Crabbies and Patties

Today I got to cross a couple more recipes off my list. They were all courtesy of the amazing blog, Chef in Training. We had some people over for some good ol' Maryland crabs (and hamburgers for those who didn't eat crabs). I always like to contribute something to a party my parents throw so I checked into my Recipes folder in my browser favorites.

First I made this Greek Pasta Salad. So simple and yummy!

The only difference between mine and the recipe was that we couldn't find Kalamata Olives so I used canned black. I used pretty much the whole can which was about 1 cup and I quartered them.

Because we had people over, I got to make a dessert! I decided on this eclair cake via High Heels and Grills, my newest blog to follow. She originally got the recipe from Nikki from Chef In Training who, it turns out, is her sister in law (psst, Sarah, I liked your instructions better)! Small blog world!

The only difference in my recipe was that when I gave my shopping list to my mom, I asked for a 12oz package of cool whip but she just wrote down cool whip. Those tubs are 8oz. Luckily I had a half used fat free one in the fridge so I combined them.

Mine was no where near as pretty as hers. I didn't layer the graham crackers all perfect.

I used too small of a dish so I had a whole bunch of pudding-cool whip mixture left over. I had to peel off the top layer of graham crackers and scoop out some of the filling.

Here is my chocolate frosting. It was liquidy just like she said!

And, of course, because my 'cake' was so full and my dish too small, the frosting leaked over the sides. So I saved the extra frosting.

My presentation skills may be lacking but with some fresh strawberries added on top and that extra chocolate drizzled over it, this was amazing. Rave reviews! I'm already looking forward to my left overs tomorrow evening!

Peanut Butter S'more Cookies

I hope everyone had a great father's day weekend! For my gift, I went simple because my dad is really hard to buy for. I made him something I knew he'd enjoy - cookies! My dad loves cookies - especially if they have peanut butter in them so I went looking through the internet for some. My first stop was the amazing food blog, Chef In Training. It was there that I found peanut butter s'mores cookies. I mean, how could you go wrong with peanut butter, chocolate, and marshmallows? You can't. You really just can't.

I doubled the recipe so I could take the extras into work. They were definitely a hit! Everyone gobbled them up. I have a normal go-to chocolate-peanut butter cookie recipe which I'll have to share with you all one day soon and asked my dad which was better - these or those? His response was "Well...I just...I just love them both!" I mean, to get my dad to say that he loves something is a pretty big accomplishment and I feel like that attests to the deliciousness of these.

Here's how mine turned out in ball form...

And right out of the oven.

My doubling the recipe made 57 cookies. The only thing I did differently when I doubled it was I put more marshmallows in - maybe two cups - and I used one and a half bags of the peanut butter chips.

Mmmm, I think I'll go have one...or three...if there are any left!

A Meatloaf For The Onion Haters

Greetings my fellow onion haters! I know you're out there...there has to be SOMEONE else out there besides me. Well, there is no denying that I despise onions. There is nothing I hate more than the taste, the texture, the smell...they're like my kryptonite. I can smell them within a 5 mile radius.  At dinner, you'll often hear me asking, "Is this onion?" "Does that look like an onion to you?" Besides my utter hate for them, I'm also kind of allergic so I just really can't eat them. The problem is, a lot of people/restaurants think it's okay to put onions in dishes and not list them under the ingredients so I've taken to asking...and coming up with my own recipes without them. I love me some Boston Market meatloaf, primarily for the tomato/ketchup sauce on top of it. They've been slacking in the taste department lately so I decided to experiment with it myself. I started off with this recipe from Alton Brown and made it my own based on my tastes and the comments of others. There's even a short video from Alton if you get confused about anything. This makes about 6-8 servings. If you want, you can call it a meatloaf for picky eaters...although just because you don't like something that someone else does doesn't mean you're a picky eater! :)

"This is even better than Boston Market meatloaf."

-Dad

MEATLOAF
6 ounces (weight) garlic flavored croutons (smushed to fine texture if you don't have a food processor like me)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 carrot, peeled and broken (or chopped finely if you don't have a food processor)
1/2 red bell pepper (I didn't add this when I made it [mainly because I'm just starting to like peppers and I tend to forget that so I still leave them out from habit] but it would be a good addition)
3 whole garlic cloves
36 oz meat (Alton says 18 oz ground chuck and 18 oz ground sirloin - I used half ground hamburger meat and half a premade package of meatball/meatloaf meat. I ended up having about 2.8 pounds of meat instead of 2.25 so mine took longer to cook)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 egg

GLAZE (THIS GLAZE IS SO DELICIOUS IT DESERVES EXTREME CAPITALIZATION)*
1 cup ketchup
pinch of ground cumin (if you like it with a little zing, then use 2 tsp)
2 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
2 TBS honey
dash of hot pepper sauce (again if you like it spicy - I don't really plus we didn't have any)
*Note: recipe is doubled from Alton's as recommended by commentators. Don't throw away the excess. Use it to dip your meatloaf in (although it's not as good when it's not baked on but it's still yummo!)

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In food processor, combine croutons, black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and thyme. Pulse until fine texture. If you don't have a food processor, put the croutons in a plastic bag and smash with the flat side of a wooden spoon until fine. Remove. Combine carrot and garlic (and bell pepper) in food processor bowl. Pulse until the mixture is finely chopped, not pureed (or just finely chop it yourself like I did). Combine the vegetable mixture and meat with breadcrumbs. Season with salt. Add egg and combine thoroughly but avoid squeezing the meat (I recommend watching the video added on the link for the original recipe so you can see how Alton does it all).
3. Place this mixture into a 10" loaf pan and mold to the shape of a loaf. Turn out onto the center of a parchment paper (we didn't have any so I used foil) lined baking sheet (I used a baking tray in case of splatter). Cook for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, combine ketchup, cumin, Worcestershire sauce, and honey (and hot pepper sauce if you want). Brush half the glaze onto the meatloaf after it has been cooking for the 10 minutes. Cover all sides. Cook meatloaf for 15 more minutes and brush more glaze on. Cook about 10 more minutes (a total of 45 minutes) or until meat thermometer inserted at a 45 degree angle reaches 155 degrees. Note, we ended up cooking ours for like an hour and a half to two hours but we had a lot more meat than the recipe called for.

I also made these amazing Texas Roadhouse Loaded Sweet Potatoes from Chef in Training. SO DELICIOUS! Even if I don't make the glaze every time, I'll definitely add marshmallows more often.

I'm sharing at...
While He Was Napping
Sew Can Do