Best Thanksgiving Appetizer Recipes : Cooking Channel.
When planning your Thanksgiving dinner, you don’t want to forget about having some great appetizers to keep everyone ready for the big meal. Cooking Channel has put together 60 Thanksgiving appetizer recipes that you can try to keep the crowd happy. Check it out!
By now I think everyone knows my love for meatloaf. I have lots of different recipes on the blog here that you can try – Alton Brown, America’s Test Kitchen, Cook’s Country and many others – but I am always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to serve meatloaf. Lately I have been getting a lot of recipes from New York Times Cooking, which is a great site that has thousands of fantastic recipes on from basic to more complex. I came across this great meatloaf recipe on there about a week ago for meatloaf with a wonderful maple glaze on it and it sounded like the perfect fall meatloaf to give a try. I was not disappointed in the results.
Maple Glazed Meatloaf
3/4 pound sliced bacon
1 cup finely chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
2 eggs
1 tablespoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Dash of hot pepper sauce
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground veal
1/2 cup crushed saltines
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Chop 1/4 pound of the bacon; saute the chopped bacon in a large skillet set over medium-high heat until the bacon is browned but not crisp, about 8 minutes. Transfer the cooked bacon to paper towels so it can drain. Add the onion and garlic to the skillet. Cover the skillet and cook the vegetables over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened, about 10 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and set it aside.
Heat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, sour cream or yogurt, eggs, dry mustard, salt, dried thyme, Worcestershire sauce, ground black pepper and the hot pepper sauce until it is blended.
In a separate large bowl, combine the ground beef, ground pork and ground veal, the cooked bacon pieces, the cooked onion mixture and the milk mixture. Using your hands, toss the ingredients lightly to mix them together. Add the crushed saltines and the parsley and toss the mixture lightly again until everything is thoroughly combined. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. On the lined baking sheet for the meet into a loaf of about 5 inches by 12 inches. Drape the remaining strips of bacon lengthwise over the loaf to completely cover the loaf.
In a small bowl, combine the maple syrup and the Dijon mustard. Paint a thick coating over the bacon on the meatloaf. Bake the meatloaf, uncovered, until a thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf reads 165 degrees, about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. If you desire, baste the loaf occasionally with the remaining maple syrup mixture. Let the meatloaf rest for about 10 minutes before slicing it and serving it.
This meatloaf was delicious. I used meatloaf mix or beef, pork and veal that I get at the store and I didn’t use as much bacon in or on the meatloaf itself as the recipe indicates only because Michelle has some trouble with bacon, but the overall flavors for this meatloaf were fantastic. I loved the crust you get on the top from the maple glaze on the bacon and this meatloaf held together really well and was easy to slice. I think the combination of the saltines, milk and sour cream really helped bind everything, along with the eggs. The flavor in the meatloaf was great too, thanks to the bacon, onions and garlic with just a hint of spice and heat. This was great with the homemade tater tots I made that night, but I think it would be perfect with mashed potatoes or even better with sweet potatoes that have a little brown sugar and maple syrup on them as well. Of course, it was awesome for meatloaf sandwiches the next day as well and I think it would be great for an open-faced meatloaf sandwich with a little gravy. Yum! I will definitely add this one to my meatloaf arsenal.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Any time that I get some shrimp Sean is always asking me to make fried shrimp. Not that I don’t like fried shrimp, I love it myself; the problem is that I hate cooking with all of that oil from a health standpoint and clean up standpoint and there are other ways to cook shrimp that I love as well. He however, has a hang up on fried shrimp so when Michelle is traveling, I very often will get some shrimp and make something for dinner (Michelle likes shrimp, but they are not a favorite of hers, so she would just as soon not have them anyway). I had seen some recipes for oven fried shrimp before but none of them ever really looked like the breading or coating held up that well or cooked well so you got a good coating on them until I saw this recipe from Williams-Sonoma for oven fried shrimp. The picture looked pretty good and the recipe seemed simple enough, so I thought I would give it a try.
Oven Fried Shrimp
1 cup ketchup-style chili sauce or ketchup
2 tablespoons drained prepared horseradish
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Hot pepper sauce
1 1/4 cups panko or other dried breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
To make the cocktail sauce, stir together the chili sauce or ketchup, the horseradish and the melon zest and lemon juice in a small bowl. Season the sauce with hot pepper sauce to taste. Set the cocktail sauce aside.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil a large rimmed baking sheet. In a medium bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, paprika, oregano, basil, thyme, garlic, salt and cayenne pepper. In another bowl, mix together the melted butter and the olive oil. Working in batches, toss the shrimp in the butter mixture to coat it well and then coat the shrimp with the bread crumb mixture, shaking off any excess. Spread the shrimp in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake the shrimp until the coating is golden brown and the shrimp are opaque throughout when they are pierced with the tip of a knife, about 10 minutes.
Transfer the cocktail sauce to individual small bowls for dipping. Serve the shrimp with the sauce on the side.
This is very simple and turns out a pretty good coating for the shrimp. I used basic bread crumbs, but I think the coating would be even better with panko and will try it that way next time to see how it is. If you wanted to jazz things up a bit and make these coconut shrimp, you could try mixing in some shredded coconut with the breadcrumb mixture or even substituting it completely for the bread crumbs and following the recipe as indicated. Personally, I am not a fan of coconut myself, but a lot of people love the coconut shrimp. You can then make or buy your favorite sweet chili sauce for dipping instead of the cocktail sauce. I made this as our entrée for the meal and served it with some rice and vegetables, but it would be a great appetizer for any time. I liked the shrimp and the cocktail sauce in this one and Sean gobbled these up as well, so I think the recipe is a pretty good alternative to frying the shrimp and using all of that oil.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
We haven’t really had a lot of cool weather here in my part of New York just yet, though it is starting to get there with some nights down in the thirties. in any event, once the fall rolls around I start to think more about soups, stews and slow cooker meals because they just make you feel warm, make the house smell great and are easy to put together for a one pot meal. I decided I wanted to make something really easy and have a great soup and give some chicken and wild rice soup a try. This is a great options when you have some leftover chicken or a rotisserie chicken and want to do something different with it. There are lots of different types of wild rice that you can get, so you could always get your favorite quick version or get a regular version that takes longer to cook but seems to have better flavor, in my opinion. In either case, this turns out a very tasty soup for the whole family. I used this recipe from Food.com to make my soup when I did it, but the soup as a whole is pretty easy to put together on its own.
Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup peeled and sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup wild rice, uncooked
1/3 cup sliced leeks (white and light green parts) or green onions
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup half-and-half or milk
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 carrot peeled into thin strips, for garnish (optional)
In a saucepan set over medium heat, mix the chicken broth, sliced carrot, sliced celery, uncooked wild rice, leek or green onions, dried thyme and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce the heat to low. Cover the saucepan and allow the mixture to simmer until the rice is tender, about 45 to 50 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Stir in the flour and then stir in the half-and-half or milk. Cook and stir the mixture until it is bubbly, about 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly add the half-and-half mixture to the rice mixture, stirring constantly to thicken the soup. Stir in the chicken and the dry sherry. Heat the soup and until the chicken is heated through, about 3 to 4 minutes. Divide the soup evenly among soup bowls and if desired, garnish the soup with the carrot peel strips.
This turned out to be a really great soup without a lot of work needed for it. You get great flavor from the wild rice and the stock thickens up nicely when you add the roux to it to make things even better, and the touch of dry sherry at the end really tops things off nicely. I could see adding different vegetables to this if you like, such as some broccoli or sliced mushrooms or really anything that you favor. The soup was even better the next day for lunch and we all really enjoyed the meal. I made some buttermilk biscuits to go along with the soup, but you could make any bread, rolls, biscuits or even just have crackers or a sandwich alongside of it and you have a great meal.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Leave it took Cook’s Country Magazine to keep supplying me with easy to make, quick weeknight meals. Finding something that uses just a few ingredients but comes together really nicely to taste great and can all be done in less than 30 minutes is my idea of the perfect weeknight meal. We have been so busy around out house lately with work and all of the other family things going on and it is only going to get crazier as we get further into November and December with birthdays, holidays, parties, travel and more. This means finding fast and easy meals that we can do without a lot of effort. This one for bourbon butter steak tips with maple mashed sweet potatoes is great because you can get the sweet potatoes softened in the microwave, get your steak tips going and have everything ready in about 20 minutes. Add a green vegetable and you are good to go.
Bourbon-Butter Steak Tips with Maple Mashed Sweet Potatoes
2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 pounds sirloin steak tips, trimmed and cut into 2-inch chunks
1/2 cup bourbon
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
Combine the sweet potatoes, 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper in a large bowl. Cover and microwave until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes, stirring the potatoes halfway through the cooking process. Add the heavy cream and 3 tablespoons of the maple syrup and mash the potatoes until they are smooth; cover the potatoes and set them aside.
Meanwhile, pat the steak tips dry with paper towels and season the steak with salt and pepper. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat until the oil is just smoking. Add the steak tips and cook them until they are well browned all over and the meat registers 125 degrees (for medium-rare), about 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer the steak tips to a platter and tent them loosely with foil to keep them warm.
Off the heat, add the bourbon, apple cider vinegar and the remaining 1 tablespoon of maple syrup to the skillet. Return the skillet to medium-high heat and cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 3 minutes, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Off the heat, whisk in the butter and season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Return the steak and any accumulated juices to the pan and toss the steak to coat it well with the sauce. Sprinkle the steak with chives and serve it with the mashed sweet potatoes.
This was a very delicious meal with a nice hint of the maple syrup permeating the potatoes and the steak. Throw in the taste that the bourbon adds to the sauce and it really makes the steak out of this world. I really think you could make this with any cut of beef if you did not have steak tips to use; you could use a London broil, sirloin or any other cut of beef that you really prefer or even use a whole steak like a rib eye or strip steak and it would be great. It’s so easy to make and you get wonderful layers of flavor.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Fall Soups and Stews – Photo Gallery | SAVEUR.
It is definitely that time of year when my attention (and perhaps yours) turns to warm, comforting meals like soups and stews. These make great tasting, nourishing meals that are perfect for you to make any time, like on the weekend to get ready to have for lunches or dinner during the week. Saveur Magazine has put together 60 soup and stew recipes so you can try just about anything that you like. Check it out!
Fun, unusual and forgotten designations on our calendar.
Happily Ever After Lives Here
a little bit naughty a little bit nice
Letting Life Lead
Simple and delicious dinner inspiration
onedadskitchen 