Collard Green Dip

Talking about southern hot nights....Here a creamy hot dip, you need to serve at your next party.
It will WOW THEM!!!! Collard Green Dip.

Ingredients

2 slices bacon

1 small sweet onion, chopped about 1 cup

1 medium red sweet pepper

1 pound fresh collard greens, trimmed and coarsely chopped about 6 cups

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 8 ounce package cream cheese cubed and softened

2 ounces  Monterey Jack cheese, shredded 1/2 cup

1/2 cup light sour cream

1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning optional

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Thin bread sticks or vegetable sticks
Directions

In a 12-inch skillet cook bacon until crisp. Drain bacon on paper towel. Remove and save bacon dripping for another recipe but use 2 teaspoons of bacon drippings from skillet and add onion and sweet pepper to skillet. Cook 5 minutes over medium heat or until vegetables are just tender, stirring occasionally. Add cut collard greens and garlic; cover until tender, stirring occasionally. You can add a little water if becoming dry. Remove from heat.
Add cream cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, sour cream, and seasoning to the collard mixture, stirring until combined. Crumble remaining bacon and add to collard mixture.  
Bake, uncovered, 10 minutes or until warmed through. Serve with vegetable dippers or bread sticks.

Jamaican Brown Chicken Stew

Jamaican Brown Chicken Stew....How soul can you get??? This stew base on the curry powder and the spices that goes in this stew. I call it goodness of hot soul.

1 medium chicken, cut into 8 portions

salt and black pepper to taste

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 onions chopped

1 chilli pepper, seeded and chopped

1/2 teaspoon thyme

4 cloves garlic chopped

2 teaspoon curry powder

pinch allspice

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

1/2  cup chopped green bell pepper

4  cups chicken stock

1 nice size butternut squash, peeled and cut into bite- sized cubes

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into bite sized cubes

2 1/4  cup Basmati rice, cooked in coconut milk

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan until really hot. Add 4–5 pieces of chicken to the oil and fry gently skin-side down for about 5 minutes on each side until the chicken is browned all over,remove the chicken and repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.

Carefully pour out most of the oil, leaving just 2 spoonfuls in the base. onions, chilli, garlic, thyme and peppers, and stir briefly.

Add chicken to a big pot adding spices, squash and potatoes. Pour in the stock, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes until the liquid is reduced to a rich gravy. Serve with the coconut rice.

Meat Balls In A Big Pot

Meat Balls Come And Get Them

My mother always cooked a big pot of meat balls.We ate as many as we wanted. My mother did  not serve them with pasta.... we ate them with creamy mashed potatoes.

It's seem like that red thick tomato gravy just give those creamy mashed potatoes the best taste ever.

When the meat balls was gone from the pot, we did not care too much because we had the wonderful meat ball gravy to do some serious slopping with bread.

Here We Go!

Adding water and two teaspoon salt to a big pot filling almost full to the top and let boil.

In a bowl at 2 pound ground meat

3 Beaten  Eggs

1 cup Milk

1/2 cup water

Chop very fine 1/2 cup each green onion, red and green bell peppers.

Spice 1 tablespoon each onion powder, garlic powder,salt and black pepper.

Mixing all together

Rolling into a ball

Place them on a sheet pan

Than drop them one by one in the boiling water. Cook 10 mins.

Draining meat balls and place in another pot

Pour four Jars pasta Sauce and add bay leaf.cover pot and let simmer on med heat for 30 mins.

You can also make a Meat Ball Sandwich

    

 

Meat Loaf With Stuff Mashed Potatoes

Meatloaf Time!!! "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth" is the first single by the American musician Meat Loaf in his solo career. It is a track off his 1977 album" Bat Out of Hell', written by Jim Steinman.

I know this singing group has nothing to do with a meatloaf recipe. I just give the group a plug and added it because it's one of my favorite singing group of all times.

Back to meatloaf  recipe..... Did you know in 2007, meatloaf was voted the seventh-favorite dish in the United States according to Good Housekeeping?

During the Great Depression, cooking meatloaf was a way to stretch the food budget for families, using an inexpensive type of meat and ingredients like bell peppers, eggs, onions and bread crumbs to  give it superior binding and consistency.

The meatloaf is normally served warm as part of the main course, but can also be found sliced as a cold cut. Meatloaf can also be considered a typical comfort food and is served in many diners and restaurants today with brown gravy and peas.

It seems everyone has a recipe for meatloaf, but the best one, is the one you prepare for your family with love and care.

The meatloaf, I am posting today is garnished with lots of crispy bacon and stuffed inside with buttery mashed potatoes and fresh parsley.

Meatloaf maybe also garnished with plain ketchup or a meatloaf sauce. my mother garnished her meatloaf with mashed potatoes, drizzling it with a small amount of butter and cheese and place in oven to brown.


Potatoes Recipe:

2 large white potatoes cut into chunks

2 cups water with 1/4 teaspoon salt

Cook potatoes to tender and pour water off and place in a medium bowl

Mash them and add 1/2 stick of butter and 1/4 cup warm milk and set aside
  
Meat Loaf  Recipe:

1 1/2   lb  ground beef { 80% lean}
  
3/4    cup Progresso Italian style bread crumbs or plain bread crumbs
  
1/2    cup tomato juice

1/4    cup chopped green onions

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup green bell pepper

1/4 cup red bell pepper

2    eggs   beaten

4 slices cooked chopped bacon

Salt and black pepper to taste...you can always test a pinch of raw meat or meatloaf mixture for seasoning.

By placing it in a micowave oven about a second or two... with this method you can add more seasons if needed.{ I like a lot of black pepper in mine}


Heat oven to 350°F.

Make potatoes as directed.  In large bowl mix meat loaf ingredients until well blended. Firmly press half of beef mixture into pan add spoon potatoes over beef mixture about 1/4 inch edges adding fresh chopped parsley on top of potatoes.

Spoon remaining beef mixture over potatoes; press gently bacon on top.   Bake 60 to 65 minutes or meat thermometer inserted in center of loaf reads 160°F. Let loaf stand 10 minutes.