Meatloaf for two

I buy my hamburger at BJ's Wholesale by the tube.  This way I can come home, slice the tube into 3 or four round chunks, freeze them in foil and use each chunk as I need them during the month.  This is recipe for meatloaf for two, or three, depending how thin you slice it.  It can be hard to know what to fix for only two people.  We like this recipe very much. 

Steve always mixes it up for me because for some reason his meatloaf slices hold together better than mine.  This is a restaurant quality, delicious meatloaf that I can cook in my electric toaster oven.  Cooking time, about one hour on 350 degrees.  We serve it with mashed potatoes, any vegetable or salad, rolls and sometimes I make brown gravy for it.  Enjoy!

Recipe:

1 pound lean hamburger

1 small onion, diced

1 cup of crushed, canned tomatoes

1 egg

1/2 cup of bread crumbs

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon of mustard

Mix all the ingredients together and shape into a loaf pan.  We use a metal bread pan which seems to work very nicely.  

hamburger, onions, egg and bread crumbs mix

With mustard, ketchup,tomatoes & seasonings.  Mix by hand until all ingredients are well mixed.

Place in loaf pan and glaze top (brushing) with mustard and ketchup.  Bake for about 1 hour.

Finished product, sliced and ready to eat. 

Enjoy!

What does it mean?

I was checking my blog views when I noticed the most viewed blog I have is entitled: Over Stimulated and Blogging.  That one has 79 total views.  My blogs average 8 views.  Now what does it all mean? The title meant I'd had too much coffee and was up late.  It means that 71, possible deviants, must have thought it meant something ominous.  If young girls do not think deviants crawl all over titles insinuating something provocative, well guess again.  I'm sure they (the naughty readers) were sorely disappointed because I talked about trying to decide if I should give myself a perm or not.  Too, too funny!  OK then, on with today's recipe.

Steve's almost famous biscuits and gravy:

You will need one half package (a whole package of you want a large amount) of ground sausage.  Steve gets the tube kind. One tube, more if you need them, of country style biscuits.  We like the big flaky kind.  You can make your own homemade biscuits if you are that ambitious. 

Start baking biscuits while the sausage is frying.

 While frying the sausage, add Italian seasoning, ground black pepper and flakes of red pepper.  Cook sausage until nice and brown. 

Into the sausage, stir four to five tablespoons of margarine and allow to melt.  Sprinkle 1/4 to 1/2 Cup (depending on the portions you want) of all purpose flour over the sausage and melted margarine.  Stir and allow the flour to coat the sausage and allow the flour to turn a light brown.  (This is the base for the rue or thickening of the gravy.)  Turn the sausage mixture on high and begin whisking in milk slowly and allowing it to become thick.  Continue pouring milk and whisking the mixture until you have the desired amount you will need and continue to stir until mixture becomes thickened.  You may add salt and pepper to taste and your gravy is now ready to pour on to the finished biscuits.  

Add an egg on top and WOW a hungry mans breakfast.

Fried balls

Today's recipe is fried bread balls.  We will begin by using the recipe posted in the previous blog, for the dough using the bread machine.  This time we will roll out our dough to about 1/2" thickness on the cutting board.

Roll out your prepared dough on a floured surface.  Begin by cutting small balls from the rolled dough.  I use an empty spice bottle because it makes just the right size and thickness I desire.

This is how the raw dough balls look.

Heat your oil either in your deep fryer or pan on the stove, to about 375 degrees, nice and hot.    When the oil is ready, I drop them, 12 at a time, into my deep fryer basket.  You need to watch them, turn them once using a large fork and fry until golden brown.  It usually only takes 5 to 8 minutes to fry one dozen balls.  

While hot, I place them in cinnamon and sugar mixture, coating them well and drain them on a platter covered with a paper towel.  If you prefer, they can be rolled in powdered sugar. 

 We love donuts at our house but they can be expensive, so this is the next best thing.  These are wonderful with coffee or milk, either warm or cold.  I hope you enjoy these for breakfast, brunch, snack or anytime you crave donuts.  

This is how the finished product looks. 

Sharing recipes for cooking at home

These blogs are for sharing recipes to make at home.  With the economy in the toilet these days, it makes sense to do more cooking at home.  

Is this fancy cooking?  No, not the fancy recipes you might see on those Food Network shows, not the $200 truffle pizzas you could buy at Chef Ramsey's expensive restaurants but it is fun cooking.  Many of you, whoever you are, may not think of cooking as fun, but it can be.  My second husband and I have been married for 13 years now and we have always loved cooking together.  Cooking as a couple is one of the best ways to curse, laugh and just enjoy each other's company.  

I also have to mention that I see so many bread machines for sale at yard sales.  Many of them brand new and so many people told me they got one as a gift and just don't know how to use it.  I got two brand news ones at yard sales for $5 each.  I kept one and gave the other one to my daughter.  I have been using mine for three years now and it has been the best $5 investment I ever spent. So if you have one, use it, if not, look for them at yard sales and buy one.  They are easy to use and such time savers.  So relax, whoever you are reading this, and try this first recipe.

Easy & quick pizza pockets

Pizza dough:

I cup very warm tap water

1 tsp salt (optional)

1-1/2 tbsp. soft margarine

2 plus 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. dry yeast

Add each ingredient on the list, as listed, into the bread machine.  Look for the dough setting on your machine and turn it on.

When bread dough is done, turn out onto floured surface and break off small (1/2") pieces and roll into balls.  Roll each ball out to a circle with a rolling pin and place 1 tsp of pizza or spaghetti sauce in the center of the circle.  Place 1 slice of pepperoni on the sauce and sprinkle a small amount of shredded Mozzarella cheese and you may sprinkle some Parmesan cheese here too.  Keep all fillings in the center to avoid oozing out the edges during cooking.

Fold circle over, pinch edges with fingers or a fork until sealed and heat your deep fryer to a high temperature( 350 degrees.)  Drop two at a time in fryer basket, cook one side until lightly brown, turn and cook other side.  Pockets will puff up during frying.  

Drain on a platter covered with paper towel and you can sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if you like.

These pockets cook in very little time for preparation and total cooking time.  You can make bread dough ahead, freeze it, then thaw some while working and whip these up when you get home from work.  These pockets are not greasy and everyone at my house loves them.  They never go to waste because they are delicious cold too.

Enjoy!

Small town, no class

When we first came back to Penn Yan after living in another state for 7 years, we decided because of the lakes in the area, it might be nice to retire here.  I was just reading recently where Buffalo, NY is offering college students monies to help repay student loans in exchange for them moving there and residing there for at least one year.  Apparently Buffalo has been bleeding population for quite some time.  Well, gee, just like Penn Yan, but you'd think at some point mayors might 'get it' before over half their populations were gone.  Guess you don't have to be too intelligent to be a mayor in a lot of places.


Jobs went to the wayside, the few remaining in these Podunk areas went to 'friends, relatives, mistresses, so and so forth.'  The favorite motto in these towns for getting jobs is: "It's who ya know, and who ya b___ow!"  Emphasis on the last part.  It's still that way here in Small Beans ville.


First off, after returning, one of the local nursing homes ran an ad for a Social Worker.  Must have experience, blah, blah, blah!  I apply, get an interview and first off I could see the look on the staffs' faces when they saw I wasn't a Bimbo.  So they still give me a four hour interview, wasting my  entire afternoon, couldn't even offer lunch nor even a lunch break.  The interview started at 11:00AM and proceeded until 3:00PM.  I am not only qualified for the position, but I am more qualified than the young woman who was already working there fresh from college.  But either they age discriminate {Which is always good for a nursing home}  after all, what in hell would anyone over 40 know about older people anyway?  Yes indeed, 25 year olds have it nailed there.  Ahem!  But more than likely my last name isn't spelled good enough for provincial Penn Yan.  Now to add insult to injury, I not only didn't get a turn down letter, or phone call.  I get a turn down email. That is the epitome of having no class.  But it gets better with no class as I will discuss in further blogs.  Hope this all goes viral!  I am sure to never recommend this low class nursing home to anyone I know.  So word of mouth advertisements can make ya or break ya!  

Penn Yan blog

I'm trying a new font here, it looks good and seems to work well.

My new blogs will now, for a good while anyway, consist of small town, one in particular in NY, and the pluses and minuses of small town living in NY.

Living in America, almost anywhere, can be very pricy anymore, thanks to Corporate America and wayward politicians who care for nothing but money, the people be damned is their motto.  So small towns all suffer from:
A) Lack of jobs
B) Lack of decent stores
C) Lack of decent services of most any kind

Sure, sure, plenty of die hards will try to defend small town America, but they are delusional and would defend most anything.  Nice try.

This is the Penn Yan blog, of my own making.  I know from where I speak because I've lived in this town for about 35 years.  It is a pretty town nestled on Keuka Lake and would be much more pleasant if not for the bad Chamber of Commerce, lack of services, not great medical emergency responders not very good fire responders.  Good luck if you need either one in a hurry.  You will be SOL.  

I'm going to talk about all that is wrong in this small town.  Call me cynical, but I call it realistic and reporting all I have observed in 35 years.  Yes, it is a quiet place to retire, but if you need emergency medical help, you best jump in someone's car and head for the local hospital and hope for the best.

Small towns do not have to be provincial in their thinking or their ways, but I guess no one told this to anyone in Penn Yan because they are as provincial and narrow as they come.  Stay tuned for more. 

Losing weight, gaining a soul, insightful thoughts

I love using Helvetica letters  when typing.  Did you all know it is the favorite lettering of advertisements because it is the easiest to read?  Yes, that is so true.

So in 2012 I'm losing weight.  Is it a New Year's resolution?  No, I hate those kind of things, it's just something I decided to do, eat better and lose the weight to look and feel better is clothes.

Maybe the decision is like using the Helvetica lettering, I'll be easier to read {look at} and easier on the eyes, my eyes anyway.

We all try to make promises to ourselves.  I've started a new book for the new year.  One about relationships, hoping to save some young women from a bit of heartache.  Maybe yes, maybe no, maybe few people actually learn anything from the advice of those who have gone before them.  Do we have to experience and fall on our own noses in the mud before any lessons stick, or can we learn from others' experiencing.  I guess I may find out, by the book sales, if anyone is paying attention.

I am hoping, because in a former, really awful, relationship I had in the past, I finally decided to break the cycle of drama in love because love Does Not involve drama, and date a guy who truly makes me happy.  I'm glad I did.  I'm hoping many women in 2012 will decide the same.