Meatloaf with Mashed potatoes.

The gelatin helps keep the meatloaf more moist and keeps it from splooging out grease onto the pan.

• 1 onion, diced fine
• 2 tsp garlic, minced fine
• 1 tsp dried or 2 tsp fresh thyme
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 c steak sauce or 3 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 c dried bread crumbs or crushed crackers
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 tsp unflavored gelatin (optional)
• salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste

Topping:

• 1/4 c ketchup
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Sauté the onion until translucent and add the garlic and thyme right at the end and cook until fragrant. In a medium bowl, mix the egg, onion mixture,  and steak or Worcestershire sauce. Add the breadcrumbs, beef and pork,  gelatin salt and pepper and mix until just mixed. Don’t overmix or the meatloaf will get a funky texture.

Place the meat mixture on a cookie sheet and form into a rough square about 2 inches thick.

For the topping, mix all ingredients, and spread over the top of the meatloaf.

Bake for 1 hour.

Mix all the ingredients up to the eggs, mashing the beans until lumpy. Place onto the baguette slices and garnish with the remaining ingredients.

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 9 slices bacon
• 6 oz bleu cheese
• 1 onion, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 c toasted bread crumbs
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 milk
• 2-3 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 T dijon mustard
• salt and pepper
• buns
• toppings (ketchup, mustard, onion, lettuce, more bleu cheese and bacon, etc.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Sautee onion and garlic till translucent. Place in a large bowl. Fry bacon and add half of it to the bowl with the onions and garlic. Add the rest of the ingredients except buns and toppings and mix thoroughly.  Form into 6 large balls and place on a baking sheet.  Make a large dent in the balls and add bleu cheese and  remaining bacon to each, pinching ground beef around the hole to close. Flatten, taking care not to let any of the filling to get out.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until well done. Serve on buns with your choice of toppings.

We had three items:

• Brazilian Baked Trout
• Macaroni and Cheese
• Creamy Celery

The recipe for the trout was taken from a cook book called Cooking With Wine from the editors of Sunset Magazine and Sunset Books. It was delicious. I’m sure the recipe called for skin-off, but I really enjoy cooking fish with skin and all.

Macaroni and Cheese was from the same. Just some shells tossed with cheese melted with Chablis. The best part was crumbling the Cheddar Beer Kettle Chips on top.

Creamy Celery was found in my Google Reader through my Amateur Gourmet feed. This consisted of thinly sliced celery softened in butter, tossed in flour, gradually added milk and then peppered and dashed with a bit of brandy as a substitute for sherry.

*update-got the pics figured out. Now I need to get the borders right.

–More details to come as soon as I figure out how to share the pictures.