I know everyone probably has their go-to meatloaf recipe, but this one is just plain good! I hate thinking about meatloaf... especially with a chef in the house. It is literally a loaf of baked meat. Ugg. That thought grosses me out. However, we always have the 'this is so gross' conversation, then clean our plates everytime we make this! It's hard for me to make this for someone who can cook ANYTHINGINTHEWORLD, but, I am a mere american housewife, so yes, we too eat meatloaf! Serve with mashed potatoes and you'll please your crowd, promise.
Meatloaf
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 onion, diced
½- 1 green bell pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce
3 tablespoons vinegar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix together the beef, bread crumbs, onion, pepper, egg, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce. Form this mixture into a loaf and place it in a shallow pan. Stir together the remaining tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, mustard, and Worcestershire. Pour this sauce over the meatloaf. Bake for 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes with the pan juices.
Now to movies! We watched New York, I Love You the other night. Wow. It has this line up of practically every famous person in hollywood and it was horrible! I almost fell of the bed laughing because right when it was over Powers started waving his hands around in the air and said 'That was all of their worst movies ever!' So true! We still have no idea what this was supposed to be about!
Here's the cast: You would think it to be fantastic! WRONG! Not good!
I am on a mission for us to eat healthy and save money. (Translation, eat salads and stop spending so much eating out!) We have one chef and one decent cook in our house. No reason to not cook all the time! Plus it’s fun! Here’s what I’ve tried this past week:
Booper’s Chicken Pasta Salad
My 2 cents: You can taste the red wine vinegar in this a lot, but we really liked it! It’s light, for pasta… the sauce isn’t thick and heavy. Powers really liked it and he’s my good food gauge!
Chicken Pasta Salad
Dressing:
1 c. mayonnaise
1/2 c. red wine vinegar
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. dried dillweed (i didn’t have this so I just left it out and it was still good!)
Whisk together until smooth and set aside.
Salad:
8 oz. fettuccine noodles or tri-color rotini pasta (We used rotini)
3 T. olive oil
2 lbs. or 4 boneless chicken breasts, cooked and chopped into bite-size pieces
1 c. chopped celery
1 c. chopped green pepper/could also add red bell pepper if you like
1/4 c. chopped green onions
4 oz. chopped pimento, drained
2 T. creole seasoning (will make salad pretty spicy, can cut back if you’d like!)
1 c. chopped toasted pecans
*opt. 2 c. fresh broccoli florets (I didn't use this in mine)
Cook, rinse, and drain pasta. Toss pasta with 3 T. olive oil. Chop all veggies and put in a large bowl, add Creole seasoning and stir. Add drained pasta, chicken, & pecans and toss with all of the dressing. Would be pretty served on a red lettuce leaf but Taylor and Powers never even made it out of the bowl to a plate. Must have been good!
Next up:
Beth Hamby’s Potato Soup
1- 2lb. bag of Ora Ida hashbrowns (NOT the shredded)- thawed
1 can cream of chicken
1 can cream of celery
1 can chicken broth
1 pint of half and half
1 cup of milk
2-3 T butter (to taste)
garnishes: crispy fried bacon (a must), sliced green onion, and shredded cheddar
mix all your liquid together then put your potatoes in. Cook until potatoes begin to get mushy and soft and blend in with the liquid to make it very thick! (30 minutes or until desired consistency)
(notes: We left off the cheese… didn’t need it in my opinion but we used a lot of bacon and green onions! It was yummy and really easy! Good for a sick husband!)
Powers made these BBQ quesadillas the recently. I had flagged them in a Southern Living magazine and wanted to try them, but I was running late getting home, so Powers made them for us. Take note, Im pretty sure Powers didn’t even look at this recipe, but when he told me what he did, it was super similar to the below. This was really quick, easy, and delish!
BBQ Quesadillas
1 lb chopped barbecued pork (without sauce) (We used pork that Powers had smoked the week before)
1 cup barbecue sauce
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (more for me please!)
2 green onions, chopped
8 flour tortillas
1 (8 oz) pkg shredded mexican cheese (we substituted with queso cheese, which was really good!)
Toppings: sour cream and green onions
1. In a saucepan over medium heat, stir together bbq pork and next 3 ingredients. Keep warm
2. Place one tortilla in a hot, lightly greased skillet. Put desired amount of cheese on the bottom of the tortilla and spoon 1/3 cup pork mixture onto one half of the tortilla. Cook 2-3 minutes or until cheese melts. Fold tortilla in half over filling and transfer to a serving plate. Repeat until you use all remaining tortillas.
3. Top with desired toppings and enjoy! We served ours with skillet corn which was perfect with it!
Ummmm mmm! We will definitely do this again since it only took a few minutes to throw together!
Hey everybody! I made these Cranberry Crumb Bars this weekend and they were really good! Powers specifically said they were great with coffee, so that's his 2 cents! I LOVE cranberries, so these reminded me of good ole' winter desserts! I stole this recipe and pictures from this website... Katie makes great looking food... this is the first recipe I've tried and I'll def try more! I don't know how to give legal credit for stolen pictures, so Ill just give my own disclosure that I didn't take this picture and Katie takes awesome food pics!
Cranberry Crumb Bars
Cranberry Filling
2/3 cup white sugar
1 Tbs cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla
juice of 1/2 of an orange
4 cups fresh cranberries**
Crumb Mixture
1 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour/meal*
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks)
1 egg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 9×9 (or 8x8) inch pan.
In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, and orange juice. Mix in the cranberries. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup sugar, flour, almond flour, salt and baking powder. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. The dough will be crumbly. Alternatively, you can pulse the dry ingredients in a food processor with the butter until pebbly, and then mix in the egg until it all comes together. Pat half of the dough into the buttered pan.
Sprinkle the cranberry mixture evenly over the dough in the pan.
Add 1/4 tsp cinnamon to the remaining dough, then crumble dough over the berries. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until top is a light golden brown. (Watch while cooking, mine didn’t take quite this long) Cool completely and chill in the refrigerator before cutting into squares. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
* I used whole natural almonds. Just toss them in a food processor until finely ground to make almond meal.
**stock up while cranberries are abundant in stores. Just toss them in the freezer and use as you need. They'll be good for about a year. If you're using frozen fresh cranberries for this recipe there is no need to thaw them first.
I have been trying to get in the kitchen more so we will quit eating so junky. Blah. A friend and I were having the 'it's just so hard to cook as much as we'd like to' conversation last night and I remembered this meal!
Powers and I made this recently and it was great, affordable, super quick and healthy! If you multitask, you can throw this whole thing together in 20 minutes easily! I've added our cooks notes at the bottom of each recipe for your interest! We served this with a loaf of french bread for dinner. Enjoy!
Steak Balsamico with Mushrooms - serves 4
4 (6 oz.) flat-iron steaks, about 1-1/4 in. thick
1-1/4 t. salt, divided
3/4 t. black pepper, divided
2 T. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 oz. pkg. sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 c. balsamic vinegar
Rub steaks with 1 t. salt and 1/2 t. pepper. Cook in hot oil in a large skillet over med-high heat 4-5 minutes on each side (or more for us) or to desired degree of doneness. Transfer to a serving platter and cover with foil to keep warm.
Add garlic to skillet; saute 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add mushrooms and remaining 1/4 t. salt and 1/4 t pepper to skillet; saute 3 mintues. Stir in vinegar; cook, stirring frequently, 3-5 minutes or until mushrooms ar tender. Spoon mushroom mixture over steaks,and serve immediately. You only mess up one skillet to do this dinner.
*Can substitute 2 lb. pork tenderloin, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices, for steaks.
*Note: This was good, but the balsamic sauce is really strong. I would either serve on the side as a dipping sauce or just cook the mushrooms in the sauce and serve only the mushrooms (sans sauce) over the steaks.
Spring Greens Salad with Beets and Goat Cheese
2/3 c pecan halves
3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar, divided
1 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. sugar (or brown sugar)
¼ c olive oil
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp whole grain mustard
1/8 tsp salt
1 pkg (5 oz) spring mix salad greens
1 can (14.5 oz) sliced beets, drained
1 cup crumbled goat cheese
In a medium skillet, cook the pecans, 1 Tbsp vinegar and water over medium heat until the nuts are toasted, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar. Cook and stir for 2-4 minutes or until sugar is melted. Spread on foil to cool.
In a small bowl, combine the oil, syrup, mustard, salt, and remaining vinegar. Refrigerate until serving.
In a large bowl, combine salad greens and dressing; toss to coat (do not need all of the dressing). Divide among 8 salad plates and top with beets, goat cheese and glazed pecans.
*our notes: we LOVED the pecans so if you are serving 8, you may want to use a few more pecans! We also roasted fresh beets, which were wonderful, but my mom said canned beets work great!
