Cooking

When I first got married I had absolutely no idea how to cook.  And it really didn't dawn on me that cooking would need to be my thing in order to sustain my household.  Which at the time was only me and Jay.  I can clearly remember when it hit me, hit me that it was my duty to cook dinner.  We were finally settled in housing, the excitement died down; we were unpacked and ready to start our new lives.  Jay had left to work and I dabbled around the house when I realized . . . "Jay will come home hungry after work, what will I cook?"  The thought makes me smile to myself because I was so young, correction, we were so young.  I remember phoning my dad and asking him, "So, what do you think I should cook for dinner for Jay?" Of course my dad's reply was typical of him, and typical of any old school Chamorru . . .Chicken Kadu.  This is basically a chicken soup.  And thank God for dad who walked me through the whole cooking process!  But even more thankful that through all the wedding bliss of living, loving, and learning about one another I discovered that Jay had a great appreciation for more than just Chamorru food.  But that first year we ate alot of corned beef, polska kielbasa sausage (still my favorite thing to eat!), and spaghetti.  And we ate out alot!  Like alot, alot.  Shamefully alot!

This memory came to me the other night while I was sauteeing my onions and, yup, you guessed it! polska kielbasa sausage.  But I'm happy to report that we eat it alot less, because I've learned to cook since then (wink, wink) and it is a weakness of mine and it's just not healthy.  What's even better is that through the years Jay and I have learned to cook all kinds of things together.  Cooking, in our home, is a shared duty.  We each have our specialties; but Nicholas will openly proclaim that "Dad is the better cook in our house!"  This doesn't bother me, because Jay is a good cook!  My specialty . . . baking yummy, yummy cookies from scratch, and my family loves them and appreciates them so much.  That makes me happy!

I thought I'd share a recipie of mine, since I've been doing all this talk of cooking!  It's not a recipie with the kielbasa sausage in it though . . . although I do have one!  This one I'm sharing with you I learned at one of my ww meetings, but it's a delicious, go-to meal.  Enjoy

Meatloaf Muffins

1lb ground beef or ground turkey
1lb Jimmy Dean Sausage (I've used Sage before & it turned out just as good)
1 box any flavor stovetop stuffing
2 eggs
1 cup of water
1 cup, your choice of vegetables

Mix all ingriedients together and form into 12 balls that will fit into your muffin tin.  For easier clean-up use cupcake foil liners.  Bake meatloaf muffins at 350 degrees for 45 min. Pull meatloaf muffins out of oven and baste with tomatos ketchup and brown sugar, (be sure mix the two beforehand).  Put meatloaf muffins in oven for another 5 min.  This recipie makes 12 meatloaf muffinsl

*I usually serve this dish with homemade mashed potatos or homemade scalloped potatos.  It's a quick meal I can throw together on a busy weeknight and know for sure my kids will eat good!