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.

Thrown Together Meatloaf

And by meatloaf, I mean turkey meatloaf. We don't really eat ground beef (or much red meat) around here anymore, so meatloaf is made with turkey. It was Friday night and my little brother was starting in his first varsity football. Even though he was going to be playing at a high school right down the street from my house, we still needed to be able to have a quick meal to get there on time. And I still wanted something kind of healthy--or at least not fast food!

So, I thought about the fact that I still had enough mashed potatoes leftover from Thursday night's dinner, so I wanted to make something to go with that. I had a pound of turkey, so I thought, hey, I can throw together a meatloaf. I have a lot of recipes for meatloafs,  and I have made many using no recipe at all. This is one of those, but I'll give you the basics.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey
ketchup
mustard
egg white
bread crumbs
garlic powder
ground pepper
brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350. Cover baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.

2. Mix ketchup, mustard, egg white, bread crumbs, and seasonings in bowl.

3. Add turkey to mixture and mix just until combined (do not over mix).

 

4. Transfer to baking sheet and shape into loaf.

5. In small bowl, mix ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar (all to taste).

6. Bake about 30 minutes (or until almost done). Remove from oven and spread ketchup mixture over top of loaf.

7. Continue cooking until done (about 45 minutes to an hour).

Sissy's Variations:
I used dijon mustard this time because we were out of regular mustard and I thought it still turned out great. All of the ingredients are to taste and can be adjusted based on the amount of meat.

Dinner Divas: Chicken Cobb Burger

So, I frequent the What's Cooking (or What's for Dinner) message board on The Nest. A couple of girls started a cooking blog group called Dinner Divas. Deal is, each month we are given a choice of four recipes and we will make at least two a month. One of my favorite parts is that we can make the recipe exactly as is or we can make our own variations. If you haven't noticed, I like variations.

Anyway, the first dish was the the Chicken Cobb Burger from Bobby Flay. The original looked good, but for taste, calories, and just because reasons, I make a few changes.

Original Recipe:

Ingredients
For the burgers:
8 (1/2- thick) strips bacon
1 1/2 pounds ground chicken, 90 percent lean
2 tablespoons canola oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
4 burger buns, split
1 large ripe beefsteak tomato, cut into 4 slices
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into 8 slices

For the vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely shredded romaine lettuce

For the burgers:
Heat the grill to medium.
Place the strips of bacon on the grill (lay them across the grate so they don't fall through) and grill for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until golden brown and slightly crispy. Remove the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels. Increase the heat of the grill to high.
Form the meat into 4 (8-ounce) burgers, brush with the oil and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Grill the burgers until golden brown on both sides and cooked completely through, about 5 minutes per side. Top the burgers with the blue cheese, close the cover, and continue cooking until the cheese begins to melt, about 1 minute longer.
Place the burgers on the bottom half of each bun and top with a slice of tomato, 2 slices of avocado, 2 slices of bacon and some of the dressed romaine. Cover each burger with the bun tops and serve.

For the vinaigrette:
Whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, Worcestershire, garlic, sugar, salt, pepper and oil in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using to allow the flavors to meld.
Just before assembling the burgers, place the romaine in a medium bowl and toss with the vinaigrette.

Sissy's Variation:
Bill used the ground chicken for something earlier this week and the store I went to today didn't have any, so I had to go with ground turkey (1 pound).

For calorie purposes, I went with only 4 slices of bacon (low sodium, to boot!) and 1/4 c. of blue cheese. I also went with less blue cheese to see how well we would like it since it is kind of strong. I also decided to try these two ingredients IN the burger, so I ran them through the food processor and mixed them into the patties, which also had garlic powder, salt substitute, and pepper. I made three burgers.
Since Bill prefers pan fried burgers to grilled, I cooked the bacon in the microwave and the burgers in a pan.


When I looked at the add ons to burger (tomato and avocado) and the ingredients for the vinaigrette, somehow I saw guacamole, which I happen to love and love on a burger.
With the rest of the vinaigrette ingredients, I decided to make a spread for the burgers.

Guacamole:
avocado
tomato
red onion
jalepeno
garlic
cilantro
lime juice (which I actually forgot!)

I just throw all the ingredients except the avocado into the food processor until I get a pico de gallo-like consistency and add as much as desired to mashed avocado. Salt and pepper to taste.

Dijon Spread:
prepared dijon mustard
red wine vinegar
Worcestershire sauce
mayo

Wisk all ingredients together and spread on toasted bun.



Honestly, we both really liked the outcome. I think I will probably go a little stronger on the blue cheese next time. I served with homemade oven fries (sliced thin and cooked in cooking spray).