valentine's day

so i'm sure people have been dying to know how the chicken marsala turned out on valentine's day...

anyways, the girl was super curious about what i was gonna make for dinner that night and i figured since she was going to go food shopping with me anyways, i might as well make it fun. so i decided to give her a bunch of clues until she figured out that it was going to be pasta, mushrooms, and chicken. even with all of that, she couldn't come up with chicken marsala.

i pretty much made it the way i did the second time, except i used the whole 8 oz. package of mushrooms that i bought and i used like maybe a cup of wine and a cup of chicken broth. (not really sure of the exact amount since i literally used a cup.)


i don't like mushrooms, so she ended up eating all of them, which were cooked in wine for a while before i added in the chicken broth. plus, she ended up eating three of the five pieces of chicken that i made, which is probably about 0.9 lbs since the whole amount was 1.5 lbs. so needless to say, she went into a food coma, but not before she made some yummy crepes! we put nutella, pineapples, and vanilla ice cream, with some orange butter she also made, inside.

mmmmeatloaf

so i finally got around to making that meatloaf tonight. i made the betty crocker one. it didn't have a sauce listed so i looked up some other recipes and just picked one of them.

oh and apparently i can't go to www.tastymeatloafrecipes.com at work. maybe because it has the word MEAT in the url?

recipes used:

MEAT LOAF

Prep: 20 min
Bake: 1 hr 15 min
Stand: 5 min
Makes 6 servings

1 1/2-lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried sage leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, finely chopped, or 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 large egg
3 slices bread, torn into small pieces*
1 small onion, chopped (1/4 cup)
1/2 cup ketchup, chili sauce, or barbecue sauce

(1) Heat oven to 350ºF.

(2) In large bowl, mix all ingredients except ketchup. Spread mixture in ungreased 8x4-inch or 9x5-inch loaf pan, or shape into 9x5-inch in ungreased 13x9-inch pan. Spread ketchup over top.

(3) Insert ovenproof meat thermometer so tip is in center of loaf. Bake uncovered 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until beef is no longer pink in center and thermometer reads at least 160ºF.** Drain meat loaf.

(4) Let stand 5 minutes; remove from pan.

*1/2 cup dry bread crumbs OR 3/4 cup quick-cooking oats can be substituted for the 3 slices bread.

**Due to the natural nitrate content of certain ingredients often used in meat loaf such as onions, celery, and bell peppers, meat loaf may remain pink even though beef is cooked to 160ºF done-ness. Always check meat loaf with a thermometer to make sure it has reached 160ºF in the center.

SAUCE

Source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/meatloaf-with-tomato-gravy-recipe/index.html

so the meatloaf is pretty tasty with the ketchup. the sauce was yummy too but it kinda tasted like spaghetti sauce. potatoes are too heavy to carry all the way home from the supermarket so i didn't buy any to make mashed potatoes. instead, i ate it with rice. my g/f made fun of me and said i was soooo asian. ::sigh:: i am defs catching the FOB disease from her. haha

i think i might try this recipe the next time i make it:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/dads-meatloaf-with-tomato-relish-recipe/index.html