West Bend Versatility Giveaway Winner

Thanks to everyone for entering my West Bend Versatility Cooker reader giveaway!  I was thrilled with all of the great comments and using Random.org, I've picked a winner.

The winner is #7 - Lucy!

Thanks again to West Bend for offering this great giveaway!

b.good Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway for complimentary sides of sweet potato and regular fries at b.good.  According to Random.org, the winner is #10!

Congratulations to Emily at the Three Bite Rule!  Emily, please email me your mailing address and I'll get these gift certificates out to you as soon as possible. 

Thanks again to everyone for entering!

Kings Bowling Pass Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway for a free bowling pass to Kings in Dedham!  According to Random.org, the winner is #9!

Congratulation to Melissa of Melissa Nibbles!  If you haven't read Melissa's blog before, you should check it out.  Melissa is candid, honest and raw in her blog about her trials and tribulations with weight loss/gain.  But she's no tearjerker.  She keeps it real and always has you laughing (especially her Thursday and Friday blog posts)!

Thanks again to everyone for entering and for being so supportive as I work through my 30 by 30 list!

Mini Turkey Meatloaf...and a Giveaway Winner!

It feels like forever since I last wrote about something that was actually food-related on this blog!  I've been too busy sharing exciting news on here from asking my best friend to be my maid of honor to announcing the launch of a revamped design of Fun and Fearless in Beantown.  But now that things are settling down, I'm excited to get back into my kitchen and get cooking!

With the freezing temperatures outside, I wanted to make one of my favorite comfort foods for dinner on Tuesday night and finally settled on turkey meatloaf.  I did a quick search online and found this recipe for Gluten Free Meatloaf.  I followed it but replaced the beef and pork for two pounds of ground turkey and also made some other small modifications as indicate below:

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs lean ground turkey (original recipe calls for 1 lb each of ground beef and pork)
• 1 1/2 tsps of salt
• 1 tsp sage (original recipe calls for dried thyme but I was out of it)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground cracked pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 small white onion, minced
• 2 cups of white mushrooms, finely chopped
• A pat of butter
• 1 tsp crushed red chili pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• 1/2 cup of ketchup (I omitted this)
• 4 tblsp sugar-free maple syrup (the original recipe called for 1 tbsp honey)
• 6 dashes of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce (the original recipe called for a dash each)

First, I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees.  I warmed a skillet on the stove with a pat of butter and sauteed the chopped mushrooms.  Once the mushrooms were softened, I set them aside to cool.

In a bowl, I mixed together all but the last three ingredients.  I was careful not to overwork the meat to avoid having a dry meatloaf.

Instead of packing all of the ingredients into one large loaf pan, I chose to use a mini loaf pan.  I took a quarter of the meat mixture into one mini loaf pan to mold the shape of a loaf and then turned it onto a parchment lined baking sheet until I had four perfect little mini meatloaves.

I put the meatloaf in the oven for about ten minutes while I whisked together the maple syrup, Tabasco and Worcestershire sauces to make a glaze for the meatloaf.  I multiplied the measurements needed for the glaze by four since I omitted the ketchup and there was a lot more surface area to brush onto.

After ten minutes, I took the tray out and brushed the glaze onto the top and sides of the meatloaves.  I put the meatloaves back in the oven for about another twenty minutes (you will need to probably double the cook time if you make one large traditional meatloaf).  While the meatloaf was in the oven, Bret whipped together a mixture of leftover chopped onion, mushrooms and beef broth to top the meatloaf with. 

Meanwhile, I grilled up some romaine hearts for a side salad (blog post to follow).  When the meatloaf had reached 165 degrees in temperature, they were ready to serve!

The meatloaf was so tender and had so many great flavors from the mushrooms, onions and seasoning.  The sweet and spicy glaze added some nice contrasting sweetness and heat but it wasn't too heavy like a traditional ketchup glaze.  The photo above does not do this meatloaf justice!

Bret and I split a mini meatloaf and we were absolutely stuffed.  Meatloaf is one of my favorite comfort foods but I actually rarely eat it.  I think I've only made meatloaf once before and can't remember the last time I ordered it in a restaurant!  But with an easy recipe like this, I'll have to remember to make it more often!

Also, I'd like to announce the winner of my Aquitaine Bar a Vin Bistrot gift certificate.  It is #37 - Christina from A Little Sumpin' Sumpin'.  Congratulations Christina - please email me your full name and mailing address.  And thank you to everyone else who entered and left such kind comments yesterday!

Fun and Fearless Friday Five

This week seemed to absolutely fly by for me and I can't believe that it is already the month of December.  Per usual, I intend to close the year out with a bang and I'm already over-booking myself with parties, celebrations and festivities all month.  Before the craziness starts, I want to take a moment to share five things that have me smiling this Friday:

1.  Last night, after plans for a blogger dinner fell through, I found myself happily at home ordering takeout, doing laundry and packing for the upcoming weekend.  We ordered from Jae's Cafe and I of course had to order the bibimbap, which I absolutely love.

Sometimes the unexpected nights in can be just what you need.

2.  As I mentioned above, I did some packing last night because Bret and I are heading down to Washington D.C. to visit my friend Alex this weekend.  She came to visit in October and as soon as she left, we were planning our next reunion.  The older I get, the more I realize how important some of my best friends are to me.  There is the family that you are born into and there is the family that you create and choose.  I realize that since college, it is the latter that has really shaped me into who I am.  Although I go down to D.C. at least once a year, Bret hasn't been down there in over ten years!  I think the three of us will have a blast this weekend and I'm especially excited to introduce Bret to my godson, Griffin!

Yes, Griffin is Alex's dog and my godson.  I adore this dog more than anything and I've packed lots of treats for him in my luggage!

3.  This past week, I had a nice chat with Shakti at Smorgie.com.  Shakti has created a site where you can find, organize and review your restaurant experiences in one place.  You can share these experiences in "bite books" with others or just use it for your own personal organization.  Shakti and I have been meaning to chat for quite some time and she published a really wonderful interview of me on the Smorgie blog.  I would love it if you would check it out and show her some love!

4.  As we enter into the final weeks of voting, I wanted to remind you all to check out the poll for Boston A-List's Best Local Blogger.  I'm currently in third place!  If you've already voted, thank you so much...and if you haven't, please click here to vote for me.  Every vote counts until the voting closes on December 22nd and I'd really appreciate your support!

5.  Finally, I wanted to announce the winner of my Lea & Perrins giveaway.  Chosen by Random.org, the winner is Shannon of Tri to Cook, who likes to use Worcestershire sauce in her go-to burger recipe!  Thanks to everyone for entering and thanks to Foodbuzz and Lea & Perrins for sponsoring this great giveaway!

 
Tell me, what has you smiling today?

Dancing Deer Baking Co. Giveaway Winner

Chosen by Random.org, the winner of the Dancing Deer Baking Co. Giveaway is....

Megan from Delicious Dishings!  

Thanks to everyone that entered and to Dancing Deer Baking Co. for giving me the opportunity to host this reader giveaway!