Classic Meat Loaf

This is Mom's Meat Loaf recipe, it's pretty much the classic recipe but with a small twist.

Classic Meat Loaf:

Ingredients:

1lb. of extra lean ground beef
1 egg
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup quick cooking Oats
1tsp of salt
pepper to taste
1 onion (optional :)
3/4cup of shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)

Topping: 1/3 cup Katsup
               1/4 cup Brown sugar
               1 1/2 tsp mustard


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix all ingredients together (except topping) in a large bowl. Use a Kitchen aid to mix well or use your hands, this helps especially with the cheese. Press meat mixture in a loaf pan and place in the oven. In a small bowl make topping by mixing together the three ingredients. Pour topping on top of meat after it has cooked in the oven for 5-10mins or until the top does not look all pink. Cook the loaf for another 45-50 minutes or until there is no pink inside. (total cooking time about an hour)

Side notes:
I use extra lean ground beef because I add cheese and that has a lot of grease in it. If you don't add cheese you don't need such a lean beef.
For a faster cooking time separate into tiny loafs and place on a cookie sheet covered in tin foil. I usually do this and make about 5 small loafs/patties. I cook them for 5 mins then add the sauce on top of each individual one then I cook for another 25-30 minutes or until I can see no pink inside (I cut open the biggest loaf and check it that way)

Serve with mashed potatoes and a green veggie for a classic home cooked meal.

Baked Beans (Tyler's favorite :)

Okay Kim has literally asked me for this recipe three times now :)

This is my baked bean recipe, or we call it sweet chilli (Actually Marty gave this recipe to me). My kids love it and we usually serve it with corn bread.

Baked beans (Sweet Chilli):

Ingredients:

~1 large can of Bush's Bake Beans (original recipe)
~Add any other can of beans you like ( up to five cans)
          I usually use: 1 can of red kidney beans, 2 cans of black beans,
                               2 cans of Great Norther beans (If you cant find these
                               use another type of white beans), and 1 other can of
                               beans of my choice something I have in my cupboard.
~1lb. of lean ground beef (cooked)
~1/2 package of bacon (cooked and crumbled)
~3/4 cup Brown sugar
~1/2 cup Katsup
~1 tsp of salt
~2 tsp of vinegar
~1Tb of mustard (I usually don't add this, but that's my preference)

Directions:

First, Brown the ground beef and cook the bacon.
Second, drain and rinse all beans (yes, rinse them all very well) except the Bush's Baked beans.
Third, throw in all the beans and meat into the crock pot.
Fourth, add remaining ingredients in the crock pot and mix together.
Fifth, bake in crock pot on low for 9 hrs. or High for 4 hours.

Serve as a side at a BBQ or for a main dish with a side of corn bread.

Side notes: If I serve it as a side dish I omit the ground bee and just add the bacon.This can be vegetarian if you omit the ground beef and bacon and uses Bush's baked beans w/o bacon in it.

Corck Pot Italian Chicken

Okay I guess I'll be the first to Post a recipe or two or three, since I'm sitting here with my recipe box out I might as well type up a few to put on here. We will see how many I get done.


Here is a new Favorite of ours: Italian Chicken in the crock pot. 

I mostly love this because it is so easy and I think it tastes great too.

 (image courtesy of The Daily Blarg)

Ingredients:

~ 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (Yes, you can put them in frozen! I just cut them in half if they are really big)
~1 large (28 oz.) can of diced tomatoes (you may use the Italian flavored if you like)
~2 cups of sliced fresh mushrooms
~1 can of quartered Artichoke hearts
~1 can of olives sliced (I usually only do half a can, too much olives if you use the whole can)
~1/4 cup of chicken broth
~1 onion diced
~3 cloves of garlic minced
~2 1/2 tsp of dried basil
~1 tsp of dried oregano
~2 tsp of salt
~1 tsp of pepper
~3 Tb of heavy cream (optional)

Directions: (this could get complicated ;)

Throw everything in the crock pot (except the cream) and cook on Low for 9 hours OR on High for 4-5 hours. (Told ya this is very complicated)

An hour before serving, shred the chicken in the crock pot and you can add the cream if you choose to at this time. Also this is when I taste test and add any more seasonings (I like lots of basil) if needed.

Serve over pasta (or rice) with a side of green veggies.

That is it! It's quick to throw together in the crock pot and easy to serve up.

Start Sharing!

Thanks for the input on the blog ladies. I think it is pretty much finished and ready to go. So, start posting those recipes! Remember when you do a new post/recipe make sure to "label" the post so we can keep all the recipes orginized. You label a post by clicking on the "Labels" button to the right of where you type your post. If you look to the right on the main blog page there are a bunch of labels I already chose. Please use those exact spellings to label your post and if you think of a new label that needs to be added feel free to do so. Also, you can use more than one label on a recipe/post. For example, if you post a chicken alfredo recipe label it under "Poultry" and "Main Dishes". If you have any questions feel free to ask. Anyway, thanks and happy posting!

Work in Progress

Here is the recipe blog...we are working on it! Please give suggestions for the title. Thanks!