Office Halloween Party

The Office...Halloween

Well, I have quite a few pictures to share about yesterday's Halloween fun, but first let me start with our office Halloween Party. This is only the 2nd potluck they have had since I've been there and we really enjoy them, not sure why we don't have more.

Here's some pictures of the food. I took my broccoli salad, and I'm going to post pictures and the recipe in the next post. Angelica took an Ambrosia Salad, Michele made Monster Stuffed Bell Peppers that were really cute, Mary brought a Green Salad with a ranch-salsa style dressing and Anna brought her yummy Chicken Enchiladas with her Avocado Salad.

First, Angelica's Ambrosia Salad. It had miniature marshmallows, slivered almonds, shredded coconuts, whipped cream and Jello pistachio pudding. It's such a beautiful color, I love this picture!

Michele really went all out. She made some Monster Stuffed Bell Peppers, which were bell peppers that were dressed up with tongues and eyes and horns. Here's some before and after pictures. She was worried that after they were baked they would be ugly, and they were, but that made them look even better cause then they really did look like Monsters!

And here's a whole little family of them. Michele even grew these peppers, they're from her own garden! Michele says she simply made the stuffing using ground beef and a little bag of meatloaf seasoning, simple and soooo eye appealing!

Anna made some yummy Chili Verde Shredded Chicken Enchiladas. She used canned Chili Verde and boiled her chicken. She seasons the chicken after she shreds it. She serves them with her avocado salad made with chunks of avocado, tomato and red onion.

I wish I had taken better pictures of Anna's food, but she got there last minute and everyone was hungry and so was I!

And now pictures of some co-workers and me.

Angelica and I sharing a moment after stuffing ourselves. I think that's why we're both smiling!
And here's Mary, waiting patiently for 5pm and time to go home. She looks fed and happy too!

Anna brought her father in law to share the meal with us. He was such a nice man and he really loved the food, he had compliments for everyone!They're sitting at my workstation and I have some more pictures to post of that later. We had a great time and sent pictures to our corporate office. The President of our company sent us an Atta-Boy and said it was nice to see us getting involved.

Meatloaf Pie - A dish they serve in Heaven!

Well I did me some cooking again today, but...I didn't take any pictures. At least not during the cooking part, but I did of the finished product.

What I made today is a favorite with both my kids. It's Meatloaf Pie and I've been making this for them since they were grade schoolers. Meatloaf Pie is a meatloaf that you bake in a round pan and has the mashed potatoes on top so when you slice it, it looks like a slice of pie. The mashed potatoes look like frosting or meringue and the meatloaf is the pie part.

Through the magic of the Internet, here's photos of all the ingredients. The recipe is posted below.

You'll need some ground beef. I made two meatloaf pies. One to keep here for me and Jim (my son) and I sent one to my mom and dad's house that they will share with my daughter April (although truth be told, they may have to fight April just to get some for themselves!) So I had quite a bit of ground beef, but the recipe below will make on nice size pie.

Then you'll need breadcrumbs and eggs. These are the exact brand and style of breadcrumbs I used today.

Then you need catsup or ketchup, however you most prefer to spell it, I'm not judging! and some garlic and onion powder and salt and peppa!

You mix all those goodies up together. You can use real onions instead of the powder, but I live in a family of finicky eaters who won't eat anything with onion, or anything with green in it either! If I had my way, I would also add bell peppers, fresh tomatoes and maybe some canned corn to this recipe, you could try it that way.

Anyway, you also need to make some mashed potatoes. Just make them anyway you like your mashed potatoes. In our family we make them with butter, salt and pepper and mayonnaise and milk.

Now the secret...are you ready? Are you listening, cuz this is the secret ingredient that makes this recipe and your potatoes special. It's shredded cheese! Yep, I kid you not, shredded cheese. Mmmmmmmmm it makes those mashed taters just ooey and gooey and yummy. I usually use medium sharp cheddar cheese, but I guess you could use any kind. I didn't put a picture of shredded cheese on here because I'm trying to finish this so I can go have a piece of meatloaf pie, just don't forget to add the shredded cheese. Then put those taters aside and try to keep from eating them all until the meatloaf is cooked.

Ok...so here is the end result. I wanted to take a picture of the whole pie, but my son Jim couldn't wait and he tore into it while I was napping. You're probably saying, "OMG look at all that grease!" Well I admit it's a little bit of grease from the meat as I didn't use the super lean ground beef cause it doesn't have as much flavor, but mostly that's ketchup blood there and that's not bad for you ! And I only make this like 3 or 4 times a year, so it's not gonna kill ya!

I took a bunch of pictures of it because it just seemed like the heaven's opened up and shined brightly upon my meatloaf pie. I could almost hear choirs of angel's singing in joy! Oh, and as a sidenote, my mom gave me the pan I make this pie in a long, long time ago and I've always used it and think of her everytime I do.

And here's pictures of it sliced and again the sun is shining down in joy on my meatloaf pie and all is right and good in the world! Also, this stuff is awesome the next day as a sandwich. I just slice it real thin and heat it up and then put it on bread...mmmmm.

And so here's the recipe. I posted this on my family's website a couple of years ago and a couple of cousins in Arizona did actually try it and they said it was really good. Next weekend I want to try to make Biscocho's and this time I will take pics.

MEATLOAF PIE

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

1 cup crushed bread crumbs

1 egg beaten

1/2 c. onions chopped finely, but again if you have a finicky eater, you can use 2 tsp. onion powder instead

1/2 cup catsup

1/8 tsp pepper

1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Salt to taste

**** Pie topping****

Prepare 3 cups mashed potatoes your usual way.

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients, pat into round pie or cake pan or even a square cake pan will work. Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes, remove from oven and drain any fat.

Combine 3 cups hot mashed potatoes with 3/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese. Spread over top of the meatloaf, top with another 1/4 c. shredded cheese and bake another 20 minutes then serve.

Oh...........and the reason I said they serve this in heaven is because when Jim finished he said, "Mom, I bet they serve this in heaven." I swear, it's that good and all kids will like it!