Meatloaf.
Not the singer. The food sillies.
Last night I made a meatloaf. When it was cooking it smelled oh-so-good. I was also roasting some sweet potatoes alongside. Really, the humble bungalow smelled like an honest to goodness leave it beaver 1960's home. There should have been a scratch and sniff sticker of my house - it smelled that good. I even had an apron on and playfully tousled the children's hair whilst they quietly did their homework at the kitchen table *ahem*.
Anyhooo, come dinner time you'd think I'd served up bowl of arsenic with a bit of ketchup when I presented the kiddies with their dinner. The barrage of complaints BEFORE THEY EVEN TASTED IT would have made Stephen Harper cry. I'm pretty tough and used of the abuse so I let them get it out of their ungrateful little systems before letting them know I didn't give a damn what their pathetically underdeveloped palates thought, this was what for dinner so deal with it and whipped off my apron to let them know crazy-mom was back. They ate it. Grudgingly. They cleared their dishes. Grudgingly. Then I tried it. Ummmm, not so good. It's not that it was bad, but it seriously lacked any, ummm, what's that word....oh yeah, flavour. And the oats in it did make it kind of ugly.
Now, I've had good meat loaf before. I've just never made a good one. I don't remember my Mom making meatloaf, so I can't go to her for a long loved family recipe.
This is where I need you. Please send me your tried and true, delicious, comforting, kid-friendly (well, in my house, I'll take kid-tolerated-won't-cause-them-to-dramatically-gag-and-pretend-to-die-which-leads-to-them-trying-to-outdo-each other-over-who-is-dying-the-most-agonizing-death meat loaf recipe. We are also a vegetarian friendly* household, so feel free to provide me with your best lentil loaf, quinoa-based, TVP recipe if it tastes good.
*well, they don't really know we are vegetarian friendly. I use so much meat substitute in my recipes, they have no frickin' idea. Ha.
10 comments:
In the same day, within hours of each other, two posts showed up in my RRS stream. One looking for a meatloaf recipe, the other providing. The world is a funny place. http://danigirl.ca/blog/2011/02/10/four-food-group-meatloaf-recipe/
Hey meanie, I must have been channeling you when I posted the meatloaf recipe. Thanks to Sasha for hooking us up! Try my meatloaf and see if the ingrates will eat it -- mine are wicked finicky, and they like it. And hey, why aren't you in my RSS feeder anymore anyway? Must rectify!
I'm with your kids...............never met a meatloaf that I liked.
r
Here is another one to try. I even get requests for it (from like the kids!): Salsa Meatloaf
500 g ground beef, large onion finely chopped, 2 cloves garlic minced, 3 slices whole wheat bread crumbled, 1.5 tsp each thyme and oregano, 0.5 cup salsa, 1 egg lightly beaten, 0.25 cup chopped fresh coriander/parsley, 0.5 tsp salt and pepper. Mix all that up, put in a loaf pan. Spread salsa on top. Bake at 350 for 55 min or until meat thermometer registers 170F (75C). I still put ketchup on it….but it is a crowd pleaser at my house! I am for sure going to try DaniGirl’s recipe as well!
mix 1/4 cup of bread crumbs with an egg (the dry crumbs you buy in the little cardboard bucket. If you crumble fresh bread you may need more than that) and a drop of milk. Mix that with a pack of ground beef and a chopped onion. Add whatever spices you like -- I usually toss in oregano and sage. Bake for 45 min on 350, baster or pour out the fat, cover in BBQ sauce and put back in the oven for 15 minutes. Always a hit.
1lb hamburger, 1 egg, a squirt of ketchup, a packet of vegetable soup mix, a packet of dry onion soup mix, 1/2 cup of bread crumbs, salt and pepper to taste. Mix together and pack into a small pan.
Topping: 1/2 cup ketchup, 1TB brown sugar, 1 tsp dry mustard powder. (Mix that together and spread on top of the meatloaf).
Bake at 350 for about an hour. Let it set for at least 15 minutes after you take it out of the oven before slicing or it will fall apart.
And it smells amazing when it's baking.
I've never made meatloaf for my kids. Thank you for the recipes. (Isn't it the worst when you spend a lot of time cooking and the kids turn up their noses? Makes me furious.)
You guys are awesome! I can't wait to try these out.
@Rob - do any of these tempt you to try meatloaf????
-Meanie
I once made 'kid-friendly meatloaf' to see if I could get Leah to ingest some animal protein. She was about 4. I figured if she helped make it, she might be more inclined to eat it. She had a ball adding the ingredients, and working the egg into the meat and breadcrumbs, and using an ice cream scoop to put dollops of the meat mixture into muffin tins to give kid-sized individual meatloaves, and spreading the ketchup mix on the top.
When they came out of the oven, they smelled great! She took one bite that contained maybe 6 meatloaf molecules, said, "I don't like this," and I took little meatloaves to work for lunch for a week and a half.
Here's the recipe, I don't think you need to cook muffin sized ones as long as they say:
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/kids-favorite-meatloaf/Detail.aspx
to add to Alison's idea, I saw a cute idea once in a magazine. They made little meatloaves in muffin tins, then put mashed potatoes on top and sprinkled that with peas and corn -- looked just like a cupcake.
Post a Comment