Grilled Zucchini Meatloaf

I'm taking a page from the South Beach cookbooks and using oatmeal as a binder in this meatloaf.  The old-fashioned oatmeal (not quick or instant) will absorb more liquid in the meatloaf, and you'll need less and get more fiber.  All good things for reducing glycemic impact.  In fact, the recipe is so low-carb, I feel at liberty to use a shmear of jalapeno jelly on top as a glaze, but feel free to skip the extra carbs/calories if you desire.

I'm experimenting with cooking this puppy on the grill (ETA: experiment was SUCCESSFUL!!), cuz it's that time of year, it keeps the kitchen cool and everything is better with a little smoky grill flavor (and I love hearing my 3yo say, "Looklooklook, Daddy cooking dinner OUTSIDE!").  I threw foil-wrapped potatoes on the grill at the same time as the meatloaf, and put sliced zucchini directly over the coals for the last 10 minutes of cooking for a complete grill meal.

This makes a LOT of meatloaf, so freeze extras ahead, cook for a crowd, give them as gifts, whatever.  With only egg in play, it's hard to scale down.  But if you REALLY wanted to, you could use 1 tbsp + 1 tsp of liquid egg substitute per loaf, or use 1 whole egg but add some more oatmeal to compensate for the extra liquid.

Frozen wine and tomato paste

I dip into my freezer stash for the tomato paste and red wine.  I freeze extra wine in ice cube trays, and leftover tomato paste in a small ziptop bag.  That way, I can cook with small amounts (as called for below) without having to crack a whole new bottle or can.

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Mushroom stock

I used to make stock about once a week.  Before I had kids.  Now it's more of an as-needed thing, with help from cubes, granules, and boxes from the grocery store.  I'm not wild about all the Miracles of Modern Chemistry floating around in store-bought stock, but it'll do for most preparations.  When I'm making soup though where you need to use a large quantity and the broth is front and center in the dish, homemade is best. 

I keep two ziptop bags in the freezer--one for veg, one for chicken--to throw "extra" bits like carrot peels, celery butts, mushroom stems and chicken backs into.  When the bag is full, it's time to make stock.  This is also a good time to get rid of any wilty celery, sprouty onions and carrots past their prime that are lolling indolently about your vegetable crisper.  As long as they're not decomposing, they're fine for making stock. 

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Collard green sausage rolls

Collard greens...aren't they hard to cook?  Don't they taste funny?  Oh, just give these a try.  The original recipe is for a super-spicy ground pork mixture wrapped in collards.  Using ground sausage is so much easier and a lot more palate-friendly too (if you try the original, I'd only use 1/2-1 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes unless you are a serious chile-head or a masochist).  Either way, this freezes ahead very nicely.


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Watermelon Gazpacho

Ohmygosh, I am ready for summer!  When watermelon is plentiful, try this make-ahead and freezeable soup. 

The original Food & Wine recipe calls for a crab salad of sorts to go with the soup, but 1) ick and 2) the crab salad isn't prep-ahead friendly. 

The original recipe also calls for fresh lemongrass, but 1) puh-lease, I live in the Midwest and it's not something we find at the local Kroger and 2) it's a pain to work with anyway.  You can get tubes of lemongrass puree in the produce section of my grocery stores, so that's what I use.  Freeze the leftover puree in ice cube trays or a zip-top bag for other recipes.

Watermelon Gazpacho (makes 4 servings)

5 cups coarsely chopped seeded watermelon
2-3 tbsp lemongrass puree
3 tbsp finely chopped shallot
1 1/2 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 1/2 tbsp mild olive oil
1 small hot green chile, such as Thai or serrano, finely chopped (seeded or not, depending on your preference)
2 tbsp fresh lime juice, or to taste
3/4 tsp salt, or to taste

Puree the watermelon in a blender or food processor and transfer to a bowl (don't wash out the blender).

Cook lemongrass, shallots, ginger, and garlic in olive oil over medium-low heat until golden, about 5 minutes.  Add about 1/3 of the watermelon puree and simmer over medium heat, stirring, for 5 minutes. 

Allow to cook slightly, then carefully transfer to the blender or food processor.  Add chile, lime juice and salt and blend until smooth.  Add remaining watermelon puree and blend.  Strain soup through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing on and discarding any solids.  Chill soup at least 2 hours before serving. Pin It

Shlurp!: Fruit Smoothies

I made up a bunch of smoothie-in-an-instant before Boy #2 was born thinking that I was going to need all the quick, healthful, easy, homemade snacks I could get (as opposed to my post-Boy #1 snack of choice, Little Debbie Oatmeal Pies ::blush:: ).  Turns out I HATE smoothies.  Good thing Boy #1 digs ‘em!

My smoothie mix is based on a Raspberry Soup recipe from the cookbook from the Cedar Crest Victorian Inn, a beautiful B&B in Asheville, NC.  I substitute local honey for sugar and only use half as much as the original, and leave out the water in order to create a "concentrate" for freezing.  The original recipe also calls for using all raspberry-flavored ingredients; it's very tasty to reinforce the primary fruit with yogurt and juice in the same flavor family, but also fun to mix things up.  Try orange juice with blueberries, apple juice with peaches, and so on. 

You can choose to strain the mixture or not.  I don't strain partly because I think food is at its most healthful when left whole and partly because I'm a lazy cook :D

Ice cube trays are one of the staple pieces of equipment in my kitchen.  Freezing things like leftover broth, extra wine, and tomato paste in cube form gives you versatility in portioning when you're ready to cook later.  One regular ice cube tray holds about 2 cups of liquid; this recipe will require 2 or 3 trays.

Frozen Fruit Smoothie Mix (makes 7 toddler smoothies, or about 3 adult smoothies)

20-24 oz. frozen fruit (e.g. raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, peaches), thawed

1 cup juice

1/4 cup honey

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 whole cloves

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

8 oz fruit-flavored yogurt

Puree the thawed fruit and juice in a food processor or blender.  Transfer to a large saucepan. Add the honey and spices. 

Bring just to a boil while stirring over medium heat.  Allow to cool and strain through a fine sieve, if desired.  Whisk in lemon juice and yogurt. 

Pour into ice cube trays to freeze.  You can store the mix in the trays or pop them into zip-top bags when frozen.

To make a smoothie: Put 3-4 cubes and about 1/4 cup water in a blender for a small smoothie or 6-8 cubes and about 1/2 cup water for a large smoothie.  Blend until desired consistency. 

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Posole

I’m pretty sure I’m committing heresy, but I mix red and green ingredients in my posole.  Gasp!  I also include vegetables which is something my husband’s new Mexico-raised grandmother never did.  Inauthentic, but so good!

I have a tile from a store in New Mexico with a recipe for posole on it that has 6 ingredients: pork, onion, garlic, hominy, chile pods and salt.  My recipe is slightly more complicated than that.  It’s an adaptation of a vegetarian three-sisters sort of recipe that calls for beans and squash in addition to the characteristic hominy.  I use meat (beef  back ribs, short ribs, pork shoulder, pork sirloin roast) instead of beans and beef broth, but keep the extra veggies and seasonings.

This recipe, like most chilis, soups and stews, has a variety of stopping points and can accommodate your schedule beautifully.  Today, I chopped, measured and grouped in the morning to cook in the evening.  You can also chop and measure ingredients and freeze them as a meal kit.  You can also cook this dish entirely in advance and freeze it, so that all you have to do with it is thaw and warm it.  Though chiles are notorious for getting hotter with freezing, so consider yourself warned!

As for handling the broth if you intend to prep-ahead and freeze a kit…you’ve got three choices.  1) Use canned/boxed broth, just label the can or box and store it on the pantry shelf to pull when you do the posole.  2) Freeze homemade (or store-bought) broth in ice cube trays and portion out about 1 quart of cubes to include in the freezer kit (1 standard ice cube tray holds about 2 cups of liquid).  This is a good method if you’re prepping several meals ahead that require broth, though it will take up more room in the freezer.  3) Use granules or bouillon cubes and add the appropriate amount to the squash/chile component.  When you cook, add 1 quart of water.  This saves a lot of freezer room.

Posole (serves 6-8)

3 dried Sandia chile pods (or other mild dried chile, such as ancho or pasilla)
1 tbsp oil
2 lbs. bone-in pork shoulder cut into cubes, beef ribs, short ribs
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, diced
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp dry thyme
1 tsp dry oregano
1 acorn squash (or other small winter squash), peeled and coarsely chopped
½ cup salsa verde (store-bought is fine, I just happen to have homemade)
2 15-oz. cans hominy, drained
4 cups beef stock (or 2 tsp. granules or 2 cubes bouillon + 1 quart water)

Accompaniments: chopped cilantro, diced avocado, sliced green onions, diced tomatoes, chopped bell peppers, corn bread

Cut the stems off the chiles and shake out the seeds.  Reconstitute them in hot water for about 1 hour.  Coarsely chop them and set aside.

If freezing a meal kit, combine the chopped onion, garlic, celery, and spices in one vacu-seal or zip-top bag.  Combine the chiles, squash and bouillon (if using) into another bag.  Double-bag the meat and place into a larger bag with the two ingredient bags and freeze.  Make sure to label the hominy cans, salsa verde and beef broth (if using) for storage in the pantry.

When ready to cook, sear the meat in the oil in a large pot until well-browned on all sides.  Set meat aside to cool slightly.  If using ribs, cut the ribs into serving pieces.  (Today I'm using a cut of pork that the local farm processor labels "loin end roast".)

Saute the onion, garlic, celery and spices until soft, adding more oil if necessary.  Add the chiles and squash and stir until combined.  Add the broth, salsa verde and hominy and simmer 1 ½-2 hours.  Add any desired garnishes to serve.

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