Cheesy Salsa Mini Meatloaves

This is one of those dinners that's just yummy. Plain and simple. There's not much more I can say about these delicious mini meatloaves. They were tender and flavorful, they had just the right amout of spice, and they baked up in no time. What's not to love?

This recipe is really more of a method than anything, because once you know how to make these mini meatloaves you can flavor your ground beef with anything you want. This is definitely a quick and easy alternative to a more traditional meat loaf, and this particular version is going in our regular rotation for sure. (P.S. I pimp this Mexican sour cream rice all the time, but it really is the perfect side dish for these.)

Cheesy Salsa Mini Meatloaves
source: Real Mom Kitchen

1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 egg
12 saltine crackers, finely crushed (about 1/2 cup)
1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican-blend cheese, divided
1 cup medium-heat salsa, divided

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Mix first 4 ingredients with 1 cup cheese and 1/2 cup salsa.

3. Press evenly into 12 muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray. Use back of spoon to make indentation in center of each. Place muffin pan on foil-covered baking sheet.

4. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until meatloaves are done (160 degrees). Top with remaining salsa and cheese; bake 3 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Weekly Meal Planning

Monday: Chicken rigatoni bake. I found this recipe on a box of pasta years ago and I've been making my adapted version of it ever since. It's one of my favorite fall and winter comfort foods -- I can't believe I haven't shared this one yet.

Tuesday: Chile, cheese and bacon quesadillas, Mexican sour cream rice. (Yes, I make this rice a lot; no, I will never get sick of it, not ever.)

Wednesday: Corn and kielbasa chowder, rolls (and I'm probably going to add cheese, too, because if you look over my menu this week you can clearly see I have thrown calorie counting out the proverbial window. Plus, you know, the baby needs calcium.)

Thursday: Buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese. Oh, yeah. (See: baby needs calcium. He also apparently needs spicy food.)

Friday: BBQ beef and bacon melts, steak fries. I make these melts just like I do my bacon patty melts, except I omit the special sauce and use shredded BBQ beef instead of a hamburger patty and cheddar and/or Monterey jack cheese instead of American. Delicious, and equally as good using shredded BBQ chicken or pork.

Saturday: Meatball subs (inspired by this recipe). This is the second time I've used this meatball recipe. I didn't post about these last time I made them because I wanted to play with the ingredients and preparation a little bit to make them fit our tastes perfectly. That's what I plan to do this time, so I'll be sure to share what I come up with.

Sunday: Saucy slow-cooked chicken thighs, Joe's potatoes, green beans

Weekend Breakfast: Bacon, egg, lettuce and tomato sandwiches (BELTs), applesauce. The more bacon the better right now -- I can't get enough of the stuff. My poor little baby and his slowly-clogging arteries.

Baking: I recently found Peanut Butter & Co. cinnamon raisin swirl peanut butter in my local grocery store, so I will be using my precious find to make these oatmeal peanut butter cookies. And then I will be eating all of the cookies, probably in one sitting.

Frozen Pumpkin Squares

Well, I've officially found a pumpkin dessert that my husband doesn't like. And this is it.

Don't let that deter you from trying these, though; Andrew and I both liked them very much. I think for Joe it was more of a texture issue than a flavor issue, since essentially, the main component of this dessert is frozen pudding. I will admit that the texture of these is rather odd, and next time I make them I may substitute softened vanilla ice cream for the pudding. If I do that, I think I'll have a pretty darn perfect pumpkiny treat on my hands -- one that Joe will definitely enjoy.

Frozen Pumpkin Squares
source: Favorite Brand Name Recipes: Classic Recipe Collection

1 cup fine gingersnap crumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 1/4 cups cold milk
2 packages (4 serving size each) vanilla flavor instant pudding and pie filling
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tub (8 ounces) whipped topping, thawed, divided

1. Mix crumbs, walnuts and butter in a small bowl. Reserve 2 tablespoons for garnish. Press onto bottom of foil-lined 8-inch square pan. Refrigerate.

2. Pour milk into a large bowl. Add pudding mixes, pumpkin and spice. (Next time, I'll use a couple of cups of vanilla ice cream in place of the milk and pudding.) Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes or until well blended. Gently stir in 2 1/4 cups of the whipped topping. Spread over crust.

3. Freeze 4 hours or until firm. Let stand at room temperature 10 minutes or until dessert can be easily cut. Cut into squares. Garnish with remaining whipped topping and sprinkle with reserved crumbs.

Chicken Spaghetti

I have another Pioneer Woman recipe to share with you today. And it was delicious, even though my photo of it is terrible. I don't know how to take a pretty picture of something as wonderfully messy as a casserole. So you'll just have to trust me: It tastes a lot better than it looks. (Go look at Ree's pictures. Hers are much better.)

I adjusted the recipe based on our personal tastes, some of the comments on Ree's post, and my time restrictions, and I was really happy with how this turned out. It's nothing special or unique, really: just straight-up delicious home-cooking at its best. I made the full batch and froze half for a later meal, and we still had leftovers -- this makes enough to feed an army! Joe, Andrew and I all really liked this one!

Chicken Spaghetti
source: adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks!

1 16-ounce box spaghetti, broken into 2-inch pieces
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups cooked shredded chicken (a store-bought rotisserie chicken works perfectly for this)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1 4-ounce can green chilies, drained
1 small onion, finely diced
1 4-ounce can chopped pimientos, drained
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook spaghetti in chicken broth and water until al dente; drain. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except 1 cup shredded cheddar. Pour into a casserole dish and top with remaining cheese.

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until bubbly.

Cauliflower Soup

I've been very into cauliflower lately. I know, isn't that strange? I mean, I've always liked it, but right now I want to eat it all the time. I've had raw cauliflower with veggie dip for a snack every night this week. I should be craving things like chocolate! and ice cream! and other unhealthy sweet treats! And sometimes I do, but mostly? It seems that all this baby wants is cauliflower. He's no fun.

This did, however, give me the perfect opportunity to make The Pioneer Woman's cauliflower soup last week. And this will come as no shock to those of you who've made one of her recipes before: It. was. delicious. Joe absolutely loved it, and even raved about it to his grandma the next day (who is a very good cook, so it's nice to appear competent in her eyes). I followed Ree's recipe pretty exactly, except I dolloped the sour cream on top of our individual bowls of soup and sprinkled some cheddar cheese on top too. I served the soup with grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for a cozy, delicious fall dinner.

Cauliflower Soup
source: slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks!

1 stick butter
1 onion, finely diced
2 bay leaves
1 carrot, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
1 large head cauliflower, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 32-ounce box of chicken stock
2 cups whole milk
6 tablespoons flour
1 cup half and half
Salt and pepper to taste
Sour cream
Shredded cheese for topping, if desired

1. In a large soup pot or dutch oven, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Add the onion and bay leaves and cook for a few minutes, or until the onion starts to turn brown. Add the carrots and celery and cook an addition couple of minutes. Add cauliflower and parsley and stir to combine. Cover and cook over very low heat for 15 minutes.

2. After 15 minutes, pour in chicken stock or broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer.

3. In a medium saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Mix the flour with the milk and whisk to combine. Add flour-milk mixture slowly to the butter, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and stir in half and half.

4. Add mixture to the simmering soup. Allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Check seasoning and add more salt or pepper if necessary. Discard bay leaves.

5. Ladle soup into bowls and top each serving with sour cream and shredded cheese, if desired. Serve immediately.

Maple-Drizzled Apple Muffins

Here's the funny thing about pregnancy: It makes you crave things that you may not have even liked before you got pregnant. Let me give you a couple of examples. All my life I've hated marshmallows, but last Friday I ate my weight in s'mores, and I currently can't get the thought of these treats out of my head (I actually think I may make them tonight). The other example, which is applicable to today's post, is maple syrup. I've never been a big fan of syrup itself or of maple-flavored things (maple sausage excluded; I have always liked that), but now? I can't get enough of it. So when I saw these muffins, they immediately attracted my attention.

These muffins are soooo delicious. Studded with chopped apples and drizzled with a maple glaze, they absolutely scream "fall" to me. The maple flavor is subtle and sweet, not overpowering at all. This is the kind of muffin that warms you up from the inside out. One Allrecipes reviewer said she added dried cranberries to the muffin mixture, which I'm definitely going to try next time. I think that would make these even better!

Maple-Drizzled Apple Muffins
source: Allrecipes

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups chopped, peeled apples
12 pecan halves
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. In a small bowl, mix milk, butter, syrup and egg; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apples.

2. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Top each with a pecan half. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Cool completely.

3. For glaze, mix confectiones' sugar and syrup; drizzle over muffins.

Arroz con Pollo

I saw this recipe a couple of months ago on Debbie's blog, and I bookmarked it immediately. I've always wanted to make arroz con pollo at home, but I guess I always thought it was a time-consuming, labor-intensive process. But it really wasn't. This meal came together relatively quickly and was absolutely delicious.

The recipe calls for the thighs to be seared in the bacon drippings so the skin gets crispy, but then they go back in the rice and broth mixture to cook through, and by the time the rice was finished the skin had lost a lot of its crispiness. Next time, I'll either use boneless skinless chicken thighs, or I'll cook the bone-in skin-on thighs completely through, separately from the rice. But that was really the only issue I had with this meal. I omitted the peas because I didn't have them on hand, and I also left out the saffron because honestly, it's not an ingredient I would ever use again. I also added some chopped Spanish-style olives to the rice mixture for the last few minutes of cooking. Joe and I both really enjoyed this dinner, and it will definitely be a repeat in our house. Thanks for the recipe, Debbie!

Arroz con Pollo
source: adapted from mocha me

4 slices bacon

4 chicken thighs with skin and bones

Salt and pepper to taste

Paprika to taste
Dried oregano to taste

Garlic powder to taste

Cumin to taste

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 small sweet yellow onion, diced

2 bell peppers, diced (I used one red and one green)

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes

2 cups chicken broth

1 pinch saffron (omitted)

1 cup rice

3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped (divided)

1 cup frozen peas, thawed (omitted)
1/2 cup Spanish-style pimiento-stuffed olives, roughly chopped

1. Cook the bacon in a large Dutch oven. Once the bacon is cooked, drain on a paper towel and then crumble. Set aside.

2. Season the chicken thighs with a bit of each seasoning to taste. Cook the chicken thighs, skin side down first, for 4 minutes each side. Remove from pan and set aside on a plate.

3. Add the olive oil to the Dutch oven over medium heat. Once hot add the onion, bell peppers and a bit of each seasoning to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender. Add the garlic and cook constantly for 60 seconds. Add the diced tomatoes, chicken broth, saffron, rice, crumbled bacon and half of the cilantro. Stir until mixed thoroughly; taste the broth and re-season if needed.

4. Add the chicken in an even layer and simmer over medium low heat, partially covered for 25 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally so the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. During the last few minutes of cooking, stir in the olives. Sprinkle the finished dish with the thawed peas (if using) and the remaining cilantro.

Sausage and Cheese Muffins

I probably should have included this in yesterday's meal-planning post, since yesterday was November 1. But I didn't decide until yesterday afternoon that I'm going to attempt to do NaBloPoMo on this site as well as on my personal blog. I mean, how hard can it be, right? I typically post every day except for Saturday anyway, and I have a lot of recipes backing up to share. This is going to be easy, right? Right?

*crickets*

Ahem. Anyway. The recipe I'm sharing today was a huge hit in our house. They're called sausage and cheese "muffins," but they're really more biscuit-like in texture. Whatever you want to call them, they are absolutely delicious. I made these for breakfast the same week I made these baked apples for dinner, so I had a half-pound of maple sausage to use. The original recipe calls for hot sausage, which I think would have been equally as good.

I topped mine with butter, and Joe topped his with butter and maple syrup. These came together very quickly and were the perfect breakfast for a cozy Sunday morning!

Sausage and Cheese Muffins
source: adapted from Allrecipes

1/2 pound bulk pork sausage (I used maple, which was yummy, but I think any kind of sausage would work)
1/2 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 1/2 cups biscuit/baking mix

1. In a skillet over medium heat, cook sausage until no longer pink; drain.

2. In a bowl, combine soup, milk, sage and sausage. Stir in the biscuit mix just until moistened. Fill greased miniature or regular muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until muffins test done.

Weekly Meal Planning

I had fun sharing all of those Halloween-themed goodies with you last week. I actually think I gave myself gestational diabetes due to all the sugar-laden treats I consumed. Someone had to eat all of it! It was totally worth it, though.

And now here we are, in November. I can't believe this year is almost over. It's time to start freezing some meals in preparation for the new little man's arrival in January, so a few of the recipes on this week's meal plan will be doubled so I can freeze half for later.

Monday: Chicken and cheese enchiladas

Tuesday: Biscuits over creamed chicken

Wednesday: Macaroni and cheese-stuffed tomatoes, salad. Except instead of using store-bought macaroni and cheese like the recipe suggests, I'll make a batch of our favorite mac and cheese to stuff the tomatoes, and then freeze the rest.

Thursday: Cream cheese potato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches. This soup is incredible as-is, but it's going to be even better when I add some broccoli, bacon, and cheddar cheese to it. Which is what I so plan on doing.

Friday: Pizza joes, steak fries

Saturday: Baked gnocchi. I've been wanting to make this ever since I got this cookbook, and I think it's finally cool enough to justify the heavy, creamy calorie fest.

Sunday: Baked ziti, garlic bread

Weekend Breakfast: Pumpkin buttermilk pancakes, sausage links

Baking: Coconut-chocolate pecan pie. I'm on my own with this one since Joe hates shredded coconut, so be sure to check back to see how I do at consuming an entire pie by myself. (Spoiler alert: I'm sure I'll do just fine.)

Halloween Week: Halloween Pumpkin Bars

I know, I know: I missed yesterday's Halloween-themed recipe. But this week has been long and stressful, and I've decided the only way I can cope is to take some of the pressure off of myself. On Wednesday night, that meant eating fast food for dinner and resting on the couch instead of cooking dinner and making chocolate-caramel apples (I know, don't those sound good? I'm definitely keeping them in mind for next year). But yesterday I did muster up the time and energy to make these adorable treats for a work potluck today:

Aren't they cute? They were so much fun to make. I think the guys on the right look like Easter Island statues. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Halloween Pumpkin Bars
source: inspired by Taste of Home and ...and a cookie for dessert

Baked pumpkin bars (use Taste of Home's recipe, or this one, which is truly the best)
Cream cheese frosting (canned will work, but homemade is much better)
Yellow and red food coloring
Candy corn
Black decorating gel

1. Bake pumpkin bars according to recipe directions; cool.

2. Meanwhile, tint frosting with yellow and red food coloring to make orange; spread over cooled bars. Cut bars into squares.

3. Using candy corn and decorating gel, make a face on each bar.