Meatloaf
It's winter time which means it's time for warm and cozy food. One of the combos that is so appealing this time of year is meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I used to make a meatloaf recipe that my mother-in-.aw, Mimi, made. The problem was that it had about 10 ingredients, so I dreaded making it. Lisa Taylor, Newport Beach, gave me a 4 ingredient recipe that she got from her mother. Here's what you'll need:
2 lbs. of ground meat
1/3 cup of evaporated milk (once I mixed up evaporated milk and condensed milk. Big mistake! Thankfully I didn't go so far as to mix it into the meatloaf!)
1 pkg. of lipton onion soup mix
Ketchup (1/3 cup of ketchup + ketchup to pour on top)
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees then spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. (Using your hands is the only way to go.) Put the mixture in the loaf pan and squirt some ketchup on top. Then put the meatloaf in the oven for an hour.. (After an hour cut into the meatloaf to make sure it is cooked through.) There will be lots of juice in the baking dish, but don't worry the juice keeps the meatloaf moist. Finally broil the meatloaf for about 3 min. or until it is browned on top. There you have it an easy and tasty meatloaf.
Cauliflower Mash
Mashed potatoes are always good with meatloaf. These days most of us eat low-carb (or at least, in my case, say I eat low-carb). Anyway mashed cauliflower is a good substitute for mashed potatoes. I have made cauliflower mash many ways, but here is the best way I have found:
For the cauliflower mash, take two bags of cauliflower florets. (Found at most grocery stores) Make as directed. I prefer to use the microwave. (My microwave takes about 6 minutes for each bag, but my microwave has been around since Queen Victoria.) The next step is to put the bags of cooked cauliflower in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.
After cauliflower has cooled, put it in a kitchen towel (with no texture), a cheese cloth (whatever that is) or believe it or not the outside of a pillow case . You then squeeze all the water out. Squeezing the water out is the key to good cauliflower mash! Finally put the cauliflower in a food processor with 1/4 cup of Ranch Dressing, 1/3 cup of shredded parmesan cheese and garlic salt & pepper to taste. Cream cheese or sour cream can be substituted for the ranch dressing. Voila! Your mashed cauliflower will be creamy and delicious!
Caesar Salad
Caesar salad goes great with this meal! For a while we used the ready-made salad packets, but I realized that I could put together a better one that was less expensive. We use a pkg. of romaine, shaved parmesan, (DiGiorno, if you can find it.) Marie's Caesar Dressing and either Butter and Garlic Croutons (Using Caesar croutons goes a bit overboard.) and/or avocado.
There you have a delicious meal each part having only 4 ingredients!