Meat LOAF, SHMEAT LOAF, I HATE MEAT LOAF

Aaaah Meat Loaf. The food of the gods. Uncle Stevies favorite. Uncle Joeys favorite. Our favorite. So many ways to make it. So many delicious meat loaves made over the years.

You can baste it with ketchup. You can cover it with raw bacon before cooking. Baste it with BBQ sauce, teriyaki sauce, thai chili sauce, thai sweet chili sauce before baking.

Don't have to use a loaf pan, can use a pie tin or a cake pan. Just a pan and if it's a lower sided pan then adjust your cooking times less.

Lately it's trendy to put little loaves in muffin tins. How special and original of you all. I put mine in a muffin tin shaped like fekkings X Wings and Tie Fighters that's how more original I am than all of you. Seriously....

Mix pork and beef together. Pork and turkey. Turkey and beef. Beef and deer. Pork and deer. Turkey and deer. It's the perfect way to cook ground deer and not let anyone know it's deer. Or elk. But with elk, it's drier so you have to add the bacon. Oh meat loaf, how we love you.

Here are a bunch of meat loaf recipes. You don't have to follow the rules with meatloaf. Use egg as a binder, milk or water as a liquid or even bacon grease. Bread crumbs, crackers or oatmeal as a filler, we won't judge. And meat loaf always makes a fantastic sandwich the next day. Just don't over cook it and make it dry, that's the unforgivable sin of a good cook.

Megans Meat Loaf
(I've known Megan since I was 11 years old. She could make a meal out of nothing. She also would make this when getting home from work, put it in the oven, then shower and make a bunch of side dishes while chasing Nick who would be getting into some sort of mischief)

1 lb hamburger
1 diced onion
1 diced green bell pepper
salt, pepper, garlic powder
ketchup
mustard
2 eggs

Mix it all together, drop in a loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.


Edith Bunkers All in the Family Cookbook meatloaf

(the first meatloaf I kept making for you guys before I figured out to just wing it)

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
2 eggs
1 small diced onion
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Mix all together. Put in loaf pan, bake at 350 for one hour. (after looking at this, it's rather bland. Make it for bland people or spice it up with some bbq sauce on top)


Khal-Bi Meat Loaf

2 lbs ground beef
4 slices bread cut up small or crumbed
3/4 cup water
1 egg
2 chopped fine green onion
2 pkgs Noh Khal-Bi seasoning packets

Mix well, loaf pan, bake well for 45 minutes at 350.


Moms Meat Loaf that's just amazing and never the damned same. Ever. It's basically this:

1 1/2-2 lbs of ground meat
1 cup binder of oatmeal or bread or crushed crackers or panko, or bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk or water
2 or 3 eggs
3-4 good shakes of Worcestershire sauce or shoyu or Bbq sauce or ketchup n mustard
some herbs like italian seasoning or mrs dash
some salt, maybe seasoned salt or garlic salt
garlic either minced or granulated just some garlic

Put disposable food grade gloves on. Mix that crap with your hands. Shape into whatever pan I grab. Baste a good layer of: ketchup, bbq sauce, thai chili or sweet sauce, slice or two of bacon or dab of bacon grease.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour.

More meat loaf recipes. You get the gist of it. These are from basic old recipe books. Mix well, bake at 350 for almost an hour depending on pan. And if you haven't already figured it out: meatloaf is basically lazy meat balls. Mind blown, right? Yeah, it's basically the same thing. Just eliminates a bunch of steps and no white or tomato sauce involved to cook in for hours.

So look these over and get the pattern in your mind about meat loaf. It's so easy. I'll only add to this page unusual recipes that stand out. Just meat loaf.

Meat loaf 1

1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 egg
1 cup oatmeal or bread crumbs
seasoning
dot with butter before baking

Meat loaf 2

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 cup bread crumbs
2 cups milk
2 eggs
1 minced onion or green pepper

Quick Chili in a Slow Cooker

Quick chili in a slow cooker is pretty much what it is. Quick, tossed in cooker, ready for dinner. 

Brown 1 lb ground beef. Add to slow cooker.

Add: 1 can each diced or stewed tomatoes, pinto beans, red kidney beans, small chopped green chilis

1 can water or two with 1 TBS beef bullion OR can of beef stock with 1/2 can water

garlic powder, onion powder, mrs dash- 1/2 tsp each or so 

1/4 tsp chili powder your choice of hot

optional: cup of frozen corn

Mix all together in slow cooker. Stir well and let cook on low all day or high for 4-5 hours. Eat with cornbread. 

          

Quick Shepherds Pie

If you use instant mashed potatoes then it is easier. This is what Eric and I made last night and he ate the whole pan. For the vegetables, you can use carrots, corn, celery, peas, green beans. Pretty much whatever you have on hand. We used a mix of fresh and frozen, it turned out well.

1lb ground beef
1 cup each diced carrots, frozen corn
1/2 cup sliced celery
1 TBS HP sauce or Heinz 57
1 TBS beef bullion paste
2 cups water
1/4 t mrs dash

4-6 servings of mashed potatoes

Brown beef in large skillet. Add vegetables, sauce, bullion paste, mrs dash and water. Cook until tender and there is a little bit of liquid. Pour into a baking pan. Spread mashed potatoes over the top. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or so, until potatoes are browned.

TATER TOT CASSEROLE!

No recipe collection from my family would be complete without the dazzle of that 1970s staple of TATER TOT CASSEROLE! Uncle Steve loves tater tot casserole. We had many friends who ate the same casserole in their homes growing up. I'm sure Jeremy and Jason still know the flavor of many nights eating Grandma Z's casserole at their kids table in the kitchen. It's simple, filling and a treat.

Can eat over rice if you need your rice fix. 

TATOR TOT CASSEROLE!

1 lb ground beef

1/2 onion finely diced

garlic powder

Brown all of this in a skillet. Drain the fatty liquid. Pour it into a casserole dish. Sprinkle a little cheddar on the meat. 

Mix 1 can cream of mushroom soup + 1/2 cup water. Pour over the meat. Mix a little. 

Top with tater tots. 

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. 

Enchilada Casserole of the Day

There are many enchilada casseroles. All of them are just lazy enchiladas because someone named Mom was too tired to roll them all up beautifully and cover them in a delicious sauce and then the pickiest eater won't eat it anyways. After all that work. Well. Not happening most days. It's easier to just throw it all in a pan, put it on cook for a half hour and hopefully get 10 minutes of a nap somewhere in there. Remember to line your pan with foil or you'll be soaking that pan overnight trying to get the baked tortilla cheese grit off of it.

Some Enchilada Casserole recipe I pulled out of my head one day

Good brand of corn tortillas

Shredded cheese

Mix these well:

garlic, onion, salt and pepper

Can diced green chilis

can diced tomatos

can of El Pato sauce of choice (I'd rather the green one but red or yellow is okay)

can of cream of mushroom soup

 1/2 can of water

amount of 3 cooked chicken breasts, shredded or diced well (or ground beef)

Preheat oven to 350

Mix all ingredients together but the tortillas and cheese. This is your chicken mix. In a greased foiled pan, layer torn corn tortillas in a double layer. Add 1/2 the chicken mix. Sprinkle lots of cheese on it. Layer again with more tortillas. Add rest of chicken, sprinkle lots of cheese. Pour over it some Herdez green or red chili sauce. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or so. 

So you can basically take any enchilada recipe and casserole it, is what I'm saying. It won't look pretty but it's faster and less messy to make. Casserole style is so 1970s and this is what you all grew up with. 

Beef Empanadas

The filling can also be used for burritos, tacos, enchiladas. Just add a can of El Pato of your choice and it pops up the flavor. If you don't want to make the pastry, a can of pop biscuits may also be used.

Make sure you drain well, for empanadas. If runny, then you're not doing it right. 

Filling:

2 TBS butter

chopped onion

1 lb ground beef

2-3 large tomatos chopped or 1 large can diced

1 can chopped green chilies or 4-5 seeded and diced roasted green chilies 

salt, pinch of oregano, pinch of chili powder

optional: can of El Pato (yellow, red, or green)

Cook onions in butter until tender. Add beef, brown it up. Add rest of ingredients. Simmer for 30-40 minutes. Drain. Eat in other things or let cool for empanadas. 

Pastry:

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 t salt

1/2 cup cold Crisco

4-5 TBS water

Mix dry. Cut in crisco like pie crust. Add water. Roll out and cut circles with large glass or biscuit cutter. Place 1 1/2-2 TBS filling in center. Fold over and seal with fork. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until browned OR deep fry those suckers until golden brown. 

Cheeseburger Pie and Lentil Stew

Ahh cheeseburger pie. The food of Wednesday nights being in a rush out the door to Awana. This one and lentil stew! Here they are, oh the memories.

Cheeseburger Pie

1lb ground beef
chopped onion
1 cup shredded cheddar, jack, jalapeno cheddar jack or longhorn cheese
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup bisquik or jiffy mix (or homemade mix)

Cook beef with onion. Drain, salt a little. Add rest of ingredients, mix and dump into a pie plate. Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.

Lentil Stew

3 tbs olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup or so thin sliced and quartered carrots
6 cups water
1 can vegetable broth or beef broth
1 cup dry lentils
1 can tomato paste
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 TBS italian herbs (oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme)
Sprinkle of salt. pepper
(1 lb ground beef cooked-optional)
grated parmesan cheese
In large pot, saute onion, celery, carrots in hot oil for 5 minutes. Add rest of ingredients (not the cheese). Simmer 40-45 minutes until lentils are tender. Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serve with baguettes, french bread and butter.