Alice in the Kitchen

Incredible Turkey Meatloaf

Tonight for dinner we had some yummy turkey meatloaf.  To be honest, I haven’t made meatloaf in a long time, and although I was in the mood for it tonight, I wanted to make something a little more healthy.  I honestly did not have high hopes for this recipe, and when I took my first bite, I was more than pleasantly surprised – it was delicious, and I would definitely make this again!  Now you can make it too.

You’ll need:

Blueberry Crisp Bars

These bars are a versatile treat – you can serve them for dessert or breakfast!  They taste like a little bite of blueberry pie!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 pinch ground cinnamon
4 cups blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and grease a 9×13 inch pan

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, cinnamon and baking powder.  Use a fork, blend in the butter and egg – the dough will be crumbly.

Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

In another bowl, stir together the sugar and cornstarch.  Gently mix in the blueberries.  Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust.

Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown.

Cool completely before cutting into squares.  Seriously, completely, or you will have a runny mess on your hands!

Yum!

Best Ribs Ever

Best ribs ever.  That’s bold, I know.  But I mean, these really are the best ribs.  I honestly don’t even really like ribs, and these ribs are to die for.  Look here – no meat on the bones – it just falls off!!

You can make these too, and you will definitely be getting requests for the recipe!

All you need is baby back ribs, some rub seasoning (whatever kind you like), 1 cup of liquid smoke (usually two bottles), and water.

Score the back of the ribs.

Season the rib with a 1/8 cup of seasoning on each side.  It might get a little messy.

In a shallow pan mix 1/2 cup of liquid smoke and 2 1/2 cups of water.

Place the rib into a shallow pan with a drain grate inside.  The grate will keep the rib from sitting in the liquid smoke.   Wrap the top of the pan with about three layers of aluminum foil. Make sure you wrap it tightly because you are basically steaming the ribs.  Cook at 275 degrees for 5 hours.

Now you can cool the ribs for future use, or you can throw them on the grill.  I like the cut them into smaller, more manageable pieces for grillings.

Sauce them on one side and throw them on the grill.

Grill for about 5 minutes, then sauce the other side and flip them over.  Grill the other side for about 5 minutes.  You might lose a few bones through the grill grates – they are that tender!

Now you’re ready to serve!

Potato Chip Chicken

Once upon a time, I was going to make Michael Chiarello’s Chicken alla Vendemia, an elaborate chicken recipe with fennel seeds and grapes.

But then I got stuck working late, and by the time I got to the grocery store, I knew it was too late to make anything that elaborate.  So on the way home, I had been thinking about what ingredients we had at home that I wanted to use up,  and I remembered that I had just opened a bag of cheddar sour cream potato chips that would surely go bad before I could finish the bag (ha ha, suuuure).

So I picked up some chicken breasts (which I cut into strips), dipped them in melted butter, and rolled the chicken in the crushed potato chips!  Not amazing, but pretty good and leaves open lots of room for your own variations!

Ingredients:

• chicken breasts
• melted butter
• 1-2 cups of crushed potato chips, any flavor

Dip the chicken into the melted butter, then coat in the crushed potato chips.

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.

Serve!  I did serve a green vegetable, but this is Matt’s plate, so don’t judge me!