Bratloaf

I like to make unusual meatloafs. Usually I like to have some sort of elaborate topping. For some reason I got it in my head that I needed to try to make a brat loaf. My first attempt involved 1/2 package of ground turkey and two normal brat sausages, then I topped it with sliced potatoes. It was pretty good, but not bratty enough. 

After some brainstorming, it was decided that the potatoes should be on the bottom and there should be a different topping. Something to give it the authentic brat experience: Sauerkraut and apples. Here's what you'll need:

1/2 package of ground turkey
5 turkey brats, removed from their casing
1/4 yellow onion, minced
1 tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon coarse ground brown mustard
1 egg
4 slices of bread, toasted and then soaked in 1/3 cup beer
2 potatoes

Sauerkraut topping:
1/2 package of sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
1 granny smith apple, diced
1/8 onion, minced
1/4 cup of apple sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Mix together all of the ingredients except bread and potatoes

Slice the potatoes thin, and layer them in an oiled pan

Shred the bread and mix in the beer

Combine with the meat mixture 

Then spread it in the potato layered pan. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes.

 Drain off any grease and top with the sauerkraut topping.

Then turn up the heat to 350 for 20 minutes

Add 2 tablespoons brown sugar and turn up the heat to 375 and bake for 10 more minutes.

We served it with green beans sauteed with onions, mushrooms, and bacon.
Delicious!

Happy Halloween!

The Guard Monkey

We bought a new baby gate for our hall way with a cat door in it, because our cats are spoiled and meow at the taller baby gates, waiting for someone to open a door for them instead of just hopping over like normal cats. It seemed like a perfect solution, til Bubba started trying to crawl through the cat door. He actually fit! Every time he went down the hall he would crawl through the cat door to get to the forbidden area. Until my husband thought of a brilliant idea. He was inspired by an episode of Raising Hope in which the parents kept their son away from dangerous things but putting a clown doll that he was afraid of near the item in question. 

We happen to have a musical dancing monkey doll that Bubba hates. All we had to do was play the song once with the monkey dancing on the opposite side of the gate and he has not crawled through since.

So I began this post a couple weeks ago and with Ivor and all kinds of other things I got busy and forgot about it. And now this is how Bubba reacts to the guard monkey.

 I have a feeling it won't be long now before he's crawling back through the cat door again. 

Oh well it was good while it lasted :)

Dim Sum Inspired Quiche

Recently I was on the East Coast for my cousin's wedding and had the opportunity to go into New York City. My family lived in New York State when I was in junior high so we had several of our old stomping grounds to visit while we were there. Of course we had to go to Chinatown for Dim Sum for lunch and Little Italy to our favorite restaurant La Mela for dinner and Ferrara Bakery for dessert.
When I got back I was inspired to try something different with my normal quiche recipe. At the Dim Sum restaurant we went to 456 Shanghai Cuisine they had a dish they called a scallion pancake. It was a mix of a crepe/omelette with plenty of scallions and a shredded pork filling with a hint of sesame and teriyaki sauce.

Filling:

2 small chicken breasts

sesame oil

chili oil

1 teaspoon minced onions

1 cup water

cook these and after shredding chicken add:

2 tablespoons teriyaki

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon chili oil

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1/8 cup fresh chives

Quiche base:

2 tablespoons butter

1/8 cup flour

3/4 cup milk

5 eggs

Sauce:

4 tablespoons teriyaki

1/2 teaspoon chili oil

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar

First I cooked two small chicken breasts in the crock pot. I put them in frozen and added a bit of sesame oil, chili oil, teriyaki sauce, minced onions and about 1 cup of water. I cooked them on low for about 5 hours.

Next I shredded the chicken with a fork and mixed in about 2 tablespoons of teriyaki, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, and 1 teaspoon of chili oil.

I picked a large bunch of chives from the garden and chopped up about 1/8 cup and added them to the mixture, along with 1 tablespoon or so of toasted sesame seeds.

For the quiche base I melted the butter on medium heat

Added the flour

And then the milk

I kept it on medium heat, whisking the whole time til it thickened. 

(a little less than a normal quiche base would, because there was less flour added)

Then I added the eggs and whisked them well. I also added a teaspoon of chili oil.

Then a lot more chives. Maybe another 1/8 cup.

I greased the pan with sesame oil and added 1/4 of the mixture.

Then the chicken

And finally the remainder of the quiche base. I put it in the oven at 325 for 1/2 hour. 

At that point I took it out, brushed on some more sesame oil and put it back in for another 20 minutes. The last 10 minutes I turned the heat up to 350 to brown it slightly. 

I mixed together a sauce to pour over the top. I microwaved it for about 40 seconds to let the brown sugar dissolve. 

Beautiful!

Bubba saw me take it out of the oven and insisted that it was cake. I told him it was not cake and

I gave him a piece but I was pretty sure how it would go.

Luckily for him I made some peanut butter banana bread muffins that day, so he could get his "cake" after all.

My husband and I thought it was delicious though. Just what I was going for. It had the essence of the scallion pancake and also reminded me a lot of egg foo young.

Ivor

One very hot  August morning Bubba and I went for a walk and found a tiny kitten crying on someone's porch. We went up to the door to tell them their kitten had gotten out and the woman who answered the door told us he was not hers and he had been out there all morning and they had no idea where he came from. So we took him home.

I could tell he was really young and on the five minute walk home I hoped that he was old enough for solid food. Luckily when I made him a bowl of kibble mixed with water (to soften it) he gobbled it down. 

After he ate, he kept crying and wanting to be held so I carried him around most of the day and sat on the bathroom floor with him at nap time while he slept in my lap. His nose was pretty scuffed up and he had a big gash on his lip. So we called the vet and made an appointment  We kept him in isolation in our bathroom, giving him a cardboard box and blanket to curl up in, but he had trouble sleeping. Then I remembered a friend of mine having a very young kitten that slept better with a sock filled with dry rice and warmed in the microwave for a minute. We tried it and he fell fast asleep. Since he was so cuddly we decided to name him Ivor after the baby in one of Bubba's shows Henery Hugglemonster.

At his vet appointment the doctor estimated that he was only three and a half weeks old and being so young they could not get an accurate result for a feline leukemia test or an FIV test, so he had to stay in isolation til he was eight weeks old and could get tested. As long as we washed our hands well we could handle him as much as we wanted, he just could not come in direct contact with our other cats. 

We moved him to our guest room and put a double baby gate up to keep him from escaping, or our other cats from getting in. Bubba had been fascinated with Ivor since we got him, visiting him often and playing with him through the baby gate. 

Finally Ivor was eight weeks old and he was able to get tested and came out negative, but he did still have worms so while he can come out of his room, he still cannot share a litter box for another three weeks til his final dewormer treatment is done. 

Ivor loves life on the outside.

And has become Bubba's best buddy.

They scare the other cats a little because they are both so energetic, and sometimes they get a little rough with each other and they have to be separated. 

But every time you do, they always end back together in no time. 

It seems Bubba has finally found his kitty.

First Pumpkin Harvest

It's Fall!

Bubba has been a great gardening partner this year. He weeded the garden with me (sometimes plants that weren't weeds) and watered it with me every day. He had become increasingly more excited about picking the pumpkins we have been growing since they started to look like actual pumpkins. Last week there were two that were ripe so we picked them. He carried one around the house and called it "pumpkie" but once he started to toss it like a ball I moved it to the front porch. Since then every time we go out to the garden he wants to pick more.

So you can imagine how excited he was to be able to pick a bunch of them today!

Once we came inside and he was distracted I split 4 of the pumpkins in half, cleaned out the seeds, baked them at 350 for 20-30 minutes and after letting them cool scooped the pumpkin out of the shells then pureed it. Then I lightly tossed the seeds with olive oil and baked them at 325 for about 15 minutes stirring them occasionally.

All this with only 4 pumpkins!

Now with 5 cups of pumpkin puree I had to make something pumpkiny. I decided to experiment with a different pumpkin bread recipe. I used my normal banana bread recipe, but added 1 cup of pumpkin puree and omitted the bananas and apple sauce. Then I made a glaze to pour over it.

Glaze Recipe:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons of milk

1/2 teaspoon melted butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix ingredient til smooth and pour over the bread, then refrigerate til ready to serve.

And this recipe for a change, Bubba loved! 

Fried Green Tomatoes

It has been a busy summer! One of the distractions from blogging I have had is my garden. In May I stopped at a local farmer's green house selling tomato and pepper plants and even though I wasn't going to have a  bigger garden this year I bought a couple of plants. Who knew that 3 little tomato plants would make so many tomatoes! I don 't really even like tomatoes, except when they are in tomato sauce or salsa. One day a decided to try a recipe from one of my favorite movies, Fried Green Tomatoes. Only problem was I didn't have corn meal to make traditional "Southern" fried green tomatoes, so I decided to make them "Italian style" with parmesean and Italian bread crumbs. 

I was running low on bread crumbs, so I crushed up some stove top stuffing mix, 

and added some parmesan cheese.

The dipping station. Mixed bread crumbs, 2-3 eggs beaten, and flour.

First dip in the egg

Then the flour

Then the egg again

And finally the bread crumbs

Let sit aside in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour to let the bread crumbs set.

Fry in oil on medium heat til golden brown

Let cool  on paper towels to soak up excess oil.

Yum!

I made quite a few so I have gotten several meals out of this batch. First on the side of ravioli with tomato sauce, then for lunch in a fried green tomato BLT. 

Bubba has tried several of them and it always goes the same way every time. He take a bite, says "Yum!" then sometimes a second bite and then he throws it on the floor. I'm tempted to not give him another one, but he has been so picky lately I always try to give him any of our food he asks for in hopes he will eventually get back to his old eating habits where he ate anything and every thing.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with all those pesky red tomatoes that keep showing up.