Category: meatloaf

Meatloaf Two Ways

Meatloaf is really comfort food at its best. What is better than meatloaf? Meatloaf meatballs! This recipes tells you how to make both from the same mixture. I’m a big fan of making more than I need since it is doing the same work for double recipe. That means I can put something in the freezer to easily pull out one night when I need a quick meal.

Meatloaf (Bulk recipe)

Ingredients

2 pounds of ground beef (top round or sirloin)

1 pound of pork sausage (Wegmans sells 1 pound tubes that are labeled gluten free)

½ cup of gluten free bread crumbs

1 clove of garlic, minced

½ of a red onion, grated

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground pepper

½ cup of milk

2 eggs

½ cup of ketchup

1/8 cup of balsamic vinegar

3 Tablespoons of honey

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together all the ingredients up to and including the eggs.  Make a small patty and cook it, so you can taste for seasoning. Repeat with more seasoning if needed.

For Meatloaf:  Once seasoned to your liking, split the meat mixture in half. Form two loaves of meatloaf. Place them on a metal cooling rack over a baking sheet. Make the sauce by mixing the ketchup, balsamic vinegar and honey together in a small bowl. Pour a couple of tablespoons of sauce over each loaf, then brush to cover. Cook in oven for 50 to 70 minutes or until the meat thermometer reads 160 degrees (FDA Safe Minimum Cooking Temperatures). Take out of the oven and brush again with sauce. Serve with mashed potatoes and asparagus or polenta and green beans.

For Meatballs: Once seasoned to your liking, make one and a half to two inches in diameter meatballs. Heat a large skillet with about a tablespoon of olive oil in it.  Sear each meatball and place on a metal cooling rack over a baking sheet. Cook in oven for about 20 minutes. Check your largest meatball close to the center and make sure it is cooked through.  Serve with the sauce for dipping. Tip: you can keep the meatballs warm by placing them in a slow cooker on warm or low with a little beef stock (enough to cover bottom of pot, not meatballs).

You can make either of these methods to feed a crowd or make one of each and freeze half. I know, I know, some of you don’t like making such big batches 😉 Make a 1/2 batch and let me know how it turns out!

For my family, it works for me to cook in large batches when I have time, so for those many times that I cannot cook, we have something delicious and homemade to pull out of the freezer.

As a family with a child who has celiac disease, our take-out options are limited and often more expensive, so having easy meals in the freezer are a life saver for our busy lifestyle. It helps that we have a large deep freezer in the garage. What are your go to bulk meals?

 

Sweet potato gnocchi with pesto and more fun leftover ideas

To keep things interesting, I’m challenging myself with a new cooking technique each month. Last month it was making homemade bread. This month it is making my own gnocchi, which is much easier than I thought! I made this for a cooking club last week and everyone loved it! My husband and kids really enjoyed it too.

Click link for gnocchi recipe. The cheese sauce is great but I thought a little too heavy with the gnocchi, so the second time I made it with pesto. 
Pesto
Fresh basil, handful
2 Cloves of Garlic, smashed
Olive oil, about ¼ cup
Parmesan, about ¼ cup shredded
Salt and lemon pepper to taste
Blend all the ingredients together in food processor while drizzling in olive oil, until smooth. Can add pine nuts or walnuts if you like. I also sometimes do half blanched kale and half basil. 


 I used some of  the leftover mashed sweet potatoes I did not use to make the gnocchi and made chicken mango and black bean quesadillas. They were so good! Just spread a layer of sweet potatoes on the bottom half of the tortilla. Then in a bowl, mix leftover chicken with mango, black beans, cheddar, mozzarella and some cumin. Spread chicken mixture on top of sweet potato, fold tortilla over and bake in a 375 degree oven for 5-8 minutes.


 I also made one of my kids’ favorites last week. Meatloaf “cupcakes” with mashed potato “frosting” and peas “sprinkles.” This is such a fun way to get kids to eat dinner. Karina enjoyed sprinkling the peas on the plates 🙂 I had so much leftover sweet potatoes from the gnocchi, that I added it to my meatloaf too!

Mix about 2-3 lbs of ground meat (whichever you like, turkey, chicken, pork, beef I like to use a mix of pork and beef), 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs, 1/2 onion – grated, 1 minced garlic clove, 1/2 cup cooked shredded vegetables (I’ve used leftover carrots, zucchini, sweet potatoes, or all three combined), salt, lemon pepper and coriander.

The key to good meatloaf  is to do what the professionals do and cook a small pattie of meat in a pan and taste it so you know if the seasonings are right. I know its an extra step, but it is so worth it! That way you know to add more seasoning.

Grease your muffin tin and use a 1/2 cup measuring cup to scoop out the meatloaf mixture, roll it in your hand to make a giant meatball and then drop it in the muffin tin. Cook at 375 for about 35- 45 minutes (may be longer or shorter depending on your oven). About half way through brush with mixture of 2 parts ketchup and one part Sweet Chili sauce (I love Trader Joe’s sauce) that has been heating on the stove. At the end brush again.

Put mashed potatoes into a large ziploc bag and cut off one corner and use it to pipe mashed potatoes on top of your muffins. Then sprinkle with peas. (I just used frozen that I microwaved for 3 minutes).

For the leftover mashed potatoes and even the meatloaf, add it to your eggs in the morning and just scramble together to make a hash with some bacon or ham deli meat that you need to use up and serve with fruit. Below I gave it to my kids with some chocolate zucchini bread on Saturday. This chocolate zucchini bread recipe is good, but for me needs a little more sweetening and moisture. Kids loved it regardless!


Easy Entertaining and Introducing….Ask Mamma!

In another attempt to improve my blog, I would like to make it more interactive. As much as I love cooking, I love talking with people about cooking and sharing ideas. So this is the launch of Ask Mamma! If you have a question about what to cook for dinner when you have x, y, z ingredients on hand or what to make for your next playdate/dinner party/birthday party, click on my email to the right and I’ll answer.

I will post questions and answers for everyone to read (keeping you anonymous, unless you want me to include your name and/or blog)! We all have our own ways of cooking, so someone’s boring every Wednesday night meal, is someone else’s new discovery!

This past week I got a question from a reader about what to make for her son’s 4th birthday party at their house (kids and adults present).

Mamma’s Answer

Making a dinner or lunch party for young kids…Here are three options:

(1) Mexican

Pasta salad – fun shapes for kids or the tri colored (I made one for the boys’ birthday party + added black beans, corn, tomatoes and feta and a mild honey lime vinaigrette). Cook 1 box of pasta, cool and then toss in a can of black beans (rinsed), about a cup and 1/2 of corn (use frozen, canned or fresh), about a cup and a 1/2 of diced tomatoes and about 3/4 cup of feta. To make the vinaigrette add equal parts (about a 1/3 of a cup) lime juice, white balsamic (or white wine vinegar) and olive oil. Whisk together. Then add 2-3 Tablespoons honey (or sugar if kids under 1 are going to be eating it), taste and add more sugar or honey if not sweet enough. If too sweet add a little more vinegar. Add salt and pepper to your taste, whisk all together and then toss with pasta.

Make your own taco bar – have peppers + onions at room temperature, either chicken or beef (I also did this for the boys’ party and made a beef roast in the slow cooker the day before and then just shredded it and reheated it for the day of the party), shredded cheese, salsa and tortillas. Let people build it themselves. To make the shredded beef or chicken, rub with salt, pepper, coriander, cumin and oregano. Sear meat in pan, then transfer to crock pot with 2-3 cups of beef or chicken stock flavored with coriander, cumin and oregano and keep on low until meat is cooked through (use a meat thermometer!). Once cooled, use a fork to shred meat.

Chips and salsa and guacamole for snacking.

Super simple. Make as much as you want or buy already made 🙂

(2) Greek

Meatloaf with greek seasoning (McCormicks make’s a great one) and feta (Rachel Ray has a great recipe that I wrote about here). I actually made this the other night but made meatballs instead of meatloaf. So good!

Tomato, cucumber and feta salad (onion optional). Dice a couple of vine ripe tomatoes, one cucumber and throw in a couple of handfuls of feta. Mix with a couple of splashes of red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. If you like raw onion, dice about 1/2 a medium onion and add in as well. I’m not a big raw onion fan, so I only diced 1/4 of a medium onion.

Yogurt sauce (make or buy). To make, add yogurt, minced cucumber, greek seasoning and a little lemon juice).

Serve with pita bread.
hummus, pita chips, carrots, cucumber, etc for snacking.

(3) Asian

Shrimp and pork lettuce wraps – Marinate cooked shrimp (I used frozen shrimp that had been thawed) + cooked pork or beef (grill or just cook with salt and pepper) + shredded carrots + shredded slaw (I buy pre-shredded) in a mixture of rice wine vinegar, white balsamic, sugar, lemon juice, ginger and olive oil. Marinate separately for at least an hour. (Can cook it all the day before and then just let it marinate starting in the morning of the party and serve room temp)

Serve with lettuce for lettuce wraps and I LOVE the Trader Joe’s Sweet Chili sauce for dipping. So good!


Coconut rice on the side with edamame if you like. Here is a good recipe I found on a blog I recently discovered, Weelicious.
Dried snap peas, shrimp chips, edamame for snacking.

All of these ideas can be made the day before, leaving you with less to do on the day of the party and may actually allow you to enjoy the party instead of being stuck in the kitchen!

Send me your questions!

Last of the summer and first fall farmer’s market trip!

So we don’t have our laptop back yet, so I still can’t post the beautiful pictures of my tomatoes!! But I figured I would post to give you some ideas of what I’ve been doing with my cherry tomatoes and lemon tomatoes from the garden.

My new favorite breakfast is a tomatoes, herbs and an egg on toast. I’ve made a couple of versions, but basically you dice up tomatoes mix with a little salt, pepper, olive oil, white balsamic vinegar and whatever fresh herbs you have. Let that sit while you make a piece of toast in the toaster + make an egg either over medium or over hard or you can poach the egg (I’ve never been very good at it. Only one out of 8 tries does that come out right!) Put the toast on the plate, top with egg and then tomato mixture. Add a couple of slices of avocado if you have it.Yum. Karina doesn’t like it too much, but she doesn’t really eat tomatoes. More for me 🙂

I’ve also been grilling more pizzas with tomatoes and making bruschetta. I also made a Rachel Ray recipe with a tomato and cucumber salad. Her recipe is basically to make a meatloaf with ground turkey, greek seasoning (oregano, mint, salt, pepper, lemon zest), feta + spinach. Your own homemade gyros! One the side mix tomatoes, cucumber, salt, pepper and red wine vinegar.

Anytime you want more specifics on the amounts, please let me know! I am trying harder to make note of how much I use, but don’t always write it down. I’m happy to tell you more details!

The new fall produce has arrived at the Ballard Farmer’s Market! Last week I bought a spaghetti squash and made a new take on spaghetti and meatballs. Here is the recipe I’ve given before that is my go to for spaghetti squash. Then in a crock pot put 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, 1 cup beef or chicken broth, 1 cup water + 1Tbsp Worcestershire sauce with a bag of frozen turkey meatballs from trader joes. Cook for 2-3 hours on low.

Fall is my favorite season so stay tune for some great fall comfort food recipes!!

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