SUMMER COOKING.. MY MEATLOAF

This the second entry of my Summer Cooking.. an easy and simple meal yet yummy..  one of my husband's comfort foods..

So many way to cook it, we can use all ingredients we like, today I used what I had in my refrigerator, I had half used mushroom, onion, ground beef, ground pork and when I rummaged my drawer, I found 2 jalapeno, perfect.. so let's do it

his supper... with bread and coleslaw.. 

Ingredients:
- 1 lbs of ground beef, 80%
- 1 lbs of ground pork
- 2 jalapeno, diced
- 1 cup of diced fresh mushroom
- 1/2 medium onion, diced
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 6 slices of cheese (optional)
- 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs
- salt and black pepper to taste
- for the sauce: mix well 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 cup of mayonaise, 1/4 cup of mustard, + 1/4 cup of tomato ketchup

Method:
- saute onion, jalapeno and mushroom with a bit of oil until softened.. set it aside
- in a big bowl, mix well the meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, sauteed onion, salt, black pepper and 1/2 of the sauce mixture
- lay some of the meat on a foil.. spread evenly.. make a shallow indentation in the middle of the meat, lay cheese on it, spare 1 inch at the edges, top with the rest of meat, spread evenly, then roll it
- put it in a bake pan, top with the rest of the sauce, cover with foil
- bake on 350'F for 60 minutes (until clear juice comes out)

note: I made 2 rolls, 1 for our supper today, I'll freeze the other one for later... now it's time to clean up the mess :)

SUMMER COOKING.. GOULASH

Summer comes early, the temperature has been up till 3 digits, 109'F was the highest, and it's still going up, I wonder how high it will be when the real summer comes.. I hate summer, and unfortunately it will last for at least 5 months.. some plants are dying because of the heat.. yesterday we had to pick all of  our spinach plants because they dried out, now we have lots of young spinach in our refrigerator, but no worry, I already had an idea what to do with it, we'll talk about it in my next post..

our homegrown spinach

Like last summer, this summer I'll be going for my summer vacation, visiting my sister and going to see my niece's ballet recital.. I'll be gone for about 5 weeks, alone.. my husband stays home to take care of his plants, it's summer, he needs to water them twice a day.. that is his excuse for not going with me, but it's okay.. everybody needs some time alone :)

Like usual, before I leave for my vacation I like to cook some meals for him, I'll put them in container, name them and freeze them... with that way I wont feel too guilty to leave him alone for quite a long time :) I know.. I know... wink2 (can't find my wink icon :))

So starting today I prepare the meals for him, I cook in big batch, for our daily meals and keep the rest frozen for his meals while I'm gone next month..

I've been wanting to eat GOULASH for a while, today I got all the ingredients I needed for it and this is the recipe I used, Bobby's Goulash by Paula Deen.. very simple, I made some changes, so it's simpler and tastier..

Ingredients

• 1 lbs of hot breakfast sausage (Jimmy dean)
• 2 hot link (Louisiana hot link), diced 
• 1 large onions, chopped
• 2 cups water
• 1 (29-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 big tomato, diced 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 
• 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of black peppers 
• 1 tsp of chili sauce ( homemade)
• 2 cups dried elbow macaroni ( I used vegetable Rotini) 

Directions

In a Dutch oven, saute sausage over medium-high heat until no pink remains. add in diced hot links, Break up meat while sauteing.

Add the onions to the pot and saute until they are tender about 5 minutes.add garlic,  Add 2 cups water, along with the tomato sauce, tomatoes, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, soy sauce, chili sauce, black peppers and salt. Stir well. Place a lid on the pot and allow this to cook for 20 to 25 minutes.

Add the Rotini, stir well, return the lid to the pot, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the bay leaves and allow the mixture to sit about 30 minutes more before serving. oh I sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.. pasta and Parmesan sound yummy, right :)

GYOZA aka CHINESE DUMPLINGS

I'm so tired today.. I've been cooking for the whole afternoon, well, on and off, but my  oven was on for a few hours, I roasted turkey breast, we bought one big breast, about 10 lbs at Safeway's it was on sale, I know my hubby loves turkey breast, so when he looked at it, I suggested him to buy.. nice, right? lol .. so today I had to pay for that, I knew that I could always let him cook, but he had something else to do, like his daily bike ride, or browsing the internet, yeah right.. so with his permission I cooked the turkey breast and I 'suggested' what to marinate with, like usual, he said 'okay', he was happy to cut some Rosemary and Oregano from his tiny garden.. so I marinated it with mustard, sea salt, rosemary, oregano, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and lemon juice, I rubbed the meat under the skin too.. he suggested to stuff it with potatoes, a whole orange and onion.. it went in the oven on 325'F

Like usual, it's my habit to cook several dishes when I use my oven, so today I made some Chinese style pork jerky per a friend's request, it was not hard, but it needed attention, I had to guard the oven every 10 minutes to turn my pans..so while roasting my turkey breast, I baked my jerky, I managed to finish both at the same time..

After all were cooked, I prepared my husband dinner, he had the honor to slice the breast, I did a good job on roasting it, it was so succulent and tender, I cooked it until the inside temperature reaches 165 to 170.. oh I could see his happy face, and it makes me happy, he was imagining turkey sandwich, turkey burrito, soup and more.. it's good for me too, easier for me to plan our daily meal, at least for this week.. happy dance :)

As for me.. I lost my appetite, I think the turkey was too much to look at, even only looking at it made my stomach fulled.. I'm gonna grab pbj sandwich later :)

sweet pork jerky 

Ooops.. what I want to talk today is my lunch.. I made some GYOZA, it's a kind of Chinese Dumplings which actually is Japanese style, but today I made my own style, with all the ingredients I have in my house.. here is how I did it

What I need:
- Gyoza wrapper, this time I got the right one for it
- 8 oz ground meat, I used ground pork
- 4 oz of shrimps, peel and coarsely chopped ( I like to taste my shrimps in my dumplings)
- 1 tbsp of fish sauce
- 1 tbsp of oyster sauce
- 1/2 inch of fresh ginger, grate it
- 1 tsp of sesame oil
- 1 tbsp of fried garlic oil
- 1 tsp of tapioca starch
- black pepper and sugar to taste
- some chives, roughly chopped
- green onion, finely chopped

homegrown chives 

gyoza wrapper

What I do:
- combine all the ingredients, stir until well blended
- grab 1 piece of gyoza wrapper, place 1 tsp of the meat mixture on the center of it
- brush water on the edges of the wrapper
- carefully fold the wrapper and pinch the edges ( this time I successfully pleated it.. happy dance.. again :))
- place them on a container, try not to crowd them, cover with damp towel
- heat 1 cm oil in a pan (with lid)
- place gyoza carefully, not too crowded in the pan, lower the heat to medium, cook about 3 to 4 minutes (depend on the heat), then turn it over, carefully pour 1/4 cup of water in the pan, cover the pan with the lid, cook for another 4 minutes, uncover the pan, cook again until the water is evaporated.
- or pan fry it, watch the heat, it browns so fast, maybe 3 minutes each side

the brown ones were pan fried 

up, close and personal 

Serve with chili sauce, today I used 1 tbsp of oyster sauce + 1 tbsp of sweet chili sauce ( store bought) and 1/2 tsp of vinegar..

I'll stop now.. even typing this is tiring me too..  aah.. wait.. still have to clean and wash the dishes and the pans.. sigh.. but..  then I'll be a couch potato, watching my fave TV shows.. nite nite