Back with More Deliciousness

I had the good fortune to come across this recipe for Murphy’s meatloaf in the AJC’s “From the Menu Of” feature a few weeks ago. Since I love Murphy’s, I tried it out last night, and it was delicious. As a bonus, I have deemed this recipe “kid friendly” and have hatched an evil plot to serve it to Avery for dinner to get her to eat a vegetable serving! Mwah ha ha ha! (That’s evil laughter in case you need a translation).

Murphy’s Spinach and Sausage Meatloaf

Hands on: 15 minutes, Total time: 1 hour, 10 minutes, Serves: 12

2 pounds ground chuck
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well-squeezed dry
1/2 pound spicy Italian sausage
1/4 pound mild Italian sausage
1/2 onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 egg
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Small pinch of each: dried thyme, dried basil and dried oregano

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place parchment paper on a rimmed cookie sheet.
In a large bowl, combine ground chuck, spinach, spicy and mild sausage, onion, egg, Parmesan, bread crumbs, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, basil and oregano. Mix well but do not overwork.
Form mixture into a loaf and put on cookie sheet. Cover with foil and bake approximately 45 minutes or until loaf is cooked through and has an internal temperature of 155 degrees. Let meatloaf rest 10 minutes, covered, before slicing.

Per serving: 345 calories (percent of calories from fat, 70), 21 grams protein, 5 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 26 grams fat (10 grams saturated), 99 milligrams cholesterol, 562 milligrams sodium.

Betty Focker Speaks Up

Well, ladies, since there was a lot of “two birds with one stone” action going on in March, I am going to add some “taking a few liberties” to the mix.

Betty Focker’s take on Sue Cheff’s March Challenge:
Even though Sue said the SoBe Fest recipes were online, I couldn’t find them. After I used 15 minutes of Avery’s precious nap time searching for them I got frustrated, and logically went to a plan B. Since a complimentary subscription to Food and Wine magazine was given to us all with purchase of our festival tickets, I decided trying a few recipes out of the April issue was as close as I was going to get, in the interest of nap time and all.

First up, I selected this Sweet & Sour Green Bean recipe. Truthfully, I have gotten a little bored with my variations on the 3 green vegetables that Mr. Focker will agree to eat (canned green beans, roasted broccoli, roasted asparagus), and this recipe was just the perfect deviation from the norm to please my palate. I give this recipe two thumbs up. It was easy, delicious, and it has shallots in it, which are quite possibly my new favorite ingredient. YUM. I will make this again.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/sweet-and-sour-green-beans

Second up, I made these Jalapeño Roasted Potatoes. The potatoes were really tasty and crisp, but the jalapeños burned. I would probably make these potatoes again, but would keep the jalapeños separate and add them to the potatoes 15-20 minutes into cooking time. One thumb up as the recipe is written, 2 thumbs up if my proposed modification works.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/jalapeno-roasted-potatoes

To accompany these yummy sides takes me to: Betty Focker’s take on Giada’s March Challenge. I had big plans for my crock-pot adaptation: meatloaf in the crock-pot. What can I say? I constantly live on the edge.

I mixed up my normal meatloaf recipe as follows, sans the traditional ketchup-y topping: 1.5 lbs ground beef, 1 cup crushed saltine crackers, 1 diced onion, 1 egg and 1 cup of milk. I used whole milk, because that's what baby Focker drinks.

Then, I made a “sling” out of a couple sheets of aluminum foil, and sculpted my meatloaf. Because my crock pot is round, my loaf came out kind of egg shaped. That's cool, we'll say it's a theme for Easter. Should you have an oval crock pot, then you are one lucky girl. If you have a very large oval crock pot, I bet you could fit an aluminum loaf pan down that in that naughty beast and skip the foil entirely. Lucky!

Once my loaf was all snug in my crock, I planned to cook it 4-5 hours on low, or to 165 degrees. But when I checked it after only 4 hours, it was at 190 degrees, so I turned off the heat then.

I used my handy sling to remove the loaf from the confines of the crock-pot, and then slathered the top with some sun-dried tomato spread. This makes your meatloaf all gourmet and stuff.

The verdict:
While the meatloaf was really moist, I missed the crust that “ovening” the loaf yields. But Mr. Focker really liked it, and baby Focker ate some on two different nights for dinner, so I do have to give this method 1.5 thumbs up. There’s also the consideration that this recipe makes week-night meatloaf a possibility, it you are so inclined.