Creative Meatloaf

It's a rainy, cloudy, stormy, lazy Sunday evening. I am not leaving the house. Hmm....dinner. I know I have a lot of ground beef because I had bought one of those 5-pound packs to last a while. I am thinking meatloaf.

Traditional Recipe: 1 pound ground beef, 1 egg, breadcrumbs, ketchup, seasonings. Bake at 350 for an hour.

I have never made meatloaf the same way twice. Instead of breadcrumbs, I have used Saltine crackers, Ritz crackers, oats, cornflakes, or stuffing mix. Instead of ketchup, I have used tomato puree, tomato sauce, or even A-1 sauce (my husband's favorite). I have seasoned with Italian spices, plain old S & P, or onions and garlic.

Tonight, I root through my cabinets and think "Italian Style!" I have some leftover marinara sauce and some dry spaghetti sauce mix in a packet that I have been wanting to get rid of. I originally bought it for a recipe that required an Italian dressing mix and realized it wouldn't work. I get out an egg and breadcrumbs and put the beef in the microwave to defrost.

Meatloaf is incomplete without potatoes, so I peel and dice the best ones I have. (In my cabinet, it seems there's always some sprouting.) I put a pot of water on the stove to boil.

In a large bowl, I start on my meatloaf. I beat the egg and add about a 1/2 cup of the marinara sauce and then I add half of the spaghetti sauce packet. Whoa - it's orange. OK, I will leave the rest out. I add 1/2 cup breadcrumbs. (I'm actually not measuring, so don't pay too much attention to what I say about that.) I add the ground beef and mix with my hands. (Wedding ring is off!) I am trying to remember what consistency the meatloaf is supposed to be. I add some more marinara, then some more breadcrumbs and hope for the best. I pour it into my foiled and sprayed loaf pan and into the preheated oven for an hour.

After I boil and mash the potatoes, I give them "Italian" treatment too (in my opinion). I squeeze some garlic through the garlic press and add butter and grated Parmesan cheese and then stir in some milk. I try it and add some salt and pepper. Yum!

After half an hour, the meatloaf smells great, but I manage to hold everyone off until it's ready. I slice it immediately after removing it from the oven because my family is acting like hungry wolves. Some slices stay together, some don't. That is fine though because I have to crumble the girls' up anyway.

That meatloaf was the juiciest meatloaf I've had! Is meatloaf supposed to be juicy? Maybe I should say moist. Anyway, I liked it. My husband didn't say it was the best ever (I think he prefers the A-1) but he had seconds and the girls finished their plates (which never happens!) so I'd say it was a success. I think it was the spaghetti sauce mix after all.

Spaghetti Night

Recipe: 1/2 box spaghetti noodles, 1/2 lb. ground beef, 1 jar "Ragu Super Chunky Mushroom"
Cook the noodles. Cook and drain meat. Add sauce. Mix all together. Yum.

We leave the park at 5:30. The girls slept through lunch and Olivia ate chicken nuggets and goldfish on the playground, but Juliana wouldn't leave the swings. I'm hoping they will just watch TV.

I'm glad I planned something simple for dinner, because today seemed busy with pre-school and the park. Such a nice day though. I have tried spaghetti several different ways: I vary the sauce or have even made handmade meatballs, but no matter what I do, Shane prefers Ragu. That's fine with me. It's easier and cheaper that way.

I open the fridge and find two puzzles. Olivia must have been making cookies.

Hmm, what was I looking for? Oh, ground beef. It's in the freezer. I stick it in the microwave for 5 mins on 30% power to defrost and heat up the pan and boil a pot of water.

"Mommy, can I have a snack?" Olivia asks.
"No baby, I'm making dinner and don't want you to get full on snacks," I answer.
"What are you making?" she asks.
"Spaghetti."
"I don't like spaghetti. What's spaghetti?"
I show her a picture from the box of noodles.
"Yuck, I don't like that," she responds. "I want macaroni and cheese."
"No. And you do like spaghetti. You've had it before," I say.
She grumbles and leaves the room.

Gabriella (9 mos) is fussing so I pick her up. I put the noodles in the pot and I start browning the beef. I must say, I feel like a super mom cooking dinner with one hand and holding a baby on my hip with the other. Oops, I almost burn her foot. She's bigger than she used to be. I start unloading the dishwasher (still one-handed) while the stuff on the stove cooks.

"Seat." Juliana says, pulling a bar stool towards the kitchen. This is her way of telling me she wants to sit up by the stove to help me stir or cook, like when we're baking.
"No Juli, Mommy doesn't need help cooking right now. Do you want to help be do the dishes?" I ask.
"Alright!" she says. Then she goes to her room.

I drain the ground beef and pour the Ragu sauce into the same pan. I drain the spaghetti and pour that into the pan too.

Juliana comes back into the kitchen, clutching her ballerina dress. Olivia is close behind, holding her princess dress.
"Stuck," Juliana says. This is what she says if she can't get something open or, in this case, on.
I am still one-handed so I tell her I can help her after I make dinner.

I put Gabriella down on the floor, glancing around to make sure there was nothing harmful she could eat. While she cries, I finished loading the dishwasher and mixing the spaghetti, which I leave on warm until we're ready to eat. Juliana comes back, still clutching her ballerina dress.
"Peas Mommy?" she says. Aw, how can resist the magic words? I put it on over her clothes.

Shane comes home while I'm feeding Gabi baby food. Time for dinner! We coral the children to the table and I try unsuccessfully to explain to Juliana she cannot wear her ballerina dress at dinner because she will get it messy. She starts to throw a fit and I give in. I don't care at this point - it's washable.

Dinner is good. Shane has seconds, which is high on the scale. (Low is when he doesn't eat it; medium is finishing what's on his plate; high is when he gets seconds; super is when he agrees to eat leftovers.) Actually, he may have eaten the leftovers if there were any.

And guess what? Olivia liked it too! She even "made it" the next day in her toy kitchen.

Success.

Catalina Cranberry Chicken

Recipe

Ingredients:
4 lbs. bone-in chicken pieces (any assortment)
1 16-oz can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 bottle Catalina Dressing
1 envelope dried onion soup mix

Preheat oven to 350

Place chicken in 2 baking pans (13x9). Mix remaining ingredients. Pour over chicken. Bake 50 mins or until chicken is 165 degrees.

So easy even I couldn't screw it up!!

I had already fed the girls leftover tacos so they were content watching TV while I cooked. As I got everything out, I was disappointed to learn I had only bought 2 pounds of chicken so I reduced the rest of the ingredients by half - except for the cranberries. I love cranberries.

Besides that, I did everything like the recipe said and the kids stayed out of the kitchen and it was delicious! How boring. But, I had to share the recipe.

I got this recipe from the Kraft Foods magazine, Holiday 2009 edition.

How to Mess up Box Mixes

My daughter just turned 2, and for her birthday, I made a variety of treats. For her pre-school class, I made brownies. Then, for a play date birthday party, I made a cookie cake. At least, I tried to make those things.

Tuesday night, I made the brownies. Couldn't be easier: Pour contents of bag into bowl, add just a couple of ingredients, mix and bake. Olivia helped me pour and stir. The box said to immediately put in the oven. But I had to wait for the oven to finish preheating. The instructions were to bake 25-30 mins for an 8x8 square pan but mine was 9x9. I thought nothing of it. 25 mins later, I am in the middle of giving the girls a bath so my husband takes the brownies out and lays them on the counter to cool. After I read the girls a story and put them to bed, I check on the brownies. Rock hard. Why? How? I cut off the outer edges and try to salvage the inner squares. I put in plastic wrap and hope they will magically soften on their own.

In the morning, the brownie squares are cement statues of their former selves. Why? How? I bring them anyway. I show them off for laughs and a teacher suggests microwaving them in a damp paper towel to add moisture. Great idea! So, right before my daughter's snack time, I try it. Mmmm, now they are warm brownies right from the oven! It worked, but as soon as they cooled, they cooled hard. So I re-microwaved and hurried over to her room.

As luck would have it, another mommy had brought in mini cupcakes so all the kids went straight for the icing. We sang Happy Birthday and I took pictures of Juli with icing on her face and the kids ate the cupcakes AND the brownies. I mean, they are 2, they'll eat anything, right?

The next day was her actual birthday and her play date party. After cleaning the house, I attempt a cookie cake. You know, one of those jumbo cookies the size of a pizza with icing decorations? Again, I pour the mix out of the box and add just a couple of ingredients. I start stirring and think, "Hmm, why is this dough so pale and mushy?" I re-read the box, and underneath the photo of a stick of butter it says "1 tbs butter." So, yes, I used a STICK of butter when it called for only a tablespoon.

In my defense, I usually make cookies from scratch using two sticks of butter so it did not seem odd that a mix would ask for a stick.

OK, don't panic, just laugh. I have to tell somebody, and ask for advice, so I call my friend Angie who is a baking whiz. She bursts out laughing and says, "I don't know. I've left out ingredients before, but I've never added too much of one. Just taste it and see what it needs." I add a bit of flour just to get the consistency right, then I try it. It tastes bland. Like butter. (I always buy unsalted butter.) I try to think back at what cookie dough is supposed to taste like, so I add more sugar. When it starts to resemble regular cookie dough, I spread it on my pizza pan. It looks a lot smaller than I thought it would. I could have used two boxes. Oh well. I do my best to shape it into a circle and bake it.

As my guests arrived, I gave them full disclosure and warned them the cookie cake may taste a bit odd. Looking back, I shouldn't have said a word. It came out just fine.

New Year's Eve

It's Jan 4th and I've managed not to use any recipes all year! Nachos, steaks, and restaurants. It may have been New Year's Eve that did me in. I'll post the recipe first then detail my experience.

Lentil Soup with Beef (or, as I tell my husband, Beef Stew with lentils)

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis (from foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 large celery stalks, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
6 (14-ounce) cans beef broth
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
2 cups (about 11 ounces) lentils, rinsed
1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

Directions
Heat the oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the beef with salt and pepper. Add half of the beef and cook until brown, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beef to a bowl. Repeat with the remaining beef. Add the celery, carrots, onion, garlic, rosemary, and oregano to the pot. Saute until the onions are translucent, about 8 minutes. Return the beef and any accumulated juices from the bowl to the pot. Add the broth and tomatoes with their juice. Bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until the meat is just tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour. Add the lentils. Cover and continue simmering until the lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. Stir in the parsley. Season the soup, to taste, with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.


I've made this once before and it was great. My husband loved it and even ate the leftovers, which he never does. I originally planned to make this on New Year's day and I was going to make that stuffed veal that I didn't get to make on Christmas Eve, but once again I never made it to the store to buy the ingredients. So, our New Year's Eve feast it is!

The day was doomed from the start since I was expecting a service call. (We're switching from cable to do a bundle thing; we'll see how it works out.) You can never plan around service calls. In particular when they tell you "some time today between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m." I started dinner at 5 pm when I started calling the service provider, but since it was a holiday, they were closed early. For some reason, I kept calling.

I preheat the pot and cut and season the beef. Redial and place beef in pot. Peel and or chop veggies and herbs. Tears from onion, not from service center being closed. Swap beef for veggies. Talk to friends on phone at how ridiculous it is that it's 5:30 and no one is here yet. Keeping hopes up.

By now, all three children are on the kitchen floor playing tea party right under my feet. I return beef to pot and add in broth but forget to add the tomatoes. I had them in my cabinet, I just forgot amidst the commotion.

When it's time to add the lentils, it's 6:30 and I have given up hope on the service call. The worst part is, I have no one to yell at until Saturday because the next day is a holiday. I take out my aggression on the parsley. Finely chopped.

By 7 pm, Shane is home and we take turns griping about our day. I haven't been out of the house all day and felt like a caged bird so I take one of the little ones to the store with me while the soup cools. Before I run out the door, I try the soup and think it tastes a little bland so I pour in some salt and pepper and add the parsley.

When I get back, everyone is calm and we eat. I notice Shane isn't gobbling it up like last time. I have some and notice it is very, very salty.

"It's a little salty, don't you think?" I ask
"Yeah," says Shane.

I am starving so I have seconds but notice Shane instead grabs some yogurt. He tells me he's not that hungry. I save the leftovers anyway. It just figures.

IMPORTANT LESSON: Go easy on the salt because it will ruin even the best dish!

Roast Chicken

Roast Chicken is becoming one of my favorite recipes. Which in turn means my husband is getting tired of it. But I'm cooking so I'm making roast chicken! I like it because you can make it a variety of ways - "garlic and onion" or "citrus" or "parsley and lemon" or tonight's "rosemary and sage." It's the same basic recipe: Butter, salt and pepper, whatever flavoring you decided on, and then stick all the leftovers inside the cavity. Bake at 350 for 20 mins per pound. I usually just get a 4 lb. chicken so it's just an hour.



I am trying to time this right. I just got back from the park around 4:30 and "rested" for about an hour. (Rest means Internet surfing while I nurse Gabi.) Shane said he'd be home at 6:30 so now that it's almost 5:30 I am feeling hurried. Normally it wouldn't matter but we are going to try to go to Lowes after dinner so I don't want to have to wait around.



I should have at least 10 minutes while the oven is preheating, so I figure I should have the chicken prepped by then. I start chopping the rosemary. Or rather, attempting to chop it. I have very dull knives. Just as I'm cursing my knife, I remember Shane bought me an electric knife sharpener for Christmas! Isn't he sweet? He told me, "I was tired of hearing you complain about your dull knives every night!" Ah, le amore.



So, I get the item out of the box and plug it in, but I don't see any instructions. I wonder, "Is it so easy it doesn't need instructions?" I look at the item. There are four slots. There is a picture on the back of the box that says "Two-stage sharpening system" and shows the knife going through two slots. Since there are four slots, I assume that is for sharpening two knives. I guide my knife through the first slot, then the second. It sounds like a chainsaw. I hope I don't wake up Gabi. I go back to my rosemary, and it does seem to chop a lot easier. Hooray!



I push the chopped rosemary to a corner of the (plastic) cutting board and get out my chicken. I forget I need to rinse it so I put the package on the cutting board. Olivia comes into the kitchen.

"Can I have some apple juish?" she asks, as she opens the fridge.

I tell her she needs to pronounce it "juice" or else she can't have any. After struggling to cut the plastic off the chicken, liquid goes everywhere. Luckily, the rosemary is still in tact. I swing the chicken to the sink to rinse it off, leaving a trail of liquid across the kitchen.

"What is that? That looks yuck!" Olivia says as she's watching me.

"It's chicken," I respond.

She tells me she doesn't like chicken and runs away. I rinse the chicken, put it in the roasting pan and clean up.

I'm finally ready to start prepping the chicken as the oven dings, telling me it's preheated. I grab a glob of softened butter with one hand, simultaneously drying the chicken with a paper towel with the other hand. (I have learned that buttering a wet chicken does not work.) I smother the chicken with butter and then with the rosemary. I want to add salt, pepper, and dry sage but I need clean hands to touch the containers. I go the sink to wash but the water is cold and instead of rinsing off the butter, I am coating my hands with butter and herbs. I wonder if this is moisturizing or wrinkle reducing. I'll have to look later. I am able to pump some soap before it slips away from me and now I have soapy buttery hands. This is getting annoying. Hot water works to wash or melt off the butter. Success! I happily apply the rest of the ingredients and stick it in the oven.

While it cooks I make some mashed potatoes and microwave some broccoli and cheese. As I get out the pot for the potatoes, I find the instructions to the electric sharpener. (No idea how it got in there, but whatever.) It turns out, stage one uses the first two slots and stage two uses the last two slots. Not bad, I just missed the "fine-honing." Then I read, "Before using knife to slice food, always wipe with a damp cloth to remove any metal filings that may remain from the sharpening process." Oops. I have a vision of my family choking on metal shards, but in reality it should be okay.

Shane gets home right at 6:30 but another thirty minutes is needed to finish roasting. He's too tired to go to Lowes now anyway. The chicken turned out great (according to me) and there were no trips the hospital for metal poisoning. Olivia did not eat any chicken. Oh well, I'm sure we'll have it again next week, so she can try it then.

Christmas Eve

I am still trying to find a great Christmas Eve tradition for our girls. When I was growing up, after the stores would close and just before dark, we'd get dressed in our best outfits, (my Christmas dress was always picked out well in advance) then we'd visit our family. Luckily, all of my family lived in the same city.

We'd first visit with my mom's side of the family and we'd munch on a cheese ball, and sausage or ham and crackers. I'd play Santa's Elf and hand out the gifts and boss everyone around and feel like the star of a show. We'd take turns opening each present one by one and laughing and making comments on each other's gifts. Christmas Eve was also my grandmother's birthday, so we'd have birthday cake too.

Then, close to 10 pm, we'd head over to my dad's side of the family. My dad has 10 brothers and sisters. Most all of them make it Christmas Eve. And they all have kids. It's quite a fiesta. My dad's side of the family is Mexican and my grandmother makes the best tamales I've ever had. She makes them every Christmas. We'd say the rosary, and eat and visit and sing a song to welcome Jesus. At the stroke of midnight, we'd give kisses and hugs and wish each other Merry Christmas and open our gifts. (My aunt plays Santa's Elf.) It was so crazy and so fun. Then we'd all play with our new toys until about 2 am.

Actually, that was my Christmas tradition all the way up until we moved away. Even the first year we were married, we kept the same routine. We visited with Shane's family Christmas Day. Then he joined the Air Force and we moved to Mississippi. There we had our first little girl and although her first Christmas was in TX continuing my tradition, we wanted our children to have their own traditions. We wanted them to wake up in their own beds, not in a hotel room, with Santa having visited their home.

However, besides going to church Christmas Eve, we haven't quite set any traditions. This year, I was going to do a make-ahead dinner and we were going to go to mass and come home and eat. I was going to attempt "Veal Loin stuffed with Goat Cheese and Roasted Peppers" from Paula Deen. I thought the red and white would look festive. I told Shane it was "Veal Stuffed with Cheese and Peppers" because I don't think he would be thrilled to try goat cheese. I've had it on a steak before and really enjoyed it so I think he would too. But I've come to learn if I want him to try new things, it's best not to tell him what it is.

Christmas Eve day was spent shopping - for ourselves - using any Christmas money we'd received. The girls were good sports but were getting tired and cranky so I didn't have time to go to the store for the ingredients. We definitely needed a break if we wanted good girls at church that night. So, while they napped, I made enchiladas from a box. (That really made me miss my grandmother's tamales. But it felt nice eating Mexican food.) We woke the girls up for dinner and Olivia would have nothing to do with it, but Juliana scarfed it down. Gabriella is still on baby food. I made Olivia a cheese sandwich, and then made another for Juli so they wouldn't fight over it. For the most part, the girls were angels throughout the service. Juliana finished her nap on Daddy and Olivia did eat half of her cheese sandwich. She mutilated the other half with water and her fingers until it was soggy mush that I had to wrap in a paper towel. Gabi is content as long as she held, so she is held all of the time.

We got home and bathed the children and put them to bed. We told them they better stay in their room if they wanted Santa to come, so for once, they didn't come out. Shane and I wrapped their presents, which we kept saying we were going to do every night that week. He had beer, I had wine, and it was a Silent Night - the best kind of night around here.

I don't know if this will be our Christmas Eve tradition every year, but I realized it's not important. It doesn't matter what we do, or who we do it with. For now, the best part of Christmas is being together as a family.