Tex-Mex Meltdown Meatloaf

MeatloafBack in the day, I used to write a recipe column for a newspaper in North Dakota. At that time I was playing around with the idea for a Tex-Mex meatloaf that used salsa and Doritos for the wet and dry ingredients to add to the ground beef for bulk. Since that time, it’s gone through a couple iterations and other ideas have inspired this creation beyond just a simple Tex-Mex. Obviously AD, this had to be tweaked a bit more.

So it’s been enhanced with bacon and some killer barbecue sauce and stuffed with cheese! I love this version and it would make an awful tasty meatloaf sandwich – with GF bread of course!

Tex-Mex Meltdown Meatloaf

1/4 cup Tex-Mex Seasoning
1/2 lb. Pepper Jack Cheese (shred your own to be GF!)
1.5 lb. ground hamburger
1 cup crushed Doritos (I like Jalapeno & Cheddar)
2 large eggs
1 lb. bacon
1/2 cup to a cup of BBQ sauce of your choice

  1.  Mix the all of the ingredients except for the bacon and the BBQ sauce while your oven preheats to 350 degrees.Meatloaf-Panned
  2. Layer your bacon in a loaf pan and then create your loaf inside the bacon so that you wrap it over the top. The best thing would be to create your loaf wrap it and then put the edges of the bacon on the bottom.
  3. Cook for about an hour – and remember this is for a convection oven. You would likely need about an hour and 15 before you added the BBQ sauce to the top and then cook it for another 10 minutes. The extra 10 is regardless of the convection or not!
  4. Enjoy!

Blackened Steak & Potato Pizza

We're one layer of cheese away from the final bake - oh, man talk about full meal deal!

We’re one layer of cheese away from the final bake – oh, man talk about full meal deal!

Yes, you read that right! Steak and potatoes or pizza – who said you needed to choose? While I love a good steak and potato dinner, putting it on pizza just put this whole thing over the top. As you might have guess from this site, I am a sucker for fusions of flavours. And one of my favourites has to be Italian with Cajun as with this pizza.

The only thing I have to warn you about is that it takes a bit of prep. But the results were oh so awesome!

Blackened Steak & Potato Pizza

1 recipe Brazilian Pizza Crust
8 oz (225 g) steak
1 large russet potato
Pepper Jack cheese (shredded by you – guaranteed GF that way!)
Provolone cheese (slices)
Cajun Seasoning
Olive Oil
Red Onion (optional) or Cola Cajun BBQ sauce
Chives

The first thing to do is make your Cajun Baked Tater

These would be good even if they weren't on the pizza!

These would be good even if they weren’t on the pizza!

  • Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees while you start to slice your baker. You’ll want to make each slice about 1/8th of an inch thick but not all the way through on the bottom. Leave about a quarter of the potato on the bottom. You could use toothpicks to keep the sides together if you cut through the potato to the bottom (like me!).
  • Drizzle the baker with olive oil and a healthy amount of the Cajun seasoning. Bake for about 50 minutes – remember, it will cook up a bit more on your pizza when it is in the oven.

Now to assemble the Cajun Steak & Potato Pizza – while the baker is in the oven you can start working on the other components …

  1. You might want to cook your steak before you start working on your pizza dough. The steak is best pan fried with lots of Cajun seasoning. And this is where you should make the choice of onions cooked with the steak or using the BBQ sauce for the base of the pizza.
  2. Cook the steak to a little below the rareness that you like – it will cook up as it sits as well as in the oven (like the potatoes). Cut the steak into slices about a quarter inch thick.
  3. After you’ve done your first bake to set the dough, layer in the following order: Provolone slices, BBQ sauce and then steak or steak and onions, potato slices and then topped with Pepper Jack. Then into the oven for the final bake.
  4. Top with chives and serve immediately!

 

Pork Fried Rice

PorkFriedRiceA long time ago, in a galaxy (or in this case) a country not too far away, I worked in a supermarket deli. That job helped me learn a lot about a number of different foods and the preparation of said foods. At the same time, it helped me flesh out what I liked and what I despise. To this day, I try not to eat ham unless there is no choice.

Bacon, on the other hand, can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. But I’m getting sidetracked.

I worked through most of the sections of that deli including the wok station where I first learned how to do fried rice. Obviously this will not be the recipe they used for a few reasons such as it’s GF, it’s spicy and it’s a non-traditional fried rice. And speaking of the other white meat, it has pork as its meat and like my quesadillas, it’s a full meal deal!

FMD Pork Fried Rice

2 cups (480 g) enriched long-grain white rice, cooked
4 eggs
Olive Oil
1 bunch diced green onions
1 lb. (480 g) pork
1/2 cup (115 g) GF peanuts
2 cups (500 g) frozen broccoli
1 cup chopped carrots
Cilantro
Oregano
Minced Garlic
Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 cup (125 ml) GF Soy Sauce
1/2 cup (125 ml) Apple Juice
1/4 cup (60 ml) Balsamic Vinegar
1 tbsp (15 g) Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp (5 g) cilantro
1 tsp (5 g) oregano

  1.  Wash your rice in water to get all the excess starch off. Then you can cook it as a plain white rice or cook it with a bit of chicken bouillon.CuttinPork
  2. Cut up your pork into small bite-size pieces and cook in a wok with garlic, cilantro, oregano and flakes until done. You can make it as spicy as you want – though I would caution against putting too much since you will add cilantro and oregano to make your sauce.
  3. Add the carrots, green onions and broccoli with a little bit of the sauce. When the vegetables are bright and cooked through, turn the wok down to low.
  4. Scramble the eggs in olive oil in a small non-stick pan. While the eggs are cooking you can mix the soy sauce, apple juice, balsamic vinegar and spice to create your sauce. Put the eggs and rice into the wok before adding the sauce and returning to heat. Once the rice has taken the soy colour and been warmed up, serve it immediately.

For an alternative, replace the pork and apple sauce with chicken and orange juice.

Cajun Tuna Wrap

I’ve found that sandwiches are not necessarily an easy feat to achieve with Celiac’s. Most people would say that’s a no-brainer since most bread has gluten. Yet, there are a ton of options for gluten-free bread, some are better than others. Unfortunately most of the good ones that are light in texture are super-small for a sandwich or vice-verse, large but dense.

CajunTunaWrap So I’ve taken to making wraps. And with Celiac’s and NAFLD (look it up), I’ve got to try to cut back on the fat intake. As you might have guessed, most of the time, it’s a battle just to deal with the gluten free, throw in the fat free or light and you might as well throw away the taste. However, if you use cheese and other fatty ingredients sparingly you can lower the fat intake.

At the same time, I needed to add more fish into my diet. Major issue – I hate most seafood, which is why you will see few fishy recipes on this blog. Now that we’ve got that out of the way; here’s the one thing I will eat with tuna. It’s a simple tuna salad recipe for a sandwich/wrap with a few twists.

Cajun Tuna Wrap

2 small cans (240 g) tuna
1/2 red onions diced fine
1/4 cup (60 ml) mayo or salad dressing
1-2 tbsp (30-60 g) Cajun Seasoning
GF tortillas
shredded cheeseTunaSalad
lettuce
tomato
flavoured cream cheese spread

  1. Mix the drained tuna, onions, mayo and seasoning.
  2. Make a layer of cream cheese as you base on the tortilla. The layer on a good portion of the tuna salad, shredded cheese, lettuce and tomato. Enjoy!

Brazilian Pizza Crust

This pizza's toppings were chicken, red onions, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, oregano, basil and cumin.

This pizza’s toppings were chicken, red onions, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, oregano, basil and cumin.

This pizza recipe has to be one of the easiest that I’ve come across. Then again, I tend to make them more complicated once I start working with them. That said this recipe is still remarkably simple.

The best thing about this crust recipe is that it’s the closest I’ve come to gluten-filled pizza dough. While I appreciate the artistry of my other pizza dough recipe, this may very well become my go-to recipe. Inspired by Brazilian Cheese Bread, it’s got the texture of a biscuit and a flavour similar to the biscuits available at a certain chain seafood restaurant.

Brazilian Pizza Crust

1 cup (240 g) GF flour (preferably one with Xantham Gum)

This is one recipe - after blending.

This is one recipe – after blending.

1/4 cup (60 g) Parmesan Cheese
2 cups (450 g) shredded Pepper Jack
1 teaspoon (5 g) baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup (60 g) melted butter

  1. Blend all of the ingredients together in a stand mixer while your oven and pizza stone preheats to 450 degrees.
  2. Flatten your dough out into a round shape. You can do this by hand until you get about a six to eight inch round, then I would switch to the roller and aim for about 12 inches across at about a half inch thick.
  3. One flip at about six minutes - this should be what it looks like.

    One flip at about six minutes – this should be what it looks like.

    Cook it on one side for about six minutes and then flip it over, add your toppings and cook for about another four minutes. Note – if you are NOT using convection then you should cook it eight minutes on the first side and then about 5-6 minutes on the other side with the toppings.

 

Caribbean Pork Roast

CaribbeanPorkMeal

I love pork – prepared in just about anyway but ham and regular barbecue. Sorry Mom – but they may have ruined those “treats” for me. So pretty much any other kind of bacon or pork I will inhale.

And I recently developed a new way of doing a pork roast after my wife starting buying beef roasts in their own gravy, which contained – you guessed it – glutenized gravy. So I had to come up with an alternative that in my book far surpasses the other roast in not only taste but in being gluten free!

Caribbean Pork Roast

3-4 lb pork loin/roast
2 tbsp (30 ml) olive oil
1/4 cup (60 g) Jerk Seasoning
1 large red onion
1/4 cup (60 ml) spicy sweet mustard
1-2 cups (~.5 l) cooking sherry

  1. Heat your olive oil in a stainless steel saute pan while you rub down your pork with the jerk JerkRoastseasoning. Once the oil is hot, you want to sear the pork on all sides sealing in the juices – should develop a nice browned skin at about 3-4 minutes per side. Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees
  2. Saute the julienned red onions in the drippings after you pull the pork out. While the onions cook, brush the mustard over the entire roast. Let it rest for about ten minutes.
  3. While the roast is resting and after your onions are done, add the sherry to the pan to deglaze. You can add a little butter if you want to make the sauce richer.
  4. Once the sauce has thickened a bit or your 10 minutes rest is up, add the pork to the pan and put it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes or until it’s at about 145 degrees internally in the thickest part of the roast.
  5. Serve the roast and sauce over rice and enjoy!