Eva Bond's Meatloaf

Meatloaf takes a long time to make, and I can't cut onions without crying. (And the Kitty can't eat them without crying; it's quite a sight.) So, I wanted to start early on the meatloaf, but Robert wasn't home. I tried to tough it out, but instead I looked around for a while and spotted Robert's scuba goggles. Donning the scuba goggles got me through chopping up the onion. Combining it it with a green pepper, some ground beef, an egg, and a whole bunch of ketchup, we arrived at a great mixture for meatloaf.

The best part of the meatloaf is definitely the sauce. Brown sugar, ketchup and water. It's amazing. We double it so there's plenty to pour all over the top and in between the slices you cut right before it goes in for the second round of baking.

While it takes a long time, most of it is baking time. The making itself doesn't actually take a lot of effort. Mix up the ingredients, mold it in a casserole dish, and bake. And cover with sauce. Lots of sauce. Have I mentioned the importance of the sauce? Don't skimp. If you do, it won't look as good as this:

Note: Eva Bond was the cook for the jurors in the Malice Green trial in Detroit in 1993. This meatloaf was a favorite of the jurors and they often requested this dish. I found it on Receipezaar several years ago, and this is how we always make meatloaf.

we love potatoes

In fact, we have an entire cookbook devoted to potatoes. This is where we gleaned the recipe for Tuna Cakes. These are made with potatoes and tuna, breadcrumbs and some assorted spices.

It felt a little like making hamburgers though we bathed the patties in flour and egg, then coated them in bread crumbs. We chose the panko crumbs again and later on decided to incorporate some asiago cheese, shredded.

My favorite part of the dish was probably the tomato sauce that the recipe called for. We made our own sauce of tomatoes and basil, olive oil, pepper and a few other herbs. We fried the patties in grapeseed oil (a higher specific heat; ask the pros) and set them to dry in a mildly hot oven. The mix of tuna and potato and tomato was succulent.





We enjoyed this particular meal with a prefix of spring salad mix and honey mustard, and ate the whole shebang while watching Back To The Future 3. Great Scott!

polenta is an actuary's best friend

Boy have we been loving polenta. What took us so long?! Polenta is corny and grainy - like cream of wheat, say - and really easy to make. Tiffany discovered a miraculous recipe for Pumpkin Polenta with Chicken Sausage. She clung to the page in Rachel Ray's book - Tiffany has an unquenchable love for all things pumpkin.

This meal took close to no time to make and was magically delicious. The polenta was made as usual, but with an addition of pumpkin filling and - here was the abracadabra - a dollop of honey. Combined with the chicken sausage browned in a pan of shallow olive oil, this meal hit so many sides of my tongue.

The combination reminded me a little of bangers & mash!