BBQ Meatloaf... Yep, That's Right

I unearthed a recipe that I had not yet shared with you, but turned out very yummy for BBQ meatloaf.  Why BBQ you ask- do you really make this on the grill?  No grill, although you could try it that way, it would be an interesting touch!  The reason it's made with BBQ sauce is simple, KETCHUP IS SICK!!!

OK, here's what you need for your meat:

• about 1/3 of a white onion
• 1/2 a green pepper
• 1 Idaho potato
• 1 little tomato (just because, remember no ketchup in this)
• basil
• oregano
• garlic powder
• Adobo seasoning
• Stone Mill Poultry Seasoning found at Aldi
• Trader Joe's Bold n Smoky KC BBQ Sauce
• hot sauce, whatever kind you like
• bread crumbs or crackers

As for the meat you choose, I guess meatloaf is usually pork and beef, I think.  I'm a believer for those who don't eat red meat, it's always ok to use ground turkey!  If I remember correctly I think we used a low fat ground beef, possibly ground sirloin, which is very low in fat.

You can begin by seasoning the meat with the powdered/dry ingredients.  For this recipe we used somewhere around a pound to a pound and a half of ground beef.  The dry ingredients for the meat are as follows: garlic, oregano, basil, poultry seasoning (good on beef too), and I know we must have put in some cracked black pepper.  The poultry seasoning contains salt so you're good there, as does hot and BBQ sauce and the crackers.  I don't like it when food accidentally becomes too salty when you don't consider all the salt in your ingredients.  Mush these into your meat and keep it refrigerated while you do the other stuff.

The other stuff you're going to do is to sauté the potato, green pepper and onion in a pan with Adobo added for a little bit of salt in veggie oil so the potatoes brown a bit- no raw potatoes here!  Of course these ingredients are roughly chopped.  At the very end of the sauté process add the chopped tomato in just to heat it up and get it going together for the flavors to do their thing.  You can add some herbs to this also.

Now the meat and veggies come together!  Your going to knead everything together with bread crumbs or crackers.  You also add in your BBQ sauce and some hot sauce to taste.  Then your creation goes into a loaf pan and then an oven around 350 until the internal temperature is 170.  During this process you can add BBQ sauce to the top of the loaf, of course in the place of ketchup.

You can do all kinds of things with meatloaf, there's a great restaurant near my house that serves a cajun meatloaf that is really good.  Here's a link to a page about some meatloaf tips:

http://homecooking.about.com/od/beef/a/meatloaftips.htm

Happy meatloafing and remember ketchup is EVIL!!!

Halloween's Coming... Bitchez B Bakin'

Ok, I'm not going to pretend that I came up with this recipe or that these cookies require any preparation other than separating them into squares (they're scored so you don't even have to measure the squares) and putting them on a cookie sheet!  I don't even eat cookies or cakes, this was my neighbor's doing!

Here's what you start with:

That's it- follow the directions on the package and you have instant Halloween fun!  Meow Meow BOO  There you go...

I also went on a little pre-trick or treat walk in the neighborhood because the weather was so warm and sunny today!  Oh, and of course I had to take a ride over to Trader Joe's to stock up and made a discovery with the help of an incredibly helpful TJ staff girl.  I told her that it's disappointing that TJ's Pesto doesn't have pine nuts in it!  Being a lover of pesto also, she said that is disappointing.  She recommended that I check the jarred TJ Pesto to see if it is possibly made with pine nuts. She was sure that its made differently because it's in a jar, not the fresh kind with a sell by date.  To both of our delight, the kind in the jar is in fact made with pine nuts and cashews as opposed to almonds like the other variety.  It was a good find!

Unrelated to cooking, but very festive, I'm going to share with you some photographic evidence of some spooky things to come in the neighborhood...

I thought the Tibetan Prayer Flags were an interesting touch.  Bitchez b crazy about Halloween too!!!

Kittenz B Hungry

Given the fact that the bitchez often "meow-appetite" we should not forget about the the kittenz!

This is my happy and apparently always hungry cat bitchin' to be fed... after eating some of my flowers- that's how he is.

Some days its tuna mixed with his regular cat chow, sometimes canned chicken.  Occasionally I give him nibbles of lunch meat.  It's the highlight of his day!

In thinking of my kitty, I decided to read up on how other people decide to make their own cat food.  I used to treat my cat to the canned cat food, but even the most expensive, claiming to be the healthiest, still looks like it's already been chewed or went all the way to the poop shoot!  All that gooey stuff in it makes me think of hoofs... I could go on and on.  Dog food looks even worse.

So this website I found has some pretty good tips on how to feed your cat a natural raw diet of meat:

http://www.catnutrition.org/foodmaking.html

Of course that cannot go without controversy from a cat food company namely Hill, makers of Science Diet.  You know, the food your cats love to hate!  Here's what they have to say about your cat eating raw meat:

http://www.hillspet.com/cat-care/homemade-cat-food-raises-concerns-adt.html

Insane to think that a feline would eat the meat of the animals they kill without cooking it!

Wait, it gets even better... this very cute and albeit amusing slide show claims that your cat  (ominous)  don don don ...will get addicted to canned tuna!  Really, this link is a must see for cat lovers:

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/ss/slideshow-foods-your-cat-should-never-eat

Almost as scary as people WebMD.  I really don't get too involved in my cat's diet, I just want him to be happy and I don't want him to be eating weird looking crap (aside from the kibbles).  Here's his current favorite dish, chicken with cat chow:

As Lidia says, "Tutti a Tavola a Mangiare!"  (loosly translated "kitties to the table to eat!")

Pesto Chicken... in a casserole of course!

I've realized that I make a lot of casseroles!  Not necessarily because I like my veggies mushy enough so I don't even have to chew- they don't come out that way all the time... I think sometimes it's just easy when you're cooking for friends to throw everything in a pan and walk away.  That gives you time to chat and drink I guess!

So this pesto chicken idea started with a package of pesto chicken pre-made from Trader Joe's- see I don't do all my shopping at Aldi.  The thing I realized about Trader Joe's pesto, this includes the pesto in the chicken and the pesto you can buy in a tub, TJ's pesto doesn't have pine nuts in it!  It's made with almonds, which is cheaper- why it's affordable, but it just isn't the same as when it does have pine nuts.  That's why you're going to add pine nuts to this dish!  Ironically, you're also going to add almonds.  Ok, here's what you need:

• The TJ's Pesto Chicken
• carrots
• spinach or green of your choice
• pine nuts
• slivered almonds
• extra pesto!

As simple as every casserole is, you're going to basically just dump all these ingredients in a pan.  There isn't a lot of extra pesto with the chicken when you buy it, that's why you need a little bit more to go on the veggies in here.  You could easily also include potatoes in this, or really any kind of veggies you happen to have at the time.  As for the nuts, the pine nuts are to help the pesto taste more like pesto, and the slivered almonds are for crunching!

You wanna put this in about a 375 degree oven for about 40 or 50 minutes.  The carrots won't turn to mush if you leave them in bigger chunks.  Uncover it at the end of the cook time.  Oh, did I mention to cover it when you put it in the oven?  This is very very pesto yummy!

Meow-appetite