Recipe 16: Meat Loaf

Alex being a big helper!

I'm sure you're saying to yourself, "What's so special about meat loaf??"  Well, I have cooked Kevin's version of meat loaf a few times with good success, but when I came across this recipe, I wanted to have a chance to try my own. One of the agreements we have in our kitchen is that we don't duplicate recipes because we both want to be able to prepare unique dishes for our family.  But, my justification for prepping this recipe was it gave me a chance to work and learn about working with beef (which we don't eat often) and playing with herbs.  Kevin's meat loaf and mine varied in that his uses green onions and ketchup and I used carrots, milk, and bacon (yes! bacon!!!)

I knew I would like this recipe right away because it's super easy to do. But, I guess that's one of the things about meat loaf...if you've got ground meat and other stuff, then you're good to go. I followed the recipe to the letter, except that I used dried parsley instead of fresh...my last run-in with parsley was not fun and ruined a good batch of salsa.  Regardless, it came out yummy. I paired it with mac and cheese with extra cheese and butter and mashed potatoes made with butter and cream. Yes, right now I can smell the butter through my pores, haha! It was so yummy though...it's not often we eat Paula Deen style, so what the heck!

Now that I have made this recipe, though, I don't expect it to be a regular because Kevin's meat loaf is a family staple. I'll keep mine tucked away for when it's the right time to give it another shot. And, I think I'll be waking up early tomorrow to make sure I get a run or ride in to help hold of some of these butter pounds!!

Recipe 15: Chicken Mark Nuggets



Mark Nuggets, French fries, and
honey mustard, barbeque sauce,
and ketchup...of course!



Ok, I admit. This recipe was cooked nearly a month ago, but dang it if Life Got in the Way (which is the title to one of our favorite Sister Hazel songs...if you didn't already know that...). Anyway, here it is, better late than never!

This recipe offered me the chance to try two new things: Panko bread crumbs (which Mark is very fond of) and Kevin's deep fryer. The Mark Nuggets call for bread crumbs but Panko bread crumbs, which can be found in the Japanese section, promise to not become soggy. I wanted to make sure the nuggets had a texture different than say a chicken Parmesan feel so I gave them a shot. To be honest, they were great! The only down fall is I think I coated the nuggets a little too much, but no complaints about texture or taste.  Using the deep fryer was easier than I had expected and my experience of deep frying this time was much better than the last...last time I tried fried chicken in a skillet and had a small fire on the back burner. Yeah...our older son doesn't let me forget that one! And, yes, I do know how to properly put out a grease fire......  I even got brave and deep fried French fries to accompany the nuggets, which came out perfectly (thanks to hubby's directions).

All in all, this recipe got a two thumbs up from the family and me. It's not one we'll have every month because of the amount of deep frying, but a little drop in the oil can't hurt...can it?  ;-P