Meatloaf

 I love meatloaf, D doesn't...until I started making it this way that is. It's a very basic, simple recipe but it's a winner and I know make it all the time and he loves it. It doesn't have onions or peppers but the chili sauce adds a lot of flavor to make up for it. I've mentioned this recipe before but it never got its own post - and I think it's time to correct that.

• 1 pound each lean ground beef, ground pork, and ground lamb (or turkey)
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ cups bread crumbs, (crumbled bread, oatmeal, or smashed saltines also work)
• 1 jar chili sauce (homemade or store bought)
• splash of milk
• salt and pepper
• ketchup

Mix the eggs, bread crumbs, ½ jar chili sauce, salt and pepper to taste together in a large bowl then add some milk until the mixture is moistened. Add the ground meats and mix together (don't overwork the meat or it'll get tough). Divide into 2 equal halves, place each half in a 9” cake pan and shape into a circle leaving about a 1” space between the meat and side of pan for grease to collect in (you can use loaf pans, but I always make it in a round cake pan - I like that the grease has someplace to go). Mix the remaining ½ jar chili sauce with some ketchup and spoon over each meatloaf (like you're frosting the top of a cake). Cover with aluminum foil and bake 350’ for 45 mins to one hour until done - remove the cover during the last few minutes. 

I usually make this in 2 round cake pans but I will often make one half in a cake pan that we eat that night, and one half divided evenly and baked in muffin tins and then freeze them - super handy to have individual portions on hand.

I know this is very basic but it's tried and true, and everyone seems to like it so...it works for us!

Mashed Cauliflower

The mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes idea has been around for a long time but in case you haven't tried it I thought I'd share - it's easy, quick, healthy, and a great alternative to potatoes. Obviously it doesn't taste just like mashed potatoes (sometimes I'll mix half potato and half cauliflower together if I want it to be more potato-y tasting), but it's a perfect substitute if you're looking to cut down on your potato consumption, don't like potatoes (gasp!), have a head of cauliflower sitting around waiting to be used, or you just want to try something different.

steam until soft, then put in food
processor with a little butter, salt
and pepper to taste

It's basically just like making mashed potatoes, only with cauliflower. I chop up cauliflower into biggish pieces and steam them on the stove until soft (I have a vegetable basket that I put into a pot with an inch or two of water, cover and let steam). Put the cauliflower in a food processor (or mash by hand, or do whatever you do to mash potatoes - the food processor makes them super smooth and creamy which is we like, hand mashing will leave them with small pieces and not very smooth but I do this when I'm in a hurry) and add a little butter, salt and pepper and process until smooth. Usually they don't need any milk or liquid but if you want them runnier then by all means add some.

We had them with meatloaf (click here for my recipe) and peas in vinaigrette - so good!

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Meatloaf

My friend gave me this idea yesterday and I couldn't wait long to try it, it sounded so good! You might question how this falls under my "31 Spook-tacular Days" theme - so did I haha - I guess since we have to eat in October and this seems like the perfect fall dish, I'm including it :)
My husband says it looks like a dragon's eye and I should have named it that, although I think it looks more like a sunflower...he said that's because I have a sunny disposition and see flowers, he sees dragons. HA! Made me laugh...

I cut off both ends of 2 acorn squash and scooped out the seeds; filled each half with about 1 cup of meatloaf (click there for my recipe) mixture and baked at 350' - normally I bake meatloaf for an hour or so but I didn't research baking a stuffed squash and this took almost 2 hours to get the squash cooked until it was soft... I should have pre-baked the squash to give it a head start. My meatloaf recipe makes 2 pans so I had lots left over that I didn't stuff into  the squash - I put that into a baking dish, leaving a channel all around the edges for any grease to run off, and baked it at the same time (for one hour),  I'll freeze that one for later. Really good, I will definitely be making this again.