Kelly's Famous Meatloaf (Slow Cooker) w/Cheddar Cheese and Macaroni

Today was work from home day, which means slow cooker dinner day. I love a good meat loaf. There are so many variations on the meat loaf, but I'm pretty much a plain Jane meat loaf kinda gal. Meat loaf is one dish it never would have occurred to me to cooking the slow cooker. One reason is that awesome little crust you get on the outer edges when cooked in the oven. But, this recipe from my Southern Living Slow-Cooker Cookbook is too awesome not to eat over and over.

I decided to make mac 'n cheese with it instead of mashed potatoes, which I would normally make, since we just had potatoes with the CFS on Sunday. The recipe I like to use is one I saw Rachael Ray make years ago on her show. It is probably the best homemade mac 'n' cheese I've ever had--perfectly creamy and cheesy. It also travels well--I've taken it to potlucks with friends and work.

Kelly's Famous Meat Loaf

(Southern Living Slow-Cooker Cookbook, 2006)

Prep: 9 minutes
Cook: 5 hours
Slow-Cooker Size: 3-quart oval

• 1 1/2 pounds ground round
• 1 (1-oz) envelope dry onion soup mix
• 1 cup ketchup, divided
• 1/4 c. water
• 3/4 c. fine, dry breadcrumbs
• 1 large egg
• 1 c. (4 oz.) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 tbsp. light brown sugar
• 1 tsp. prepared mustard

Combine ground round, soup mix, 1/2 cup ketchup, and next 6 ingredients; shape mixture into 8- x 4-inch loaf. Place loaf into lightly greased 3-quart oval slow cooker.
Cover and cook on HIGH 1 hour. Reduce heat to LOW, and cook 3 hours. Remove ceramic insert from cooker, and carefully pour grease off meat loaf; return insert to cooker.
Stir together remaing 1/2 cup ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard in a small bowl; spread over meat loaf.
Cover and cook on LOW 1 more hour or until meat loaf registers 160. Remove meat loaf from ceramic insert, and let stand 10 minutes before serving. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Sissy's Variations:
I try to use ground turkey as much as possible in place of ground beef. We've gotten to where we don't really even notice the difference. But, I still have a small aversion to ground turkey in large "chunks"--burgers (I'm almost over this one), loaves, balls. So, for this dish, I mix half ground turkey with half VERY lean ground beef. This time I also went ahead and used a pound of each for a 2-lb loaf. I just adjusted the cooking time 30 minutes at each level and it turned out fine.
I also use low fat cheese because I have it on hand and it is just one more place to cut back fat and calories.
As I've mentioned before, I have an 8-quart slow cooker, but I don't find that to be a hinderence in this recipe. If anything, it might help in that it keeps too much of the grease from getting on too much of the loaf.

Cheddar Cheese and Macaroni
(Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals 2, 2003)

• 1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked 8 minutes or al dente to package directions
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil or olive oil (once around the pan)
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 1 1/2 c. whole or 2% milk
• 3 c. shredded sharp white cheddar cheese
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, ground or freshly grated
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (a couple pinches)
• Salt, to taste

Heat a medium-size deep skillet over medium heat. Add oil and butter. When butter melts into oil, stir in flour. Gently cook, whisking flour and butter together, until smooth and flour has had a chance to cook, about 3 minutes. Slowly add milk while continuing to whisk. Gently bring milk to a bubble while stirring frequently. Allow the milk to thicken a bit, then stir in 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, a handfull at a time. Season sauce with nutmeg an cayenne. Taste and add a little salt, if you like. Add cooked pasta to the sauce and coat completely by turning over and over in the cheese sauce. Transfer to a baking dish, top with remaining cheese, and place under a hot broiler for a minute to brown the top.

Sissy's Variations:
This recipe is way too heavy and fattening for a normal, everyday meal, so I took some steps to lighten it up.
I used skim milk instead of whole. I actually meant to buy some fat free half and half, which I've used in another light mac 'n' cheese recipe, but I forgot, so I used what I had on hand. The trick to using skim milk in something like this is to heat it slower than you normally would. But, I had no problem with it thickening right up.
I also use Smart Balance Whipped as opposed to regular butter. Fewer calories, less fat, less sodium, and good things like Omega 3 added. And you still get the butter taste.
I prefer to use the Ronzoni pastas. I don't really like whole wheat so much, so this is a good compromise. It may still be higher in carbs, but it also has good things like more protein, more fiber, and I think the Omega 3 too.
And, like in the meat loaf, I used low fat cheese. I used a combo of pre-shredded medium cheddar and a block of Cabot reduced fat sharp. The cabot reduced fat is a bit more expensive than a generic cheese, but it's really good. I do use the white cheddar when I'm making this dish for a potluck, but the difference isn't THAT great.

An All-time Fave: Chicken Spaghetti

One of my very favorite dishes of all time is the Chicken Spaghetti my mom cooks. Now, the fact that it's something my mom cooks is something pretty amazing all by itself. My mom, you see, doesn't really cook. She married men who could cook, and that is where I learned much of what I know about cooking--from my dad and my stepdad, both of whom are great cooks. But, Chicken Spaghetti is something my got from her mom and she's been cooking it for me forever. We rarely get to eat it because nobody else likes it quite like we do; they just tolerate it.

Mom says she has the recipe somewhere, but I've never used. I just sort of go from memory and occasionally call Mom to make sure I'm not forgetting something. It's super simple and makes great leftovers. But WARNING it makes A LOT. I suppose there are ways to cut it down, but for us, it just doesn't work unless you make a lot.

Chicken Spaghetti

Ingredients:
1 whole fryer chicken
1 lb. spaghetti
1 lb. Velveeta cheese
2 cans stewed tomatoes (Italian style or regular)
1 can sweet peas, drained
1 can cream of chicken soup (optional, use only if necessary)

1. Boil chicken in large stock pot until done (about 1.5 hours).

2. Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool. Save broth.

3. Once broth cools a bit, skim fat from top and discard. Bring broth back to a boil and cook spaghetti in broth according to package directions. The pasta should absorb most of the liquid, leaving no need to drain. If there is too much excess liquid, drain off some.

4. Leave pot on burner and reduce heat to medium low. Cube Velveeta into pasta, stirring frequently to allow cheese to melt and to keep it from burning on the bottom.

 

5. De-bone and de-fat chicken and shred into pot. (I just pull the chicken off the bone, discarding the skin and fat, and shred with my fingers. Some people can't do that, so use your favorite method.)

 

6. Add tomatoes, breaking up the tomatoes with your hands or a fork. Allow to heat through.

 

7. Add peas just before serving.

 

 

Sissy's Variations:
The cream of chicken soup is used to thicken the spaghetti up if needed (as well as add some extra flavor). Mine was pretty thick this time on it's own, so I didn't use it. I had 2% Velveeta cheese on hand, so I used that without any difference in taste.

It was super yummy, as always. Bill even raved about it. And I will be eating on it for a week!

Sissy's Shrimp and Pasta

Bill really likes a shrimp dish that I used to make and while it wasn't unhealthy, it was not the lightest dish I could make. But we both really like shrimp, so I thought I'd play around with some ingredients, and used some inspirations from some of the other WC Nestie blogs, I came up with this shrimp and pasta dish. It was REALLY good and the only thing I will do differently next time is a little less heat. While it was perfectly edible and still really good, it had a bit too much of a kick for us.

This not going to be an exact recipe. I will list what I used, but I didn't measure and all ingredients can be adjusted based on taste, health, etc. I am tagging this under light because I used very little oil and a healthy pasta. Oh, and it is practically almost 100% sodium free.


Ingredients:
one pound peeled, deveined shrimp
olive oil
olive oil cooking spray
crushed red pepper flakes
fresh group black pepper
Tony Chachere's Salt Free Seasoning
McCormick Roasted Garlic & Red Bell Pepper seasoning (maybe a tsp., the only source of added sodium)
garlic, finely chopped
onion, finely chopped
shallot, finely chopped
(previous three ingredients will be divided between the shrimp and the pasta)
wine
pasta of choice (I used Ronzoni Smart Taste angel hair)

Cook pasta according to package directions.


In a dish, place olive oil (I barely added a tbsp), crushed red pepper flakes, and McCormick seasoning. Pat shrimp dry and pepper and "salt" (using salt free seasoning). Add shrimp to dish and toss to coat.


In a pan, add a small amount of olive oil and spray liberally. Allow to heat. Add a small amount of garlic, onion, and shallot. Add shrimp and spray with a little more spray. Cook until desired doneness. (Bill likes his shrimp a little on the crispy side, which might be a little overdone for some, so you be the judge.) Remove shrimp, set aside, and cover to keep warm.

Add wine (I didn't have any wine in the house, so I used cooking sherry) to pan and deglaze. Once wine is almost reduced, add a touch more olive oil and remaining garlic, onion, and shallot. Cook until tender. Add pasta to pan and toss.

Serve shrimp over pasta.

Sissy's Variations:
Even though this is my made up dish, I still have a few variations. I intended to add parmasean cheese to the pasta, but forgot. I added it on top of the shrimp once it was plated. Still good, but next time I will add to pasta.