a little. 
Cannoli filling has just a few simple ingredients but getting it just "right" can be tricky. I figured out a couple of tips to getting creamy and delicious cannoli filling and I'll share them with you today - consider it my Valentines Day gift to all of you.  Chocolate Dipped Cannoli 12 mini cannoli shells 1/4 melted dark chocolate 15 ounces ricotta cheese 4 ounces marsarpone cheese 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips Dip the ends of cannoli shells in dark chocolate. Allow to set.
Place cheesecloth lined strainer over a bowl and spoon ricotta into strainer. Put something heavy on the top to drain out excess moisture from ricotta. Let sit in refrigerator 1-8 hours.
Fill dipped cannoli shells with filling and chill.
Decorate the ends of the cannolis with chocolate chips.
 Cannolis were the perfect sweet treat for this bakers family. Ben and I LOVED them and Courtney is still deciding. Take my word for it - these are amazing. Now I can work on my cannoli shell skills.
Ciao! 
 Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken
Cook on low 7 hours. Add beans and cook another hour.  Serve with pan sauce.
And just in case you were wondering if this chicken was tender and moist... 
So the first game of the season was FREEZING! (Literally) And just in case you were curious - my daughters team won 2-0. Shivering through the game wasn't too bad because we got to come home to this warm and delicious dinner.  Ciao!
 There is nothing more frustrating than pulling a "quick" chicken recipe out of my recipe box at 5:00 when I'm ready to start dinner and finding out that it needs to marinate overnight. I can't tell you how many times that has happened to me. This quick honey lime chicken recipe is exactly as the name suggests - quick. There's no fussy marinade or long cooking time - it's just simple and quick and best of all - delicious. A side of broccoli, a few rolls and a green salad complete this yummy weeknight night meal - in under 30 minutes!!  Honey Lime Chicken 3 Tablespoons soy sauce 2 Tablespoons honey 2 Tablespoons hot water 2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice 1 Tablespoon oil 1 Tablespoon fresh grated ginger 2 garlic cloves, minced 6-8 chicken drumsticks 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Serve with pan sauce.   Monday night dinner never tasted so good. I think you will agree.
Ciao!  Who says you have to open a jar of spaghetti sauce in order to have a quick pasta dinner? This spiced up Cook's Illustrated pasta sauce recipe is ready in minutes and it's sooo much better than any sauce that I've ever tried from a jar. "Arrabbiatta" means angry in Italian. This simple, complex peasant style sauce stays true to is "angry" name. It's packed with heat and spice. The nice part is that you can either spice it up for your heat seeking family or spice it down for less adventurous spice eaters. My family is somewhere in the middle so I made a moderately spicy version this quick pasta sauce.
Pasta Arrabbittia 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes 1/4 cup pepperoncini (whole or chopped) 2 Tablespoons tomato paste 1 clove garlic, minced 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 1 teaspoon anchovy paste 1/2 teaspoon paprika salt and pepper 1/4 cup grated Peccorino Romano cheese Parmesan cheese (for sprinkling) 1 pound penne In saucepan, combine tomatoes, pepperoncini, tomato paste, garlic, red pepper, anchovy, paprika, salt and pepper. I left my pepperoncini whole so that I could remove them later. Simmer on low 8 minutes. 
Toss pasta with sauce.  Serve.
There you go blog friends - a homemade pasta sauce that ALMOST as easy as opening a jar of sauce from the supermarket. If you like a pasta sauce with a little 'kick" - you NEED to try this. You will not be disappointed.
Ciao! |
