Today’s recipe is another of those ‘not really a recipe’ recipes. My mom taught me how to make this and that means that I watched her make it to learn how to make it.

Brian’s birthday is later this week. We will go there for some swimming and fireworks. This year we will be doing the extended family celebration of his birthday that day instead of Sunday at my mom and dad’s. So today we are celebrating his birthday with just our immediate family. Thus, he gets to pick his meal and dessert. He chose meatloaf and scalloped potatoes and strawberry cheesecake. I’m surprised because he usually picks chicken enchiladas and mud pie (which I hope to make soon so that I can include it on the blog).

I double this ‘recipe’ when I make it for all of us, so the pictures will look much bigger than what this ‘recipe’ will look like without doubling.

Start by crumbling or chunking one pound of ground beef (I use ground turkey for Mike – meatloaf is one of the few things I do not like made with ground turkey) into your pan. I use a 9×13. Next crumble 1-2 pieces of bread on top of the meat.

Then break one egg on top (you could beat it slightly if you wanted).

Then pour about 1/8-1/3 cup of milk on the bread. You want to moisten all the bread. (If you wanted, you could break up the bread into a bowl and pour the milk on the bread and let it soak it all up and then add to the ground meat.)

Then mix it all up. I just use my hands. Form into a short loaf – no more than 1 1/2 inches tall. Any thicker and it will take longer to cook.

Finally top with ketchup, smearing all over the loaf. Sean and Tiffany don’t like much ketchup on it but Brian, Lauren and I do. So one end gets just a hint of ketchup and the other 2/3 gets a much thicker coating.

Put in the over on 350º-375º for about 45-60 minutes, until the fat that is rendered browns just a bit. Cut it in half to ensure there is NO PINK left in the loaf.

Mom always made meatloaf with scalloped potatoes. We never had one without the other. It’s actually funny because for years I didn’t make one without the other. In the last several years I started making scalloped potatoes with other meals too.

I hope you’ll enjoy this as much as we do. OH! This is another Picky Eater Award recipe (a.k.a. Lauren, who has never liked meatloaf, likes this)!

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

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I never really liked chili until Mike and I were dating. One winter Sunday, he took me to his dad and stepmom’s  place and she fixed chili. As you might imagine, I wasn’t very excited about it but felt I should force some down.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that she served shredded cheddar cheese with her chili. I thought, I might actually be able eat this now. I piled the cheese on my half bowl of chili and took one tenuous bite. I was surprised yet again, to find that I actually liked it! Turns out, it wasn’t just the cheese that made the difference; her chili was sweet! Needless to say, I’d never had sweet chili before. It was delicious!

After we got married, I asked Mary (Mike’s stepmom) for her chili recipe. I have made it many times since, especially once the weather turns cold. The weather had turned nice for about a week or so, I even had to open the windows one day and then it got cold and snowed. So I made this recipe and it warmed us right up.

First brown 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of ground meat. I use ground turkey instead of ground beef.

Sometimes I add finely diced onion and green pepper to the meat as it is browning and sometimes I just add onion powder to the meat, about 1/4 teaspoon or so. I basically just sprinkle it over the meat until I can smell the onion scent.

Next add a can of kidney beans and a can of crushed tomatoes. If I have a packet of chili seasoning I add it now as well. If I don’t have that, I just use some seasonings. (1½ tablespoons chili powder, ½ teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, ¼ teaspoon pepper, ½ teaspoon paprika, and salt to taste)

Next add a squirt of mustard and ¼ cup brown sugar. Simmer for 2 hours or as long as you can wait. It’s great served with bread or cornbread.

Sean prefers it over corn chips. Served that way, we have it other times of the year as well.

If you’ve never tried sweet chili before, give this one a shot. If you aren’t a fan of beans, you can leave them out as well but you may need to add a bit of tomato sauce or more tomatoes or it may be too thick.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

I’m really going to have to get better at taking pictures before we eat. I’m managing to get pictures taken while I make it but when it is finished, we are a bit impatient to eat. I took this one with the leftovers.

I was first introduced to this yummy casserole when I was a teen and our family was on vacation in Nags Head, I think, with another family from church. Brenda, the matriarch of the other family, made this for all of us for dinner one night and it left an impression on me. Years later the church put together a cookbook for a fund raiser, I purchased one and thankfully this recipe was in that book.

I use ground turkey instead of ground beef, since Mike is allergic to beef. Generally speaking, I do not care for ground turkey but because the sauce is so rich in flavor, it tastes great. It also saves me money because I can find ground turkey cheaper than ground beef.   Win. Win. (a quote from Letters to Juliet)

My children have never liked onions cooked in food but actually like the flavor of onion powder in foods; I guess it is the “crunch” of the vegetables that they don’t like. Consequently I use onion powder instead of an onion in this recipe. There is a similar problem with tomatoes, so I either puree the canned tomatoes or use crushed tomatoes; it all depends on what I have on hand.

I love cheese. Thus I always think the more cheese the better BUT that is not very frugal. This recipe has a unique way of tricking the taste buds to think that there is more cheese in it . . . trust me, you have no idea, when eating it, that you aren’t eating cheesy goodness.

Oh! One final thing before I share the process of making this yummy dish, although it uses two pounds of ground meat it makes A LOT. Just last Saturday I fed our family of six – 5 adults and one 17yo – AND had LEFTOVERS. Thus this recipe really could be cut in half or serve what you need (half or less for family of 4) and wrap and freeze the other half, once it cools. I have actually done this during the holidays for an easy meal.

This recipe has passed the Pickiness Test by Lauren.   It is a new addition to her favorite foods list.

Brown the ground meat and break it up. Since I’m using ground turkey there is very little grease, if any but if you use ground beef, you’ll want to drain out the fat. (I like to use a turkey baster to accomplish this.)

Next I add the onion powder. I don’t really know how much, maybe a ½ tablespoon or so – basically, I just shake it on, sprinkling it over the entire surface of the meat, until I smell it. Then add the garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and mix it all together.

If I use a can of diced tomatoes, I puree it in my mini food processor or with my hand blender, while the meat is browning.

Next I add the tomato puree (or crushed tomatoes), can of tomato sauce, package of taco seasoning, and chili powder. I puree the green chiles the same way I did the tomatoes and add them to the meat mixture as well. The sauce is now complete.

Next cut the corn tortillas into pieces to cover the casserole dish evenly. Here is how I cut them. Take the stack and cut it in half. Then take one half and cut it in half.

I sometimes cut them in half yet again.

Now layer them in the casserole dish sprayed with “Pam”. I use a 9×13 baking pan.

Next pour the sauce over the tortilla pieces and layer the other half of the tortilla pieces on top. Combine the cream of chicken soup and milk and pour over the tortillas. Then top with the shredded cheese.

Bake at 350º for about 45 minutes (or until cheese is bubbly).

Serve with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and/or hot sauce.

When I made this Saturday, I made it in the crock pot so that we wouldn’t heat up the house. I put about 1/3 of the tortillas on the bottom, 1/2 the sauce, 1/3 tortillas, about 1/3 of the cream soup milk mixture, a bit of the cheese, the rest of the sauce, last of the tortilla pieces, remaining soup milk mixture, and the rest of the cheese.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº