My Cooking Adventures

After I got my new KitchenAid mixer (yay!!), I wanted to try it out right away. I am a member of an online community of women called The Nest, and I frequent a board called, "What's Cooking?" I went to the board in search of recipes to try out with my mixer, and someone posted a great looking beer bread recipe from AllRecipes.com. I tried it out yesterday afternoon, and it is delicious! Here is the recipe; if you ever have the chance to try it, it is an absolute must! I'm going to make a loaf for my parents this weekend, it's that good!

Vickie's Beer Bread

Serves 12

INGREDIENTS
· 3 cups self-rising flour
· 3 tablespoons white sugar
· 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer, room temperature
· 1/4 cup margarine, melted

DIRECTIONS
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch baking pan.
2.In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and beer. Mix just until blended. Scoop into prepared baking pan. Pour melted margarine on top of loaf.
3.Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until bottom of loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Now, if you only have all-purpose flour, like I did, you can make your own self-rising flour by doing the following (3 cups):
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt


For dinner last night, I had planned to make a meat loaf. The recipe called for dry bread crumbs. Instead of going to the store and buying bread crumbs in a bag, I just took a couple pieces of bread, and left them sitting out on top of the toaster oven, to get hard and stale. Then, I chopped them up into squares (I have a 3-cup food processor; if you have a larger one you might not need to chop up your bread to fit it in your processor) and put them into the bowl of my food processor. I chopped up the bread pieces until they were tiny little bread crumbs. It saved me a lot of money. I got this recipe for meatloaf (and this bread crumb tip) from my Better Homes and Garden Bridal Edition Cookbook.

Meatloaf

Cook Time: 1 hr 10 mins
Makes: 8 servings

2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs or 2 cups soft bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried leaf sage, basil, or oregano, crushed
1 1/2 pound ground beef, lamb, or pork
1/4 cup catsup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard

1. In a bowl combine eggs and milk; stir in bread crumbs, onion, parsley, salt, sage, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Add meat; mix well. Lightly pat mixture into an 8x4x2 loaf pan.
2. Bake in a 350* oven for 1 to 1 1/4 hours or until internal temperature registers 160*F. Spoon off fat. In a bowl combine catsup, sugar, and mustard; spread over meat. Bake for 10 minutes more. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.