Mini-meatloaves

My cousin sent me a text earlier asking for a meatloaf recipe. I gave it to her but then I got to wondering what I could do to make something different than my usual meatloaf. This is a combination of several recipes I found online. I took the best things from all of them and made my own.

2 lbs ground meat of your choice (I just used ground beef)
1 tbsp chopped, fresh basil
1 tbsp chopped, fresh rosemary
1 tbsp chopped, fresh oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup diced fresh onion
1/2 cup plain instant couscous
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup shredded cheddar

Ketchup, barbecue sauce, or pasta sauce for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all but the topping in a large bowl. Use your hands and work it together until it’s mixed well. Allow to rest for five minutes. Take a handful of meatloaf mixture and put it in a muffin cup, patting down so the meat is even with the top of the pan. This should fill 16 cups. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove meat from oven and top with topping, then pop back in the oven for 15 more minutes.

My favorite meatloaf meal is meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and corn. This time we added in some macaroni and cheese, because I didn’t have a lot of potatoes to fill up the resident teenagers so they got all of the above.

 

Jambalaya take 2 – Red Bean Soup

I found a similar recipe online, courtesy of Food Network’s Sandra Lee, last night after I made a big pot of jambalaya. You can use any recipe online for that part of it. They’re all about the same. You could even use the stuff from a box, but that’s not how I roll. Cooking from a box doesn’t make much of a blog. At any rate, the soup:

32 ounces chicken broth
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
3 cups leftover jambalaya
salt & pepper to taste
Dash of cayenne pepper

Bring broth and beans to a slow boil before adding remaining ingredients. Return to a boil and serve. That’s all there is to it.

Thanks to the “take two” aspect of this recipe, I’ve managed to make one chicken feed some or all of a family of seven four times. First I made a chicken, then chicken salad, then jambalaya, and now this. How’s that for frugal?

Pineapple Chicken Salad

2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
1/2 cup mayo
1 tbsp mustard
1/2 box raisins
1/2 cup pineapple tidbits
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 tsp red curry powder

Mix together and serve. A wonderful, low-calorie option is to serve it with cucumber slices instead of bread.