Classic Meatloaf

I enjoy and have made all kinds of meatloaves.  Italian-inspired, asian-inspired, etc.  However, I don't think there's anything like the "classic" meatloaf that we've all grown up with.  Nothing fancy, just some meat and spices.  I hadn't made a classic meatloaf (I don't want to call it "plain" because it's not!) in so long.  I know some people like to add oats to their meatloaf to bump up the health factor.  Growing up, my dad made a meatloaf like that once and I still have bad memories of it!  So that's one ingredient that I will never add to my meatloaf!  Going through some old Cooking Light Annual cookbooks I found this recipe.  Minus the fact that I don't make home-made bread crumbs.....why have to take the food processor down from the upstairs closet and then clean all those parts.....and I buy the pre-packaged meatloaf meat mixture, this recipe seemed pretty "classic" to me.  This was easy to put together and the kids loved it.  When my daughter asks for seconds and my son eats ALL of his dinner, I know I have a winner!  Meatloaf is not a meal that I consider for a busy weeknight meal.  However, this would make a great dish for a lazy weekend, winter dinner!

Classic Meatloaf
recipe slightly adapted from Cooking Light, March 2006

Ingredients:

1 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
1/2 cup ketchup, divided
approx. 1 1/2  lb. pkg meatloaf mix (or you can use 2/3 lb. lean ground beef, 1/2 lb. ground veal, and 6 oz. lean ground pork)
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried basil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 large egg whites
Cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.

In a small frying pan saute heat butter until melted over medium heat.  Add onion and saute approximately 5 minutes until translucent. Let cool. 

Combine breadcrumbs and milk in a large bowl; let stand for 5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons ketchup and remaining ingredients except cooking spray.

Shape meat mixture into a 9 x 5-inch loaf on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Spread remaining 6 tablespoons ketchup over top of meat loaf. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a thermometer registers 160°. Let stand for 10 minutes. Cut the loaf into 12 slices.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up.

Chili-Cheese Mac

I don't like most beans, especially kidney beans.  So even though chili is a perfect slow cooker and fall/winter meal I have rarely, if ever made it.  Then I found this recipe for chili-cheese mac.  Unfortunately, I only realized just now that I don't have a picture of the dish (but you can click on the Cooking Light link below to see). However, the kids enjoyed it a lot so I thought that I'd still post it.  Now this dish had a little kick to it from the chili powder and tomatoes with chiles.  I was afraid the kids weren't going to eat it.  They did notice the spice but just asked for more to drink and continued to eat.  If my son eats his entire dinner it's worthy of a 2 thumbs up rating!  However, I only gave this one 1 1/2 because I didn't think it was too special.  It was definitely quick and easy and it was the second recipe that I've made recently that cookedd the pasta in the same pot as the other ingredients in the dish. 

Chili-Cheese Mac
recipe from Cooking Light, April 2012

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon canola oil
3/4 pound ground round
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 cups fat-free, lower-sodium beef broth
1 cup water
1 (10-ounce) can mild diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
8 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
1/2 cup fat-free milk
4 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
4 1/2 ounces finely shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add oil. Add beef and next 4 ingredients; cook 3 minutes. Add broth, water, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Stir in macaroni; cover and cook 10 minutes or until macaroni is done.

2. Heat milk and cream cheese in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook 4 minutes or until cheese melts, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Stir in cheddar. Add cheese sauce to macaroni mixture; toss well to coat.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

Ground Beef Stroganoff

I haven't made a stroganoff in awhile but it seemed like a good dish for this recent chilly weather we've been experiencing. I like the combo of mushrooms, onions, and sour cream which are the main components of a stroganoff.  I've made stroganoff using beef strips and chicken but I don't think I've ever made one before using ground beef.  I have to say that after making this, I'm not a fan of using ground beef.  The flavor of this dish was good but I think I'd substitute in chicken or steak if I made this again. My daughter ate her serving, minus the mushrooms.  My son ate the noodles. 

Ground Beef Stroganoff
recipe from My Biscuits are Burning

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 med. yellow onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp. butter
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 cup sour cream
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
Handful of mushrooms, (about 8 oz.) sliced
3 tbsp. flour
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Egg Noodles, cooked according to package directions

Directions:
Bring a pot of water to boil and begin to cook noodles according to package directions.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, brown ground beef until thoroughly cooked.

Drain ground beef to remove excess grease from pan.

Put pan back on stove (setting aside the ground beef), add 2-3 tbsp butter and also the chopped onions and mushrooms (if using). Saute the onions and mushrooms, over medium heat, until onions are soft and then add garlic.

Only cook for another 1-2 minutes so garlic doesn't burn.

Add flour to pan, stir and let it absorb butter. Now add beef broth and whisk vigorously to remove any lumps, turning the heat up to high, bringing it to a boil for 2-3 minutes until you see it thicken slightly.

Bring temperature down to medium and whisk in sour cream and cream of mushroom soup. Stir until mixture is thoroughly incorporated.

Add salt & pepper. Keep tasting mixture until it is seasoned the way you like. If it gets too thick on you, just add a tad more beef broth.

Add ground beef back to mixture until reheated.

Serve over hot noodles.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.

Recipe Repeat: Cheeseburger Meatloaf

I had my fill of cheeseburgers this past summer and don't make burgers a lot (although Rachael Ray sure has many delicious looking ones in her magazines!), even though I do enjoy them.  As fall comes I think less of burgers and more of meatloaf.  It's similar to a burger, without the bun, right?!  And this recipe combines the flavors of a cheeseburger in meatloaf form.  This was in my folder of recipes that I've made before, although I couldn't tell you when.  I know that we enjoyed it the first time I made it though, which is why I had saved the recipe in the first place.  The flavors of a cheeseburger are all in there - the pickles, onion, cheese.  Of course my son didn't eat much of this, but my daughter really liked it.  Unfortunately, there is a bit of preparation for this and a lengthy cooking time so this does not make for a quick weeknight dinner.  However, when I was working and we wanted meatloaf for dinner, my husband or I would prep the meatloaf the night before and then I'd stick it in the oven when I got home from work.  So at least all the prep work was out of the way and I had time to give the kids showers, help with homework, etc.

Cheeseburger Meatloaf
recipe from EveryDay with Rachael Ray, April 2008

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
1 red onion, finely chopped
2/3 cup ketchup
2/3 cup bread crumbs
2 large eggs
1/2 cup bread-and-butter pickle chips, chopped
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
8 ounces cheddar cheese, cut into 1/3-inch cubes
2 pounds new red potatoes
3/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees . Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet. In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring until slightly softened, about 3 minutes.

2.In a large bowl, combine the ketchup, bread crumbs, eggs and pickles; mix in the onion. Crumble in the beef, add the cheese and mix together. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and shape into a 4-by-12-inch loaf. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 160 degrees , about 35 minutes.

3.Meanwhile, halve the potatoes and place them in a large pot with enough salted water to cover by an inch. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain, return to the pot and mash with the cream.

4.Let the meatloaf rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with the mashed potatoes.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

This post is shared at:
Miz Helen's Country Cottage

Asian Burgers

Restaurants offer so many different and interesting types of sandwiches and wraps that I rarely order a burger when eating out.  I don't often make them at home either.  But every now and then I'm in the mood for a good burger, especially when I saw this recipe.  My family enjoys eating almost anything with Asian flavors (could it possibly be due to me being Korean??!!).  I thought that these burgers would be juicy and flavorful.  Unfortunately, I found them to be pretty dry (which could be due to me overcooking them) and lacking a bit in the flavor department.  I've made other variations of "Asian" burgers in the past that were much tastier.  I've made marinated cucumbers as a sid dish before but serving them on the burger was different.  The kids at their cucumbers on the side and dipped them in salad dressing.  I served these with french fries and the kids ate all of their dinner but I wasn't really impressed with these burgers.

Asian Burgers
recipe slightly adapted from parents.com

Yield:  6 servings

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef

2 scallions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
English muffins, split and toasted
1/2 medium seedles cucumber, thinly sliced into rounds
Rice vinegar

Directions:
1. In a large bowl mix together the beef, scallions, garlic, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Shape mixture into six 1/2-inch thick patties.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the patties about 5 minutes per side or until done (160 degree F).

3. In a small bowl, toss cucumber with a bit of rice vinegar.

Serve burgers on English muffins topped with sliced cucumber.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.

Around The World: Picadinho'A Brasilie

Happy 4th of July!  I have scheduled recipe posts only for the next couple of days while I'm on vacation with the kids at my parents beach house in Rhode Island.  Unfortunately, my husband recently started a new job and has no vacation time.  Since this is a yearly vacation tradition, I had to take the kids!  Plus, my sister and her husband and daughter, and my brother will all be up during the week, so it should be a good time!

As we continue our tour of Brazil I made this recipe.  I ended up halving the recipe, which I posted here, since the original recipe served 8.  The day I made this my son was sick with a 102+ temperature and not into eating.  Not that I think he'd eat this even if he was feeling well! This is not a quick recipe to make.  The onions were first caramelized, which takes 15-20 minutes.  Honestly, you couldn't tell in the dish that the onions were caramelized.  I think they could just be sauteed for a few minutes and it would taste very similar.  But, there's a lot of simmering.....like altogether over an hour.  I don't really know of any substitutions for red wine, so I ended up opening up a bottle.  The red wine added flavor to the dish but the rest of the mostly full bottle went to waste, since neither my husband or I are big wine drinkers.   I served this over white rice.  My daughter was picking out the onions and tomatoes....so it took her awhile to eat.  Overall, we weren't big fans of this dish.

Picadinho'A Brasilie
recipe from allrecipes.com by Woman Whisking

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onions, chopped
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 pound ground beef
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
3 eggs
1/2 (15.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, with liquid
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
3/4 cup red wine

Directions:
1.Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onions and garlic, and cook until the onions have caramelized to a deep, golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir frequently as the onions cook. Meanwhile, place the ground beef, bell pepper, eggs, tomatoes, and parsley into a mixing bowl; mix until evenly combined.


2.Add the meat mixture into the caramelized onions, and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook and stir until the beef is crumbly and no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in the red wine. Continue simmering, covered, until the liquid evaporates, about 1 hour.

Family Rating: So-so.

Sesame-Soy Meatballs

I recently watched an old episode of Bizzare Foods with Andrew Zimmern and discovered there's a restaurant in NYC called The Meatball Shop that serves....you, guessed it, meatballs, in all kinds of variations!  I'm a big fan of meatballs, meatloaf, etc. so this recipe definitely caught my eye.  It was super easy to make, quick to cook, and even better, tasted really good!  We only made 16 meatballs, but they were so good that my husband and I finished them all (minus 4, 2 each for the kids).  The kids complained that they were too spicy (due to the chile paste) but I was hoping the sweetness would balance it out.  I will definitely be making these again for me and my husband! We served these with spicy rice and some peas.  Delish!

Sesame-Soy Meatballs
Cooking Light, November 2010

Ingredients:
1/3 cup minced green onions
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon chile paste (such as sambal oelek)
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 pound ground sirloin
Cooking spray

Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 400°.

2. Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl. Add beef; mix gently to combine. With moist hands, shape beef mixture into 20 (1 1/2-inch) meatballs.

3. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the meatballs to pan; cook 4 minutes, turning to brown meatballs on all sides. Arrange browned meatballs in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining meatballs. Bake meatballs at 400° for 7 minutes or until done.

Mommy & Daddy Rating: 2 thumbs up!

Italian Meatloaf in Zucchini Boats

So, this picture isn't very pretty (I had a bit of a difficult time getting it out of the pan!)....however, I thought this dish was delish!  I had something similar when I was down in Florida visiting family.  However, my relative served ground just ground beef in a zucchini with sauce.  The seasoning of the ground beef really made this dish.  And of course cheese always helps! This does take about 45 minutes to cook.  So with prep time this doesn't work too well as a quick weeknight meal.  If you have some time though It's definitely worth it.  If you want to make it a more filling meal, you can serve with pasta and a salad. We did eat it as is. The kids weren't a big fan of the zucchini but they did eat the "meatloaf."

                        
Italian Meatloaf in Zucchini Boats
allrecipes.com - Egallagher55

Ingredients:
1 large zucchini, cut in half lengthwise
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/2 pounds ground beef sirloin
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/4 cup grated carrot
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 (26.5 ounce) can spaghetti sauce, divided
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.Scoop out and discard zucchini seeds, leaving the hollowed-out shells. Sprinkle the garlic salt into the hollowed-out zucchini, and set aside. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

3.In a mixing bowl, mix the ground beef, eggs, bread crumbs, basil, carrot, and Parmesan cheese together with the onion mixture. Stuff the zucchini halves with the meat mixture, and place them into a baking dish. Spoon about half the spaghetti sauce over the zucchini, covering all the meat and allowing sauce to drip down the sides of the zucchini boats.

4.Bake in the preheated oven until the meat is no longer pink in the center and the zucchini are tender, about 45 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the zucchini, and return to oven until the cheese melts, about 5 more minutes. Heat the remaining spaghetti sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat while the zucchini boats are cooking. Serve the zucchini boats with the additional sauce on the side.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!

Beef and Mushroom Sloppy Joes

One of the best things about this recipe was that I was able to get the kids to eat mushrooms.  I only gave them 1/2 of a sandwich each since I served french fries and veggies with the sloppy joes.  3/4 of the way through eating her sloppy joe my daughter asked, "Is there eggplant in here?" "No," I said.  "Is there mushrooms?" I told her, "Maybe." "Because I taste something squishy," she said.  When I admitted to there being mushrooms in them she continued to eat, which was very surprising!  I did make their sandwiches before adding the hot sauce.  However, more hot sauce was needed to taste it.  This was another quick and easy recipe, definitely doable for a weeknight dinner.

Beef and Mushroom Sloppy Joes
Cooking Light, June 2011

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 ounces ground sirloin
2 (8-ounce) packages presliced cremini mushrooms
1 cup prechopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup no-salt-added tomato paste
1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon molasses
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
4 (2-ounce) Kaiser rolls or hamburger buns, toasted

Preparation:
1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Add beef; cook for 4 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble.

2. While beef cooks, place mushrooms in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until finely chopped. Add mushrooms, onion, and garlic to pan; cook for 3 minutes or until onion is tender. Add tomato paste and next 5 ingredients (through salt) to pan; cook 5 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and liquid evaporates. Stir in pepper and hot sauce. Spoon about 1 cup beef mixture on bottom half of each bun; top with top halves of buns.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.

Supper Club: Spicy Cocoa Sloppy Joes

My husband and I have belonged to our supper club for almost 5 years now. Each month we choose a theme and each couple takes turns hosting. This month the theme was chocolate!  We tried to make it as kid-friendly as possible, since four children were going to be at the event this time (usually, kids are not included).

One of our club members does not eat beef or  pork and we recently had mole and chili.  Thanks to Cookieee over at the Cooking Light message boards for the recipe idea for the main dish that I decided to make. I substituted ground turkey for the beef.  Although it was super simple, the dish was tasty and was received well. Can be served on hamburger buns for easy, weeknight dinner.

Spicy Cocoa Sloppy Joes
hersheys.com

Ingredients:
1-1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 to 1-1/4 cups chopped onion
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard
2-1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1-1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1-1/4 teaspoons salt

Preparation:
1. Cook ground beef and onion in large skillet on medium heat until beef is browned and onion is tender. Drain excess fat.

2. Stir in ketchup, cocoa, mustard, chili powder, pepper and salt. Heat 10 to 15 minutes on low heat or until hot. Serve in buns. Cover; refrigerate leftovers. About 4 servings.



Family Rating: 1 thumb up.