Meat Loaf (I made these "individual-sized")

YESTERDAY:  Part of our two-day-early birthday 
dinner (our noon meal) for my husband...

 his birthday photo is at the bottom of this posting.

I baked these in two larger kinds of 

6-"well" muffin tins with each 

opening having a 1-cup capacity.

Ingredients** for about 4-5 servings:

1 pound ground beef
1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt (I used Kosher salt, while waiting for my pinkish Himalayan salt* to arrive sometime today.)
1/4 teaspoon pepper (I used coarse ground)
1 cup chopped onion
2 eggs, slightly beaten
8 ounces of canned diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs, soaked in 3 tablespoons milk
................
Topping:  1/3 cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, 2 teaspoons prepared mustard.
...............
* Himalayan salt information: https://www.google.com/search?q=himalayan+salt+benefits&oq=himalayan+salt+ben&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0j5j0j69i60.7568j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

** I doubled all of the above meat loaf and topping ingredients just so I could use ALL of a 15-16 oz. can of diced tomatoes, and I ended up with about 11 generous 2/3-cup servings.

Directions:

Mix all meat loaf ingredients well.  Lightly, but thoroughly.

Baking Choices:  

• Shape mixture in a greased/sprayed baking dish or loaf pan. 
• Take 1/2-cup amounts and place into a greased/sprayed regular-size muffin tin.  OR...
• Take 2/3-cup amounts and place into the larger kind of greased/sprayed muffin tin as shown in my photos to end up with 11 servings (if doubling the above recipe).

Bake in preheated 375-degree oven for about 1 hour if you bake the "original size recipe" in a loaf pan, or baking dish.     Bake for about 30 minutes if using the standard size muffin tin with 1/2-cup portions.  Bake for about 44 minutes if using the larger sized muffin tin holding 2/3-cup portions.  BUT!!!!, as always, since ovens vary, please bake according to how YOUR oven bakes, and according to how YOU like YOUR meatloaf to be!

Below:  This is how mine looked just before going into the oven.   I did not pack the mixture in!  Instead, I made a gently-handled 2/3 cup "ball", put that in, and then very slightly/lightly flattened the top of each so the topping would stay on them without running off into the muffin cups.

Below:  Here, they've just come from the 

oven...  to remove from the tins, I first went 

around edges with a small silicone spatula, 

then lifted each out with a large 

serving spoon.   DONE!!!!!

Below:  Moved to a serving plate and ready to go...

Above: These were a hit!

.............................................

This IS his cake/number, but 
he hardly looks like 74!

Above:  He LIKES fruit-- so, his "order" was for a strawberry poke cake with real whipped cream topping.  It was only fitting that the finishing decorations on top were of MORE fruit-- blueberries and six HUGE blackberries.  (Thank you, daughter P.-- ♥!)  

On the front of daughter P's birthday card to him, there are four old hens sitting on their nest, saying "HEY!  IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! ...DON'T JUST SIT THERE... (and, on the inside):  "AGE!"  

I know,...  I said, too, it seems harder to believe he is turning 74 because his hair isn't falling out, and his always NATURALLY brown hair is NOT turning gray (not very much, anyhow!).  Happy Birthday, husband,... on Tuesday! 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

 I ♥m so th♥nkful for our 51 ye♥rs of m♥rri♥ge, ♥nd our gre♥t blessings of h♥ving five children, 17 gr♥ndchildren, ♥nd 10 gre♥t-gr♥ndchildren!  

Hamburger . Noodle . Crescent Roll Casserole*

Making something from what I already had-- that was my goal.   I had a pound of thawed ground beef, onion, creamed corn, tomato soup, Parmesan cheese, elbow macaroni, and a tube of crescent rolls.  This is quite a bit like what my mother would make during my young years.  I liked it then, and,... I like it now!  Since this was a recipe I'd "met" in the distant past, I was surprised to find an almost identical posting of it-- a posting by Dianne Clew in June of 2003.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 of 15-oz. can creamed corn
• 1 of 10-oz. can tomato soup, undiluted (you could probably use a different "favorite" soup)
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 and 1/2 cups uncooked macaroni noodles, cooked according to directions
• Desired seasonings, according to your taste.
• 6 slices of American cheese
• 1 of 8-oz. tube of Crescent rolls  (or a 12-oz. tube of small-type refrigerated biscuits)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a heavy skillet, brown beef with onion.
2. Add creamed corn, the soup of your choice, and grated Parmesan cheese.
3. Simmer for about 15 minutes, while cooking macaroni.
4. Add cooked macaroni to the meat/onion/soup/cheese mixture.
5. Season to taste.
6. Pour into a greased or sprayed casserole dish.  (I used one that is considered to be 2.5 quart in size.  Check photos at the bottom to see this baked in a 9x13" dish.)
7. Top with slices of American cheese.
8. IF using Crescent rolls,  do not unroll them.  Instead, with a sharp knife, cut the UNrolled roll into about 14-15 slices like you would do for making a cinnamon roll. Place slices on top of the cheese slices.   (The reason I said to use a sharp knife for this is so that the roll won't be squashed down during the cutting process.  Sometimes, I've even used a thread for cutting things like this.)  IF you are using a tube of biscuits, just cut them in half to cover top of mixture.
9. Bake at 350-degrees F. until the Crescent rolls or biscuits are browned to your liking.   I think it took me about 20 minutes to get them as shown in the photos.  (Check your own oven to see how this time might vary for you.)  I took mine out of the oven when it looked like this...

The sauce mixture was lightly bubbling in 

the openings between the rolls...

This was well-liked...

* IF you prefer to bake this in a 9x13 pan or glass dish, go ahead and do it like I did the second time through.  To make this work, I just increased the amount of American cheese slices FROM six TO eight.  Also, I cut the unrolled tube of Crescent rolls into 24 of only 1/4" slices to end up with enough to make six rows of four on the top of this larger surface...just like this...

The baking time for the 9x13" was about 

18 minutes.   Bake according to YOUR oven.

Hamburger 'n Rice Balls Casserole

This recipe is a combination of my favorite meat loaf recipe 

and a recipe I have for porcupine balls...

INGREDIENTS and DIRECTIONS:

A.  Cook 2 cups rice (white or brown).  You will probably end up with about four cups cooked rice.  Set cooked rice aside until it is time to incorporate some of it in Step B, and again in Step C.

B. In a mixing bowl,  mix together with clean hands and set this hamburger mixture aside until 'bottom layer' is in dish.

1 pound lean ground beef, raw
1 medium onion, (finely chopped)
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt (or plain salt)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 of 10 oz. can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 of 10 oz. can ABC vegetable beef soup, undiluted
3/4 cup quick or old-fashioned oats (dry)
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup of the cooked rice.

C. Bottom Layer: Combine the following and put in the bottom of a large greased or sprayed casserole dish (I've used a 9x13" Pyrex baking dish).  Sometimes, though, I bake this recipe in two smaller casseroles for two different meals.

2 of 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, with juice.
Remaining 3 cups of cooked rice.
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning.

D.  Using a cookie scooper, OR with your hands, form the hamburger mixture into balls the size of a golf ball and place them on top of the tomato/rice/broth layer in the casserole dish.  You'll probably have enough for a full layer.  

E. Cover tightly (or use aluminum foil) and bake in preheated oven at 325-degrees for 1 hour.  Then,... remove cover so that the meat balls can brown and bake for another 15-20 minutes OR until the center of the meat balls are completely done and everything looks like you want it to.  (By removing the foil after one hour, you also let excess liquid escape for a while.

F. Remove from the oven and sprinkle shredded cheese over top.  Let sit until cheese is  a little melty OR all melted. Serve.  Some enjoy this with a squirt of ketchup; others with a dollop of sour cream.  

♥  I think it would be tasty to incorporate shredded cabbage into this recipe.  ♥

Meat Loaf (100 Servings)

Here comes another recipe from a newspaper article, "Cooking for Large Crowd Need Not Be Colossal Task" which was published in our AGRI-VIEW paper, May 13, 1988.

Servings:  100

INGREDIENTS:

• 20 pounds ground beef (not the fatty kind)
• 2½ pounds bread crumbs (2½ quarts)
• 2 pounds ground pork
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 2 quarts milk
• 12 eggs
• 4 tablespoons salt
• 2 teaspoons pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix everything together well.
2. Pack into 10 greased (or sprayed) pans, OR shape into 10 loaves and place in roasting pans.
3. Bake at 325-degrees for 1½ hours.

My "Quaker Oats" Meat Loaf

I usually double the following recipe:

1 and 1/2 lb. lean ground beef

3/4 cup quick oats

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 of 10.5 oz. size vegetable (ABC) soup

1/2 cup milk

~~~~~~~~~~~~

(I usually don't add salt because it seems there is enough in the can of soup.)

Lightly, but thoroughly, mix the above ingredients together, pack lightly into a greased/sprayed loaf pan OR flatten out in a sprayed rectangular glass baking dish (double recipe needs 9x13" pan/dish).  Spreading Ketchup on top of meat is optional. 

 

I like to make a 'trench' between the edges of the meat and the dish so there's a place to collect any accumulating fat.

Bake loaf pan at 350-degrees for about 1 hour; or bake flat pan/dish for 40-45 minutes or until dark/rich brown.  Since ovens vary, check before the time is up.