Mom’s Meatloaf

Mom's Meatloaf

I’ve had a heck of a time getting around to writing this blog this week. It was appointment week in my house for some reason, all scheduled at separate times for different reasons. And of course I still had to work, too. The results of the appointments are… 1. One-week followup for surgery: I need to keep an eye on the inflammation going on in my mouth. Today it is worse, I might need antibiotics. 2. Scheduled maintenance on car: The awful screech in our brakes was a rock stuck in one. Problem solved. 3. First orthodontist appointment for daughter: She has an overbite issue that will add an additional year to the correction to her overcrowding. She will need to be in braces two and a half years. Ka-ching! 4. Still waiting on results of husband’s blood test. He also goes in for a dentist appointment tomorrow. Lastly, there was an impending hatch at an owl box I watch. Luckily it was happening around my lunch break time and was able to observe it, even while on a conference call! We welcomed Maggie into the world today, a beautiful (in my eyes) little barn owl. They look like little dinosaurs when they are born, but grow into such majestic raptors.

Meatloaf Mixture

One appointment I won’t mind keeping is picking up my sister from the airport tomorrow! HI SEESTER! I hope you read this, lol!!! She will be visiting for two weeks, and I plan on making Tetrazzini Crepes while she is here and will be sure to write about it.

Now, finally to the recipe! I always enjoyed my mom’s meatloaf growing up. She always had to make two of them at a time to feed our large family, but with only three of us, one is plenty sufficient. I asked her many years ago for the recipe, and she said she used the one on the back of a container of oatmeal! Over the years I have adapted that recipe into one that changes each time I make it depending on what vegetables I have on hand and what spices I decide to use (as usual).

When I decided to make this meatloaf the other night (actually a result of reading a What’s For Dinner post on Facebook), my husband was heading to the store.  He has been saying we need to eat less red meat, so I suggested ground turkey. Well that fell flat. “Ewwww” is what he actually said. So then I asked him to buy one pound of fresh burger, because all our burger was frozen. One of the tricks to making a good  meatloaf is using fresh  burger and handling the meat as little as possible while blending. When you try to defrost a pound of frozen burger in a hurry in the microwave, the edges usually end up cooking before the inside is completely defrosted, resulting in an inconsistent product to work with. He got home from the store, and no fresh burger. “It was over four dollars a pound!” he complained. “Well it feeds us two meals! I only asked you to buy ONE POUND!” I retorted. Men.  OK, but I still love him.

Mom’s Meatloaf

1 pound fresh ground burger, or turkey
1 egg
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
Black pepper to taste
Any other spices, to taste
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup vegetables, chopped or shredded (I typically use bell pepper or carrots, sometimes mushrooms or celery)
3/4 cup plain dried oatmeal
Ketchup

In medium bowl, whisk the egg and tomato sauce until well blended. Stir in the spices, vegetables, and oatmeal. The night I made this, I used Cajun spice, Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb, and a pinch of cayenne.  I decided to make it spicy! I also used shredded carrots for the vegetable. Add the ground burger or ground turkey to the bowl, and gently fold together with your hands until mixed but don’t over do it! Put the mixture into a lightly oil-sprayed meatloaf pan, glass or metal. Press the mixture down firmly until fairly compact, then pour a generous amount of ketchup over the top. Using the back of a spoon, spread the ketchup evenly. I always add more pepper to the top too. Then stick a knife down between the meatloaf and pan and run it around the pan to help separate it so it won’t stick so much. Cook in a preheated 350 degree oven for one hour. Take out and then let rest for about ten minutes. We served with mashed potatoes and green beans.

Advertisement

Cookie Monster Cookies

Cookie Monster Cookies

So I have admitted several times that I am not the baker in the house and that my daughter loves to bake all kinds of cookies, cakes, etc. However, today I was all set to make some really healthy oat bran/flax meal muffins with applesauce, carrots and golden raisins in them, and had my shopping list all ready for the store in search of my ingredients. But then my daughter said she wrote down a friend’s recipe for these AWESOME cookies and she just HAD to make them today instead. So there I am at the store buying all these healthy items, along with butter, chocolate chips, brown sugar, and M&Ms, among other things.

I let her have at it in the kitchen today. She was disappointed with her first batch as she made the dough balls way too big and didn’t cook them long enough. But after I told her to use less dough for each cookie and to cook them longer, she’s now happy with them.

This recipe made a ton of cookies! We filled up one large Tupperware container, then another smaller one (in photo).

The Recipe

I don’t know the origin of this recipe at all, so I’m including a photo of her handwritten one to show that I didn’t steal it somewhere. Let’s just say it was “adapted” from a recipe. Well I guess it was as she did have to switch out some of the ingredients.

I’m not a big cookie eater, so I haven’t tasted them. I guess you could call these somewhat healthy since they have almost an entire container of oatmeal in them. I’ll let you be the judge. Happy Snacking!

Cookie Monster Cookies

3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon white Kayro syrup (we had dark on hand and used that instead)
1 1/3 cups creamy peanut butter (we only had Chunky)
1 1/2 cups butter
4 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
1/3 cup chocolate chips (we used dark chocolate ones)
1/2 cup M&Ms

Cream eggs and sugars. Add baking soda, syrup, butter, and peanut butter. Then mix in the oatmeal, chocolate chips, and M&Ms. Blend well. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.