Pot Stickers…

A favorite in my family is Pot Stickers. When I was a child, my mother would make huge batches of this Chinese appetizer for dinner. There was five us and it was an all day process, pressing one teaspoon of the meat mixture at a time into the wrapper.

When my husband and I got married, my father-in-law thought he won the lottery, when he found I knew how to make these.  My father-in-law wore contacts and traveled several times a month for work. Air travel dehydrated him to the point his contacts would get uncomfortable to wear. He sound found that if he ate pot stickers, twenty minutes later his eyes would not be so dry.

To be honest, I always thought he was pulling my leg and used it as an excuse to get me to make them for him. It was not until I wore contacts, I was able to test his theory. I was surprised to find that my eyes did not feel as dry after eating them. Strange, I know! I would not recommend though you give up eye drops for pot stickers.

Today I made 100 hundred pot stickers for a friend of my husband. A few weeks back, we had them for dinner and my husband took the leftovers to work. There was more than enough so he shared them with his friends. On Thursday, I got a text from husband asking if I would consider making 100 pot stickers for this person.  At first, I laughed off the request until a response came that it was serious request. So I sat watching the Oakland A’s playing the Chicago Cubs and made pot stickers all afternoon.

Click this link for the recipe!

Pork and Apple Cheddar Burgers…

1 pound ground pork

¾ cup shredded apple

¼ cup chopped green onions

½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground pepper

4 slices of cheddar cheese

4 onion topped hamburger buns

Directions:

In a medium bowl combine apples, onion, thyme, salt and pepper, fold in pork until well combined.

Form mixture into 4 patties about ¾ inch thick.

Grill over medium coals, covered for 5 minutes.

Turn, cover and cook an additional 4 to 6 minutes. Internal temperature show be 160°F

Place a slice of cheese on each patty and serve on bun.  

What is in your meatloaf?

After doing some research on the meatloaf, I can tell you there is not one pinpoint date or country where it might have come from. Some who say it started with the Romans, 17^th century France or even the Pennsylvanian Dutch in the 18^th century. There is a consensus that meatloaf became popular with Americans around The Depression. The meatloaf filled the need to stretch the family food supply while be filling and nutritious.

The ingredients in a meatloaf are just as diverse as its origins. Most articles I read all agreed that Veal was probably the first meat used since it was cheaper than beef. Other items used in meatloaf, vegetables, breadcrumbs, oatmeal, rice, wheat germ even cornflakes. My mom used to make it with oatmeal onions, carrots and two slices of bacon on top. My mother-in-law makes hers with breadcrumbs. There is one constant ingredient in every meatloaf and that is a single egg.

I make my meatloaf a bit differently from both my mom and mother-in-law. I have also tried experimenting by wrapping the entire loaf in bacon before cooking. The recipe that follows makes a nice juicy meatloaf that freezes and reheats without drying out.

Paige’s Meatloaf:

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef, extra lean

1 pound ground pork

1 egg

1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tablespoon, dried parsley

2 Tablespoons, minced onions

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

4 ounce can of tomato sauce

Bacon grease

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven 400°F

Combine with hands first eight ingredients until fully blended.

Thickly grease 11” X 7” Pyrex glass baking pan with bacon grease

Form meat mixture into a loaf and place into prepared pan

If you have extra bacon grease, gently rub to outside of meatloaf then season with salt and pepper.

Pour tomato sauce over top of meatloaf, covering the entire top and sides.

Bake in oven until internal temperature is 160°F