I have officially turned into a blob. I spent the entire day yesterday working on a jigsaw puzzle! Granted, it’s a difficult one (1,000 pieces, and they are all about the size of my thumbnail for heavens’ sake) but this is better than watching Brady Bunch reruns on television, although I’m not accomplishing much.
Jack is continuing to become proficient in the kitchen. One thing which he does which I never could quite get the hang of is to wash dishes and stack the dishwasher as he goes along with the meal preparations. Of course, his cleaning comes at the expense of efficiency. It takes much longer to make the meal. I watched in frustration last night as the potatoes were boiling over and the carrots were cooking into mush as he insisted on scrubbing a black mark on the counter made by a pan a few minutes earlier. I didn’t bring this up, though, because I found it is very easy to overwhelm him in the kitchen. A lot of things to do, and to keep your eye on, and he’s not accustomed to this. So we ate over-cooked carrots and he had to clean the burner (after it cooled), but the counter sparkled!
I am into Day 17 and cannot wait to be using both legs again.
On Sunday, for dinner, we have pizza. With the exception of when holidays fall on this day, we have had pizza on Sunday for years. I can throw together a double recipe of pizza crust in the Kitchen Aid rather easily and freeze half for the following week. I have tried premade crusts and frozen crusts and making crusts out of frozen bread dough but we haven’t yet located an easier alternative which meets our standards. Last Sunday, I thought that it would be easier to put the crust together in the food processor (the Kitchen Aid is stored under-counter, the food processor is always on the counter) and found, on an internet search, a food-processor pizza crust marked at “the best”. Obviously, the author hasn’t made many because it wasn’t good at all. Very yeasty, but otherwise tasteless.
This past Sunday I suggested ordering a pizza, but that was met with the usual (“it won’t be as good as yours” and “it will be loaded with fat”) protests. So the late afternoon found us in the kitchen, me sitting with my leg propped on pillows on an adjacent chair, Jack learning how to use the Kitchen Aid. Since the oven would be on already, I also chose this as a time to also bake a loaf of bread (dough which I had frozen a few weeks ago and had been thawing and slow-rising in the refrigerator) and make a couple of meatloaves from two pounds of ground turkey which needed to be used.
As he remarked later—“I can’t believe we spent 3 hours in the kitchen!”. Yes, dear, it takes time…
The bread baked without a hitch, the meatloaves turned out great (they smelled great, we didn’t have the opportunity to try any until Monday night), we had a good pizza and another crust is in the freezer for next week, and my “neatnik” husband showed me that it is possible to make dough in the KA without getting a floury haze all over the kitchen! Of course, I’ll never be able to duplicate that unless he helps by doing all of the prep work. It’s much too difficult to do it all and be neat at the same time. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking with it…
Here is the meatloaf recipe. It was reviewed by Jean on the Cuisine at Home website forum and I agree that it is delicious. The meatloaf recipe itself was altered from its original in that I used all ground turkey (instead of a combo of ground sirloin, pork, and turkey), added some canola oil to keep the meat moist, played around with the seasonings, etc. However, the sweet and sour ketchup topping which was baked into the meatloaf made it outstanding. A mixture of ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar added a sweet tangy flavor to the meat. I baked it on a rack, which allowed the excess fat to drip away. After removing the meat from the rack, I added some chicken stock to the pan drippings and cooked them, then strained the mixture into a jar. The next evening, when we reheated the meatloaf, I skimmed the fat from the top of the drippings, added a little more stock, and thickened it with flour for a tasty gravy.
Serving Size : 8
Amt Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup grated onion
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram -- crumbled
20 ounces lean ground turkey
1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs -- (fresh- whirl slices of bread in food processor)
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
2 teaspoons brown sugar
Preheat oven to 350F. With cooking spray, coat a baking pan and a rack which fits into it. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the egg and egg white until well combined. Add the remaining ingredients through the marjoram, add salt and pepper if desired, and mix well. Add the ground turkey and the bread crumbs and mix lightly until just combined. Shape the mixture into an oval loaf (about 2 to 2-1/2" high) and place on the rack.
Combine the ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar and coat the top of the meatloaf with the entire mixture.
Place the meatloaf into the oven and bake for 50 minutes to an hour, until the interior temperature reaches 160F. Let rest for at least 5 minutes after removing from oven.
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Per serving: 199 Calories (kcal); 8g Total Fat (2g saturated); (36% calories from fat); 18g Protein; 15g Carbohydrate; 69mg Cholesterol; 314mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 5 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates
NOTES : Next time try adding grated carrot, chopped mushrooms
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