Dadi and Nati's Meatloaf

Meatloaf is better than you think. Use equal amounts of finely diced onions( 1 / 2 med) and finely diced mushrooms, 2 eggs, 1 /4 c milk, 2 tblespoons worcestershire , 1 /4 c ketchup, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp crushed red pepper, 1 tsp granulated garlic, and a half tube of crushed soda crackers per pound of ground beef. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, cover w/ ketchup or BBQ sauce and bake at 350 degrees for the remaining 20 to 30 minutes until cooked thoroughly.

Serve w/ baked potatoes, carrots and cabbage; butter and ketchup on the side. Yum .

If you finely dice the onions and mushrooms and saute them before you add them to the meat mixture, your 12 yr old daughter, who hates onions and mushrooms, won't even know that they are there, and will say" great meatloaf, Dad." Lucky me and lucky her.

Rat- a- Tat Touille w/ Polenta And More

Polenta is corn meal mush. You can use the same cornmeal that you use for cornbread, but cook it like you would cream of wheat for about 20 minutes. Use a whisk in your sauce pan and add water as necessary. Add salt, pepper( red and black), garlic, parmesan cheese and Herbs De Provence or basil.

Serve the polenta with a red or marinara sauce or a spaghetti sauce of your choice. It is an excellent substitute for pasta.

If you turn the polenta into an oiled( olive or vegetable) pie pan and chill, you can slice it into pie like wedges and fry in oil in a pan or heat it in a microwave and serve it with appropriate( any) Italian sauces or even ratatouille or chili. Yes. It is great. Add accompaniments like sour cream, cheese, green onions, etc... .

Oil Strike!

If you have a dry face and hands and more and if lotion is not working for you even with successive applications, try vegetable oil. You do not need a lot. It is initially very oily on your skin, but will be mostly absorbed in 10 to 15 min. Blot with a cloth or paper towel if necessary. One application lasts all day.

I have been using soybean oil. Any oil would work - peanut, olive, safflower, canola etc... you could do the girly thing and flavor it w/ herbs and essences and aromatics.

If you have struggled with dry skin, I think you will like it. Plus it is cheap.

Choke Cherry Juice, Reduced, w/ Wild Game

Harvested the last of the wild rice today. Got some roasting in the oven and choke cherries boiling on the stove.

Googled choke cherries and found wine and jelly recipes, which seemed involved and intricate w/ all kinds of discussion about jelly bags and cheesecloth and pillowcases and muslin and hanging and dripping.

Use a colander and a strainer or " china hat" . If your jelly is not perfectly clear, call it jam. Add sugar to taste.

I added a cup of sugar to a gallon of choke cherries and boiled it about 20 minutes and strained it and intend to use the juice like wine in any sauce or gravy based wild game recipe. It is darker even than Cabernet or Bordeaux and you could use it in any Bordelaise recipe or Coq au Vin, which means w/ venison, beef, chicken or wild fowl.

Why I Would Die and Return as Bacon

Boil your fresh garden green beans till al dente and then saute' them w/ bacon and onions and garlic and red pepper flakes. Add some butter. Good enough to die for. Bacon is so great and so are green beans and onions. Lots of garlic, lots of red pepper.

You will know that you are eating.

Keeping it Simple, Fish, Sweet Corn, Zucchini

You would not think that after 40 yrs of cooking personally and professionally, that I would screw up a meal at home.

Fish, corn on the cobb, zucchini. The corn was the best but not all that good either - boiled it instead of roasting it in its jackets. Over a fire or in the oven. Diminished/diluted when boiled in water.

Zucchini, like summer squash should be fast sauteed w/salt, pepper, garlic and finished w/ parmesan cheese. It should have body. I simmered it slow and it was soft and mushy. I am generally w/ Julia and believe that vegetables like broccoli should be cooked beyond crunch ( carrots, too). Not summer squash or zucchini.

When doing fish - floured and pan fried - and if you are doing a beurre blanc type sauce( reduced wine, herbs and butter), use plain flour, not a highly seasoned variation w/ paprika and cayenne and garlic that you would do as a shore lunch on a camping/fishing trip. Overkill and a muddied flavor. Keep it simple. Do one or the other. Roll the filets in plain white flour, saute in butter, and or olive oil, remove from pan, add wine, reduce, add herbs and cold butter pats. With highly seasoned flour leave it at that, fry it and eat it.

I hate it when I screw up a simple meal.

The Best of Summer

A warm soft evening. Perfect. Finally.

Sunnies dredged in seasoned flour( salt, black pepper, cayenne optional but recommended, granulated garlic, paprika) sauteed in olive oil and/or butter and finished off w/ a pan sauce made by adding white wine( any) to the pan drippings along w/ garlic, parsley, and tarragon. Reduce, add butter pats, swirl, pour over fish.

Serve it with fresh garden broccoli, and summer squash. The perfect end to a perfect summer day.