Meatloaf

This meatloaf was nothing spectacular, in my opinion, and sub-par in James'. He said it tasted like I added a cup of sugar to ketchup for the sauce. I said that wasn't far from the truth. He asked that since it was PW Meatloaf did that mean it was half beef and half sausage? No, but that's not a bad idea...

Never having used actual bread slices, I wondered at the quality difference between packaged bread crumbs and bread slices. I didn't notice any difference in flavor, taste, texture, and it's easier for me to use bread crumbs. I lined a broiler pan with foil, as she suggests, but still had to scrub the top rack part. I suppose it does drain nicely so you don't have to pour out the grease as I usually do when cooking meatloaf in a metal or glass loaf pan.

Overall, we will stick with our old favorite meatloaf recipes. Sorry, PW.

Perfect Pot Roast and Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! So that James' mom didn't have to cook or clean, we hosted Mother's Day dinner at our house. I was excited about using more PW recipes (the salad, dessert and macaroni and cheese were provided by other Fields), though worried about having enough food. Abby, my sister-in-law, was surprised at my worry. "It's just our family, Kara."
"You realize that's 9 people, right??"

So instead of the 3-5 lbs. PW suggests, I bought about 7 pounds of meat and used both my crock pot and my mother-in-law's Pampered Chef stone to cook all the carrots, roast and onions. I cut the vegetables the night before, leaving them in the fridge in a zip-lock. I also salted the beef and readied the fresh herbs. This morning before church I seared the meat and browned the veggies, starting the timers on the slow-cookers as we left.

I made the mashed potatoes last night. James had the ingenious idea of using my apple peeler-corer-slicer to help peel the potatoes. While not perfect, it definitely helped speed the process. I didn't add the last bit of butter on top before baking, since they seemed plenty decadent to me without it. And while they took longer than 30 minutes to heat back up in the oven, Abby's macaroni and cheese wasn't ready yet, so they weren't the cause for the dinner delay.



Everyone agreed it was a delicious meal. The potatoes were so rich. Someone ventured to say it was the best pot roast ever... except for their mom's, of course.

Comfort Meatballs

I loved these meatballs - I thought they were super easy to throw together, and they definitely reminded me of bite-sized meatloafs. My son devoured them, but my husband, Matt, wasn't as thrilled (he claims to not like meatloaf, but he's still willing to test PW's meatloaf when I get to that recipe). I served mine with some of PW's mac and cheese (still have leftovers of that in my freezer - yay!) and green beans.

simple and perfect enchiladas

These were good and pretty spicy despite using mild ingredients!  I thought these were a little bit better the second day, but my husband loved them and let's face it - the entire pan was gone in three days, so obviously I did too!  I made quite a few modifications to make them healthier and utilize what I had in my freezer.

1.  I used ground turkey instead of beef (couldn't really tell a difference)

2.  I used whole wheat flour tortillas (again, no major difference noticed here)

3.  I did NOT fry the tortillas.  I am a dietitian, for heaven's sake, so I have to draw the line somewhere.  I thought they turned out just as moist and delicious.

4.  I used 2% cheese.  Granted, it doesn't melt as well, but it's definitely not fat-free rubber either.  I also mixed Montery Jack and Cheddar because that's what I had on hand.

The only problem I had was I could not get the oil/flour mixture to bubble.  Perhaps I did not let the pan heat up enough with the oil?  It ended up making a paste and the result was the sauce didn't thicken.  This didn't really end up affecting the taste, but the texture, I guess.

I tend to be a Mexican food snob (living in Texas, and all) and prefer to eat my Mexican food out at Lupe's or another fine local establishment, but these were definitely tasty and quick to prepare.

For dessert, I recommend a pina colada frozen fruit bar.  Perfect way to cool off those taste buds!

Rib-Eye Steak with Whiskey Cream Sauce

We made this for dinner the other night and it as always the recipe did not fail! This was not a recipe that I had marked to make first just because I love steak on the grill so I thought it wouldn't be that good on the stove and I didn't think we had whiskey. But I'm so glad I read Shannon's post about it and her giving it good comments because it was yummy. As I was reading her post I got to thinking 'didn't dad buy whiskey when he was down that time to make is Kentucky Race Horse pie' and sure enough we had a full bottle (b/c the pie didn't take much). The sauce is what I think makes it so yummy. If anyone else makes it and posts about it please let me know how your sauce turns out....ours was not anywhere as thick as her pic made it look. I even added extra cream?? But the flavor was still there so that was all that mattered but I would like it a little thicker.

We gave it a 9! It was very easy too b/c the steak cooks in 5 min! Can't beat that!

Chicken-Fried Steak and the PW’s Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Red meat + mashed potatoes + gravy = one very happy husband. I made this dish Monday night and I had a feeling that it was going to go over well; I was right. I followed the chicken-fried steak recipe exactly according to the PW. For the mashed potatoes, I substituted regular milk for the heavy cream, because I felt like I was clogging an artery by simply looking at the list of ingredients. I really didn’t find either recipe that time consuming or difficult, and they were definitely yummy. My husband said that the mashed potatoes were the best he has ever tasted(my thought was, “well they better be considering how terrible they are for you”). Judging from the smile on my husband’s face as he was eating this dish, I know that we will be making both of these recipes again. Thanks PW for bringing a smile to my Marlboro Man’s face!

Chicken-Fried Steak with Gravy (page 142) and PW’s Creamy Mashed Potatoes (page 146). Here is my version of the PW’s assembly line to “drudged” the meat through, followed by the finished product.

Rib Eye Steak with Whiskey Cream Sauce

I made this with the twice baked potatoes for my mother in law's birthday dinner and it was yummy.  The sauce was easy to make and smelled very yummy while saute'ing.  I am not a huge fan of whiskey, but we had some in our liquor cabinet, so this one was cheap for me to make.  I suggest chopping the onions very small- Danny didn't like that the sauce was a little chunky. 

I did not have my cast iron skillet when we made these, so we did the steaks on the grille.  I am looking forward to trying steaks in my cast iron skillet the next time.

PW's Creamy Mashed Potatoes

I have to admit that this one was super easy because this is the way we already make mashed potatoes for special occasions :0)  My recipe came from my mother in law and we love it as much as we loved these.  I have never used season salt (which is a staple in our house) and it made it yummier.