Last Day of my Christmas Vacation

Today is the last day of my Christmas Vacation. Our company graciously gave us the 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th off. It was so wonderful having that much time off at Christmas! We have to work on New Years Eve, but we have the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th off! So next week is going to be very, very busy, but also a very, very short week!!!

So what did I spend my last day of freedom doing? Well I spent it cooking! What?? I know right? Me, cooking on a day off? What was I thinking? But cook I did and I went all out making Meatloaf Pie, click this link to see the recipe. I made two meatloaf pies, a big one for us since my son is having his friend William, who is home from Basic Training in the Army, come over for dinner and a little one to send over to my mom and dad.

I also made Scalloped Potatoes and Ham, which is my daughter's favorite and she had begged me to make it at Christmas and I didn't have time. I haven't made this dish since I was married and that was over 15 years ago. So I hope it comes out. I’m sure it will cause I’m just that good!

Here’s the cast of characters: Butter, Salt, Milk, Onion Powder, Shredded Cheddar Cheese, Flour, Pepper, Cooked Ham and Sliced Potatoes (complete recipe below).

Dice your ham up, however big you want, I like little pieces so you get a little in every bite. You need about three cups.And yep, your eyes do not deceive you, that is one WHOLE stick of butter! Yummy! Hey come on, I make this once every 15 years or so! Surely one whole stick of butter isn't going to kill me!

Once your butter is melted, then you toss in the flour, salt and pepper and stir, stir, stir because before you know it, this stuff can burn. Be sure to turn the heat down. You want to cook this until it's a nice golden color.

Then you take it off the heat and stir in the milk slowly, stirring the whole time. Once the milk is mixed in, then place it back on a low heat, stirring constantly. I prefer using a whisk.At this point in the process I got a little help from William who is home from Army Basic Training. He's been friends with my son since high school. These are his lovely hands helping out so I can take action shots. This is a good one don't you think?And you also add in the ham once the roux is thickened and bubbly! Hey William! Look over here! Give us a smile!There you go, that's the William I know and love, always smiling!

Ok, once you run the boys out of the kitchen, you turn the heat off of the ham/cheese/roux sauce pan and turn your attention to the potatoes. As you can see here, you just slice them into rounds, not to thinly, but thin enough so they cook thoroughly.You then place the potatoes in a bowl such as the one below that was given to me as part of a set by my daughter for Christmas which I totally LOVE! and you pour the ham/cheese/roux over the potatoes. Stir gently with a spoon and you're ready to pour them into your baking dish or bowl. For some odd reason I placed them in a big Pyrex bowl instead of in a baking dish. I think it's because my baking dish is black metal and I prefer glass so I put them in a Pyrex because it's glass...that's just the way my mind works.Here they are in the Pyrex bowl, cover with foil and place in the oven.Set your timer to 30 minutes! After the 30 minutes are up, then you uncover and bake another hour. And here's the finished product. Mmmm, gooey and cheesy and delicious! I love the way they smell. I had forgotten how easy and how good this dish is.Here's a spoonful on the little plates my daughter also gave me for Christmas. See the next post to see the whole set of bowls and dishes she got me!

Beautiful? no? And the crocheted table covering you see under the little plate...I crocheted that! Yep, uh huh, lil ol me! I'm very talented aren't I?
So bake this up, or the meatloaf pie and let me know how you like it, better yet, make it, invite me over and I'll tell you how I like it!

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham (serves 6)
½ cup butter
2 tsp. salt
3 cups milk
1 large onion chopped (or 4 tsp. onion powder)
½ cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
½ cup flour
¼ tsp. pepper
3 cups cooked cubed ham
5 cups sliced potatoes

Heat butter in large sauce pan over low heat. Blend in flour, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly (I like using a whisk), for one minute. Remove from Heat and gradually stir in milk. Return to heat, cook til thickened and bubbly.

Fold in ham, onion and cheese. Pour over potatoes in a large bowl and stir gently to combine. Pour into buttered 12 x 9 x 2” baking dish and cover with foil.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, uncover and continue baking for 1 hour or til browned & bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

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!