Foodmomiac

Foodmomiac's Meatloaf

A friend of ours had surgery last week, so a bunch of us got together to make them some dinners. My friend Joni did an awesome job of insuring that the family was covered for dinner by a different person each night, and our night was Sunday.

I volunteered to make meatloaf, mashed potatoes (I did the cheesy kind) and a veggie (just some simple sauteed zucchini with minced onion and dill). I figured comfort food is always welcomed. It was really very easy to pull everything together, and I made two of everything, so we had our dinner ready to go as well.

I don't know why we don't eat meatloaf more often. It's easy. It freezes GREAT. The kids love it. I have some twists to my meatloaf, as you see below. Typically, I use white bread as the binding agent, but Michael asked me to use oatmeal yesterday instead, and I have to say I LOVED it. I'll never use white bread again.

Foodmomiac's Meatloaf

1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 eggs
2 Tb. ketchup
1 Tb. yellow mustard
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 Tb. dehydrated minced onion
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tb. prepared horseradish

Combine everything together in a large bowl using your hands (This is the most important part. I honestly believe that it is impossible to make good meatloaf using a spoon.)

Place in a 9 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 90 minutes.

Corned Beef Day One

  Brisket 
  Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac.

I made my own corned beef once before. It was years ago, before we even had Dylan, if I recall correctly. It was amazing. I used the recipe from Cook's Illustrated. Every year, I intend to make the same recipe, but I always forget to buy the brisket in time. You see, in order for the beef to "corn," it needs to sit in a spice rub for 5-7 days in the refrigerator. This year, I remembered!!

Michael went over to the Paulina Meat Market yesterday and bought a six pound brisket. This morning, I got it prepped. I trimmed it, stabbed it 30 times on each side, and rubbed it with the spice rub (kosher salt, black pepper, paprika, thyme, bay leaf and allspice). I then put it in a ziploc bag, removed all of the air, and weighted it down (click through on the above picture to see more of the process). It will sit in the refrigerator until Sunday. We are making our St. Patrick's Dinner one day late. Sunday just works better for us.