A lot of the cooking I do doesn’t rely on recipes. I just throw things together and see if they work together. This is one of those recipes. It came about after having a discussion with a friend about what exactly meatloaf was as she had never had it before (at least that is what I gathered from the conversation-if I was wrong please correct me!) and I had mentioned that I was going to be making one today.

The most basic recipes for meatloaf consist of ground beef mixed with breadcrumbs, chopped celery, carrots, and onions which is then shaped into a loaf in a baking dish or a loaf pan. (Baking it in a loaf pan is actually not a very good way of making a meatloaf…)

I had intended on making this meatloaf relatively simple but when I went into my fridge I realized some key ingredients were actually missing. I didn’t have celery or onion. So I had to improvise using what I did have on hand : carrots, zucchini, roasted red peppers, and some dried chives. And because my husband requested it when I told him I was thinking about making meatloaf, I also had some Sambal Oelek to use.

I normally add recipes here after I’ve successfully made them, not while I am making them. The meatloaf is currently sitting in the oven baking and I am already adding it here even though I am not sure that it will turn out. (I have a pretty good idea that it will.)

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Okay, this is a recipe I found in one of the German cookbooks. (The recipe translates to: Meatloaf with Bacon and a Potato crust) The moment I saw it I knew that I had to make it. I mean really what is not to love about it? It’s meatloaf wrapped in bacon and topped with mashed potatoes.

As is my usual MO we had friends over for dinner the night I made it.

For all the translation that I had to do in my head the recipe was in fact fairly simple. I made the potatoes in advance and reheated them in the microwave just prior to topping the meatloaf. This allowed me to get around having to time everything just right.

Normally I make meatloaf with a bread crumb mixture but this one called for milk soaked slices of a day old baguette. I had never used this method before, but I must say that it worked wonderfully and I was pleased with the cohesion of the meatloaf as well as the amount of moisture it retained. Because the meatloaf was topped with mashed potatoes and I really didn’t need a starchy side to go along with it, I made some French-cut green beans to go along with it. They were a nice compliment to the mustard foam/sauce that I made just before serving.

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Teufelssupe translates from the German to Devil’s Soup. The reason they call it the Devil’s Soup does not only come from its red coloring, but the kick in heat that it has from Sambal Oelek. Sambal Oelek is a fresh red chilie paste that you can find in most supermarkets in the “asian/indian” isle. It can be used on just about anything that you want to give a kick of heat to. Just use it sparingly as a little goes a really long way. I used 1 tsp to start then after tasting it added another. That second tsp increased the heat of the soup by quite a bit.

The soup is also made with Gulasch meat (a mixture of pork and beef stew meats) which when I think about it isn’t all that surprising since it is very much like a German Gulasch just with some vegetables and a kick.

The preparation is super simple and the whole thing cooks for about an hour depending on how tender you want the beef to be. It thickens up over time but doesn’t quite get as thick as a stew would.

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I pulled out Maine Coastal Cooking, a cookbook that my mother purchased 2 years before I was born, and decided to make something out of it. The cook book has recipes dating all the way back to 1664 and contains a small book at the end titled The Accomplished Cook: The Art and Mystery of Cookery.

I decided to make an Irish Stew. There were two variants of this recipe and I chose to go with the beef and vegetable version. Yet again I decided to make a recipe that required the use of a vegetable that I hadn’t worked with before, the turnip. I used a regular turnip instead of a yellow turnip because when I bought turnips I didn’t know that yellow turnips were actually ruddebegga. The things I learn about when I decide to look in my cookbooks…

I used half the amount of beef and smaller potatoes. The next time I think I will increase the amount of carrots. I let the meat and onions simmer for about 2 hours before adding the remaining vegetables and simmering for another half hour. The meat was tender and the vegetables had just enough firmness to them.

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I scored some Kitchen Goddess points with Skillet Tostadas yesterday. I was told that “This is the best Mexican dish you’ve made so far.” by my darling husband.

Sometimes it’s the simple things that taste the best I guess. Looking at the recipe there really isn’t much to it. And it took all of 10 minutes to get everything ready. So this would make a great quick meal for people that think there isn’t enough time to cook.

I made one minor change when I made this dish. Instead of using jarred salsa (I didn’t have any) I made my own using a can of diced tomatoes and some Simply Salsa Seasoning Mix from Tastefully Simple that was given to me by my mother. (Every once in a while she gives me things like that.) Other than that everything else was the same. I will be interested to see what the difference will be when I use normal jarred salsa the next time…because, lets face it, I’ll be making this one again.

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The Easy Stuffed Bell Peppers is actually my own concoction. I was randomly throwing things together one evening trying to make something edible. (This was during my college days and food was rather random.)

Initially I just mixed the Rice-A-Roni with the meat and diced tomatoes and ate it like that. It was while I was eating that I had the idea to use it as a stuffing in bell peppers. I think it was the Rice-A-Roni that gave me the idea. Most stuffed peppers that I have had in the past were stuffed with some sort of rice mixture.

I don’t make it very often, I am not sure why, but it is a favorite at the dinner table. Since I am usually cooking them for two people there is usually a lot of stuffing left over. It reheats really well and can be eaten on its own.

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Lamb Ragu was the first dish I tried to make when I went on my lamb kick a few months ago that didn’t involve leftovers from Outback.

This was a surprisingly easy recipe to follow, and I always appreciate that. I didn’t use the mint as I am not a fan of the mint/lamb combination.
I was quite surprised to find that lamb is a relatively lean meat. It has a very distinct flavor and was very tasty in this dish.

I invited Carly and her husband over for dinner to be guinea pigs (meant kindly) and as far as I can tell the dish garnered enough approval to be added to my repertoire.

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I’m not sure this is the case with every Kitchen Goddess, would-be or fully realized, but it seems to me that there are certain foods/recipes that simply make us feel at peace. Fettuccine with Bolognese Sauce is one of those recipes for me.

I look forward to the prep work that is involved with anticipation the moment I decide that I am going to make it. From buying all the ingredients to the actual chopping. I’m not why this is. But it really does make me happy. My spirits rise and I usually end up bopping about the kitchen singing some random happy tune. And this is just during the prep stage which really only takes as long as chopping vegetables and the pancetta.

Then there is the smell that fills the kitchen when I actually start to cook. It’s absolutely heavenly. It comforts me. The moment I smell the combination of celery, carrots, onion and pancetta there can be no wrong in the world. Everything just seems right. It’s an amazing feeling.

I try to make this every other month or so. It makes so much that if I make it just for the two of us there will be enough leftovers to last at least three meals so I freeze a lot of it. Even if I just pull it out of the freezer and thaw it I am still filled with a sense of well being.

I can only hope that when others share this meal with me that they get the same sense of comfort that I do when I make it.

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Recently I went on a lamb ‘kick’. I don’t recall why it started, most probably because I saw something on the telly. When I go on these ‘kicks’ I tend to talk about them a lot; so it wasn’t surprising when I asked my mother for suggestions for her birthday dinner that she said lamb.

After much deliberation I settled upon a recipe that I felt she would like. So off to Whole Foods I went to purchase the lamb chops. The meat counter at Whole Foods is one of my favorite places to shop for meat. It reminds me of the butcher shops in Germany and there is something about bringing home meat wrapped in butcher paper. Unfortunately, on the day that I went they didn’t have any rack of lamb left so I ended up substituting shoulder lamb chops.

The broiled lamb chops went excellently with the caramelized fennel and pancetta salad that I made. The balsamic vinegar reduction tied everything together with its sweet/tart flavor.

The only change I would make the next time I make it is reducing the balsamic reduction. For the amount of lamb there simply was too much of it and seemed rather wasteful. Especially since you don’t want to drown the meat in it but simply drizzle it.

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