out with the new...in with the old

cooking. supper. groceries.

these are all dirty words to me.

i have been cooking since i was a little girl & probably for the past 10+ years it has gotten pretty old to me. i still enjoy baking most, but cooking - i could really not care much less for it!

so as in the past, when i get down right tired of all things "meals", i look for something new to add some spark to this dull chore of mine.

in the past week, i have tried 3 new recipes. hey, that's a lot, people!

i found a recipe called unstuffed cabbage. it was in a recent family circle magazine & it looked good to me. well, it got 1 thumb up in my house (which means dad liked it, but that's it). it's not a keeper.

then we tried chicken mushroom chowder. now this one looked really promising. but once again, it got only 1 thumb up (guess who? what can i say, the man is easy to please☺).

so monday, we tried the white bean chicken chili. finally...a winner! 4 thumbs up at our house. it was oh so yummy.... and don't forget the cornbread. i used the recipe from the quaker container of white cornmeal, rather than yellow. i think it was the best cornbread i've ever had.

this stuff was awesome... you really must try it!

easy corn bread
1 1/4 c. flour
3/4 c. quaker enriched corn meal (i used white)
1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. skim milk (i used 2%)
1/4 c. vegetable oil (i used canola)
2 egg white or 1 egg, beaten (i used 1 egg)

heat oven to 400 degrees. grease 8 or 9" pan. combine dry ingredients. stir in wet ingredients until dry ingredients are moistened. pour batter into prepared pan. bake 20-25 mins. or until light golden brown and wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. serve warm. 9 servings.

then last night we had an oldie, but goodie. my favorite meatloaf, served with baked potatoes, corn from our garden and rolls. yumm-may!

this is the old standard. i started out making meatloaf the old-fashioned way, throwing a little of this and that in there & baking it. no one ever complained, but i felt it was lacking. i found this recipe several years ago and haven't looked back.

i thought this made a perty picture☺

look at those chucks of carrot....that's the secret, baby!

and because i'm not creative enough to find a beautiful presentation for meatloaf, this is the best i could do.... don't you love how the roll is bigger than the main course? personally, that's fine with me☺

favorite meatloaf
2 lbs. ground beef
1 carrot, chopped fine
1 onion, chopped
3 pieces of bread, torn into pieces
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 oz. tomato sauce

topping
4 oz. tomato sauce
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1 Tbs. cider vinegar
1 Tbs. mustard

preheat oven to 350 degrees. combine all ingredients except for topping. fill 9x13" pan with the meatloaf mixture. combine topping ingredients, then pour topping over meatloaf. bake for 30-45 mins.