Meatloaf Sandwich: Late Night Mystery Meal Turned Breakfast

Remember in my last post I mentioned having to stay awake till midnight because I was cooking a mystery meal? Well the mystery has been unearthed and you can stop wondering :D.

I made a meat loaf! I am not quite sure where I got the recipe but it was on food network so I'm thinking Barefoot Contessa or Tyler's Ultimate.

I made some modifications to the recipe and after waiting for an hour for the oven to do its magic, my delicious meatloaf was created.

Here's an abridged recipe if you'd care to recreate it.

Ingredients:

About 1.5kg of Minced Meat/Ground  Beef

Five slices of bread cubed (I cut off the crusts)

2 Eggs

Half Cup chopped Parsley

2 large cloves of garlic, Minced

1 Tablespoon Unsalted butter

One Large Onion Chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste

Curry powder

I started by sweating the chopped onions in the butter, and seasoned it with Cameroon Pepper, a pinch of salt and about half a teaspoon of curry powder.

Next I took a mixing bowl, and added all the ingredients (including the onions), washed my hands and proceeded to mix everything together by hand. I added some red pepper flakes as well.

Next I greased a loaf pan (I generally use a zero cholesterol Oil spray as I hate getting my hands oily) and then pressed in the mixture and flattened the top neatly.

Popped it into a preheated oven at 350 degrees for one hour and the meat loaf was ready.

This is the part where you expect to see pictures right? Well unfortunately, by the time I was done, I was too tired to think about taking pictures. But fear not, the meat loaf made an appearance in breakfast the next morning (Which was kinda the original plan anyways).

So here you go! My delicious meatloaf sandwich. :D 

 For the meatloaf sandwich, I took some bread, cut off the crusts and then spread homemade mix on two slices of bread (Mixture of 2tbsp Mayonnaise, 1tbsp ketchup, salt and lemon pepper). Next I sliced some tomatoes and washed and dried some flat-leaf parsley. Ad started layering the ingredients in this order: 3-4 Parsley leafs, a slice of the meatloaf, 2-3 slices of tomatoes and then topped with the other slice of bread.

Next I wrapped each sandwich with kitchen foil (Shiny side facing in) and placed them in a non stick pan on low heat. And since I didn't have a heavy pot on hand, I half filled a pot with water and placed this on the sandwich to serve as my sandwich press) after about a minute or two I flipped the sandwiches and heated the other sides. Took them off the heat, unwrapped them and Voila, my delicious sandwiches were ready.

And did I mention they were delicious. I had mine with Twinnings Raspberry Tea. Yummy yum yum. You should definitely give this a try.

Until next time, God Bless you.

Love,

Preye

Dinner Snack: Herb Butter Crostini with Radishes and Cherries

Last Saturday was my grocery shopping day and DH and I spent the entire day going from one part of town to another. From Everyday to Park and Shop and then "The Fruit Market" which I had heard about but hadn't found time to visit.

I had such a lovely time (Hubby...not so much :D) and bought tons of groceries that got me really excited.

At Everyday I got fresh radishes and Rosemary; and also got the usual stuff I like to get there (Chicken, toiletries etc).
At park and shop I bought some new dishware, fresh yogurt, Parsley, Chipolata Sausages (My favorite), bacon , french bread, butter, etc.

And then the exciting part: The Fruit Market! How come I've been in Port Harcourt for Six years and never heard of it until recently? I was so excited to "discover"  this market and we got loads of fresh fruits and vegetables. We got native oranges (better tasting than the ones our Hausa brothers sell on the streets), Red Grape Fruits, Cucumber, Carrots, Green Peas, beetroots, Mint, Basil, Cherries, Strawberries, local plums, bananas...and the list goes on and on.

By the time we were done with shopping (and a brief stopover at Gifty's Daughter to replenish my make-up purse), it was about 4pm. We got home dead tired and hungry and I couldn't even begin to contemplate cooking anything major, so I decided to utilize the fresh produce we'd just bought.

I saw this recipe on Food Network (Barefoot Contessa) a couple of days prior and filed it in my brain for future reference. Turned out I didn't need to wait too long to bring it to life.

This is a Herb Butter Crostini served with Radishes and Cherries.

This meal came together really quickly . I started by cutting my French Bread in about one inch strips (cut on the bias) and then popped them in the oven for about 7 minutes to get them crunchy. While the bread was in the oven, I worked on the herb butter. What you need is basically about a stick of unsalted butter (Room temperature), whatever fresh herbs you have on hand (I used Mint, Parsley, Basil and and a tiny bit of Rosemary), the juice of half a lemon, salt and black pepper. I chopped the herbs finely and mixed in with the butter, lemon juice and a pinch of salt and black pepper and that was it!

I allowed the crostini's to cool a bit, spread the butter on them, placed them on a platter with the washed radishes and cherries and finished off with a sprinkling of salt on the radishes and Voila! Dinner was served.

Quick and tasty...just the way I like it :D.

Until next time, God bless you.

Love,

Preye

What I Ate: Chocolate Popcorn Crumble Cake!

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.

                                                                             - Harriet Van Horne 

And so it was, that one fine rainy day I walked into my kitchen and decided to experiment. With little or no recipes, no TNT (tried and trusted) meals, and a willingness to go with the flow; I was able to create some deliciousness out of a combination of some unusual ingredients.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet my "Chocolate Popcorn Crumble Cake with a Caramel/Granola topping"! I know...terrible name. lol. But trust me, it tasted so good I wouldn't mind naming it "That Crunchy Deliciousness" 

Here's how it happened. I have this TNT recipe for a chocolate cake via Food52 and I was badly in need of a cake fix. Unfortunately, I had no AP flour...Gasp! So I raided my pantry and found a pack of popcorn flour I had bought on a whim a couple of months ago and never used (I originally planned to make Banana-popcorn bread). I also had some corn flour on hand, and with a few tweaks to my favorite Chocolate cake recipe, my "Frankencake" was born.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Popcorn Flour (You can actually make yours from popcorn, see techniques here and here)

1/2 Cup Corn Flour

1 Cup Light Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1  Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt

5 Tablespoons Canola Oil

1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tablespoon Vanilla Essence

1 Cup Cold Water

For Caramel
Granulated Sugar, Honey and Butter cooked at medium heat until sugar melts completely and is golden brown. I added a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of Vanilla for added flavor

For Granola Topping
Here's a link to my Granola Recipe. I made some slight changes; dry toasted the oats and nuts in a pan (my cake was in the oven and I didn't want the temperature drops that would result from the constant opening) and then poured the hot caramel over them and mixed until fully coated. I also left the nuts whole.

Now for the main recipe: sift the flour, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda into a large bowl and mix in the sugar. Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and combine wet and dry ingredients.

Line the bottom of your baking pan with parchment paper and grease the sides (I use an oil spray).

Pour in the batter and bake at medium heat for twenty-five minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Note: Popcorn Flour and Corn flour are both gluten free so the cake will not bind...if you would like a less crumbly texture and more moisture, you could add ground flax seeds or gelatin to serve as a binding agent. (or stick to the original recipe here)

Once your cake is ready, pour the hot caramel over the top of the cake and spread the granola over it. The caramel will bind the granola to the cake. Remember to handle with care as melted sugar is extremely hot. You can press in the granola with a soft spatula to help seal it in some more. Allow to cool.

This is what it looked like when I was done.

You can take the cake out of the baking pan before adding the toppings

Yum! :D

I was pleased with the way this turned out and I'll definitely be doing it again in the near future (with some additional modifications).

Until next time, God bless you.

Love,
Preye.

My Go-To-Snack: Granolas

As a Nigerian, when you think "food" the first three meals that come to mind would probably be;

• Eba and Soup
• Rice (in its many forms)
• Beans (and dodo or yam/potatoes or my personal favorite with dry garri sprinkled on top)

I love Eba, but I find myself feeling tired after eating a meal of Eba and Soup (I just feel like sleeping right at the table...lols)

Rice...not so much and well beans for me takes commitment to cook especially the variety I like (brown/red beans) so I try to reduce my "exposure" and substitute with lentils.

Anyways, all this "story story" was to say, I try to include healthy snacks in my family's diet and reduce the frequency of heavy meals. We do the heavier meals for breakfast, and fruits, grains, yogurt etc for lunch and just "wing" dinner depending on the mood.

So enter Granola! My go-to meal/snack (it can serve either function).

Granola is a breakfast food and snack food popular in the Americas, consisting of rolled oats, nuts, honey, and sometimes puffed rice, that is usually baked until crisp. During the baking process the mixture is stirred to maintain a loose, breakfast cereal-type consistency... 

                                                                                                                  Source: Wikipedia 

While you can walk into most Supermarkets and get a pack (a pricey pack at that), I prefer making mine fresh each week with the exact ingredients I want.

So here's my "recipe" (I use that term loosely :D) for homemade granola.

Ingredients

• Rolled Oats -  Roughly two cups
• Nuts - Two cups (or less-I like a lot of nuts in my Granola )(I use Groundnuts, Almond Nuts, Pecans, Hazelnuts, Cashew Nuts and any other nuts I happen to have on ground)
• Light Brown Sugar - Half Cup
• Salt - Half a teaspoon
• Honey - About a third of a cup.

Instructions

Preheat your oven at medium heat

Step 1: Chop your nuts (for groundnuts I just crush them to split in two, and for larger nuts like pecans and almonds, I chop them up).

Step 2: In a large bowl, mix the oats, nuts, brown sugar and salt until combined then gradually add the honey allowing it coat the dry ingredients. You can use  a wooden spoon for this or your hands.

Step 3: Spread parchment/baking paper on a large baking tray (or two trays) and spread the mixture on the parchment paper. Here you want to make sure the granola is evenly spread and not piled up so the grains can cook evenly.

Step 4: Bake at 220 Degrees Celsius for about 20-30 minutes stirring every 5 minutes (Note that different ovens may produce different results).

Once fully browned pour in a tray and allow to cook before handling (Warning: Caramelized sugar is pretty hot). When cool store in an airtight container and enjoy your granola in many ways. Here are a few suggestions.

• As a snack: I pack them as lunch time snacks for DH and I and also entertain guests (Tip: Serve with a Yogurt/Banana smoothy...yummy)
• As a breakfast meal: Serve as you would your favorite cereal - with milk. No added sugar required
• As a Garnish for ice-cream (and pretend the oats make the ice cream healthy lols)
• In a Parfait: Here's a recipe for one Granola Parfait Recipe
• Any other way you like...there is a world of possibilities out there. I am actually thinking up a pie with a granola crust...will let you know how that goes.

So there you go, my favorite go-to snack.

p.s there are numerous recipe's out there for Granola's but I played around until I found one that suited my palate so go ahead and explore. 

And as Alton Brown would say, "Until next time, I bid you good eat"

Preye