Grandma Smith's Meatloaf

I call her mom (OK sometimes Ethel or...OK, maybe even pirate hooker once or twice), everyone else calls her Grandma, Mema, Nana Moo, and "ama".  Let me tell you a bit about my mom.  She grew up in the town they still live in, her father the county attorney and her mother a stay home mother.  She had 2 sisters and 2 brothers, all of whom have sadly passed away.  She had a cow.  She milked it AND rode it around town.  Yes, they lived in town with a cow.  And people shake their heads at society today?!? HA!  (had to mom)  She went to school, and college, she was a ....you ready for this?  Lingerie model for a few years, can you say HOTTIE?  Or should it be more like "scandalous"?  She fell in love with a tall, dark, handsome soldier from a foreign land, Philadelphia.  He was her boyfriends roomie in the hospital! WHAAAT?  He was stationed at the Army-Air Force base in Lincoln, NE.  She was a teacher, she intended to be a lawyer, but, life had other things in store.  Ten "other" things to be exact.  During her 82 years of life, and probably most of that as a mother, she became famous for her meatloaf.  Seriously though, I should call and make sure she isn't pregnant, the woman obviously doesn't know how it happens, and I want my info to be accurate....

Anyway, a fun little briefing on my mom.  Marlene is her name.  Actually, her name is Mary.  There was a typo on her birth certificate, and so, she is Marlene who was supposed to be Mary.  Her stripper name.......oh nvm, I forgot I wasn't going to tell that part.

Btw for anyone who is going to tell me that last comment was disrespectful, has NO idea the relationship I have with my mom.  She would shake her head and say "CAH-RIS" yes in 2 syllables and then just laugh..  So no worries.  My mom and I butt heads on a regular basis, but at the mature age of 83, even on the phone I can tell when she wants to say something, but just knows to zip up.  I do the same.  ALTHOUGH I am a bit more persistent, hopefully by the time I am her age, I will have matured.  I love her with all of my heart, and I will embarrass her, make her laugh, make her wonder if I was really switched at birth and her biological child is out there somewhere, and hug her and did I mention love her, forever!

As a kid and young adult I hated meatloaf.  I swear, if it wasn't meatloaf it was roast beast  every Sunday.  And God bless you mom but those roasts, were so dry, even the poor bay leaf on top was screaming for a drink.  Her recipe doesn't call for ketchup but I was sure she always used to put it on top.  I also think she used to triple this recipe because there is no way one loaf pan of meatloaf would cover 12 mouths!  One of my sisters, #3, had her write her recipe out and  then gave each of us kids, a towel she had the recipe printed on.  How cool??!?!

This meatloaf has only a few ingredients, and it may be close to some of your recipes, or seem like it would be a little blah, but it has great flavor and even if it didn't, it is my moms, you better love it too!  My brother Jimmy,  dreams about this stuff, he is coming next weekend and I think I will surprise him with a meatloaf!

Easy as it is, here it is!

2 lbs ground beef (I use VERY lean since the sausage has a lot of fat) ALSO her recipe says 3lbs, she has corrected it to 2.
1 lb pork sausage
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups saltine cracker crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  She says to basically mix it all together, being careful not to over mix, making the meat mixture tough.  I say saute your onions first, you do what you want.  Toss it all in a bowl, and get your hands in there, just like my mom did.  Mix to combine, place in a loaf pan and bake 1 hour.  I actually think mine took about 20 extra minutes.  Like I said I swear she used to put ketchup on top but, it isn't in the recipe.

So, from my mom's 7X10 kitchen to yours.................enjoy this special recipe that she nourished us with for years and years.  Love you ma!

ENJOY!

PS. Phone verification, yes, she did put ketchup on top.  I KNEW it!  I don't like it that way so, no harm over there!

Sausage and Cheese Breakfast DIp

 I always start these notes off the same way.  I need a new introduction.  Good evening, I will start with that tonight!  I hope you are all anticipating your kids going back to school, here, school starts tomorrow.  School shopping done?  Get those supply lists and get to shopping!  I miss those days, although I always do a little shopping for Maddie my oldest grand little and send it to her.  We get to shop together this year since she is here, but, sadly will be leaving in about 10 days to go home to NJ.  WHY did I even bring that up?  I am going to be sad beyond sad to say goodbye to her but I know she is happy, healthy, and full of joy and what more can you ask for them?  Anyway we will do some shopping soon and send her off with it all!

I have had this breakfast casserole running through my brain for a good 2 months now.  I tried to make it really difficult and different, and the reality is, none of that made it better.  I stuck to some old standbys that everyone usually has on hand and it turned out perfectly.  I mean, like REALLY freakishly delicious and I would never argue with freakishly delicious!  Serve this with little toasts, OR.......add some salsa to the cream cheese mixture and serve with tortillas!  Umm-hmmm....  GENIUS, my sentiments exactly.  I will make it for my darling Geo that way next time.  He will think he is in heaven.  As if being married to me isn't heaven in and of itself.  Pfftt.

Enjoy this easy, quick make ahead dip, that you can serve for any breakfast or brunch.  I don't know anyone who wouldn't love "chips" and dip for breakfast!

1 lb. ground pork sausage, browned and drained (yes, use turkey sausage if you want!)
2- 8 oz. blocks of cream cheese
1 T. chives
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (divided)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
cocktail bread, or unsplit hotdog buns, cut into little slices like bread

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.  In a bow combine, browned ground sausage, cream cheese, chives, and 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese.  Mix until completely combined.  Pour into a small casserole dish, I used about a 9 inch one and it was perfect.  Sprinkle the rest of the grated cheddar and Parmesan cheese on top.

Pop it in the oven for 20-30 minutes.  Let it get bubbly and the cheese melted.  I can't say "bubbly" with thinking of Steel Magnoilia's "gooold and bubblah".  Anyway...

After you have sliced your bread or gotten your cocktail loaf out, just place it on a baking sheet in a single layer and put under your broiler for a minute or 2, flip and do the same.  Just get it golden and crispy.  You can certainly just use plain toast cut into triangles.

This can EASILY be made the night before and popped in the oven in the morning.  Breakfast dip.....does it get better?!

ENJOY!

Geo-Normous Breakfast Casserole

And GEO-NORMOUS it is!  Ok so it is Ginormous but since this is hubby's recipe, he gets to call it Geo-normous!

He has been telling me "you don't have a breakfast casserole on your website", because, I guess he trolls my website for hours at a time and checks on these things! ROFL.  Seriously, do you guys know how fun and hilarious this guy is?  Anyway, so he said, just make something easy that anyone could make and that will feed a ton of people.  My response was "Ok, give me an ingredient list and I will work it out".  I guess he didn't realize how easy a breakfast casserole would be to make!  He gave me his list, and I picked it up.  Now fast forward to today, when I finally made it.  SO good, so perfect for a crowd.  SO PERFECT for making ahead, so perfect for...everything!

You might shriek at the ingredients.  Keep two things in mind, 1) a man requested this and these ingredients, and 2)this should feed a good 8 people.  I would serve this with some bread and some fruit and call it breakfast!

Heeeeeeeeeeere we go...............!!

14 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp. onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 lb. pork sausage, browned
1 lb. bacon, fried crispy and then cut into small pieces
2 cups cheese (your choice, I went with cheddar)
1 pkg (just short of 2lbs) shredded hash browns.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.  In a frying pan, brown sausage, when it is done, remove and place on a paper towel lined plate.  In the same skillet, crisp up your bacon well.  Crumble or cut into smaller pieces when cooled and drained of grease.  Now brown off your hashbrowns, in 2 or 3 batches.  When they are done, place them in the bottom of a 9x13 (ish) pan that has been sprayed with cooking oil.  Spread them out evenly and sprinkle on the sausage and bacon.  Now in a bowl combine the eggs, milk, onion powder, salt and pepper and whisk well.  You could even use a hand mixer to incorporate a little more air into these eggs.  Gently pour over the ingredients already in your baking dish, top with the cheese  and bake 30=35 minutes. 

Now, put on the coffee and dig in!