The Only Meatloaf I'll Eat.

I'm not a meatloaf fan.  Meat isn't meant to come in a loaf.  However, for some reason I was craving it.  So I created this version.  It's yum.  I was scared to put it in a loaf because I didn't know how to tell it was done, so I made it in a muffin pan and to me it was more visually appealing, and I could cut into one ball without ruining the whole thing.  Portion control anyone?  Also fits nicely in the tupperware with the mashed potatoes.  Kyle typically hoards the "balls" when I make them. I go downstairs the next day to fix some for lunch and look in the icebox and realize he's taken most of them to work with him.  I'm sure it can be improved upon.  Any suggestions?

My Infamous Meatloaf Balls

1 1/2 ground meat- I use lean beef or venison (it's super lean too)
1 C breadcrumbs (I use the HEB brand)
1 egg, beaten
1 onion - I like it diced super tiny
16 ounces tomato sauce (that's two 8 ounce cans - although I usually use three so I can make extra sauce)
2 or 3 tablespoons vinegar
A palm full of brown sugar
A nice squirt of yellow or spicy mustard
4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 tablespoons Liquid smoke
Garlic powder
Ground Mustard
a nice dollop of BBQ sauce, whatever you like

Heat your oven to 350.  Wash your hands.  In a big bowl mix together your meat, breadcrumbs, onion, egg, salt and pepper, about 4 ounces of tomato sauce, about 2 tbl spoon each of Worcester sauce and liquid smoke.  Spray your muffin pan with some Pam, then shape your meat into balls and place in the pan.  Now make your sauce.  Mix together the rest of the tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, mustard, about 2 tbl spoons each of Worchester sauce and Liquid smoke, garlic powder, and ground mustard and the BBQ sauce.  Mix it together and taste it.  Adjust it for your taste.  You might not like all the vinegar, so maybe start with 1 tablespoon and go up from there. I like to use a plastic basting brush to brush on the sauce  on the meat, then put in the oven and bake at 350 for about 25 to 35 minutes.  Periodically baste the balls with the sauce through out coking.  Take out a ball and test it for doneness.

I served mine with mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.  Super comforting dinner.  Enjoy!

Meat Balls!

Green Bean Casserole - not just for Thanksgiving. 

Peach Cobbler

  I love all things southern - and it doesn't get more southern than cobbler.  I love most things Paula Deen.  I also love to make big complete meals.  I was making my infamous meatloaf, which I'll post in a sec, because I'm super slow with this computer stuff.  And on a whim I decided to make this.  Go Paula.  It turned out absolutely delish.  I went home to Center and when my Daddy heard about it he begged me to make an Apple one, but their damn backwoods oven caught on fire and burnt up most my cobbler.  If we wouldn't have almost died from the smoke, I'd have taken a picture.  We ate it anyway.  What does that say about us?  With a little ice cream, it wasn't half bad. Had to throw out the pyrex though.  Oops.

1 Stick Butter
1 C sugar
3/4 cup self rising floor (or in my case - 3/4 c regular flour and some baking powder)
3/4 c whole milk (always use whole milk when you need milk or it won't be right)
28 ounches peach pie filling - and to this I added lots of cinnamon

P.S.  I kinda felt like a cheat using the the peach pie filling - but it was so damn good I couldn't stop eating it with a spoon.  Besides it was easy as pie.  Or cobbler, in this case.  If you can't get over the cheating you can also make your own filling with fresh fruit and water and sugar.

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt the butter in the baking dish.  Mix sugar and flour.  Add milk slowly so you don't clump up.   Pour this over melted butter.  Don't stir this.  Spoon the fruit filling over the top of this.  Still don't stir.  The batter will rise to top during baking.  Bake for 30 to 45 minutes.  I like it hot with ice cream on the side.  Duh.

Next time I make this I'll probably double my batter recipe - It's my favorite part.  

The finished product. Ta da. 

Banana Bread - what I did to use up Kyle's 50 million bananas and waste time.

Kyle recently went to the beach for a boys weekend and for some reason had bought a million bananas and didn't eat them.  I was bored and wanted to cook.  So here is the easiest banana bread.  Ever.  I made three loafs since the first one turned out so yum.  It was also awesome because I hate nuts in my food, most especially sweet things.  Don't get me wrong, I love nuts.  Just not mixed in with my food.  So try this out and let me know what you think.

3 ripe bananas (the more ugly they are, the easier they are to mash)
1 TBL Cinnamon
1 Stick Butter, slightly melted
1 c Sugar (I bet brown sugar would be fab too)
1 Tbl spoon Baking Soda
1 1/2 c Flour, sifted
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix your Sugar and Butter together.  Take a bite.  This is the best part.

Add your eggs. 

Mash the hell out of your bananas. 

Sift all your flour and baking powder together.

Mix everything together.

Put it in the pan and cook it.  

Ta da.