Slow Cooker Oniony Meatloaf

When I drew up the menu plan for these two weeks, I decided that since the weather is finally cool and Christmas is around the corner, and I have so much stuff to get done, it would be best to go full on Slow cooking.

We've been able to enjoy really delicious meals and all I have to do is get it going in the morning and serve it at night.  What's better than that?

Here's one of the first ones, and by the way a lot of these are coming from my Gooseberry Patch Slow cooker Recipes Cookbook. In most cases I am giving you the exact recipe, in others I've slightly adapted it.

Oniony Meatloaf

2 eggs
1/2 cup catsup
3/4 c. quick-cooking oats, uncooked (I used panko breadcrumbs)
1 and 1/2 oz. pkg. onion soup mix
2 lbs. ground beef

Combine eggs, catsup, oats and soup mix in a large bowl. Add ground beef; mix well. Shape ground beef mixture into a loaf, place into crockpot.

Cover and cook on low setting for 5 hours or until a meat thermometer reaches 160 degrees. (about 30 minutes before it was done, I poured some ketchup on top and spread it a little)

Kikkoman Giveaway Winner

Thank you all for entering the giveaway, I'm thrilled that so many use the Kikkoman products too :)

Unfortunately I can't declare everyone a winner, only one but if you follow this link, you can find a few coupons including a buy one, get one free :)

I used Random.org to get a winner and the number that came out was #8.

Congratulations Katie, I will be contacting you shortly for your address. :)

Tomatillo and Cilantro Chicken Enchiladas

I am not a fan of enchiladas.  There, I got that out of the way.

So, it's not something I make very often, something about a bad experience when I was pregnant and got really sick and then hated Enchiladas for the rest of the my life, which is really stupid since it's not the Enchiladas fault if I had morning sickness.  LOL



But anyway, I don't really much care for them, but once in a while I'll be browsing the food blogs online and something will catch my eye, like these Chicken Enchiladas and I think what caught my eye was the cilantro cause I'm a nut for cilantro.



Care's Kitchen is a blog I just recently started following but boy does she have good stuff, check it out when you have a chance.

Now onto the enchiladas which have broken down the wall of fear I had built for so long....these are SO good.  The Sauce is from Care's Kitchen, the rest of the method is adapted from the same post since it's pretty much just a how to on putting these together.



Tomatillo-Cilantro Sauce
by Lourdes Castro, Simply Mexican - Epicurious October 2009

Ingredients:

8 tomatillos, husks removed, rinsed, and quartered
2 to 3 jalapeños, stemmed and halved
1 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro, tender stems and leaves
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
Salt and black pepper

Directions:



Combine the tomatillos, jalapeños, cilantro, garlic, and water in a blender



and purée until well blended.



Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium heat.

When the oil is hot, add the onion and sauté until the onion is limp and translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the tomatillo mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.



Add the shredded chicken to the sauce and stir to coat. Allow to cook for 3 more minutes. Check the seasoning and adjust if needed.

METHOD:

I used a whole chicken, cooked it up and set aside the broth for other recipes.  I then let it cool down a bit and shredded it.  I think I used about half of the chicken for these enchiladas.

Added the chicken to the sauce as specified above.

Then took out a tortilla, filled it with the Tomatillo and Cilantro Chicken mixture, rolled it up and placed it in a greased baking pan.



Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

Top them with shredded cheese of your choice, I used Mexican blend, then pour on the Enchilada sauce, I used a can of ready made Sauce but you could make Emeril Lagasse's easy homemade enchilada sauce.



Sprinkle on some more cheese, cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes.  That's it.

SO GOOD!

Crispy Baked French Toast

This one comes from Kikkoman and boy is it good, the panko breadcrumbs give it such an amazing crunch...delicious.



Crispy Baked French Toast

3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumbs
8 slices dry white bread
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Butter
Maple syrup

1. Beat eggs together with milk, sugar and Vanilla extract in shallow bowl until well blended. Place panko in pie pan or shallow dish. Dip each bread slice into egg mixture, thoroughly coating both sides; then coat both sides of bread slices with bread crumbs. Place on large wire rack.



2. Add butter and oil into 17-1/4 x 11-1/2-inch jellyroll pan. Place pan in 400 degrees F. oven 1 to 2 minutes, or until butter melts. Remove pan from oven.

3. Place bread slices into pan, in single layer, turning over once to coat both sides of bread slices with butter mixture.



4. Return to oven and bake 15 minutes. Turn bread slices over and bake 10 minutes longer, or until golden brown.

5. Serve with butter and maple syrup.

Kikk-Up The Holidays with Kikkoman! Review and Giveaway

So last year Kikkoman contacted me and offered up some of their amazing products for a review and a giveaway.

I was beyond thrilled because Kikkoman is one of my favorite staples in the kitchen.

When they contacted me again a few weeks back, I couldn't believe how lucky I was to be asked to once again review the products, try out some recipes AND host a giveaway for my readers. Yay!

First thing I got in the mail was a box filled with products.



Included were some really good recipes which I still have to try.....but on the menu for that night was chicken, so I decided to use the Panko Breadcrumbs for those.  If you've never cooked with Panko you have no idea what you're missing, they are so much better than regular breadcrumbs.



Garlic and Parmesan Panko Crusted Chicken Tenders



As Thanksgiving rolled around, I knew I wanted to once again brine my turkey with the Kikkoman recipe, so I did.





The only thing I added was some garlic, but the rest of the recipe is as I followed last year and you can see it on that post.



Of course, I also followed the recipe for the Green Bean Casserole which is always a hit in our house.



Next thing I made which was actually breakfast for this morning, were the Crispy Baked French Toast using Panko Breadcrumbs and THAT was good. The Panko gives it this amazing crunch which the kids loved.



So if you are looking for some great ways to jazz up your Christmas meal, whether you're making Turkey or Ham, why not use some of the Kikkoman Products....you won't regret it. If you've never tried the Ponzu sauces you really have no idea what you're missing, they are SO good.

Thank you again to the folks at Kikkoman for providing me with these samples.  The winner will receive two full sized Kikkoman products, as well as a BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE coupon available online.

All you need to do is leave me a comment including an email address where I can reach you and let me know if you use Kikkoman products which is your favorite and if you don't, which you would like to try.

Giveaway is open to US residents only.  It will run until next week Tuesday, December 6th and then I'll draw a winner using Random.org.

Good Luck!