Barbecue Meat Loaf

Another great Cooking Light recipe. Perfect for a Sunday dinner with family. I served it with Scalloped Potatoes and some broccoli and cheese. I am not posting a picture because the one I took was frankly gross looking. Meat loaf just doesn't photograph well for me so you'll have to use your imagination. But anyway, what a great way to end a beautiful fall weekend!

Tallarene

This blog has become the "I'm pregnant and hungry so feed me something good and quick" blog. Which is fine because maybe it'll bring some fast and easy recipes to others like me. Tallarene is something I had growing up and I love it. My Mom has since stopped making it but silly her doesn't know what she is missing. So thanks for passing it on Mom, you should really start making it again!

8 oz. whole wheat noodles
1 lb. lean ground turkey or beef
1 shallot, diced
1 can corn
1 can of string beans
1 can tomato soup
1 cup of water
Salt to taste

Brown the meat and onion together in a large saucepan or dutch oven. Drain. Add in the remaining ingredients and cook over a low heat, covered, for 15 minutes or until noodles are tender.

Yes, that's it!

Fancy Beefaroni

Have I ever said I love pasta? Or can you just tell? Well I do. So again the other night, pasta was on the menu. I jazzed it up this time with some of my defrosted vodka sauce. I cooked up some ground beef (about 8 oz.) and combined it with some whole wheat elbows and the vodka sauce and voila. Delicious! I can't say enough about making a big batch of homemade sauce and freezing it. You'll thank yourself.

Mom's Meat Loaf

This is my Mom's recipe for meat loaf. I've had a yearning for it for the last few days and there's nothing better than a Sunday dinner with meat loaf. It still is my favorite meat loaf and I'm happy to post it here and tell my Mom thanks! I paired it with a side of risotto (see following post) and a spinach salad with feta cheese, raisins and walnuts.














2 eggs, beaten
2 lbs. 90/10 ground beef
2 cups fresh bread crumbs (which Emma made for me!)
3/4 cup minced onion
1/4 cup 1% milk
1/4 cup ketchup
2 TBSP worcestershire sauce

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Shape into an oval loaf and place on a pan (I put it on a broil rack over a pan so the fat can drip down). Cook for an hour. 6 servings.

Meat Loaf and Scalloped Potatoes

Tonight's dinner is courtesy of my friend at A Taste of Home Cooking. I have wanted to make my own scalloped potatoes and the recipe she gave me was highly recommended. When I went to her blog, I also saw a delicious meat loaf she made that came from Ina Garten. I did make a few changes to the meat loaf: I used 1.2 lbs of ground beef and adjusted the ingredients to suit the smaller amount and one minor change to the potatoes by adding about 3/4 cup of cheddar cheese to them but Sarah was right. These are so damn good, I could barely contain myself. In fact, I heard a lot of "this is the best meat loaf ever" and "these potatoes are incredible." A successful dinner and I will definitely be making these two things again.














Seriously, make these if you need to impress someone, it will work.

Crockpot BBQ Meatballs

My mother in law makes a great BBQ meatball appetizer and I wanted to see if I could find a recipe that was similar. This one was really good but I still think hers was better. I paired the meatballs with mac and cheese for dinner tonight as I was really craving comfort food.

Meatballs:
2 lbs lean ground beef or ground turkey
1 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 envelopes onion soup mix
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 eggs

Sauce:
1 cup chopped onion
2 cans tomato paste (12 ounces total)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
12 oz. can beef broth














Combine meatball ingredients and mix well. Shape into meatballs and brown in a skillet with 1 tablespoon of oil. Drain on paper towels. Add all sauce ingredients to Crock Pot and stir well. Add meatballs and cook, covered, on low for 5 to 6 hours (high for 2 to 3).

Super Sloppy Joe's

Another quick meal idea tonight before we headed out to Back to School Night. Super Sloppy Joe's, a Rachael Ray recipe. We used ground turkey to make it healthier and with all the other flavors in it, it was still delicious. I'm also submitting this to Joelen's Culinary Adventures: Chef Spotlight: Food Network Celebs contest. I put mine on a whole wheat bun and had a side of tater tots. It was like being a kid again!

Mini Meat Loaf

Weight watchers friendly! I borrowed this from a fellow blogger One Tiny Pink Kitchen. She has a great selection of WW friendly foods if you're interested! Two of these make a serving and a serving is 5 points each. I think they make a great lunch or light dinner combined with a salad.

1 lb. lean beef
1/4 cup eggbeaters
1 small onion diced
1/2 red pepper finely diced
2/3 C. Bread Crumbs
1/2 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. BBQ Sauce

Thoroughly combine all the ingredients. Spray muffin tins (12) with cooking spray and scoop the meat loaf mixture into the tins. Cook on 350 for 30 minutes.