53 Mondays-Week 41? Meatloaf—yes, you read that right!

Today’s recipe was by The Pioneer Woman.  I bought her cookbook after cooking several wonderful recipes from her website.  Not a meatloaf fan myself, I was intrigued by her LOVE of the stuff.  This recipe seemed easy enough, so I gave it a try.  You know what?  She was SO right!  This was so good.  I am a convert.  My only change is that the bacon I put on the top was thick.  I would use thin bacon next time (and there will be a next time) so that it crisps up.  I halved this recipe and there was still more than enough for Justin and me.  Give this a try! 

 

MY FAVORITE MEATLOAF

Recipe and Photo from The Pioneer Woman

Meatloaf:

1 cup Whole Milk

6 slices White Bread

2 pounds Ground Beef

1 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese

¼ teaspoons Seasoned Salt

¾ teaspoons Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

⅓ cups Minced Flat-leaf Parsley

4 whole Eggs Beaten

10 slices Thin/regular Bacon

Sauce:

1-½ cup Ketchup

⅓ cups Brown Sugar

1 teaspoon Dry Mustard

Tabasco To Taste (I didn’t have any so I didn’t add)

 

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk over the bread slices. Allow it to soak in for several minutes.

Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, Parmesan, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper, and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beaten eggs.

With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined. Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat to drain. (Line the bottom of the pan with foil to avoid a big mess!)

Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.

Make the sauce: add ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and hot sauce in a mixing bowl. Stir together. Pour 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the bacon. Spread with a spoon.

Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top. Bake for another 15 minutes. Slice and serve with remaining sauce.

Serve with mashed potatoes. Yummy!

53 Mondays–Week 40 Chicken, Rice, and Vegetable Soup

I’m a little behind on this posting. 

Fall always makes me want soup.  I love rice and vegetable soups, in particular.  This is a adaptation of a recipe found in the Favorites recipe book.  I had never cooked with leeks before.  To me, they reminded me of more mild green onions.  I must state that I do not think my husband would have liked this soup, but I knew that and made it for me during the week. 

2 medium leeks, white part only

4 Tbsp butter

3 medium carrots, sliced thin (I LOVE my mandolin for this)

8 medium-sized mushrooms sliced (I used more because I Love mushrooms)

2 ribs celery, thinly sliced

3 (14 ounce) cans chicken broth

1 cup water

1/2 cup white grape juice

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

handful pecans

salt and pepper to taste

Cut leeks in half lenghtwise and rinse well to grit.  Drain and thinly slice.

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add leeks, sliced carrots, sliced mushrooms, and sliced celery and saute until tender.  Add rice and stir to coat with butter. 

Add one can of chicken broth and one cup of water and bring to a boil.  Cover; reduce heat and simmer for 20 mins or until rice is tender. 

While rice is cooking, heat the remaining two cans of broth and grape juice. Add chicken breasts and simmer for 15 mins, uncovered.  Remove chicken and set aside. 

Strain broth from cooking chicken into rice and vegetable mixture. 

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Chop or shred chicken and add to soup.  Add handful of chopped pecans.  Heat thoroughly and serve! 

 

I had some leftover chicken in the fridge, so I skipped the whole cooking chicken step and just added the extra liquid to the soup earlier.  I only had a few pecans but a lot of pine nuts, so I threw those in as well.  The pine nuts had a stronger flavor than the pecans, but they worked in a pinch. 

LiveJournal Tags: 53 Mondays,recipe

Good Morning…Sunshine?

I knew this day was coming.  We’ve had such great weather here that I knew it was going to change.  This is what we woke up to and what Tyson felt the need to disturb my slumber to tell me about this morning!   Yes, we did go outside and make snowballs.  Plenty were thrown, but amazingly none at me!  Must be my frightening demeanor!

 

THIS toy!

Let me state that I do not like this Halloween toy.  I find it to be REALLY obnoxious.  So why did I buy it?  Because it makes Austin do this: 

September Photos Wrap-Up

What’s the opposite of Heaven on a Plate?

Pretty sure it’s these. 

Not to say they aren’t heaven, but more like crack.  Not that I know from experience, but I’m guessing. 

We needed a treat to Boo our neighbors with.  What’s that, you ask?  I’ll refer you to my friend, Pam, for her awesome description of it! 

I found THIS fun website and improvised one of their recipes.  (picture above is linked to their site).

I did use a box mix (shhhhh….) and I used a fun pan from Pampered Chef to make mini brownie bites.  I just cut the Oreo into fourths and put it in the brownie.  As for the frosting, I followed the basic directions from bakeitinacake.com, but for the actual frosting, I used a recipe I found on the Pioneer Woman’s website.  THIS is amazing.   I honestly don’t think I’ll ever buy a can of frosting again.  I did add in the Junior Mints for a yummy combination and it was heavenly.  Good thing we were giving these puppies away. 

If you were boo’d with these yummy bites of crack and just happen to read my blog…shhhh… don’t tell my kids! 

53 Mondays – Week 39

What’s “53 Mondays” all about?  Read about it HERE. 

Just a few days late.  I actually had a few new recipes this past week, so I’ll post them as I get time, but this was so good!  I combined two recipes from the Favorites cookbook (why don’t you have your own yet?).

 

OLD FASHIONED POT ROAST (adapted from Favorites)

One (3 to 5 lb) beef roast

Salt and pepper

One (10 oz) can cream of mushroom soup

1 package dry onion soup mix

One (10 3/4 ounce) beef gravy (I used Franco-American)

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 TBSP vinegar

2 TBSP soy sauce

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

4 large potatoes, quartered

4 carrots, cut into inch pieces

8 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms (I used a container, so I’m not sure if it was more than 8 ounces, but does it matter?)

 

Heat small amt of oil in large pan.  Season beef with salt and pepper.  Brown beef evenly.

Mix together soups and seasonings.  Pour over roast in Crockpot. 

Put veggies on top and season with salt and pepper. 

Cook on low for 12 hours or high heat for 6 – 7 hours.

Take roast out when cooked.  Strain gravy to get rid of lumps.  Serve with veggies. 

 

This really was so easy and dare I say foolproof?  And delicious.  It was so moist and delicious and just fell apart when serving!  YUM!

Sorry…no photo.  Too busy serving dinner!  : )