Meatloaf for People Who Don't Like Meatloaf

Neither my husband nor I are fans of meatloaf but this recipe for Cowboy Meatloaf from Chewin' the Fat in the Kitchen is AWESOME!! We LOVE it!!! I no longer have Mamie around to make this for me so I finally had to break down and make it for myself. It is super yummy and unlike any meatloaf I have ever tried before.

1 lb lean ground beef  (93/7)
1 lb not so lean ground beef (80/20)
1/2 lb ground pork sausage
12 oz thick sliced bacon
1 sleeve of saltine crackers from a standard box
1 large egg or 1/4 cup liquid egg substitute
1 cup ketchup (more or less)
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp coarse ground black pepper +
1 tsp cajun seasoning
1/2 of a medium onion, chopped
BBQ sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl mix together ground beef, pork sausage, crackers, egg, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, black pepper, cajun seasoning and onion, combine well.

Add ketchup and mix in using additional ketchup if needed, you want the mixture to be moist but not soggy.

Set aside.  Take the bacon and on kitchen counter, cookie sheet or other flat surface weave the bacon. I found the easiest way to do this was to lay out half the slices one direction, then weave in the remaining half starting at the middle and working out.

Sprinkle the bacon with coarse black pepper. Brush with BBQ sauce.

Take the beef mixture and shape into a large ball and place in the middle of the bacon. Wrap the weaved bacon around the beef mixture. (Mine didn't wrap quite all the way around, I just put the uncovered portion to the bottom.) Place the bacon wrapped meatloaf in baking dish.

Bake for 30 minutes. Using turkey baster remove juices from meatloaf and set aside. Continue baking meatloaf checking every 15 minutes and removing the excess juices until meatloaf reaches and internal temperature of 165 to 170, this should take about one hour to one and a half hours. You will use 1/4 cup of the reserved juices to make your gravy, I will share that recipe next week.

Once meatloaf has reached the necessary internal temperature and the bacon blanket is nice and crispy, serve and enjoy! Tip: I put mine under the broiler for a few minutes to get the bacon extra crispy.

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See Ya In The Gumbo - Ms. EnPlace

Thursday Favorite Things - Katherine's Corner

Freedom Fridays with All My Bloggy Friends - My Turn For Us

Freedom Fridays with All My Bloggy Friends - Love Bakes Good Cakes

Sausage Cheese Bread

I pinned this recipe for Spicy Sausage Cheese Bread about four to five months ago at Cajun Delights. While I was scrolling through my pins looking for something yummy, my hubby looked over and spotted this recipe and it was settled. This had to be made right away if not sooner. It was VERY yummy and made enough for multiple meals.

6 slices bacon
1 lb smoked beef sausage links, sliced
1/3 cup each - green onion, jalapeno and onion
2 tsp adobo seasoning with pepper (garlic salt with oregano and black pepper)
4 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
3 cups shredded colby jack cheese, divided

Cook bacon in skillet until crispy. Drain on paper towels.

Drain grease from skillet and add sausage. Saute for five to seven minutes or until browned. Add the green onion, jalapeno, onion and seasoning.

Continue cooking for three to five minutes, set aside. Meanwhile in large bowl stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk until all flour is moistened.

Add two cups of the cheese, mixing it in well. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, 400 for RV ovens. Using a slotted spoon remove sausage mixture from skillet and add to the flour cheese mixture, along with the crumbled bacon. Mix in until everything is well combined. Spray a six by ten inch casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Divide the dough into portions (I did six but think eight would be better) and place into dish, sides touching. Bake for about 20 minutes, top with remaining cup of cheese and continue baking for about five minutes or until cheese is melted and bread is done.

Serve and enjoy!

Manburgers

These burgers were absolutely incredible and may replace Cream Cheese Burgers as our fav. Although I may just combine the two - that would be amazing! I found this on pinterest and it led back to HERE. I have found other postings of this online but they lead back to the same place. Next time I will increase the cheese or stuff these with serrano cream cheese.

4 lbs ground beef
3 1/2 lbs thick sliced bacon
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
12 lg hamburger buns
your fav burgers toppings

Divide ground beef into 12 equal portions, about 5 1/4 ozs each. Then divide each portion in half.

Place each half on opposite sides of a burger press. Using plate provided press down each half, making a shallow well in the center. Fill larger half with about 2 1/2 Tablespoons of shredded cheese. Top with smaller half and press edges to seal in the cheese.

Wrap with 3 - 4 slices of bacon. Repeat with remaining portions. Heat one half of grill to high heat. Place burgers over half of grill that is off. Cook until burgers reach desired doneness or on internal temperature of 160. Ours took about 45 minutes but we kept playing with the burners adjusting heat level and trying to decide how many of the burners we should have on (We started out with them all on at low, but that didn't work so well.)

Serve burgers on buns with desired toppings. Enjoy!

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Creole Beer Rice

I found this great recipe for Creole Beer Rice over at Cajun Delights several months ago and pinned it. I finally decided to try it for our group here in the park last week. If you like Cajun/Creole food you should really check out this blog! This recipe was very tasty and I will be making it again.

2 cups uncooked rice
2 Tbsp butter
3 cups water
3 chicken bouillon cubes
12 oz beer
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cajun seasoning

In saucepan melt butter and add rice. Cook rice, stirring frequently until lightly browned. Meanwhile dissolve the bouillon cubes in the water, I used the microwave for this. Once the rice is browned add all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

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Slow Cooker Chicken Tator Tot Casserole

I seem to falling behind on my posts and I think it is only going to get worse the rest of this week. I've had this recipe ready to post for a week now. A yummy Nacho Chowder waiting in the wings. Coming up this week is Simple Fudge, Snowman Poop and Chicken Bacon Alfredo Pizza. Of course there is also my menu plan for the week, which I will try to have ready sometime tomorrow. With family visiting, last minute shopping and just being a little bit lazy I just keep putting the blog off. Anyway, back to today's post. This was a really yummy casserole that I made for our group this last week. I found this recipe over at The Country Cook or rather I was led to it by Jamie over at Love Bakes Good Cakes when I saw it on her menu plan for the week. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it, to me it was missing something but I have yet to figure out what that was. John and I enjoyed the leftovers for breakfast and it actually seemed better the second time around. I will have to make this again just to see if I can figure out what was missing.

32 oz bag frozen tator tots
3 slices crisp cooked bacon
1 1/2 to 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
2 cups shredded cheese, colby jack and cheddar
1 cup milk
salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder

Spray 4 qt slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.

Layer half of the tator tots into the bottom. Top with one slice of crumbled bacon and 2/3 cup of cheese.

Layer chicken on top of tator tots. Season to taste with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Top with the remaining tator tots, cheese and crumbled bacon. Season with additional onion and garlic powder if desired. Pour milk over the top.

Cook on low for about six hours. Serve and enjoy!

Oven Variation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. After you've cooked the bacon; season the chicken with the salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder; then cook the chicken in the grease remaining in the skillet. Layer half the tator tots into the bottom of a large casserole pan. Top with one slice of the crumbled bacon and 2/3 cup of shredded cheese. Layer chicken on top of the tots. Top with the other half of the tator tots, remaining cheese and bacon. Season with additional onion and garlic powder. Poor milk over the casserole. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until tots are browned and crispy.

Serve and enjoy!

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Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken - Lots and Lots of It

I found this recipe over at The Girl Who Ate Everything a few months back and pinned it. My original intention was to double this recipe, but that just didn't look like enough chicken for our group of eight, four being big guys who like their food (I had forgotten one of the guys was MIA and wouldn't be there). So I decided to quadruple it - we had a LOT of Cashew Chicken. Although I am glad I did more than double, I don't think that would have been enough but triple would have probably been perfect. Everyone took a little home with them so I was not left with a HUGE amount of leftovers. I made only a couple of minor changes to the recipe - I used chicken breast instead of thighs (it was on sale and actually cheaper than the thighs!) and I substituted hoisin sauce for half of the soy sauce. It turned out VERY yummy!  I will definitely make this again!!

8 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, I cut each breast in half to make smaller pieces
1 cup flour
2 tsp black pepper
canolla oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp ground ginger or 2 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp red pepper flakes (this does not make this dish overly spicy, a couple in our group don't do spicy and               they enjoyed this dish)
2 cup cashew halves and pieces

In Ziploc bag combine the flour and black pepper. Add the chicken a few pieces at a time and shake to coat. In large skillet heat about two Tablespoons of canola oil.

Add chicken and brown for about two minutes on each side. Place browned chicken into slow cooker. Repeat until all chicken pieces have been browned, adding more oil to skillet as needed. In large bowl combine soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes.

Yes I really had to use both slow cookers!

Pour the sauce over the chicken and cook on low for five to six hours, or on high for two to three hours. I actually did a combination - one hour on high, then three hours on low. Just before serving stir in cashews. Serve over rice and enjoy!

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Menu Plan 121012

I almost forgot that I had not posted this yet. I was about to toss my grocery list, which has the menu for the week on the back in case I get to the store and need to make adjustments, or decide to change the menu based on something I see on sale. Then it dawned on me - I still need that, I haven't done my post yet! So here is this weeks menu plan:

Monday
Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken* with Rice and Egg Rolls - for our group meal

Tuesday
?

Wednesday
?

Thursday
?

Friday
Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps* with Creamy Chipotle Corn

Saturday
Cream Cheese Burgers with Spicy Baked Fries

Sunday
Sausage Wraps with Chips

*New Recipe


Next week there is no telling what may happen. John's folks, along with his sister, will be down next Tuesday for a couple of days. I am going to try to bake up a special dessert while they are here, which will double as my entry for this month's Improv Challenge, so I'll have to work fast to get it posted on time. I know John's dad wants to take us all out to a nice restaurant, that will be our family Christmas dinner this year since John's sister will be leaving a couple of days before Christmas. The rest I will be playing by ear, but let's get this week done before we worry about next week.

Almost Healthy Sloppy Joes

I pinned this recipe a while back after one of my friends here at the park had to go on a fairly strict diet. At the time this recipe didn't quite fit into her diet as she was going to cut out all bread. She is back to eating bread in moderation so I decided to give this a try. It was pretty good! I guess everyone else thought so too since there was barely enough leftover for one sandwich - little to no leftovers is always a good sign! I pinned the original recipe from HERE. I doubled it and tweaked it slightly and this is what I came up with:

2 lb extra lean ground beef (I used 93/7)
2 1/3 cups frozen mixed vegetables (mine had just corn, carrots and peas)
1 2/3 cups frozen chopped green pepper
1 6oz can tomato paste
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce (low sodium)
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp sriracha chili sauce
16 small hamburger buns
American cheese slices

In skillet brown ground beef.

In slow cooker combine ground beef, vegetables, green pepper, vinegar, tomato paste, worcestershire sauce, salt and chili sauce.

Cover and cook on low for four hours or on high for two hours.

Serve on buns adding cheese slices if desired. Enjoy!

**For a healthier version use tomato paste with no salt added, whole grain buns and omit the cheese.**

Menu Plan 120312

It is always good to have a plan, but make sure you are flexible. Plans change. If you are too rigid about your "plan" then this will upset you. Last weeks plan is a good example of this. Other than what I was cooking on Monday night I had no idea about what was going on that week. Glenda ended up being gone all week, I don't know if she has returned yet. So Mamie cooked Tuesday night and Friday night. Maria cooked on Wednesday night. Thursday night we went out to eat. We had the pizza Saturday night and chili Sunday night. An excellent week - good food, good friends is always a great combo. This week we are supposed to go out to eat one night on the boss but I don't know what night we will be doing that. I will guess over next weekend. Now for this weeks "plan":

Monday
Beef and Vegetable Sandwiches* with Grilled Squash and Chips

Tuesday
?

Wednesday
?

Thursday
Sausage Wraps with Chips??

Friday
Chicken Tacos  with Beans

Saturday
Dinner Out?

Sunday
Beef Tostadas  with Rice

Broccoli Cheese Soup

With the cooler weather I have been craving soup in a serious way. I have pinned many, many recipes in the last couple of weeks and finally decided to try one. You can find the original recipe HERE. I double the recipe since I was making it for our group of friends here in the park and made one slight change to the ingredients - I didn't have quite enough broccoli, so I substituted chopped green pepper. It turned out super yummy. Due to my dislike of green peppers I decided to chop them a bit finer that what they were already chopped. I didn't want any "big" pieces of green pepper, lol.

The little bit I used, chopped extra small, gave the soup some added flavor without being overpowering.

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup flour
5 cups milk
1 1/2 lb (24oz) Velveeta, cubed
1 16 oz package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained
5 oz frozen chopped green pepper, thawed and drained
1/4 tsp black pepper

In dutch oven melt butter.

Add onion and cook until tender, about five minutes. Stir in flour and cook until bubbly, about one minute. Add milk, bring just to the boiling point then reduce heat and simmer for one minute. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cook until cheese is melted and soup is heated through, stirring frequently.

Serve and enjoy!

Menu Plan 112612

This week things should be back to as close to normal as they get around here. I'm planning my regular night of cooking tonight. I don't know if the rest of the group has anything planned or not so I have back up plans ready to go.

Monday
Cilantro Grilled Chicken Breast with Broccoli Cheese Soup* and Bread Rolls

Tuesday
Pizza?

Wednesday
Sausage Wraps?

Thursday
??Mystery Dinner - maybe leftovers??

Friday
Spicy Beef Pasta with Beans

Saturday
Dinner Out

Sunday
Simple Chili with Cornbread

*New Recipe

Not much going on this week, which is good - enough happened last week. I'll be relaxing and enjoying life - after I give the RV a good cleaning. How did it get so dirty when we weren't here? Gremlins, I'm sure!

Slow Cooker Coffee Braised Chile Beef

Well I finally went and bought a larger slow cooker.

I have been seeing a lot of recipes I would love to do in the slow cooker for our group but there was no way my little 2 qt slow cooker was going to do the job. HEB had a nice 4 qt slow cooker on sale so I grabbed one up and immediately made this recipe, and I really do mean immediately. I hadn't been home from the store quite an hour and this Chile Beef was already in the cooker. I am so glad I came across this recipe, it was almost accidental that I did. While looking at recipes at Crock Pot King I came across a link to this recipe for Coffee Braised Chile Beef over at Stuff I Make My Husband. It sounded like the perfect recipe for our group here at the park and a great way to try out my new slow cooker! Thanks to Mamie there are actually pics of the final product, she reminded me to take them. I had to make a couple of adjustments but mostly followed the original recipe. I did not have enough garlic cloves so I used a combination of cloves and powder - 1/4 tsp garlic powder = 1 garlic clove. I used red pepper in place of chipotle powder and did not add water to the rub to make it a paste, instead I used it as a dry rub. Here is how it came out with the adjustments:

1 large red onion, sliced thick
4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 tsp garlic powder
4 tsp cocoa powder
1/3 cup chili powder
2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground red pepper
1 tsp sea salt
beef roast (I used two bottom round rump roasts at about two pounds each)
1 1/2 cups strong brewed coffee
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Place onion slices in bottom of slow cooker. Combine garlic (cloves and powder), cocoa, chili powder, oregano, cinnamon, cumin, red pepper and salt.

Rub onto all sides of roast (or roasts). Place roast on top of the onion slices. Combine the coffee and balsamic vinegar.

Pour over roast. Cook on low for six to eight hours.

 Remove from cooker and shred using two forks. Return shredded beef to cooker and cook in sauce for an additional 30 minutes.

Serve on tortillas with your favorite taco toppings and enjoy!

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Menu Plan 111212

As things turned out I ended up only cooking twice this last week. This group cooking is turning out to be very nice. For example Thursday - our company needed me to work a gate for a few hours. It ended up being a little longer than I expected so I was very thankful that it was not my night to cook. It is also saving us some money on our grocery bill. It really is cheaper to cook for eight one or two nights a week than to cook for two six nights a week.

Monday
Coffee Braised Chile Beef* with Salad

Tuesday
Glenda's Cooking

Wednesday
Maria's Cooking

Thursday
Mamie's Cooking

Friday
Sausage Wraps with Mac-N-Cheese -- Yes, this is still coming up on the menu plan, it seems something else always comes up and this gets pushed to the side.

Saturday
? -- I would say dining out but it seems this keeps getting put off as well, although Friday we did go to IHOP for breakfast/lunch we have not been going out for our weekly dinner but with such good food and company here I don't really miss it.

Sunday
Mexican Pasta with Beans

Cilantro Grilled Chicken Breast

This is the chicken that I grilled for our little group here in the park Monday night. It was devoured! Everyone loved it!! I do not have a pic of the finished product but it looked like grilled chicken breast. I found the inspiration for this recipe HERE. I will be making this again, it was pretty simple and super yummy!

8 boneless, skinless chicken breast
lime juice
onion powder
seasoned salt
ground black pepper
dried cilantro

Douse the chicken generously with the lime juice.

I let in marinade in the lime juice for about an hour.

Remove from the lime juice and season to taste with the onion powder, salt, pepper and cilantro. Grill over med-hi heat for about 10-15 minutes on each side or until no longer pink and juices run clear.

Finally! A picture of the completed dish topped with some fresh cilantro!

Serve and enjoy!

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