The 4th of July in HB was amazing! We had a great BBQ at our house, complete with the red rocket (our red beer bong). Then a bike ride to our friend Javier's to watch the fireworks over the HB pier. It was so amazing. However, I am not feeling so great today, thanks to the red rocket, and thus, will probably be posting lots of recipes until I feel better.
I love meatloaf. My mom and dad's meatloaf (I actually can't remember whether my mom or my dad made this, so I will give them both credit). It's pretty easy to make and it is absolutely delicious, but don't be scared when you see it because it looks strange when you take it out of the oven, that's just how it is. I always serve it with brown gravy and smashed redskins. Oh, and there is no ketchup in this meatloaf. And if you try to put ketchup on it or in it, I will kill you.
Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 0 Blah!
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 4
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 5
Mom and Dad's Meatloaf
1 lb lean ground beef (ground round?)
1 cup onions, minced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 eggs
1/2 cup milk
4 slices of bread
2 Tbl Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbl A-1 sauce
Small loaf pan or tinfoil
1 can or jar of beef gravy with mushrooms (optional)
Preheat oven to 375. In a large mixing bowl, combine the meat, onions, garlic, 1 egg, milk, Worcestershire sauce, and A-1 sauce. Tear bread slices into little crumbs into bowl with other ingredients. Mix together with hands (if consistency is too dry, add a little more milk, if it's too runny, add more bread, if not sticking together, add egg), and mold into loaf shape. Put meat mixture into loaf pan (or use tinfoil to make your own loaf pan). Put into oven for 1 hour. After an hour, just check the center of the loaf to see consistency (if loaf looks like it could be sliced, take out of oven, if still pink color at all, or crumbly, put back into oven for 20 minutes). Serves 4 normal people. Or 2 really really hungry people.
This actually sounds way more difficult than it is. I happen to like my meatloaf a little on the "fall-apart" side because is it super super moist. Keep in mind that the more fat in the meat, the more grease you will have in your loaf pan while cooking, and you may want to drain off the top of the loaf here and there while cooking. I prefer to use ground round, as it is a little more lean. You could try turkey burger too for a "turkeyloaf". Oh, and you can buy a loaf pan super cheap, or even better, disposable loaf pans for like $2 for a 3-pack.
This isn't the prettiest meatloaf by any means, but trust me when I say it's delicious, even though it looks strange. Just cover it up in yummy gravy. Oh, and do yourself a favor, don't try to make your own gravy. Just buy a can or a jar of it, they are super good and it saves you a lot of work.
Cheesy Factory (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 2
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 2
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 4
Smashed Red-Skin Potatoes
2 red-skin potatoes per person
Sour Cream
Milk
Parmesan Cheese
Boil red skins until soft. Drain water from pot, put potatoes back in pot. Add a spoon-full of sour cream for each potato. Add a dash of milk, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Using a masher (or fork if not using a non-stick pan), smash the mixture together (add more milk for smoother consistency). Serve hot.
If you don't have a masher tool, get one. You can buy one at the grocery store for like $5. They are awesome. Pampered Chef has something called a "mixer" tool I think, and it works great for this too.
Random note: Filipino Meatloaf
My fiance is Filipino. And for whatever reason, Filipinos put hot-dogs in everything, including meatloaf. My soon-to-be father-in-law make a meatloaf, that I'm not even sure is meat to begin with, but it has peas, hard-boiled eggs, hot-dogs, etc. It's more like a left-overs loaf where you put whatever you have laying around into a "meatloaf".
So what can you take away from this?? If you want to master your own meatloaf, put whatever ingredients you want into it. The basis for any meatloaf is meat, bread (or breadcrumbs), milk and eggs. Everything else is up to you! And from the Left-Overs Queen, here's an idea: if you have leftover hot-dogs from the 4th of July, put 'em in your meatloaf! Ha!
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