Suddenly *Not So* Single Journey

Guilt: the great motivator…

Author: thenicknick

By the end of last week, my kids were up in arms, complaining about the quality of our meals.  Food is VERY important to us.  Eating well and having variety in our foods is of the utmost importance.  And so while I focused a lot in the week leading up to my early Thanksgiving on all the baking I did, I may have glossed over the actual meals we were consuming.

Let’s see…I believe there was fish stick night.  Oh, and we ate frozen pizza.  In my defense, it was Palermo’s.  And there were hamburgers and hot dogs.  I even remember baking some fries and making macaroni and cheese.  All really…mediocre meals at best.  No offense to anyone, but let’s be honest.  These are the kind of rushed meals that single/busy/overbooked parents get caught up in making.  These are meals of convenience, but aren’t necessarily nutritious.  And my kids aren’t used to it and can only tolerate so much of it.

Thanksgiving was great, but we followed it with three days of leftovers before they went and had another Thanksgiving followed by more leftovers.  So, when Rachel made a request that we start cooking again…  (And by we, she meant me.)  I had to oblige her.  Admittedly, I was pretty sick of eating that crap, too.

So Sunday we left the kitties to their own devices.  (I was picturing cat fight club, but shhhh we can’t talk about it!)  And we went to the library and rented movies and stopped at The Teeter.  And there, we made a discovery that changed the course of our meals for the week. In fact, due to this amazing find…I have been inspired to cook EVERY NIGHT THIS WEEK.

Cue choir of angels…now.

The best kept secret at the grocery store can be found in the spice section.  McCormick makes Recipe Inspirations which are these pre-measured spices and recipe cards.  Six different varieties.  All better than the standard prepackaged fare.  And they have nutrition information.  (If that’s your thing…)  We tried the Rosemary Roasted Chicken with Potatoes on Sunday.  All I needed besides the card was a few staples from home…like chicken, potatoes, and olive oil.  So easy I almost felt guilty taking credit for cooking.  And then I remembered that no one else would have fed us otherwise…and I thrust my shoulders back and proudly served the meal.

Then on Monday, after working all day and picking up Rachel after her last day of Driver’s Ed, I made another one.  This time, we ate Apple and Sage Pork Chops.  It was incredible.  The kids barely spoke the entire meal, other than the standard happy eating noises.  Success!  Again!  And while we are looking forward to our third McCormick meal this week tonight, Spanish Chicken Skillet, last night I made a family recipe.

Here’s the good part.  I’m going to share it with you.  I’d never made it before, which baffles my mother.  How’d I get to be 37 and never make meat loaf?  Just lucky, I guess.  (Actually, she nailed it when she suggested I usually make more elaborate meals.  I’m something of a food snob.)

So, here’s the recipe.  I doubled it.  And given how excited the kids were, I might next time want to triple it.  Meat Loaf.  Who knew?

MOM'S MEATLOAF

Velma Gay

1 ¼ lbs. Ground beef
1 egg
¼ cup milk
¼ cup catsup
4 saltines, crushed
1 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
1 small onion, cut fine (Mom uses onion powder)

Combine all, and mix. Place in loaf pan and bake 1 hour in 350 degree oven.
Recipe doubles well.

PIQUANT SAUCE FOR MEAT LOAF

Kathy Rennie

3 Tbsp. brown sugar
¼ cup catsup
¼ tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. dry mustard.

Place on top of meatloaf during the last 10 minutes of baking.

ENJOY!!

PS.  This picture is NOT my grandmother’s meat loaf.  My meat loaf had a bad dismount off the spatula onto the cutting board while in transit from the casserole dish.  Lesson learned.  Luckily it tasted waaaay better than it looked.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 5:57 am and is filed under recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.