Monday Meatloaf

Monday morning dawned warm and breezy. But I (The Weather-Watcher) am not fooled. Tuesday, everything goes to sh*t!

After work, It was after 6:00 by the time I got the mail sorted, my clothes changes, etc. So, I jumped on making my Sunday dinner. I planned on meatloaf, baked sweet potato and broccoli with a cheese sauce.

I looked up a recipe to get cooking times and temperature, but I’m not following it for ingredients. I am basically throwing everything but the kitchen sink into this sucker!

I fine-diced a big sweet onion, grated half a carrot and cut half a pound of button mushrooms into small cubes. I also cut up all those small green peppers I harvested from my garden. Those all went into a skillet with some olive oil. When the mushrooms had reduced and the onion was translucent, I added three cloves of minced garlic for the last minute of cooking time. Then I pulled the skillet off the heat to let the mixture cool.

In a mixing bowl, I whisked together two large eggs, about a half cup of milk, some Dijon mustard, a splash of hot sauce and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.

In a larger mixing bowl I combined a pound of ground chuck, a pound of ground pork, a big handful of store-bought bread crumbs, the egg and milk mixture, the cooked onions and “stuff” and some fresh herbs (parsley, thyme and oregano) that I went out and picked in the dark.

I took about a tablespoon of the mix and made a small patty. I fried that in the skillet and tasted it for seasoning. I only added a little salt and a lot of pepper.

Meanwhile I made my glaze with some ketchup, light brown sugar and a couple of splashes of cider vinegar (to cut the sweetness – I don’t like sweet). I made the mix into a loaf shape in my rectangular cake pan, put on about half the glaze and stuck it in a 350 degree F. preheated oven. I set the timer for 45 minutes.

I had planned on baking the sweet potatoes and that would have been fine on Sunday afternoon. But, it seemed like over-kill late on Monday night. So, I left them out of my dinner plans.

I cut the broccoli into florets and stuck the stems in a baggie in the fridge. I’ll peel and dice them later. It’s only the outside skin that’s tough and bitter. The insides can be used in soups and stews. The florets went into boiling, salted water.

When the timer went off, I re-glazed the meatloaf and stuck it back in for 15 minutes more.

I had bought a nice shredded four-cheese mixture at Westborn (mozzarella, asiago, provolone and romano) and had planned on making a cheese sauce for the broccoli. But it was already after 9:00 PM, so I improvised. I warmed up some Cheese Whiz in the microwave (in a bowl covered with cling wrap at 15 second intervals until it was steaming – it only takes two or three times).

I plated the meatloaf and broccoli, added some cheese to the broccoli and went in the bedroom for dinner and taped TV. The food was excellent!!! My only criticism was the glaze was a “bit” too tart. One splash of cider vinegar would have been enough.

When the meatloaf was cool, I just covered it with aluminum foil and stuck it in the fridge. The broccoli went into four cup containers and also into the fridge. Then I went to bed.