Meatloaf

I think meatloaf may quite possibly be one of the most misunderstood foods in the world.  Kids grow up fearing the very word and run screaming the other way when hearing that is what will be on their dinner plate that night.  I think my Mom may have made meatloaf once or twice growing up and I remember it being really dry. Almost like a baked brick of ground beef slathered in some plain ketchup to attempt to give it come type of moisture.  Just the thought of the word "meatloaf" generally makes people think of the lunch lady with the hair net in the cafeteria dishing up a plate full of mystery meat. 

Well let me tell you, my kids LOVE my meatloaf.  My 10 year old decided one night over a plate full of it that he would be living with us for the rest of his life so he could always eat my meatloaf.  I told him that most wives don't want to live in their mother-in-law's basement.  He then settled for moving down the street and living in our RV in the Wal-Mart parking lot so he could continue to come home for dinner.  Nice!  I guess at least he would have free rent...although I'm not sure what condition our RV will be in 8 years from now!  I'm personally hoping he picks the college alternative vs. Wal-Mart living.  I'll give him the meatloaf recipe as his high school graduation gift!

I have been making meatloaf like this for some time now so honestly I can't remember exactly where I got the recipe from.  Usually I will make 2 different kinds of meatloaf.  This standard one for my kids and husband and a new different one for me to try and freeze the leftovers.  The last one I tried basically turned into a veggie loaf with turkey holding it together.  It also had couscous in it...VERY tasty and VERY moist.  I have some in the freezer still, so I'll post a picture the next time I defrost it for lunch.

It is so quick to make, if your ground beef is already defrosted it literally mixes up in about 5 minutes and you probably already have everything you need on hand to make it.  This meatloaf is delicious eaten that night as fall apart slices with a delicious sweet sauce on top, but it also makes awesome meatloaf sandwiches the next day.  Just reheat a piece in the microwave, stick a slice of cheese on it and put it between 2 pieces of bread.  My son even likes to take it reheated in a Thermos container to eat for lunch at school!!  If you don't like meatloaf, you should definitely give this recipe a try....it may be that you don't necessarily dislike meatloaf, you may just have never had "good" meatloaf before.  You might find yourself fighting over the last piece!

Meatloaf

1 lb ground beef (sometimes I use 1 1/2 lbs so we have more to go around...if you use more meat, just increase everything else slightly)

1 sleeve Ritz crackers plus 15 extra from another sleeve, crushed into fine crumbs

1 egg

1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp ketchup

onion powder, garlic powder and black pepper (I have never measured these.  I just kind of sprinkle on a generous amount of each and mush it in)

Sauce (This is definitely what MAKES the meatloaf!!!)

3/4 c ketchup

1/3 c brown sugar

1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tsp yellow mustard

Place the ground beef in a large bowl.

Add all the other ingredients into the bowl.

Mix well until all ingredients come together to form a large meat ball.  This is best done using your hands, but I guess if you are one of those people who doesn't like touching raw meat you could eventually get the same results using a fork.  I say just get over it and use your hands!!

Place into a loaf pan and press down making sure the top is flattened.  I actually try to press it in the center and make a slight indentation in the middle so after it bakes the sauce will stay on the top.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 mins.

Meanwhile throw all the sauce ingredients into a small bowl.  I think using a large glass measuring cup works best because you end up with one less dish.  Always a good thing!!  Set aside until meatloaf is finished baking.

After 45 mins this is what your meatloaf should look like.

Pour the sauce over the top and spread evenly.  My family likes their meatloaf very saucy!!

Bake another 15 mins.  Remove from oven, let rest 5 mins and cut into large slices for serving.

I almost always serve meatloaf with mashed potatoes and peas.  They just go good together.  The meatloaf is generally so moist it doesn't hold together real well in slices until it sits overnight in the fridge.  This is actually my 10 year old's dinner plate...and yes he eats every bite of it.

The Misunderstood Meatloaf!

Stuffed Green Peppers & Stuffed Invisible Peppers

I have been cooking on my own, without parental supervision, since I was around 13 years old.  One of my favorite possessions is my Betty Crocker Cookbook.  I think I might have permanently borrowed it (aka stole it) from my Mom when I left California, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't care so much anymore.  Although the cover says "New and Revised Edition" I am going to have to assume that since it is showing as being copyrighted in 1978 it probably has had a few more editions that have been published since!  This book is a whole year older than I am.  It has interesting things in it like how to prepare and freeze your own TV dinners, how to make fondue and provides you with every popular recipe if you ever want to pretend like you are back in the 50's.  I love this cookbook! Every Saturday morning after my high school best friend would stay the night, we would cook waffles from this very cookbook.  We needed something to energize us after those long nights staying up talking about boys and other teen angst type stuff.  The recipe still has the half recipe written in pencil next to the printed recipe because apparently when I was 15 it was just to hard to convert 1 cup to 1/2 cup in my head.

The Holy Grail of my cookbook collection!  Note the tattered binding and peeling label.  It is well loved.

Hands down my favorite picture!  Who wouldn't be confident in that yellow apron?!?  And who wouldn't want to serve your perfect family a perfect dinner in that stylish striped turtleneck?!?  Classy!!

The most used recipe in the book.  The page is absolutely stained with butter and oil marks!

On a side note, I was deciding what to make for dinner that week during lunchtime when my kids decided to take up one of their very favorite games, made up strangely enough by my 2 year old.  He will shout out "Aiden's turn!" and then tense up every muscle in his face and body.  Then he will shout out "Sister's turn!" or "Mama's turn!" and the next person will have to imitate what he did.  I grabbed my camera sitting on the counter and snapped some pictures.  They don't really do the game justice...he looks pretty funny when he tenses up his little body and shakes all over.  Sorry...I didn't get any self pictures of "Mama's turn!!"

"Aiden's turn!"

"Sister's turn!!"

"Aiden's turn!!"

"Sister's turn!!"

So, as an homage to my beloved cookbook and all things 1950's I present to you my dinner for Friday night...the classic stuffed green pepper.  I did kind of use the recipe straight from Betty, but put my own spin on it using ground turkey and brown rice.  My husband and kids won't eat the pepper part (well actually Aiden will eat some of my pepper, but I'm afraid his little tummy couldn't handle a whole green pepper...actually a green pepper is probably almost as big as his little tummy...especially the monster peppers I make!!  So I have to make a pan of Invisible Stuffed Peppers for everyone else.  I use ground beef for this since my husband prefers beef over turkey...and since this is a true 1950's meal I wouldn't be a proper housewife without pleasing my hard working husband!  So I threw on my yellow apron, tied my hair back into a stylish updo, straightened up the home and had the kids all cleaned and tidy by the time my husband came home from his hard day at work.  Then I gave him a quick peck on the cheek, put on his slippers for him, fixed him a pipe and handed him a nice brandy so he could relax as I placed the hot meal on the table.  Actually, I was wearing a shirt stained with spit up, had my hair in a messed ponytail, kicked the toys aside and managed to keep the baby from crying while breaking up a fight between my 2 and 4 year old AND helping my 10 year old with homework as my husband walked through the door.  I then gave him a half hello and handed the baby to him so I could take the stuffed peppers and invisible peppers out of the oven.  Typical Friday night in 2011....we can still pretend though right!!

Stuffed Green Peppers

2 LARGE green peppers
1/2 lb lean ground turkey
1 small onion, diced (probably 1/4 - 1/3 c)
2 tsp minced garlic
2 c cooked brown rice
1/3 large can tomato sauce (the other 2/3 gets put in the invisible peppers)
Salt, black pepper and extra garlic powder to taste (the tomato sauce is salty enough for my liking so I just add pepper and more garlic powder.  I'm Italian...I love garlic!
A whole lot of shredded mozzarella!!!

In a large saucepan, over medium-high heat brown the turkey with the onion, garlic and spices.  If you use lean turkey you shouldn't have to drain the meat.

While turkey is browning, prepare the green peppers by slicing off the top part of the pepper and cleaning out the seeds and white insides.  Make sure you buy peppers with a relatively flat bottom so they stand up well on their own.  You might look silly in the supermarket testing out the "standability" of your peppers, but trust me it will be worth the strange stares.  A lop sided pepper is NO laughing matter!!

Once turkey is browned, add the cooked rice.  Taste and add additional spices if necessary.  Remember that rice is pretty bland and needs a lot of help!!

Add in the 1/3 can of tomato sauce.  I make mine REALLY saucy so I can omit the step of putting extra sauce on top.  Set aside.

Place prepared peppers in a pan with enough boiling water to cover them and continue to cook for 5 minutes. 

I couldn't find my Assistant Chef.  She was on the couch watching Food Network.  The Barefoot Contessa...good choice Brenna!

Place cooked peppers in a foil lined square baking dish.  Fill the peppers with the turkey/rice mixture.

I wasn't kidding when I called them STUFFED peppers!!

My monster peppers....grrrrrrr!  Cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 mins.

Remove foil cover and sprinkle with a GENEROUS amount of shredded mozzarella cheese.

Return to oven and cook uncovered another 10 mins. until cheese is melted.

Stuffed Invisible Peppers

1 lb ground beef

Salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder to taste (my husband also hates onions so since I'm not eating it I will omit fresh onions and use onion powder instead)

2 c cooked brown rice

2/3 large can tomato sauce

A whole lot of shredded mozzarella!!!

In a large saucepan brown the meat.  Drain the grease and season with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.

Ethan supervising!

Brenna trying to "help" her brother look at the camera.

Maybe he thought his fist was a pepper...or the meat was starting to burn??

Mix the seasoned beef with the rice and tomato sauce.

Pour the beef/rice mixture into a square invisible pepper (aka greased, square glass baking dish).

.

Cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 mins.

Remove foil and sprinkle on shredded mozzarella cheese.

Return to oven and cook uncovered for an additional 10 minutes until cheese is melted.

My dinner-1950's style!

Holy Pepper Batman!!  I wish I had one of those Corelle plates with the mustard yellow or avocado green flower trim to serve it on.  That would really be retro!! 

Beef Stew

This weekend wasn't very exciting as far as cooking goes...actually it was pretty much non-existent!!  Honestly, most of it was spent clearing leftovers out of the refrigerator.  We did a pretty good job with only a minimal amount going to to trash or garbage disposal.  This was due to the fact that my husband dedicated most of this weekend to building the kid's mega playground structure (I'll post pictures when it's done) and needed 3 extra people to help hold huge beams of wood.  As thanks he bought 3 pizzas for lunch Saturday afternoon and my mother in law was nice enough to also bring over like 100 boxes of cookies.  I guess it's okay to cheat on your diet every now and then!  Even though I didn't technically help with the building of the playground, someone had to take child care duty.  I earned my cookies!!

So I started this week out with an empty fridge and exciting menu for the week.  I have a few things I've never made from scratch, but have always wanted to try and my Assistant Chef has been briefed on this weeks menu selection.  Then yesterday afternoon it hit me!  The return of my ickyness!!  I spent the rest of the afternoon popping Tylenol and feeling like my head was going to explode.  Right now I just took another Tylenol in hopes of stopping the stabbing pain radiating from the base of my neck all the way up behind my eyes.  Ouch!  I don't have time to be sick this week so I'm just going to have to push through it.  Today will probably be a cartoon day for the kids so I can rest, but no pajama day for me!

A friend texted me last night to find out if I ever cook without a recipe...if I just throw stuff together as I go.  Funny she should ask since last night's dinner was something I just threw together.  So I guess the answer is yes and no.  Yes I do just throw stuff together a lot of times based on what I have on hand and make additions or subtractions to ingredients through trial and error, but usually I have a base recipe I start out with that I know will work and go from there.  I have been cooking long enough to know what changes I definitely want to make mostly to salt content or spice levels when I have a new recipe.  I also know how I have to cook or hide certain ingredients like onions or peppers if I even want a sporting chance of my husband....that's right, I said HUSBAND, not kids....even trying it, let alone liking it.

Monday night's dinner was beef stew.  I tossed around the idea of making bread bowls for them, but I looked over and saw a bunch of the Irish Soda Bread still sitting in a Tupperware container.  That on top of my headache made me quickly nix the bread bowl idea.  Headache or not, I should have taken the 2 hours to make the bread bowls...or some bread in the bread machine at the least!  Despite still having the appearance of tastiness, the bread was pretty hard and not edible.  No bread for the stew.  Oh well...no one left the table hungry regardless.  I didn't lose any sleep over it...although I didn't sleep well because of the headache.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say the bread and headache weren't directly related!!

Beef stew is pretty much just soup with some cornstarch added at the end to thicken the broth.  This time I made a beef stew because I had some stew meat in the freezer, but I also really like chicken stew.  Maybe I'll have to make some chicken stew in the near future....and this time I'll make the bread bowls!  Whole chicken is on sale this week so maybe I'll do a roast chicken with stuffing and then use the leftovers for some nice stew.  Mental note to self!!

P.S. The Tylenol I took this morning has started working.  Now instead of a stabbing in my brain it feels more like a gentle poke.  I can deal with that!  Looks like I have about 3 hours to be amongst the living before the pain in my brain returns.  Time to get started on dinner tonight...everything has to be in the crockpot by 10:00 a.m.!!  I wonder if my Assistant Chef is awake yet??

Beef Stew

1 lb beef stew meat (I think it was round, but I'm not 100% sure)

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 c water

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 c)

2 stalks celery, chopped (about 1/2 c)

1 small can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 tbsp parsley

5 c beef broth

3-4 carrots, chopped (about 2 c)

4 medium potatoes, chopped (about 2 c)

1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 bay leaf

1 tsp dried basil

1 beef bouillon cube

1/3 c frozen peas

1/3 c frozen corn

Cornstarch for thickening

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  Start browning meat and season with pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.  After about 5 mins, add the 1/4 c water.

Continue to cook over medium-high heat until the water is evaporated and meat is browned.  This took about another 10 mins.

Add onions, celery, parsley, can of tomatoes and beef broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 2 hours, stirring occasionally.  I was pretty excited to try out my frozen cubes of parsley I made the other day.  It worked quite nicely!  It's the little things in life, right??

Meanwhile, I chopped my carrots and potatoes and set them aside.  You can place the potatoes in cold water to keep them from oxidizing and turning a funky brown color.

Turn heat back up to medium-high heat and return to a boil.  Add carrots and continue cooking over a low boil for 15 mins.

Add potatoes, basil, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce and bouillon cube.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer another 30 mins stirring occasionally.

Add frozen peas and corn.  Remove the bay leaf and discard.

Mix 1 tbsp cornstarch with 1 tbsp cold water until smooth.  Add to stew and continue to cook, stirring constantly.  Repeat this step as many times as necessary to reach desired thickness.

Remove from heat.  Stew will continue to thicken as it cools.

My beef stew served with salad and inedible bread.  I took this picture before I realized the bread was nasty.

Beef stew.