Meatloaf Madness

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard me say this, but I hate to cook!!  I love to eat, just not my own cooking.  Now if you ask my husband Rick, he will tell you I am a good cook.  I honestly can’t tell you where that is coming from.  Maybe he’s like Mikey (he’ll eat anything), maybe he’s comparing me to other cooks in his life (mother, ex-wife) or maybe he just doesn’t want to hurt my feelings!!  All I know is when I make certain dishes, he goes on and on about how good it tastes.  Go figure.

Rick’s favorite meal is my meatloaf, an all-American comfort food.  He would eat it every day if I served it to him.  This is my recipe:

1 ½ lbs Ground Beef (80/20 mix)

1 egg
1/8 cup Cream (I don’t keep milk in the house)
2 tbs Ranch Dressing
2 tbs Worchester Sauce
2 tbs Progresso Italian Breadcrumbs
4 tbs Kraft Parmesan Cheese
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
½ tsp Garlic Powder

Smoosh it all together and plop it in a baking dish.  Cook for 50 minutes at 350 degrees.  That’s it!!

I must admit here that it does smell good when it comes out of the oven.  And I guess it tastes ok (if I put a lot of brown gravy on top).  But to hear Rick moan mmm and watch him close his eyes as he takes each bite (without gravy I might add), well this is way beyond my comprehension!

I’m sure at some point in your life you have had friends or family recommend a restaurant for you to try.  They tell you how good the food is and you simply must go there to eat.  But when you do, you find the food is just not to your liking at all and can’t believe you wasted money eating there.  Rick and I have both been there.  One day I will tell you about our search for good barbeque while living in Mobile, Alabama.  Anyway, after the disappointment wears off, you begin to wonder what was so great about that food that someone would recommend you pay to eat it.  I think the answer lies in taste buds, those little taste receptors that are part of your tongue and tell you whether something is yummy or yucky!!  Everybody has them and everybody’s are different.  Your taste buds may tell you something tastes good, while mine would say it tastes bad.  That’s the answer.  It’s as simple as my meatloaf recipe.

God sure did put a lot of thought in when creating man, right down to the little taste buds in our mouths.  The Bible says in Psalm 139:14, “…I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”  I guess that goes for my taste buds too!!

Be blessed and have some meatloaf tonight!!

~ P

P.S.  In case you were wondering…that is a picture of MY meatloaf.  I made two this week…one to eat and one to freeze.  To take the picture I took the frozen meatloaf, brushed off the ice crystals, set it in a clean baking dish (that’s why no greasy dish) and staged it to look good.  Looks like one of those professional pictures, doesn't it?  Well, almost.