meatloaf

The other day it was a bit of a dreary day and my roommate was having a sort of bad day, so I decided to make some comfort food. I'd been wanting to try making meatloaf for a while because it is usually made with eggs, and I wanted to try making it without eggs for my roommate.

I adapted this from the recipe that my grandma usually makes out of our family cookbook. I know, you wish you had a family cookbook too. I just threw in whatever spices I felt like. Feel free to mix it up however you want.

Meatloaf
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground elk
2 slices bread, crumbled up
ketchup
splash red wine
dash cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, chili powder

Crumble the two slices of bread in a bowl. I was able to find bread that wasn't made with eggs, so I went with that.

Then season with the spices you choose to use.


Add the ketchup.


Then add in the beef and elk as well as the red wine. Mix it all up together. I used my hands because that's just how I roll but I supposed you could mix it with a spoon.

Place in a loaf pan and pour some more red wine over it. Then top with some tomato sauce and bake at 350* for 45 minutes to an hour depending on your oven. I think mine was about 45 minutes because my oven runs hot.

I'm not a big meatloaf person. I didn't really grow up eating it, but this turned out well. I actually think it was better the next day because it had time for the flavors to combine and sit together and be all happy. It might actually be good to let it sit for a bit and marinate before topping with the tomato sauce and baking it.

taco rice

This, my friends, is taco rice. It's super easy to make, healthy and wonderfully delicious. I used this recipe as inspiration. Once again, I was well under way of cooking when I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures, my bad. This is so easy to make, though, you don't need pictures.

Make some sushi rice. Brown some ground beef (or in my case ground elk, we are currently out of beef). Make sure you season the beef well. Use lots of cumin so it will taste taco-y. I suppose you could also use taco seasoning, but I prefer to use all the seasonings in my cupboard. Cut up some tomatoes. Tear up some lettuce (I used green leaf lettuce). And hey, if the mood hits you whip up some fresh guacamole (I'll give you my recipe some other time).

Then just layer it up. Start with rice on the bottom, top with ground beef (or elk), and add your toppings on top of that. I was thinking you could also use black beans in this and it would be good. This is also nice because people can build their own and use whatever toppings they like. A quick, healthy, delicious dinner. . .yum!