Jen’s Meatloaf

1 onion, finely chopped

1 green pepper, finely chopped

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 eggs beaten

1 8 ounce can tomato sauce

1 cup Italian bread crumbs (I prefer the kind with parsley and cheese in it)

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon Lawry’s Season Salt

2-3 pounds lean ground beef (depends on how much meatloaf you want to make)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Chop the onions and peppers and add to a pan on the stove to saute over medium heat.

Cook until the onions and peppers are tender–until the onions take on a translucent appearance.

Remove from heat and place in a large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes to cool.

Add eggs, tomato sauce, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and Lawry’s Season Salt and mix well with the onions and peppers to the bowl.

Mix well to blend and let stand for 10 minutes to let the flavors mix together.

Add ground beef and mix to blend.

Add to a glass loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 65-75 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

Once internal temperature gets to 160 degrees, remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.  This resting period will keep the meatloaf from completely falling apart when you slice it.

In a rush to get everything on the table before Thomas came home, I committed a huge food blogging sin–I forgot to take pictures of not only the finished product, but also the plating!  Just know that when it is ready it is a nice reddish brown color and it smells like heaven.  I really hope you try this recipe.  I love to make it with mashed potatoes and green beans for a true comfort meal.

Happy Cooking!

Happy Cooking!

Sauteed Spinach:

Two very large handfuls of  baby spinach leaves

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves chopped

2 teaspoons kosher salt

3/4 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Freshly squeezed lemon juice–1/2 lemon

In a very large pot or dutch oven, heat the olive oil and saute the garlic over medium heat for about 1 minute, until about half is brown. Add all the spinach, the salt, and pepper to the pot, toss it with the garlic and oil, cover the pot, and cook it for 2 – 4 minutes.

Uncover the pot, turn the heat on high, and cook the spinach for another minute, stirring with a wooden spoon (I love cooking with wooden spoons!). Once the spinach is wilted, it is done. I let the spinach sit for about 5 minutes and I squeeze lemon and sprinkle kosher salt and I start on the shrimp.

Garlic & Herb Shrimp:

Ok I made a rookie mistake and made my herb/garlic mix before Jen (my photographer) took the pic. So here is the skinny:

20-25 small shrimp (no shell and no pooper vein – sorry but that is what I call it!)

2 cloves of garlic – minced very small

5 stems of fresh chives

2 tablespoons of fresh parshley chopped

1/4 cup of orange juice

1/2 of a lemon

Take a saute pan and turn on high heat. Add the shrimp and let the shrimp cook for about two minutes.

Now here is something I like about cooking, the shrimp started to cook really fast and I noticed the yummy flavor sorta sticking to the pan so what did I do? Yep I grabbed a bottle of white wine and added about 1/4 cup of white wine to the pan of shrimp, and had a small glass for myself too.  (Hey–I HAD to make sure it tasted good!) 

Stir the shrimp and don’t overcook.   I typically cook my shrimp for 8 minutes max (4 minutes per side) and I squeeze half of a lemon over top of the shrimp once it is cooked. Now, time to plate! Remember, this was not an expensive meal nor one that took forever to make, but with plating, you can make it look like a million bucks and like you spent all day slaving over the stove.

See how I stacked the spinach and made sure I added the garlic to the top?

Amazing how two stems of chives and a little sprig parsley dress up this simple dish. Here is a view of the total plating:

Now, we have conquered garlic and herb shrimp-simple, huh?  Stay tuned for the weekend meals–great appetizer recipes coming up on Saturday when we are hosting a party at our house.   Would love to hear your success stories with the recipes so far from this week.  Feel free to leave your remarks in the ‘Comments” section.

Happy Cooking!