Best Meatloaf Evah

You heard that right, evah.

I didn't really foresee such a post. You know, about meatloaf but I made this last weekend and Roderic asked for it again this weekend. Really, it's that good.

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

INGREDIENTS
* 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup ketchup
* Tom's Hot Sauce (to taste)
* 2 pounds lean ground beef
* 3/4 cup milk
* 2 eggs
* 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1 shallot, chopped
* 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1 cup finely crushed Ritz crumbs

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan.
2. Press the brown sugar in the bottom of the prepared loaf pan and spread the ketchup over the sugar. I like to add Tom's HS to the ketchup and also to the meat mixture - how much is up to you.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix all remaining ingredients thoroughly and press into the loaf pan over ketchup.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until juices are clear.

One crazy thing I did this time was used cottage cheese to replace the milk (since we had no milk) and I'm hoping this is going to work. I'm all about guerrilla cooking.

I'll report back =)

Sunday, lovely Sunday

The previously mentioned beautiful garageless house is currently occupied, so there shall be no spying or peeking through windows without written permission and a Guest badge. The Realtor says that this can be scheduled - just let her know. Oi. It gets nerve wracking but we're just looking ! Right ? We drove by not once, but t w i c e yesterday. Not stalking, just looking. The Mr. loves it in person too. What's not to love though, really. (minus the missing garage)

Yesterday was pretty low key. I have found a new amazing website to add to my list - The Pioneer Woman. I've been reading about this site for awhile from LCF. The recipes have been raved about over and over and I guess I just had a block because the name just didn't "appeal" to me (or something). It brought up images of camping or complex backwards ingredients so I just never went there. I can't remember the thought process, but something drew me to check it out and I'm so glad I did ! I have mainly focused on her recipes. I love the pictures and step by step commentary of how she creates each different item. So....I will be making her Crash Hot Potatoes (don't they look to-die-for ?) to accompany a Pan Fried Ribeye Steak for today's enjoyment. I purchased two succulent steaks yesterday, baby red potatoes and fresh rosemary (since I can't seem to keep one alive no matter how hard I try).

She really does a beautiful job on her website -- it's clean, pleasing to the eye and everything is elegant without being in-your-face. I would like my site to aspire to be similar. Blog/Cooking/Otherexcitingthings. Not the same, because that's just creepy, but similar in the sense of being a blog with more. I'm in the midst of domain name brainstorming, so we'll see where this takes me.

I'll report back on the cooking and maybe I'll even have some pictures.