Paula Deen - Get Cookin'

Not sure if I'm posting this right but here's my meatloaf recipe.  The hardest thing I had to do today was write down my meatloaf recipe.  You might want to call it "Never Made the Same Recipe Twice Meatloaf".  I usually cook with a little bit of this and and a handful of that.....but the ingredients are usually the same. I love brown sugar and learned to add it in the recipe from my sister years ago.

2 lb Ground Chuck
1/2 cup Italian Style bread crumbs
2 eggs
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoons barbeque sauce
1 tablespoons worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper

Sauce/topping:
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablesoon brown sugar

Mix ingredients together and then  shape and place into a loaf pan.  Bake about 45-50 minutes at 375 then add sauce and cook another 10 minutes.  I use ground chuck for meatloaf because leaner ground beef can sometimes dry out when baking.  You might need to drain some of the fat off in the middle of baking.

I love meatloaf and so does my family, this is going to be a delicious chalenge!

So I was thinking hmmm, since I made a Mofongo burger, my signature dish( a mix of two dishes, american burger with beef, I added fried plaintains, garlic, pork craklings, olive oil, and ground pork) I decided to make a Mofongo Meatloaf! Combine the goodness of my Mofongo with Meatloaf.
Sounds crazy, odd name too but then again I thought it was crazy to make Mofongo into a burger, I still went ahead and made it and when I bit into, it it was delicious!! If you like plaintains and lots of garlic, you will adore this dish. But prepare yourself, your gonna work a lot with this one lol.

Mofongo Meatloaf...

Meatloaf ingredients;
2 lbs of ground pork
2 lbs Lean ground beef
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs
2 cups of milk
2 small onions
1 tblsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 1/2 cup of ketchup for topping

Mofongo mix ingredients;
5 cloves of garlic
1 tbls olive oil
1 cup of crushed pork craklings
4 fried plaintains
4 cups of oil for deep frying

Tostones for the Mofongo Mix

Heat up corn oil or vegetable oil to 350 degrees. Peel the plantains. Slice cut round about 11/2 inches thick. Fry for about 2 minutes, remove and flatten with a plate or a smasher, place the plaintains back in the deep fryer 2 or 3 minutes until golden brown. Remove and soak excess oil on paper towels.

Mash up the fried tostones, add the crushed pork cracklings, freshly mashed garlic( the more garlic the better lol) and olive oil. Set aside.

Meatloaf mix

Heat oven 350 Degress. Mix all the ingredients above for the meatloaf, then add the mofongo mix, mix it all up, mix it good put some elbow grese into it! lol. Shape into a loaf.
Separate the mix into and shape two loaves. Spread mixture in ungreased, 9x5 pan or 13x9 inch pan, spread ketchup over the top. Since ketchup goes so well with tostones (fried plaintains), I decided not to alter the ketchup with anymore ingredients, the regular ketchup flavor will complement the mofongo/meatloaf flavor..
Bake uncovered 2 hours or until beef is no longer pink in the center and a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.
Let it stand for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan, cut into slices and serve.
This is a daring unusual mix, a recipe with a lot of flavor, if you love garlic and weird combinations of food, experimenting like me, you will enjoy the rich flavors in this dish.
I used olive oil instead of pork fat, that is what is usually used to make mofongo but I rather use olive oil but if you feel like adding pork fat go ahead, it will add even more pork flavor into the mofongo mix. Also instead of the pork cracklings you can use fried salted pork crushed up.

Enjoy!



Mofongo Meatloaf.....
Added my videos to TwitVid because the sound is distorted via You Tube.
Watch my videos making this delicious dish with the help of my daughters.
Enjoy my videos!

Pt. 1 http://www.twitvid.com/14583

Pt. 2 http://www.twitvid.com/DA1E4

Pt. 3 http://www.twitvid.com/A0660

Pt. 4 http://www.twitvid.com/DEFAC

  I was a bit apprehensive to show myself, but I need to stop being shy lol. The girls helped me, they were my production crew, they had fun.
  Some clips, the first one, I kept messin up. Got 5 clips of silly bloopers. The girls made fun of me, yelling Take 145!!! Quiet on the set!!! They remembered from the time we were in Durham watching a movie crew film Main Street. I think I have future movie directors in my house!
I didnt have good lighting, so one of the girls was holding a   lamp lol!
But the last clip, did it in one take. I cant believe I winked lol I look silly lol
You can see my daughter in the backround walking clueless lol but then video recording stops. It was a fun night. Will probably make more just so I can gain more confidence and the girls can practice their movie making skills =)

Hey guys! I'm really having a BLAST sharing recipes & making new ones to share! I came up with this a few days ago. It's a spice-up from your traditional meatloaf recipe, incorporating some Spanish essence & heat, still with the warmth of home cooking! Enjoy!

*Mexi-Bacon Meatloaf*
Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs ground chuck
1  5oz pkg Spanish rice mix, cooked & cooled
1/2 cup black beans, drained
3 slices bacon
2 eggs, lightly whipped
1 tsp seasoned salt
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp hot sauce
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 red onion, chopped
Topping:
4 oz Cheddar Cheese
1 tomato, seeded
1 jalapeno pepper
Pinch of salt
Sour cream, crumbled bacon, & chives for garnish

Preparation: In a bowl, mix all meatloaf ingredients, except bacon. Form into a loaf pan and pack down. Lay bacon slices across top of raw meatloaf.
For topping: In a food processor, chop tomato into a few pieces and add with jalapeno and salt. Blend together until tomato & jalapeno are well-diced. Layer on top of bacon. Bake meatloaf at 350 for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, add cheese across top and return to oven for an additional 40 minutes, or until meatloaf is done throughout.

*Beefy Grits*
Ingredients
1  14 oz can of beef broth
3/4 cup grits
Pinch of ground sage
1 tbsp butter

Preparation: Pour broth into small pot. Add butter & sage, and bring to a boil. Add grits. Reduce heat and simmer to desired consistency.

Hearty Birthday Meatloaf

I call this "Hearty Birthday Meatloaf" cause I made this for the first time on my husband's birthday and it is a very hearty dish! I normally can't stand meatloaf but I just loved this recipe and so did my husband! It's by far one of our favorites now!

Ingredients:

2 cups freshly made breadcrumbs
1 medium onion, chopped fine
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2lbs ground beef
2lbs ground italian sausage
2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp basic italian seasoning

Topping:

1c ketcup
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter 2 medium size loaf pans. Combine all the ingredients into a large bowl. Use your hands to mix everything together and then pat into the greased loaf pans.

Stir the ketchup, pepper, garlic powder, and worcestershire sauce together. Spread onto  the tops of the two meatloaves. Bake for 45 min.