Turkey & Stuffing Meatloaf

One of my "comfort-habits" is watching various sped-up cooking videos...there's one called Tasty which is Buzzfeed's cooking division, another called Twisted that I think is British and is mostly ridiculous super-caloric creations (stuff like Garlic Bread Mac & Cheese Chicken Alfredo Lasagna or perhaps a Giant Fried Chicken Donut Sandwich. Twisted indeed!). Most of the stuff I have no interest in making; I just find the short videos relaxing in some way. Well, Tasty had one for Turkey & Stuffing Meatloaf that actually looked decent to prepare, and suddenly I had a Thanksgiving craving...

Their recipe uses a glaze with cranberry sauce & ketchup. I wasn't sure if I was going to try that, and then we switched up our last grocery trip to Lidl and they didn't have cranberry sauce, so I figured I'd make a simple gravy. They also did not have unseasoned stuffing, so I bought a box of their off-brand Stove Top.

I looked up some other recipes before making this, because I don't make meatloaf very often. And wow...there was quite a variance in quantities of the ground meat, stuffing mix, eggs and cooking times/temps. I am also not going to do things like measure 1/2 cup of diced celery...one stick is good, thank you very much. I'm gonna say quantities are pretty flexible. And if you do use unseasoned stuffing, you might want to use chicken broth to moisten it and add more salt/seasonings.

- 1 stick celery, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small apple, peeled & chopped (optional, but I thought it was good)
- pinch dried thyme (if you have sage or poultry seasoning that would be good)
- 1 box (6 oz) seasoned stuffing mix
- 1 package ground turkey (about 1 lb)
- 1 egg, beaten

1. Saute vegetables in olive oil until tender. Add garlic & apple, a pinch of salt & pepper and the thyme. Stir a couple times, then turn off heat and let sit. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Pour the stuffing mix into a large bowl and moisten with 1 cup water. Add turkey, egg, about 1/2 tsp of salt and some pepper, and the sauteed vegetables. Mix well. You may want to cook a small chunk of the mixture in a pan to taste and make sure the seasonings are how you want them.

3. Grease a loaf pan. I put parchment paper in mine as well, per the Tasty recipe, but I'm not sure that was necessary. Pack the mixture into the pan and bake for 45 minutes. Let sit for about 10 minutes before slicing.

Gravy:
- Melt 2 Tbl butter in a small saucepan on medium-low.
- Add 2 Tbl flour, whisk and cook about a minute, until bubbly.
- Add about 1 1/2 cups chicken broth (or sub a bit of apple cider for some of it).
- Increase heat to medium and whisk until thickened.

Serve with mashed potatoes for sure (I have been making instant potatoes quite a lot during the pandemic, no shame!), and a veggie (roasted brussels sprouts?)

Kona Banana Bread

I guess I should document this here, as I often have to ask my mom for the recipe when I want to make it! This is our family banana bread recipe: rumored to be my maternal grandmother's, but my mom (whose memory is excellent) says her sister (my Aunt Barbara, who sadly passed away earlier this year) found the recipe in a women's magazine after returning from her honeymoon in Hawaii - must have been late 1950s. She had excellent banana bread there, and said this recipe came close.

My sister and I both entered this in our county fair in different years and won blue ribbons! We were in 4H clubs as kids, and entered food/crafts in the fair every summer. I have a vague memory of having something advance to the state fair one year - it might have been this, or maybe brownies? None of us can remember. Anyway, my mom had told me to add a note for the judges - and I'll include it here - that due to the higher sugar content in this recipe, it bakes up darker than many other banana breads. So don't worry if it seems to be overbrowning!

The original recipe uses shortening (Crisco) and that's what I used most recently. We have also made it with butter and it's good that way, but shortening is the classic recipe. I also highly recommend the addition of chocolate chips! If you're a nuts person you can add chopped nuts, or my aunt suggests dried cranberries - about 1 cup of "additions." But it's quite good on its own! 

- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 large very ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 1/4 cup sifted flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350. Cream shortening & sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well. Stir in mashed banana. Sift dry ingredients together. Add to banana mixture and blend just until mixed. 

Pour into greased loaf pan, or 12 lined muffin tins. Bake loaf 1 hour, or muffins 25 minutes. 

Pork Tenderloin with Cider-Mustard Sauce

I didn't manage to grab a photo of this one, but it was so good and easy I have to document!

I've had a pork tenderloin in the freezer since about May, when I went in on a meat delivery from a local farm with a neighbor. I don't cook these very often but finally decided to cook it once the weather cooled down. I searched for various recipes and couldn't find one with the flavors I wanted that wasn't for a larger "pork loin roast" - our tenderloin was maybe 1.5 lbs and I knew it wouldn't take that long to cook. My meat thermometer isn't working anymore so I had to guess, but it turned out perfectly! 

I roasted some potatoes & carrots separately in the oven to serve with this. You could probably even throw them all in the Dutch oven together, but I wasn't sure how they'd all cooperate with cooking times, and I wanted the veggies a little crispy. This took under an hour start to finish, so I'll have to keep this one in mind if I get tenderloin and have apple cider again! This would also be good with chicken thighs, I imagine. The apple butter is optional, but if you have it, it adds a nice sweetness/richness to the sauce. You could also add some apple slices in with the onions if you want to full-on-apple-it. Two of us ate half of this and I saved the rest for leftovers, but honestly could demolish the rest of it easily myself. Not a bad idea to double it if the meat's on sale...

- 1 pork tenderloin (1-2 lbs)
- spice rub: I used salt & pepper plus thyme & garlic powder (maybe a 1/4 tsp of each), plus some Penzey's 33rd St which says it's a pork seasoning
- 1 onion, halved & sliced
- 1 cup apple cider
- 1 Tbl mustard (I used dijon; a grainy mustard would be good too)
- 1 heaping Tbl apple butter

Mix the spices, sprinkle over the pork and rub on all sides. Let sit for a few minutes while you prepare other things. I cut the tenderloin in half so it would fit in the pot a bit better.

Heat a Dutch oven on medium-high, add some olive oil and sear the pork for about 4 minutes on each side, until browned. Remove to a plate.

Add the onion and saute a few minutes (the bottom of the pot should have a good amount of browning; you want this!). Add the cider and scrape up the browned bits as it bubbles. Add the mustard, apple butter and a pinch of salt. Put the pork back in, cover the pot and simmer on medium-low for about 15 minutes.

If you have a meat thermometer, 145 is the temp to aim for, but mine seemed done. Take the pork out to rest for a few minutes. Turn up the heat and let the sauce bubble to reduce a bit. Taste for salt.

Slice the pork and spoon the onions & sauce over.