last night wins over tonite

Last night I was victorious with my first ever attempt at meatloaf.  I had taken out a pound to thaw before I went to work that morning.  All day long I thought about what to make with it.  The best I could come up with was meatballs and make some spaghetti.  But that didn't really excite me.

I had gotten some macaroni last Sunday during our awesome trip to the grocery store.  I had been craving baked mac and cheese.  Quickly I went through my mental pantry and fridge and confirmed I had everything I needed to make BMC!  So what would go well with that?!  Meatloaf!

I used to use epicurious for online recipes but lately I've been going to the Food Network.  Since I watch a lot of FN and the Cooking Channel, I try recipes from my favorite chefs.  And I found one that I liked, mainly because it was simple and I had all the ingredients.  This one is from Paula Deen.  I tweaked it slightly, using green onion instead of regular and I added some chopped fresh parsley (I felt like it needed some fresh flavor and I had some on hand).  The recipe was for 1.5 lbs of ground beef.  I only had 1 lb and ended up using just half of the tomato sauce the recipe called for.  Though a smaller loaf, it still needed to bake for 1 hour.

Now for the BMC.  I used a cup of dried macaroni and cooked it per the box instructions. I then added 2 tbsp butter, 1/3 cup heavy cream, 1 cup grated cheese (Mexican blend and Italian blend).  Over low heat, I stirred it all until the cheese melted.  I then transferred the mix into a baking dish and sprinkled a layer of garlic & herb bread crumbs on top.  I put it in the oven in the last 15 minutes of the meatloaf baking time.  For the last 3 minutes or so, I switched the oven to broil to brown the tops of both the meatloaf and BMC.

I served the meatloaf and BMC with a side salad.  It was a delicious meal.  The meatloaf was moist and the BMC creamy with a little bit of crunch.  My husband enjoyed it as well.  We were comforted indeed!

Tonite I whipped up a quick linquine with shrimp using some leftover fixings for the sauce.  Some canned stewed tomatoes, Alfredo sauce, mushrooms, garlic, green onion and fresh parsley.  Unfortunately my heavy hand showed up tonite and I overdid it with the parsley.  It looked more like alfredo pesto although I was aiming for more alfredo with hints of tomato and parsley. 

My husband, who is on to me, reminded me that parsley goes a long way (just like ginger!) and that the bunch cost only 49 cents.  I couldn't tell him it wasn't the price really but the whole idea of wasting it.  I did tell him I did exercise some self control with the garlic and also with the few red paper flakes I sprinkled in the sauce when what I wanted was a whole tablespoon!  So 2 out of 3 is not bad at all, if I may say so myself!