Salisbury Steak

Salisbury Steak is one of those dishes that I have always enjoyed, but generally only ever have as part of a frozen meal. Looking for some new flavors to interject into our menu, I decided to try some Salisbury Steak for dinner. I had my ideas about how to make a Salisbury Steak and as I looked across various sites, discovered that I was headed in the right direction.

20 oz Ground Turkey (you could use beef)
1 can French Onion Soup
1/2 c breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 tsp minced garlic
salt and pepper, to taste
flour, for dredging
1/4 c white wine
1 small onion sliced
1/4 c ketchup
1 tsp Worcestershire
1/4 c water
brown gravy, packet prepared as directed or canned

In a bowl, combine the turkey, 1/2 the can of soup, the breadcrumbs, egg, garlic, salt and pepper. Shape into patties (I got about 8). Place flour on plate, dredge the patties in the flour.

Add a small amount of oil to a skillet. Add the patties and brown on both sides. Remove from pan.

Deglaze the pan with the white wine. Reduce heat to medium and add the onions and the remaining flour from the plate. Allow to saute for a couple of minutes.

Combine the remaining soup, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, water and gravy. Whisk together until smooth. Add to the pan.

Place the patties back into the pan and allow to cook for about five more minutes.

Serve with mashed potatoes or buttered noodles.

I really enjoyed this dish, as did my kids. My husband was not a big fan. I should say that he doesn't like meatloaf and the gravy tasted very meatloaf like to me. I likely would omit the ketchup next time, in hopes that it would be more appealing to my husband.

Blueberry Buckle

When my husband and I bought our first house, we became friends with our neighbors. They were older than us (their kids were older than us, if I recall correctly), but we would still get together with them from time to time, usually for dinner.

Shortly before we moved away, we had them over to dinner one last time. I made a salad and a chicken dish for dinner. It was summertime and blueberries were in season, so I found a recipe using blueberries for dessert. It turned out that it was very much like a coffee cake, but made in a springform pan. (of course, I had to replace my cheap springform pan after this dish because the blueberries affected the surface of the pan.)

Blueberry Buckle
1/2 c butter
2 c all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 c milk
1 tsp vanilla
5 c blueberries
Streusal Topping (recipe below)

Heat oven to 350. Butter and flour a 10" springform pan.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed to low and add egg and vanilla. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk. Gently fold in the berries.

Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle streusal topping over cake. Bake for 60-70 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the springform pan and allow to cool 15 more minutes before serving.

Streusal Topping
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c brown sugar
1 c flour
6 tbsp butter

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or fork until a fine crumbs form.

This post shared at Ultimate Recipe Swap Dessert Edition.

Disclaimer

Spiced Apples & Apple Enchiladas

Recently, we had the opportunity to participate in an Iron Chef Dinner Party, where one of the ingredients was apples. I bought a bag of apples at the local orchard and there were a lot more apples in the bag than I thought there were. I have been making other things using apple to use some of them up (we already had a bag of "eating" apples). When we go out to dinner, the kids always like to get spiced apples. I decided that would be a nice way to use up some apples. I figured, they can't be too difficult to make and so I set out to make them. I like how the brown sugar does a little bit of caramelizing when you cook it in the butter, giving the sauce a little something extra.

Spiced Apples
4 Apples
1/4 c Butter
1/4 c Brown Sugar
1/4 c Sugar
1 Tbsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Nutmeg
1 c Apple Juice (or water)
1 Tbsp Cornstarch

Cut the apples into chunks (I left the peel on, but you could peel the apples first). Melt butter in skillet. Add apples, stirring often. Allow the apples to soften. Add the sugar and cinnamon, continuing to stir. Cook for a few minutes.

Stir the cornstarch into the juice (or water). Add to the apples and bring to a boil, stirring often. When sauce thickens, remove from the heat.

Serve warm.

Then, the other day, we had a picnic with friends and I was looking to make a dessert. I decided on Apple Enchiladas and decided that the Spiced Apples would be a perfect fit for the dish.

Apple Enchiladas
Spiced Apples
5 - Burrito Size Flour Tortillas

Fill the tortillas with the spiced apples. Wrap like a burrito and place in a greased baking dish, seam side down. Pour remaining sauce over the enchiladas. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

We cut them in half, getting 10 servings.

Disclaimer

Chili Cheese Dip

I am a big fan of dips and of tortilla chips. I will dip tortillas in chip dip, salsa, hummus, and cheese dips.

I came across this recipe for Chili Ole Dip on the Hormel site, while looking for a recipe for a party. The flavors sounds like a great combination to me, but I was looking for something a little easier, so I modified and the result was rather tasty.

Chili Cheese Dip

1 - 8oz Cream Cheese, softened (used 1/3 less fat variety)
1 - cup sour cream (went with reduced fat variety)
1 - can Hormel Chili, no beans

Combine ingredients and place in small crock pot on low. Serve warm with chips.

My small crock pot only held about half of this dip at a time, so I put the leftovers in a covered bowl and refilled mid-evening.

I'm a Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger. No compensation was received for this post. All opinions are my own.

Disclaimer

Welcome!

I created this blog a few months ago so that I could have a place to share recipes and other kitchen related posts. I never got around to making my first post, because well, life has been very busy.

I really enjoy cooking and baking. If money and time were not a factor (not sure what world that would be), I would love to go to culinary school. It would be great to actually have training to further enhance my skills.

When possible, I do like to attend cooking demonstrations and take cooking classes at local stores. I love learning new techniques and recipe ideas. Many years ago, we went on a cruise and the chef did a demonstration on crab cakes. It was there that I discovered how easy it was to make crab cakes. I find that many dishes seem like they might be difficult, until you see/try it.

My recipes come from many sources, many of them, I honestly don't know where they originally came from. I have been clipping recipes from magazines, papers and newsletters for years and they are just hanging out in a file, long removed from anything that I could cite as a source. If I know a source for a recipe, I will share it. Frequently, I start with a recipe and improvise and tweak as I go. If I had a recipe that was an inspiration (and know where it was from), I will share it. By not citing a source, I am not claiming any of the recipes to be my own (unless of course they are and I will say that).

Hope you enjoy the recipes and information that I share here.