Returning to my own kitchen, I still have to say that I feel as though I always marvel at my ability to bake anything. Sure, it may not be baking loaves of bread, but baking loaves of meat still feels like a truly magical accomplishment. I’m serious! Just the other week, I tried to bake a cake, which I haven’t tried doing in a very long time. Only because I remember thinking for years up to this point that I could not bake cakes to save my dear life, but I decided to try again feeling confident with all this kitchen experience under my belt. Psh, amateur.

That turned out to be a huge disaster, a complete and total fiasco. So, instead of flour and sugar, I decided to practice baking using ground beef and vegetables. That endeavor turned out to be much less disappointing. It actually turned out perfectly fine for an all-American kind of meal. I never tasted meatloaf until my late teen years and I remember being astonished at the name and the flavor. It wasn’t until even more recently that I realized how simple and inexpensive it could be to make. Oh, the wonderful simplicities in life.

It is a terrific entree for a dinner party. Both sweet and savory, succulent and full-flavored, this meatloaf is a winner for all. I believe that knowing how to make a good meatloaf should be a staple in anyone’s kitchen. It’s a quick fix for a hearty meal and it serves over a handful of hungry people. While baking meatloaf seems relatively straightforward and fool-proof, I’m hoping that after some much needed practice, my cake-baking will be as up to par.

Meatloaf
Adapted from Alton Brown & Paula Dean (combination of two recipes)
Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:

3 lbs ground beef
2 eggs
1 cup bread crumbs
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
2 tbs butter
2 tspns worcestershire sauce
1 cup ketchup
salt/pepper/cumin, to taste

For Glaze:

1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbspn honey
2 tspn cumin (optional)
2 tbspn dijon mustard
2 tbspn sriracha sauce (hot sauce)

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan over stove. Sautee the diced vegetables and ketchup. Set aside.
Combine and mix vegetables and meat in large bowl, add the eggs and bread crumbs and place into two baking pans and shape into loaves. Place both in oven.
Combine the glaze ingredients and brush over both meatloaves after they have been in the oven for 10 minutes.
Bake for another hour or so.

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Anyway, as I sort of  mentioned in my first entry, I have an anxious compilation of pictures from my eating excursions as well as cooking  combats (with my kitchen, at least) awaiting their debut. Hence, the next several blogs may not be in chronological order. Nevertheless, they will be as thorough and enticing as possible. The objective here is obviously to make your mouth water. Now this, this is a given. But, what I really want to get my readers to do is to become more conscious of their consumable surroundings regardless of city, state or country and to enjoy the simple joys of their very own kitchen.

Speaking of kitchen, mine is regularly messy because no matter how hard I try to maintain its cleanliness, the cooking (or eating) never seems to end. For instance, this Sloppy Joe (as pictured above) got me and my friends sloppy for seconds. Even though it wasn’t made from scratch, the adjustments that were made here and there made it undeniably good. I encourage you to try it!

Sloppy Joes (the ones that call for Sloppy Seconds)
Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (lean)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 large jalapeno, minced
1 tspn black pepper
1 tspn sriracha sauce, or to taste
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tspn worcestershire sauce
1 tbspn brown sugar
1 tspn white vinegar
1 can del monte sloppy joe sauce (better than manwich)

Cook according to instructions on the can.

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