"Good Food Ideas - Kraft Cheese Cookbook" & "Cooking in Door County [Wisconsin]" - Cheddar Meatloaf and Mushrooms and Macaroni a la Creme - Packer/Viking football

Date I made this recipe: Saturday, October 15, 2017 – The eve of the annual Packers v. Vikings game, game 1 of 2

Good Food Ideas – Kraft Cheese Cookbook by Kraft Kitchens

Published by A Benjamin Company Book

© 1977

Purchased at Arc’s Value Village Richfield

Recipe: Cheddar Meatloaf – p. 45

Cooking in Door County (Wisconsin) by Pauli Wanderer

Published by Voyageur Press

© 1985

Purchased at BCPA (Bloomington Crime Prevention Association) Annual Sale

Recipe:  Morels (or another mushroom) a la Crème – p. 51

All right then, so yesterday (Sunday) was the annual [Green Bay] Packers (my team) v. [Minnesota] Vikings game.  It is a game that is always fraught with peril and this year it was a disaster as the Packers quarterback broke his collarbone halfway through the first quarter and the backup quarterback had to finish the game.  “We” as in my Packers lost 23-10.

This was not supposed to happen.  Nope.  You cannot believe the anti-jinxing rituals I go through just to make sure we win each one our games, and as faithful readers know, these rituals extend to my cookbooks and the game day recipes I select to spur my team to victory.

This time around, I found two cookbooks, one, a cheese cookbook from Kraft kitchens, and the other, a cookbook from Door County, Wisconsin.  (Door County is a “resort” area in northeastern Wisconsin, just north of Green Bay.) Since food is love and I love my team, I felt sure that the two recipes I selected would bring good luck their way.  I even made them the night before for an extra good luck push and to free me up on game day. Both recipes even had cheese for crying out loud which is the food of the gods in Wisconsin.  It is not for nothing that Packers fans are called “Cheeseheads!”

All sign then pointed to “yes.”  Unfortunately, the recipes were good but not great and that should have been my first clue to the upcoming Football Apocalypse (2017).  More on that in a minute.

So that was Saturday night, and on Sunday morning, my birthday twin and fellow Packer fan, Deb, and I went to breakfast for a late birthday celebration.  We agreed originally to meet at 11:00 and that was fine by me.  Then Deb texted me asking if we could change that to 10:00 (yes) and switch venues so she could watch the game. 

Ten o’clock was fine but watching the game was a problem for me and so stay with me while I explain it. 

In addition to trying to make food befitting a football game (not all Packers games, just some of the more important ones), I have come to believe that sometimes it is more helpful to the team if I don’t watch the live broadcast.  I always record it and will run it back no matter what, but I have found they win if I’m not watching them.  It’s crazy thinking to be sure, but it seems to work. There are also times, like this past Sunday, when my schedule doesn’t always allow for me to be at home when the game is on.  This week’s exciting task that took me away from the game grouting our new tile for our upstairs bathroom remodel. Three hours and a lot of grout dust later, we finally finished but alas, at that point, it was all over but the crying (and the last 45 seconds of the game).

Anyway, Deb said that if she watches them, they win.  I suggested to her that we just canceled each other out which was not good!  This is also foreshadowing of the debacle that followed.

Okay, so to recap, I made a Packer-related dinner, Deb and I canceled each other out on watching live/not watching live, and this brings us to the third and final nail in the coffin:  team apparel/team colors.

My unwritten rule of “game” apparel is this:  Thou shalt not wear “enemy” (i.e. opposing team) colors three days before game time.  By “apparel” I mean everything from underwear to eye wear.  I say this because for years now, I have had a pair of purple glasses and a pair that is not purple.  I do not wear the purple frames games at all three days before a game, regardless of whether it is the Packers v. Vikings game, because purple is a Viking team color and I don’t want to send any good juju their way, only bad!

You can call me crazy if you like, but all this is mild compared to some fans I know.  It’s all about not jinxing our team so that all they do is “win, win, win, no matter what!” (Thanks, DJ Khaled!)

Okay, so now that you know this, here’s what happened at breakfast:  Deb inadvertently wore a sweatshirt containing lettering in purple and yellow and yellow, the other Vikings color. Vikings colors are enemy colors and sheesh, talk about picking the wrong day to wear that outfit! I learned that Deb does not take things as far as I do but she should because look.what.happened.

In conclusion, and as I mentioned earlier, we were now up to three signs of the upcoming Football Apocalypse (2017):  Bad Juju Moment #1 – Saturday dinner; Bad Juju Moment #2 – Watch/don’t watch, and Bad Juju Moment #3 – Enemy apparel.  We inadvertently doomed our team before they even took to the field.

Our sincere apologies to Packer Nation for these actions.

Let’s backtrack then to the recipes that I made and how they fared.  First up:  Good Food Ideas – Kraft Cheese Cookbook.

This cookbook contains recipes for every type of cheese dish imaginable.  Naturally, Kraft wants us all to use Kraft cheese products, but I cheated and purchased a Wisconsin cheddar at Trader Joe’s. Now for all I know, this private label product was made by Kraft but I didn’t really care because the label said “Wisconsin” cheddar and that’s all I needed to know. 

Okay then, so let’s take a look at the Table of Contents:

• ·       Social Snacks
• ·       Hot and Hearty Soups and Stews
• ·       Feature Attractions
• ·       Zesty Vegetables
• ·       Special Salads and Salad Dressings
• ·       Savory Sweets
• ·       Wonderful Happenings
• ·       From Oven to Table – Homemade Bread
• ·       Sandwiches to Remember
• ·       Sauce Sorcery
• ·       Eye Openers – Breakfast and Brunch
• ·       Microwave Magic
• ·       Enough for a Crowd
• ·       Perfect Partners – Cheese and Wine (no recipes)
• ·       Through the Ages with Cheeses (no recipes)

 I must say that the only chapter that gave me slight pause was the “Savory Sweets,” but I shouldn’t have been alarmed because most of the recipes used other Kraft products such as cream cheese or Parkay Margarine (yuck) and only a few used cheese.  Even then, those that did, such as an apple pie crust made with cheddar cheese in the crust, made sense. 

I finally decided on the Cheddar Meatloaf from the “Feature Attractions” chapter because it had cheddar cheese in the mixture.  I pictured it as a great big cheeseburger with cheese molten like lava flowing out of the middle. Naturally, that is not at all what I got.

You can tell I’ve been watching too many episodes of Food Network’s “Chopped,” because I told Andy “I like it, but the tomato soup flavor overpowers all the other basket ingredients.” 

I am totally qualified to be a judge on that show.

Not only did the tomato soup overpower the other ingredients, but the cheese seemed to disappear in its entirety.  I’m not sure it was supposed to but it did.  This was not a good sign.

Still, we ate it because it was tasty even if it was a tad on the tomato-y side.

And then there’s the second book, Cooking in Door County (Wisconsin) which looked cute and all, but I must tell you that I was hard-pressed to find a recipe in this book to my liking.  Why?  Well, because of a smattering of recipes such as these: “Smelts” (a tiny bony fish, more fun to catch than eat); “Brussels's Belgian Tripe;” “Pickled Pig’s Feet,” and “Head Cheese.”  Now if I was on Chopped, cooking with these ingredients would be one thing but I’m not on Chopped so I was free to ditch those ingredients, thank goodness, and continue my search. 

Sadly, it only seemed to get worse.  Take for instance, this chapter - Water and Shore- and some of the offerings: “Whitefish Liver Pate,” “Mud Lake Mallards,” “Wild Goose and Red Cabbage,” and “Venison Pot Roast.”

Eesh!  I suppose I could be persuaded to eat whitefish but not a whitefish liver pate, nope. As to the duck and the goose, my dad used to hunt and so I’ve eaten both but cannot get past the gamey taste and smell.  Same goes with venison.  No matter how my mom prepared it or what she added to it, I just didn’t like it which of course did not make my dad very happy.

The rest of the recipes in this cookbook was a complete mishmash.  Woods and Byways contains lots of wild mushroom recipes and it’s a shame that morel season is over because I love morels.  My dad used to go and pick them and sauté them in butter and they were delicious.  The rest of that chapter though, is dicey except for a few recipes for wild jams that sounded interesting.

Overall, Orchards and Fields yielded the most edible recipes such as “Door County Cherry Pie,” “Swedish Apple Cake,” and “Zucchini Stew.”  Alas, I just wasn’t struck by any of these enough to go ahead and make them.

Roots is the chapter that yielded some of the god-awful dishes mentioned above although thankfully, other recipes balanced that horror such as “Vivian’s Pea Soup, “and “Swedish Meatballs.”

Since I was in a cheese sort of mood, I decided on Morels and Macaroni a la Crème from the Woods and Byways chapter, only I substituted shiitake mushrooms for morels.

Just like the Cheddar Meatloaf, this recipe had potential to be blockbuster but wasn’t.  Turns out there was an unspecified amount of time to keep this on the stove top so it would stay rich and creamy and I went over that limit (apparently) by just enough to cause the cheese to coagulate.  Damn and blast!  The result was totally edible but the appearance suffered.  We’re talking minutes here people, minutes if not seconds.  Moral of the Morel and Macaroni Mixture? Keep your eye on the prize!

As with the meatloaf, the mushroom flavors got buried under the cheese and macaroni and that irked.  If I made this again, I would cut down on the macaroni, amp up the mushrooms, and definitely add a lot more salt and pepper. Oh well, live and learn.

In conclusion, all my attempts to will my Packers on to victory failed and so now Packer Nation must pick up the pieces and move on. My husband always says “It is so hard to be a Packers fan” and he is not kidding! As I said, the recipes were good, but keep your eye on both the oven and the stove and perhaps adjust your ingredients to bring out other flavors.

Cheddar Meatloaf – 6 servings – from Good Food Ideas Cheese Cookbook by Kraft

1 ½ pounds ground beef

1 ¼ pounds dry bread crumbs

1 4-ounce package Kraft shredded sharp natural cheddar cheese

1 10 ¾-ounce can condensed tomato soup

1 egg

¼ chopped onion

2 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley

½ teaspoon salt

Dash of pepper

Combine all ingredients; mix lightly.  Shape into loaf in 11 ¾ x 7 ½-inch baking dish.  Bake at 350° F, 1 hour.

Ann’s Note:  I made a half recipe and so used half the can of soup and I still thought the tomato flavor overpowered the cheese so you might want to hold off on using the entire can if making the full recipe.

Morels (Shitake) and Macaroni a la Crème – serves 8 to 12, depending on appetites

1 pound macaroni

6 tablespoons butter

1 pound Swiss cheese, grated

4 egg yolks, gently beaten

2 cups cream

1 cup morels, chopped fine (Ann’s Note:  or substitute shitake or chanterelle)

Pinch nutmeg

Salt and pepper

Boil the macaroni and drain.  Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pan.  Frizzle the morels for a minute.  Add the macaroni, the egg yolks mixed with the cream, and the cheese.  Mix the cheese in gradually as you stir and life over a low heat.

When all the ingredients have reached a creamy consistency (this will be in a matter of minutes), stir in the nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.*  Heap this delicious mess on a large, deep platter and garnish with tomato slices.

*Ann’s Note:  One minute, the mac and cheese was all creamy and dreamy, but I left it on the stovetop just a hair too long and that made the cheese coagulate.  What the author failed to mention is “Remove from the heat immediately and then serve.”

"Meals in Heels" and "She Cooks to Conquer" - Mini Meatloaf and Peas Penelope--the perfect birthday dinner!

 Date I made these recipes – October 16, 2016 – Happy (Belated) Birthday to me!

Meals in Heels – Do-ahead dishes for the dinner party diva by Jennifer Joyce

Published by Murdoch Books

ISBN:  9781741965520; © 2010

Purchased at The Bookcase (now closed), Wayzata, MN

Recipe:  Mini meatloaves with roasted tomato thyme sauce – p. 91

She Cooks to Conquer by Robert H. Loch, Jr.; Illustrated by Laura Jean Allen

Published by Wilfred Funk, Inc. New York

© 1952

Recipe – Peas Penelope – p. 44

So my birthday came and went and it was good which should not surprise me but it always does because for a long while, I was on a bad birthday streak.  It happens.  This year, Andy and I dined at a newer but extremely popular Minneapolis restaurant, Spoon and Stable, and I got a reservation for us without having to put up our home as collateral, huzzah!  And the dinner was not only great but it didn't cost us an arm and a leg.  Hand claps all around.

Still, this birthday gal likes a homemade birthday dinner and since I don't have family around to make one for me based on my requests, I had to do it all by myself.  And I'm happy to report that "myself" did a pretty good job! (Pats self on back.)

I must have been feeling all "woman power" when I selected these books – Meals in Heels and She Cooks to Conquer (a play on words of the play, She Stoops to Conquer, written by Oliver Goldsmith that premiered in 1773.  As a former English major, I knew all this which was why I bought the cookbook years ago.) And I think those titles are pretty spot on given my interests and personality, to wit:  I love shoes, and I do like playing to my strengths both in business and in cooking.

So, the shoes:  I am a frequent DSW shopper, following in the footsteps (pun intended) of my mother who also adored shoes.  My summer shoe collection although vast, contains fewer heels than it used to since I now like a flat, summer casual shoe (and adore flip flops). Come winter though, I switch to boots although anything that has a heel that looks like a toothpick is out. I'm now getting to the age where a slip and fall on high heels on the ice is a recipe for a hip replacement and I kind of like the hip I have.

I'm also probably getting to the age where I should purchase and use, one of the large gel floor mats that chefs use but dang, they're expensive and so I wear flats when cooking.  Heels, like the "heels" in our title would kill me and my back while preparing all these recipes.  But as soon as I'm done cooking and commence entertaining, I'm back in the spike heel game, baby!

This Meals In Heels cookbook is fun but it was written by a Brit and published in England so you'll see metric recipe measures first and then the American equivalents.  Always a total give-away, those metric numbers (that I still don't understand because I don't want to)! No matter, I coped as best I could although I have to say that dividing ingredients whether metric or not, can be challenging for me; "kitchen" math is not my forte (nor is "music" math and most especially "law math" i.e. billable hours).

The table of contents is divided into "Getting Started;" "Canapés;" "Starters;" "Mains;" "Stews & Roasts;" "Barbecue;" "Sides;" "Sweets," and "Basics."  Each section has a decent amount of delicious-sounding recipes.  My meatloaf recipe came from the "Mains" section (p. 91).

Also included are menus that are divided into seasons -  "Spring," "Summer," "Autumn," "Winter," as well as "Celebrations," and within that group, theme parties.  Sample menus are:  "Spring – Indian spice trail and French brasserie;" "Summer – American barbecue and Scandinavian summer;" "Autumn – Italian make-ahead and Movie night;" "Winter – Chinatown feast and Mediterranean dreaming," and "Celebration – Christmas holiday and Black-tie canapés."

And yet with all that, I narrowed down my choices to lasagna or meat loaf.  I know, I know, but it's the comfort food and the birthday food I crave and I am used to.

I hate to say, but the lasagna lost out at the last minute because of two things:  kale and béchamel sauce.  Over the years, I have expanded my lasagna horizons to include vegetable lasagna or even spinach lasagna but I draw the line at kale.  I know it's good for you and I'll eat it in a salad, but it is a crime against humanity to put it in a lasagna.

And as discussed numerous times in this blog, white sauce (béchamel) is not the sauce of my people and does not belong in a lasagna and so there went that.  And so...meatloaf!

My mother's recipe came straight from the back of the Quaker Oats canister and I loved it.  But it is a basic recipe and I was looking for a little more for my birthday meatloaf so I chose today's recipe - Mini meatloaves with roasted tomato thyme sauce.  Plus, you put the word "mini" in front of me and I'm in like Flynn.  I mean think of it—you get a tiny bite instead of a big one, and everyone knows that the word "mini" is synonymous with "less calories," right?  Unless, of course, you eat a "mini" portion(s) equal to a regular-sized one which is allowed under culinary rules when the first "mini" portion is so mini as to not be satisfying, in which case more minis are necessary!

Why do I suddenly feel like Bridget Jones here?

At any rate, that was the meatloaf saga.

As to the veg, these are my  two auxiliary rules regarding meatloaf:  1) it must be accompanied by potatoes of some sort and 2) it must be accompanied by peas.  Meatloaf + potatoes + peas = my perfect comfort/birthday meal.  Who says I'm not good at math—well, besides me?

But careful readers will have seen already that I did not include a potato recipe so what's up with that?  Simply, I did not like the potato recipes I found in the books I used for the other dishes and I did not have time to go routing around for another potato recipe.  And so, dear reader, I bought some "Fingerling potatoes with sautéed leeks," already prepared, from Whole Foods deli where I shopped for the meatloaf meat.  I must confess though, that I was hoping to buy some mashed potatoes from the hot bar buffet but did they have any potatoes that day?  No, they did not, dammit! That said, they had some mac and cheese and so I took a little bit of those.  They are not potatoes but they will do in a pinch.

The peas recipe came out of the other cookbook I used – She Cooks to Conquer – which is a play on a play She Stoops to Conquer.  The play is about a guy (gotta have the guy) who sets out to "conquer" a gal (gotta have the gal) only she outwits him and manipulates him until he falls for her instead of "conquering" her (whatever that means) because that is how these things are supposed to work out. It's your basic "rom com" formula and one that obviously stood the test of time because the play was written by

by Oliver Goldsmith and premiered in 1773.  Yes, you read that right.  I think it's reassuring to know that while many things change in life, this plot framework still works and works well.

Side note:  As an English major, I have always known of this play and author, yet I cannot recall whether or not I actually read it during my studies.  After a while, all these books and titles start to blur.  I can tell you though, that I have read Jane Eyre a million times (slight exaggeration), Antigone several times, all of Shakespeare's works too damned many times and Moby Dick twice when "none" time would have been sufficient.  I hope we can all agree that six hundred pages about a whale is a bit much.

Anyway, this concludes all I know about She Stoops to Conquer and other "good reads."

As to She Cooks to Conquer, here is what the dust-jacket said which is totally laughable in this day and age:  "Now, for the first time, the kitchen sorcery of Circe, that semi-divine enchantress of classical times, is used to bewitch, bewilder*, and enslave the male animal.  Here is a collection of the most man-appealing, taste-titillating recipes for the successful feeding of the MAN who comes to dinner." ( *I can't believe the author didn't include "bother" when he said "bewitch and bewilder" as Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered is a wonderful song by Rodgers and Hart (1940), a song I've sung several times over the years at various musical events.)

My reaction to those statements, you ask?  "Hahahahahahahaha...."  I think I particularly like "enslave the male animal." All I can say is recall that this cookbook was published in 1952 when women's sole job was to get married then stay at home to raise babies while the "MAN" went out to work...and hunt and trap food for the family. 

And so to help the enchantress "enslave" her man,  recipes are divided into chapters as follows:  "Even Had Only Adam but Circe Really Had'em';" "Initiating the 'Vessel Virgin';" "The Portable Primer for Your Man of Extinction;" "The Man Who Came to Dinner" (also the title of a play by George S. Kauffman and Moss Hart, 1939); "Dinner Quartet;" "Midnight Eatiquette;" "The Man Who Stayed for Breakfast," and "Homeric Recipes in English Translation."

I'll just let you ponder those titles for a minute.  Done?  Okay.  Once again, let me just remind you it was 1952.  Still, is there any excuse for this title – "Initiating the Vessel Virgin???!"

This is one of the few cookbooks I have where every recipe is illustrated.  The artist on this endeavor was Laura Jean Allen who illustrated everything from New Yorker covers to books such as Mr. Jolly's Sidewalk Market, Lots and Lots of Candy, A Dragon in a Wagon and The Thirsty Camel. 

In this cookbook, she broke down all the recipes and steps into illustrations/icons.  The front inside cover contains measurement drawings, for example a drawing of a big spoon which translates into a tablespoon; a half spoon for a ½ tablespoon; an illustration of a coffee cup for a cupful and so on.  And then for the recipe itself, she's drawn ingredients (like a box of peas for my recipe) as well as salt and pepper shakers and so on.  On the one hand, this method was unique – sort of like a kids' cookbook.  On the other hand, I found these instructions to be lacking in detail and I like details!  "Details, details, details...."

As to the recipe, it was good but I tell you what, if you are trying to watch your waistline, this is not the recipe for you because it calls two tablespoons of sugar and one stick of butter. I have to confess that I could not in good conscience add that much so I skimped, adding a lot less of each and I don't think it made any difference to the flavor.  It's rare that I venture off the recipe but I didn't want to end my week-long birthday party with a heart attack!

In conclusion, I got my meatloaf, I got my peas, I got my shoe fix on (boy did I—DSW offered me a birthday coupon and who am I to pass it up...so I bought two pairs!), and I cooked to conquer.

It was a grand birthday.  Until next year!

Mini meatloaves with roasted tomato thyme sauce – makes 6

Prep time 20 mins/cooking time 1 hour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1onion, finely chopped

1 large carrot, finely chopped

10 ½ oz minced beef

10 ½ oz minced pork

¾ cup fresh breadcrumbs

2/3 cup tomato passata* (Ann's Note:  see explanation below)

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon chopped thyme leaves, plus sprigs for garnish

7 oz mini roma (plum) tomatoes, halved

3 teaspoons caster (superfine) sugar, for sprinkling

*Passata is a pureed tomato sauce.  Internet research though, showed a wide variety of recipes and definitions.  The most basic ones just contained pureed tomatoes with a bit of salt.  Others wanted you to cook the sauce, adding basil and other spices, which to me says "spaghetti sauce."  I decided to use Pomi Strained Tomatoes "straight up" and think it worked okay.

Preheat oven to 325F.  Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.  Add the onion and carrot, season with salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes or until softened.  Remove and transfer to a large bowl.  Add the beef, pork, breadcrumbs, half of the passata, Worcestershire sauce, egg and half the thyme to the bowl, season with salt and pepper and gently mix with your hands until well combined.

Divide among six 4 x 2 inch-sized ramekins and spoon over the remaining passata.  They'll seem very full but will shrink during baking.

Top each with a handful of tomato, ½ teaspoon sugar and season with salt, pepper and remaining thyme.  Bake for 50 minutes or until sauce is thickened.  Top with thyme sprigs to serve.

Peas Penelope – serving size not listed but easily served 4 or more

Ann's Note:  As I mentioned above, the ingredients for each recipe are illustrated rather than listed in the traditional way (e.g. 1 10-oz box frozen peas) and so I had to guess at the peas. 

1 box of peas, frozen

1 large clove of garlic, peeled

2 tablespoons sugar (Ann's Note:  wow, this seemed like a lot!)

1 stick butter

¼ teaspoon oregano

¼ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon tarragon

Cook the peas according to directions on package (use minimum of water).  Ann's Note:  I have to say, I wasn't sure what to do here:  use the amount of water according to the directions or to skimp on that amount so as to use a "minimum amount of water?"  This puzzled.  So I used the amount of water listed on the package and then split the difference and drained some out!  I'm not normally that indecisive!

At the same time you are cooking the peas, add the clove of garlic that has been speared on a toothpick.  Also add the spices and then the butter.  Cook the peas a few minutes longer than the instructions on the package, then remove the garlic and serve.

Ann's Note:  Although this dish was good, I have no idea what the end result was supposed to look or taste like.  But hey, play with it and make it your own!

"The Northern Exposure Cookbook" (based on the TV show of the same name) - Ruth-Anne's Meat Loaf

Date I made this recipe:  July 19, 2016 – The heat wave is coming, so let's go North to Alaska! (1960 song sung by Johnny Norton)

The Northern Exposure Cookbook – A Community Cookbook from the Heart of the Alaskan Riviera Based on the Universal Television Series "Northern Exposure" Created by Joshua Brand & John Falsey – by Ellis Weiner

Published by:  Contemporary Books

ISBN: 0-8092-3760-1; copyright 1993

Purchased from Barnes and Noble Used Books Online

Recipe:  Ruth-Anne's Meat Loaf – p. 71

And so as is usual and customary, we are now having our annual one-time-a-year-whether-we-need-it-or-not heat wave.  And as always, I remain amused by the Armageddon that has resulted.  You'd think we never, ever experienced such hot temperatures, such the is picture of doom and gloom.

I blame much of this hysteria on local meteorologists.  Whereas once upon a time they just reported whether it would be hot or cold, rainny/sunny/snowy, now they scare the crap out of people reporting the "heat index" in the summer and "wind chill" in the winter. 

In the winter, every weather report tells us the actual temperature – e.g. -10, but oh my, "the wind chill index is going to feel like -50." "Do not go out unless you have to," they report.  "Do not!"  "You may die out there."  "It only takes a minute for flesh to freeze" (I kid you not, that's what they say.)

And so schools close because apparently parents who could normally dress children for  -10 lose the ability to dress their kids for -50 wind chill. 

People who could normally make it to work on time also lose their minds and feel like they have to stay home to warm up their cars when in fact, most "modern" cars warm up just fine in this weather.  The car doesn't know the temperature but the owner sure does.

And folks, it has been a long time since we've had temperatures in the -20's and -30's but the rules for going out in the winter hold no matter what the cold weather brings:  dress in layers.  Wear a hat, wear comfy boots (they can still be fashionable), and wear a jacket.  Avoid bikinis and shorts until the temperature hits 50 degrees in March or April (at which time, I kid you not, you will see people breaking out the summer gear.)

In summer, we have the dreaded and dangerous heat index.  The "heat index" is a thing to be feared.  Where once upon a time we survived just fine if it got hot out (let's say 85 degrees or warmer), now, with the heat index pointed even higher than the actual temperature, we have chaos.

"The temperature today is going to be 91 but it FEELS LIKE 101."  Stay inside.  Get nothing done.  Do not look at the sun.  Take cover!  Take cover!

I will concede that dangerously low temperatures and ridiculously high temperatures can be fatal to kids and the elderly (especially the heat) but honestly folks, this is Minnesota we're talking about here.  Only newbies to the area don't dress correctly and that once included me.   Although I came from snow country (lots and lots of snow), I was unprepared for the bitterly cold negative temperatures when I first moved here and when I missed the bus one cold night and had to wait in boots that were not suitable for cold, I got a minor case of frostbite on my toes.  Lesson learned.  If you take a moment to throw fashion principles aside and dress appropriately, you too, can survive these extreme temperature fluctuations.

Which brings me to Alaska.  I have only a small handful of states to visit in my lifetime, including Washington (state), Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming (I think.  That state may have been a "drive-by" (drive-thru) state), (inexplicably) Alabama and Alaska.  And let me be very clear on this:  while I may, someday, visit the remaining states, there is no way I'm willingly (or unwillingly) going to Alaska.  If I had a bucket list, it would not even make the top 1,000 cut.  

Why? Well for one thing, even though Alaska is often warmer than Minneapolis, it is still a pretty chilly place as some areas really get down into the subzeros, making Minnesotans look like a bunch of pussies for complaining about -10. Plus, they have that perpetual sun problem in the summer and almost absolute darkness in the winter and that just doesn't work for me.  Messes with the mind, it does.  Finally, there's the Nature "problem" and by "problem," I mean there's just too much Nature there for me.  And at the risk of repeating myself, my life mantra is – I kid you not – "Nature is NOT your friend."  I don't do wilderness treks to "Nature," "I don't like to encounter Nature in its natural habitat, and I will be just fine if I don't have a close encounter with a polar bear, thank you very much!

And yet, the praise for Alaska just keeps coming.  "Oh, it's gorgeous, you should go there!" 

"No."  "But..."  "No."  "No, no, no."  Between the weather and the sun/no sun and your overabundance of Nature, it is not for me.  There is nothing fun about a moose on the loose.  Nothing.

Unless, of course, you are watching the opening credits to the hit TV show, Northern Exposure, where a moose strolls through town, all nonplussed about what it sees or doesn't see.  I like "TV" moose as no harm befalls a viewer who is safely ensconsed behind a TV screen.  And can I just say that "Moose and squirrel" i.e. Rocky and Bullwinkle, was one of my favorite TV cartoons?  It was.  (I also adored the evildoers Boris and Natasha.) (Can't forget to mention Mr. Moose and his ping pong balls from Captain Kangaroo!)

And so since TV moose are good moose, you shouldn't have any difficulties cooking from The Northern Exposure Cookbook, based on the hit TV show (1990-1995) of the same name.

The stars of that show, including the moose on the loose, were all residents of the Alaskan town named Cicely, a town that became home to Dr. Joel Fleischman, a newly-minted (and very neurotic) Jewish doctor who moves from New York to tiny town Alaska to work off his medical loans.  In my family, we likened Dr. Fleischman to my brother, (Dr.) Tom, who also paid off med school loans by moving to Gallup, New Mexico to work in a low-income clinic. Unlike me, Tom very much likes Alaska and he and his wife visited there a while back.  Tom loved that TV show, a show that showcased how Dr. Fleischman was such a fish out of water compared to the town's inhabitants who were (naturally) quirkier than all get out. 

In addition to "Fleischman," we have Maggie, the bush pilot; Maurice, who owned half the town and was a former astronaut; Officer Barbara, his no-nonsense law enforcement girlfriend;  Ruth-Anne who owned the local store; Holling and his much younger wife, Shelly, who own and operate the local saloon; Chris ("In the Morning") who is the local DJ and who likes to philosophize about everything, and Ed and Marilyn, two native Alaskans who added much humor to the show.  Ed is the resident jack-of-all trades who is pretty intelligent despite coming across as a dim bulb, and Marilyn is Dr. Fleischman's receptionist who is very quiet, almost eerily so,  but when she speaks, she speaks volumes. Other characters filled in the blanks and some newer series regulars appeared in later seasons, but this was our core group.

Out of this entire group, my least favorite character was Chris "In the Morning," the local radio DJ, played by actor John Corbett.  And I have to say, but I did not warm to his character, Aidan, on Sex and the City, either. (She was meant to marry Big folks, not Aidan.  Period.)

The nod for favorite though, has to go to Fleischman (Rob Morrow) as his attempts to fit his New York personality into small town Alaska were hilarious.  And runner-up for favorite went to Maurice Minnifield, played by actor Barry Corbin, especially after he started going out with Barbara, a serious-as-a-heart-attack officer who gave Maurice (a run for his money. Barry Corbin also appeared years later in the TV show, The Closer, as Clay Johnson, father to the protagonist, Brenda Leigh Johnson.  Loved him in both roles.

So that's the recap about the show and about Alaska and now we turn our attention to the cookbook. But I must say, if you were expecting quirky food, or "native" foods of elk, moose, bear, etc., from this cookbook to go along with this quirky cast of characters, you'd be disappointed (although there is a recipe for Mooseburgers –substitute ground beef).  Instead, we are treated to "regular" food like casseroles, lasagnas, and even a Jell-0 salad, the salad compliments of Joel Fleischman.  Almost all recipes are prefaced with a story, and in the back is a complete list of recipes and the episodes in which they appeared.  I like that.

One observation though:  While I am not saying that food provisions that we enjoy here in the Lower 48 don't get delivered to Alaska, I do feel that securing some of the items needed for these recipes back then (1990-1995) might have been a bit of a stretch.  Blue cornmeal?  (Page 34) Risotto? (Page 128).  I do recall though, that shopkeeper, Ruth-Anne could order almost anything and so I'm going with that.

Today's dinner came down to two choices:  Shelly's Hot Dog and Cheese Casserole (page 78) and Ruth-Anne's Meatloaf (page 71).  Both sounded great, but I to try Ruth-Anne's meatloaf and I was not disappointed. (Ruth-Anne's character was always pretty chill (pun intended) and made me laugh.)  I made half a recipe which was just right for two people.  If, as a kid, you ate your meatloaf with ketchup and mustard, then you'll be happy to know that both of these condiments are included in the meatloaf mix.

This then, concludes my I am not going "North to Alaska" even if it is one of the hottest days of the year.   Unfortunately though, I cannot console myself watching old episodes of Northern Exposure because they don't air on cable – yet.  Life can be so cruel....

Ruth-Anne's Meat Loaf – Makes 6-8 servings (Ann's Note: Also divides well)

1 large egg

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon dried thyme

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 cup milk

½ cup chopped celery

½ cup chopped white onion

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons catsup

1 ½ pounds ground chuck

1 ½ cups soft bread crumbs

3 strips uncooked bacon

Preheat oven to 350F.

Beat egg lightly in a large bowl.  Add salt, pepper, thyme, mustard, milk, celery, onion, and ¼ cup catsup, mixing ingredients well.  Add chuck and bread crumbs and mix well until thoroughly combined.

Transfer mixture to a 9 ¼-inch loaf pan.  Spread the remaining 2 tablespoon catsup over the loaf and top with bacon strips.  Bake for 1 hour.  Remove from oven and let set for 10 minutes before slicing.

"On Campus Cookbook" and "The Campus Survival Cookbook #1" - Pungent Curry Dip and Meat Loaf and Short-Cut Mashed Potatoes for Back to School

Date I made these recipes:  September 13, 2015 – Back to school!

On Campus Cookbook – For the Non-Kitchen Cook – Quick, easy, inexpensive dishes for hot pots, blenders, and toaster ovens by Mollie Fitzgerald

Published by:  Workman Publishing

ISBN: 0-89480-775-7

Purchased at Arc's Value Village Thrift Stores

Recipe:  Pungent Curry Dip – p. 51

The Campus Survival Cookbook #1 by Jacqueline Wood & Joelyn Scott Gilchrist

Published by: Quill

ISBN: 0-688-05030-1

Purchased at Hennepin County Library Used Book Sales

Recipes:  Meat Loaf and Short-Cut Mashed Potatoes – p. 90-91

And they're back!  Minneapolis grade and high school students started back to school in late August, college students started back the first weeks of September and now they are all back in the swing of things, studying themselves silly—or so we hope.

We live near the University of Minnesota and over the years have seen an explosion of student housing lining University and Washington Avenues (the main drags).  Sure, there are dorms, but there are also apartments housing all these students and the nice thing is that these apartments give them the opportunity to cook – not that they do, just that they have the opportunity.  And this is a far cry from what I had when I was in school.  (By the way, we watched a student apartment building go up on the corner of Washington and Huron and it is called, I kid you not – "WaHu."  Snort!)

For those of us living in the dorms – a requirement for all freshmen who were not otherwise commuting - we pretty much brought one and only one piece of kitchen "equipment" with us when we moved in:  a (electric) popcorn popper.  This was essential to dorm life as we ate, and ate and ate more popcorn than I care to think about.  That and pizza but we ordered out for that.

Some people had a hot pot to make tea, flavored coffees (just out on the market) or hot chocolate but not many.  It just wasn't a popular item for us.  And PS—even though Starbuck's CEO, Howard Schultz, graduated from my alma mater – Northern Michigan University – four years ahead of me, takeout coffee shops, never mind Starbucks, were light years away from being developed.  Yes, we were dinosaurs.

Mini-refrigerators were in hot demand but those were rented from the university; I can't recall if local stores like Shopko, even sold them but likely not.  I do recall that you had to be at least a sophomore to get your name on the "I want to rent" list and it was first come, first serve.  My roommate and I were tickled to be "awarded" one and used it pretty much to store her mother's delicious baked goods that she made for us on a regular basis (mom lived at an nearby air base).  Actually, the word "stored" is inaccurate, seeing as how nothing we put in there ever lasted that long.  We'd get a knife and start slicing and talking all at the same time until what do you know, the delicious loaf of pumpkin, apple or banana bread or strudel was gone = how did that happen?

During my junior year, I lived in an apartment where my roommates and I ate better but still didn't have much in the way of kitchen equipment.  And during my senior year, I ended up moving back to the dorms – this one intended for junior, seniors and grad students – and there you could either cook in the kitchens on each floor or opt to continue with the school's cafeteria plan which was, of course, horrible, but it was easier than menu planning on your own.

And that about concluded our student cooking endeavors.  If ramen – the staple of students everywhere – was around, we didn't know about it.   The closest anyone came to eating something with noodles in a flavor packet was to make Lipton Chicken and Noodle soup in a hot pot. I recall a few times that the dorm I was living in would host a dinner for T-day or Christmas, but for all I know, it was catered by the school cafeteria, not cooked with our own two hands.  We were too busy studying partying to be bothered, don't you know!

You can tell that times have changed, not only by the heavy marketing stores like Target does for college students, pimping out all kinds of kitchen gadgets that these students just have to have, but also with the publication of more and more "college" cookbooks.  One of the books I'm showcasing here – On Campus Cookbook – features recipes intended for hot pots, blenders and toaster ovens.  Not featured in this book – and that's because it was published in 1984 – are recipes for microwaves, a piece of equipment which has now overtaken popcorn poppers as a dorm/apartment staple.  It's only a matter of time then, until I acquire a "student" microwave cookbook.  (And PS—early microwaves cost a ton of money and also weighed a ton.)

And so to the recipes!  Finding something to make from the On Campus Cookbook was a little challenging because I don't have a blender or a toaster oven.  I do have a hot pot but wasn't in the mood for a "hot" anything given the very warm weather we'd been having.  And so, the curry dip.  One bowl and only a few ingredients works for me. 

The other featured cookbook, The Campus Survival Cookbook #1, broadens the scope of student fare by including menus for different days of the week, as well as "party menus" (well, duh) "survival menus" and "flat-broke" menus (isn't that an oxymoron?) that provide a little something for everybody.  The meatloaf I made was from the "Wednesday, Fourth Week" menu that also included the "Short-Cut Mashed Potatoes" and a "Church-Supper Cole Slaw" (untried).  My only issue with this cookbook is that it was a little hard to read as recipes were crammed onto the page and were in old-fashioned typewriter (remember those?) type.  That said, I flagged several recipes before deciding on the meatloaf and "mash" combination.

All recipes were good and nothing was too difficult so grade and high school kids should consider these as well.  In fact, Food Network's show, Chopped, is currently nearing the end of a teen tournament and last week, had a special college edition.  The requirement for these competitors though, is to transform the ingredients into something spectacular so kids, be thinking about what you can do with curry dip, meatloaf and mash.  "Time starts...now!"

Pungent Curry Dip – Makes 2 ½ cups

2 cups mayonnaise

3 tablespoons ketchup

3 tablespoons honey

3 teaspoons lemon juice

3 teaspoons curry powder

2 tablespoons very finely chopped onion

Combine all ingredients in a medium-size bowl and stir well.  Served chilled with raw vegetables, such as carrots, celery, cauliflower, mushrooms, cucumbers...

Meatloaf – serves 2

1 ½ lb. ground beef

3 tablespoons chili sauce or barbecue sauce

3 slices bread, torn up small

1 cup milk

1 egg

2 teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon ketchup

Preheat oven to 350.  Championship time for mixing this is 3 minutes, if ingredients are lined up.  Mix and bake it all in the same Pyrex ovenware bowl, or in a bread loaf pan.  (Makes excellent sandwiches, too.)

Measure everything except first two ingredients (beef and sauce) into pan or bowl.  Beat with a fork to mix well.  Add ground beef.  Squish everything together with hands until well mixed.  Pat down until smooth.  Cover with chili sauce or barbecue sauce.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour.  (Ann's Note:  more like 1 hour, 15 minutes) to ensure the middle of the loaf is done.  Pour off excess fat before serving.

Short-Cut Mashed Potatoes – serves 2

2-4 medium potatoes

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

¼ cup milk (or more)

Salt and pepper

If you have no proper potato masher, or you just can't face the job, this method will get you there.  But, start these before you get going on Meat Loaf.

Scrub potatoes clean and dry them.  (If you can eat 2 each, use 4.)  Place on center rack of oven.  Now mix Meat Loaf and put in oven.  When potatoes have cooked about 1 hour, feel them.  If soft when pinched or pressed with fingers, they're done.

Cut potatoes open.  Scoop out insides onto plate.  Add butter, milk, and ½ teaspoon salt.  Mash well with back of fork.  (You will need extra butter, milk, and salt if you've used 4 potatoes.)  Add a couple of dashes of pepper, mash and mix.  Serve.

Ann's Note:  I had both regular milk and buttermilk in my fridge but I used the buttermilk for extra flavor.

"Crazy Quilt Cookery" by Bunny Day - Beef Casserole/meatloaf for a rainy day

Date I made this recipe:  September 24, 2014

Crazy-Quilt Cookery by Bunny Day

Published by: Gramercy Publishing Company

© MCMXLIV (1944)

Purchased at the most awesome estate sale ever!  The lady of the house was downsizing and she used to be a home economist.  Two words:  Cookbook Nirvana!

Recipe:  Beef Casserole (really, a meatloaf in disguise) – p. 59-60

So here's my story about why I chose this recipe and I'm sticking to it:  I was seduced by cornflakes.  Yup.  Good old Kellogg's was featured in a recipe and I was intrigued, then curious and then seduced.  Corn Flakes are like that you know—not as fancy as your Fruit Loops or your Captain Crunch but just as lethal.  So let's take a look at how this all happened.

Earlier that day:  as always at this time of year, selecting a recipe (and clothing) is a gamble.  Today started out rainy and that made me think of comfort food and casseroles and quilts (hint:  this is what is called "foreshadowing.")  The day before though, was sunny.  And the weather the day after I made this casserole is also sunny and warm – near 80.   So lucky for me, I hit the right recipe on the right day and all was well with the world.  Except...

...I should have realized that what was labeled a "casserole," specifically "beef casserole," was not, in fact, a "beef casserole" but was a meatloaf in disguise.  A meatloaf that called for cornflakes.  And again, I saw that and I was all "Cornflakes? Well, this could be awesome!" And it tasted great, but it was not a casserole and the cornflakes only served as binder in the same way that bread crumbs or oatmeal does with a meatloaf.

Deep heavy sighs ensued.  Deep.  Because when I want a casserole folks, I want a casserole.  There were plenty in this book, many requiring the standard can of Cream of Mushroom or Cream of Chicken or Cream of "Whatnot" but did I go with any of them?  Nope.  And that's because I was seduced by the cornflakes.  This is shameful kitchen behavior on my part, people.  Shameful.  So enamored was I by the cookbook, the casserole and the cornflakes that I didn't really read the recipe to see what I was in for.  Reading is a good thing.  Pausing is another i.e. "pause" to take in all that is required for ingredients and for cooking before making a snap decision. 

In fact, had I been thinking clearly, I would have contemplated also the rules of one of my favorite shows, Chopped (Food Network): 1) you must make a meal out of four disparate ingredients in the basket and you must use all four ingredients, not three, not two but four and 2) you must repurpose your ingredients such that you don't just go and dump three cups of cornflakes into the meat like I did, you must do something outstanding like toast each cornflake individually and then with your tweezers, add microscopically chopped roasted vegetables to make an AMAZING itty bitty taco.  THAT, people, is the sign of a Chopped Champion.

So, to review:  On Chopped, not repurposing is bad.  Very bad.   Almost worse than leaving an ingredient off the plate.  In other words, you're going to hell.  I just hope I get to take the rest of the box with me.

Even earlier than earlier that day:  So like I said, the weather was rainy and rain makes me think of casseroles and quilts, specifically eating a casserole whilst bundled up in a quilt.  And so when I looked upwards at the sky and at my bookshelves and saw this cookbook, Crazy-Quilt Cookery, I knew we were meant to be.  Except...

...this book isn't about quilts at all like I thought ("don't judge a book by its cover") but rather "From holiday dinners at grandmother's house to sophisticated suppers in New York, a patch-quilt of recipes for all budgets and all occasions." (From the back cover) In other words, the quilt on the cover was just another ruse to get me to cook out of this book.  And I was once again seduced.  Sigh.

Now you might be tempted to see the author's name, Bunny Day, and think "Well, speaking of seduction..." but that would not be appropriate for our author, Eleanor "Bunny" F. Day.  This Bunny has authored several cookbooks, had her own TV show and was grandmother of two.  "Bunny" was actually a very popular name/nickname a few decades ago and I know of two people named Bunny, both of whom were very nice.  No Thumper though. (!)

As to the other recipes, this cookbook appears to be a good primer for making basic comfort foods like roasts, salads (including yes, Jell-O), casseroles and more.  Nothing is fancy, and ingredients are kept to a minimum but most dishes sound good and well, comforting! And so it came to pass that I ate my non-casserole huddled under my non-crazy quilt in the rain.  Our circle is complete.

Beef Casserole (meatloaf) – serves 6

1 ½ pounds ground chuck beef

2 eggs slightly beaten

3 cups corn flakes

1 tablespoon minced onion or ½ onion chopped

½ teaspoon seasoned salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon A-1 sauce

½ cup chili sauce

Mix the beef, eggs, corn flakes, onion, salt, pepper and A-1 sauce well with your hands.  Pack into a casserole and spread the chili sauce on top.  Bake at 400F for 30 minutes.