giving of thanks
Happy Thanksgiving!
You wish you were me, you know it. Why? Because THIS is what I had for Thanksgiving dinner this morning when I got out of work (it cooked all night in my slow cooker and then I ate it this morning):
SMOTHERED MEATLOAF
Attack of the meatloaf ZOMG
Sandra Lee, much maligned yet purveyor of good ideas if you know when and where to look, gave me the idea for this. I tweaked her recipe a little. I used all ground beef instead of half ground beef and half ground pork, because beef was cheaper, and I used a box of pork flavored shake n bake because the garlic and herb she suggested wasn't available, and I chopped up an onion and used that on top of the meatloaf and in the meatloaf, and I used canned mushrooms on top instead of fresh. I also grabbed some big handfuls of the hash browns and mixed them in with my meatloaf, since there was no way all this crap was going to fit in my slow cooker. Also, obviously, since I was going to be at work there was no way I would be able to cook the meatloaf on high for an hour and then switch to low, I just let it cook all the time I was at work which ended up being 8 1/2 hours on low, but it still turned out moist and succulent and delicious. Now that it's all said and done I wish I'd added a touch more salt, and I think that those Durkee French fried onions in a can would be DELICIOUS on top of this instead of my real onions which left a little to be desired, but other than that I have no complaints. I hate canned cream of mushroom soup and I hate canned cheddar soup even more, but when you mix the two and let them cook for 8 hours, you get something special and delicious that, while it's scary to have orange gravy, is well worth the effort (speaking of effort, HELLO easy, this was perfect for when you're busy and don't have time to cook a huge meal). It was wonderful and everyone who bitches about it is smoking crack (or they don't know their slow cooker very well...if your slow cooker cooks so hot that the potatoes disintegrate and burn to the bottom of the slow cooker, then it's cooking too high and you need to cook it on "keep warm." Some slow cookers are like that. And how do you NOT notice that the potatoes are burning BEFORE they get to that point? The people who write these reviews crack me up...half of the bad reviews say it's too bland, the other half say it's way too salty).
Here's the original recipe, for those who are interested:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sandra-lee/smothered-meatloaf-recipe/index.html
Hope you all had a great day. I'm going to shoot myself in the face so I don't have to work tonight on psycho shopping day...every lane of our store was open today and there were still lines out the door, and if friday is supposed to be worse...we're all doomed.
You wish you were me, you know it. Why? Because THIS is what I had for Thanksgiving dinner this morning when I got out of work (it cooked all night in my slow cooker and then I ate it this morning):
SMOTHERED MEATLOAF
Attack of the meatloaf ZOMG
Sandra Lee, much maligned yet purveyor of good ideas if you know when and where to look, gave me the idea for this. I tweaked her recipe a little. I used all ground beef instead of half ground beef and half ground pork, because beef was cheaper, and I used a box of pork flavored shake n bake because the garlic and herb she suggested wasn't available, and I chopped up an onion and used that on top of the meatloaf and in the meatloaf, and I used canned mushrooms on top instead of fresh. I also grabbed some big handfuls of the hash browns and mixed them in with my meatloaf, since there was no way all this crap was going to fit in my slow cooker. Also, obviously, since I was going to be at work there was no way I would be able to cook the meatloaf on high for an hour and then switch to low, I just let it cook all the time I was at work which ended up being 8 1/2 hours on low, but it still turned out moist and succulent and delicious. Now that it's all said and done I wish I'd added a touch more salt, and I think that those Durkee French fried onions in a can would be DELICIOUS on top of this instead of my real onions which left a little to be desired, but other than that I have no complaints. I hate canned cream of mushroom soup and I hate canned cheddar soup even more, but when you mix the two and let them cook for 8 hours, you get something special and delicious that, while it's scary to have orange gravy, is well worth the effort (speaking of effort, HELLO easy, this was perfect for when you're busy and don't have time to cook a huge meal). It was wonderful and everyone who bitches about it is smoking crack (or they don't know their slow cooker very well...if your slow cooker cooks so hot that the potatoes disintegrate and burn to the bottom of the slow cooker, then it's cooking too high and you need to cook it on "keep warm." Some slow cookers are like that. And how do you NOT notice that the potatoes are burning BEFORE they get to that point? The people who write these reviews crack me up...half of the bad reviews say it's too bland, the other half say it's way too salty).
Here's the original recipe, for those who are interested:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sandra-lee/smothered-meatloaf-recipe/index.html
Hope you all had a great day. I'm going to shoot myself in the face so I don't have to work tonight on psycho shopping day...every lane of our store was open today and there were still lines out the door, and if friday is supposed to be worse...we're all doomed.