Friday, August 19, 2011

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

I made Brown Sugar Meatloaf for supper last night. I am not a fan of bell peppers - red, yellow or green - raw or cooked but I am a fan of meatloaf! Many years ago, Mother gave me a recipe book she bought from the First Baptist Church in Nashville that I've used over and over and over for many meals; one of them being meatloaf. The one in this book has a glaze made up of ketchup, mustard, brown sugar & vinegar that you pour over the loaf before baking. I made it one time for my Mamaw & Papaw Hicks and it quickly became our favorite. I've made it that way for many years but sometimes, a little change up doesn't hurt.
More recently, I found a recipe for Hawaiian Meatloaf (find recipe here) that includes pineapples and let me tell you, it's out of this world!! (You won't regret visiting her entire blog either!)
As I was going through some of my recipes yesterday, I found this recipe for Brown Sugar Meatloaf and will add this to my top meatloaf recipes!

Brown Sugar Meatloaf
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c ketchup
1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
3/4 c milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 c finely crushed saltine cracker crumbs (about 10 crackers)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 5x9 loaf pan.
Press the brown sugar into the bottom of pan & spread with ketsup.

(Here's what I used & what it looked like when I packed in the brown sugar)

In a mixing bowl, thoroughly mix all remaining ingredients and shape into a loaf.
Place loaf on top of ketchup.
Bake for 1 hour or until juices run clear.

I topped mine with ketchup right before it was completely done & stuck it back in the oven to finish up. I didn't shape into a loaf because I like mine spread-out evenly.

I made twice baked mashed potatoes, green beans & rolls to go along with this very tasty dish!

Know what I look forward to? Meatloaf sandwiches! YUM-O!

Tell me, how do you like your meatloaf?

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

I always seem to get in a habit of cooking the SAME OLD THING week after week so the other day, I went out searching for some new dinner ideas. I ran across this Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada recipe and decided to give it a try. Larry is not a fan of sour cream and I remembered that about half way through my baking time. I decided to go ahead with it...

I didn't get any pictures (naturally) but because they turned out SO good, I wanted to share the recipe with you. I served ours with Mexican Rice & chips/queso. Larry all but licked his plate & told me this was one of the Top 5 best dishes I've ever made. He went on to say, this would be a dish he'd pay up to $30 if he had to order it in a restaurant! (Silly boy!)

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas
2 c chicken breast, diced
1/4 c margarine
1 lb Montery jack cheese, shredded
2 Tbsp flour
1 med. onion
2 c chicken broth
8 (8-in) flour tortillas
1 c sour cream
1 (4-oz) can green chiles, chopped

- In a frypan, cook chicken & onion together in oil over medium heat until chicken is just done.
- Divide chicken evenly between 8 tortillas; add 1 1/2 Tbsp cheese to each tortilla.
- Roll enchiladas & place seam-side down in 9x13 baking dish that has been lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
- Melt butter in medium saucepan; stir in flour to make a roux; stir & cook until bubbly; gradually add chicken broth & bring to a boil - stirring frequently.
- Remove from heat; stir in sour cream & green chiles; mix well then pour evenly over enchiladas.
- Top with remaining shredded cheese & bake on 350 for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce near edges are bubbly.

I actually had some chicken fajita meat and used it. I buy the Mexian rice or Spanish rice in the Lipton sides packages & add about a half can of corn. Once the rice is done, I top with shredded cheese. Love it!

While this is easy to assemply & deliciously creamy - you don't want to eat it all the time. This should serve 8 and contains almost 492 calories per serving! YIKES! I told you it was good! (HA!)

Friday, August 5, 2011

Corn Salsa



I saw this recipe the other day & decided to give it a try for our food day today. How do you like my picture? You guessed it - I forgot to get a picture of it until it was sitting on my desk waiting to be consumed! So obviously, the picture doesn't do it justice but it really is yummy! You will be glad you tried it.


Corn Salsa -


1 can white shoepeg corn (drain)
1/2 can yellow corn (drain)
1 can chopped green chiles
1 can black beans (drain and rinse)
2 cans rotel (drain most, but add about 1 tbs. of juice) juice of 1 lemon
1 bunch of green onions
1 head of cilantro (except for stems)
3 or 4 shakes of lemon pepper
drizzle of olive oil
Mix and enjoy!


This was the first time I've ever worked with fresh cilantro so I just broke off a couple of "springs" from the bunch & added them. I guess you can add as much as you like.


Here are some variations I thought you might enjoy instead of or along with:


Add chopped avocado (I am doing this next time!)

Use Italian-style tomatoes rather than rotel

I do not like celery or bell peppers but those are other additions

Chopped red onion rather than green onions

Taco Seasoning or even Cumin for seasoning. I actually did not use lemon pepper in mine - I used Paula Dean's House Seasoning that includes black pepper, onion powder & garlic powder. I also added a little sugar to mine and think it turned out wonderfully!


I say brave it out and add mango to it too sometime. What would you change up about this?