TGIF!

I found these two recipes in the January/February 2010 issue of “Simple & Delicious” magazine. My main dish was a moist and delicious meatloaf that I made with a ground beef/pork combo. I needed 1 ½ pounds of meat, but the beef was in one pound packages and the pork was in half pound packages, so it only seemed right to introduce them to each other. They must have become good friends because it was delish!


I also made an egg noodle with bacon and spinach in cream sauce dish to go along with the meatloaf. I definitely spoiled myself last night, but it felt good after a week of classes! As much as I love to spend time in my kitchen, when I come home sometime after 6pm from a full day of classes, the last thing I want to do is make something that will take forever to cook but dinner was done in 45 minutes - which gave me time to study while I waited and watch Bones afterwards!

Meatloaf:

1 egg

½ cup V8 juice (about half can)

½ cup seasoned breadcrumbs

1 package onion soup mix

¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 ½ lbs ground beef (I used 1 lb beef and ½ lb ground pork)

Ketchup

Heat oven to 350°

1. Lightly beat one egg with a half can of V8 juice. Add breadcrumbs, soup mix, and cheese and combine. Add the ground meat to the mixture; mix well.

2. Pat the meatloaf mixture into an ungreased loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and spread about 1/3 cup of ketchup on the top of the meatloaf. Bake for another 10 minutes, until a meat thermometer reads 160°.

Creamy Spinach Noodles:

1 ½ cups uncooked egg noodles

2 bacon strips, diced

2 tsp finely chopped onion

6 ½ tsp flour

¾ tsp salt free seasoning blend (I used adobo!)

1/8 tsp salt

Pepper

1 ¼ cups milk

1, 9 oz package baby spinach, defrosted

¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Boil water with a pinch of salt and cook noodles al dente.

2. In a large skillet, cook the bacon and onion over medium heat until bacon is crispy. Remove to paper towels to drain.

3. Stir the flour and seasonings into drippings until blended. Slowly add milk and whisk until it boils. Cook for 2 minutes or until it is thick. Add spinach and cook until it is well mixed.

4. Drain noodles and transfer to a bowl. Add spinach mixture and shredded cheese; toss. Sprinkle with bacon and onion mixture.

Classes went well, I’m back in school mode, and I love it! This semester I’m taking astronomy, archaeology theory, archaeological geophysics, history of East Asia, and my senior synthesis, “Feast Here Awhile”. Work and classes keep me busy so that I’m only home to eat and sleep.

I hope I will have time to keep this thing going on here. I may have gotten ahead of myself early on thinking that I could write a 3 page essay for a blog post; that’s not too realistic now. But, I will be adding new recipes and stories, and whatever else I can think of.

So, keep reading, comment, suggest; I welcome it all!

P.S. I’m going to try to use my camera when I cook so I can take some appetizing photos of all these yummies. So, if anyone has good tips for photographing food, let me know!