Mini Meatloaf

Mini Meatloaf 1, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

This is a very popular recipe and I try to make a huge batch so they'll last longer than a day or two, but people snag one or two for breakfast the next day, some disappear in lunch bags, and there's only one or two left for an after school snack the next day.

Good thing they're easy to make.

Ingredients:

4Tbs brown sugar, packed
1 c ketchup
2 eggs
1 c Bisquick
1 med onion, finely chopped (1/2 c)
2-3 lb ground meat (can use all beef or a blend of beef and pork, turkey, veal, or lamb)
Worchestershire sauce, salt and pepper

Mix brown sugar with ketchup. Reserve 1/2 c for topping.

Mini Meatloaf 2, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

Use a hand mixer to combine the remaining ingredients. It aerates the meat so it doesn't pack too tight and it's much faster than by hand. Plus your hands don't get so darn cold.

Mini Meatloaf 3, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

Turn the meat out into a large, greased (or sprayed) sheet pan.

Mini Meatloaf 4, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

Form the meat into a rectangle.

Mini Meatloaf 5, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

Use a spatula to separate the rectangle into equal mini loaves.
I can get about 8 mini loaves per pound of meat.

Mini Meatloaf 6, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

Space out the mini loaves equally so the air can circulate while they cook.

Mini Meatloaf 7, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

Spread remaining ketchup mixture over tops of the mini loaves. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes or until no longer pink in center.

Mini Meatloaf 8, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

Serve with mashed potatoes and green beans...

Or with noodles and a salad...

Or with a baked potato and carrots...

Leftovers are fantastic sliced into sandwiches or just nuked and served as leftovers.

Of course like I said earlier, these are so good, there are never enough leftovers.

Camping bribe?

I was chatting online with my friend Michelle, who lives back in the midwest. She and her hubby had bought a camper and we were talking about different things to do while camping and relaxing. Sadly, I have no clue how to relax. There's always a house to clean or laundry to fold or dishes to wash or paperwork to sort or....

One of the things she said they do is cook and eat. Well, heck, I can do that. In the conversation I mentioned Tonka Toasters, which I used over many many summers at 4-H camp. Michelle hadn't heard of these things, so a little Googling came up with the same concept: Pie Irons.

These classic campfire cooking tools have their own website and gosh-- a blog, and check out these recipes! I had only really known about the standard Wonder bread and pie filling recipe. Wow! I may have to get a pair of these when we get our camping gear.

Let's backtrack about 11+ months for a second so I can bring you up to speed. No, let's start about 30 years ago.

When I was a kid, my dad took me on a camping trip from Wisconsin to California. We cruised down the road in his little red Mazda RX-4 (with black leather or vinyl seats - wearing shorts - in the summer - yow! burnt thighs!) and camped in a pup tent near Mt. Rushmore, Lake Jenny at The Grand Tetons, and probably a few more camping spots that slip my mind.
It was a while ago.

During that trip, and subsequent camping trips with Dad, 4H groups, and other friends, I learned that I'm a hotel and cabin kind of gal. I don't relish sleeping on rocks, i hate waking up to a flooded tent during some rare stateside monsoon, I'm not so big on having a group of snickering Canadian boys collapse my dew-covered tent at 6am and then trying to claw my way out to daylight along with a dozen other screaming 14-year old girls, and I have un-pleasant memories losing my pillow and waking up stiff and sore. Besides, camping is cold.

Ok, so about 23 months ago, I tried to talk Frank into getting camping gear so we have more vacation freedom. At that point we had spent 95% of our time over the last 6 years in the Willamette Valley or on the central Oregon Coast. Frank always scoffed and said, "Yeah, we'll see if you do go camping." He says he's game to do it but knows I'd complain way too much.

When he had the musty little Lincoln City apartment when he was working in Pacific City at the Pelican Pub, we'd visit him and sleep on air mattresses. I don't recall complaining. Did I complain? Ok, maybe I grumped a little because the air mattress leaked and I woke up with my butt on the floor. Frank and Rachel complain that I complain all the time. Ironic, isn't it?

This year I'm bringing up the subject of camping gear again. Frank is laughing at me again. Rachel is rolling her eyes at me again. I vow to not complain.

Gonna have to get some Tonka Toasters (ahem, Pie Irons) to charm the sandals off my campmates.

In case I feel the urge to complain.

At least she's grammatically correct...

Master of the Obvious, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

... From my sister in law ...

Due to the fact that micheal jackson was made of 99% plastic, he will be melted down into legos so kids can play with him!

About Pam... part II

Oh yah, here's the Ticky Tacky Tavern. Or the Plywood Palace, depending upon which side of the road you live.

I lived in Moquah when the tavern burned down in the 80's. Of course, the owner still had his liquor permit, so he rebuilt with whatever scraps he could find.

It wasn't insulated, so you had to keep your coat on in the winter, but in the summer it featured 100% natural air conditioning. Or at least 100% natural air. There was no glass or plastic over the windows.

At some point, he bought some red vinyl booths and they sat outside under a tarp for a couple of years before he installed them. I think leaning them outside was a good idea, because by the time he finally got around to installing them, they were as weathered as the building, and they matched the rest of the decor.

The Plywood Palace is one of two bars in teen tiny unincorporated Moquah. The other bar is called Nep's, and I remember going in there as a kid. John (my step dad) would walk behind the bar and get us two glass bottles of pop from the fridge and two candy bars, then we'd sit at the bar, enjoy our treats, and hang out. But that's another story.




Thank you to Moeview is Aaron Molina for permission to use this photo. Aaron, I love your work. Dear readers, please check out Aaron's photos. Especially this one. Wow.

About Pam... part I

Bathtub shrine, originally uploaded by Boyce Duprey.

I grew up in a small town way at the tippy top of Wisconsin, near Lake Superior.
At the time, we had a Catholic Church (big surprise) a cheese factory (again, big surprise) and a bar. (What? A bar?? In Wisconsin???)

The perfect balance of priorities for any sensible Wisconsinite.
Actually there were two bars.

Our (unofficial) big town motto was Eat, Drink and Be Saved.

The phrase "Blink and you'll miss it" didn't apply due to the 90 degree curve in the road. Driving eastbound, you couldn't blink or you'd run directly into a bar we affectionately called the Plywood Palace. If you were coming from Ashland and heading west, you didn't dare blink to miss the town or you'd drive smack into the wall of the cheese factory and knock over the Virgin Mary's blue bathtub.

If you grew up in the upper Midwest, you know exactly why Mary needs a bathtub and what shade of blue it is.

bathtub shrine, originally uploaded by zoe.stonyk.

Of course I was an outcast there because we went to the Lutheran Church...
...which was located in the next town, across the street from our rival high school.

We were rebels, I tell ya.

Stay tuned for the next post where I'll show you the Plywood Palace.
You're not going to believe it.

Well, you might, if you're from Wisconsin, eh.

Laura Beach Creations

This is a really neat idea. We saw this... ok, Frank got bored and wandered off looking for food samples... I saw this at the Salem Saturday Market a few weeks ago and I thought this was a great way to show off pictures.


Memories, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

I bet this would work for recipe cards in the kitchen, chore lists or to-do lists, or notes to family members who have weird schedules. (We use a white board marker on the bathroom mirror to leave messages for each other in the morning, so why not this? It's cuter, too.) How about planning a weekly menu and shopping list? Hmmm...

Grandkids, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

These are for sale at the Salem Saturday Market. Laura Beach, the clever gal who makes these, also has a website with other neat things. I love her tote bags. You can see them at Laura Beach Creations.

Chicken Packages

We have been low-carbing at home, with some nice success. It's always hard trying to figure out what the heck to eat, though. The same-old same-old gets boring fast.


I'm going to copy an idea I used last Xmas when I made up some seasoned chix breasts as a gift for my dad. We vacuum sealed 6 breasts with 3 different seasoning blends. I figured it would be an easy way for him to cook a meal or two worth of meat at a time, with sodium-controlled seasoning. He really liked the gift.

Six Vac-sealed Seasoned Chix Breasts, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

I figured I'd like to show you what I'll be doing in case you want to try it too.

First, you need a vacuum sealer for food. We call this appliance a "Food Sucker." A Vac Sealer (or Food Sucker) sucks all the air out of food packages as they're sealed to prevent the food from getting freezer burn. We like to buy meat in bulk then separate the package into vac seal bags and freeze the meat in smaller portions.

My brother in law likes to vac seal marshmallows, fresh tomatoes, and raw potatoes. We don't recommend vac sealing soft or raw food. He will probably die of embarrassment if he reads this. While you can imagine what happened with the marshmallows and tomatoes, I won't tell you what happened with the potatoes.

...it smelled really bad...

Ok, so here are the basics for seasoning and sealing 3 different varieties of chicken breasts.

1. Set aside a plate or pie dish per seasoning blend (listed below)
2. Mix each set of seasoning blend ingredients into its own plate. The herbs and spices are listed below but you can decide how much seasoning you want to use. I like my seasoning on the heavy side, so I would mix up about 1 Tbs of seasoning per chicken side = 4 Tbs for 2 chicken breasts.
3. Dip each side of the raw chicken breast in your prepared seasoning blend.
4. Place the breast a vac seal bag, then seal it.
5. Freeze in a single layer in the freezer and use within 6 months.

Seasoning blends:

Garlic Ginger Chix, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

This is Garlic Ginger chicken.

Mix the following seasonings to taste:

• granulated onion
• smoked paprika
• black pepper
• granulated garlic
• fresh garlic, either to taste or to make it look pretty, like I did
• ginger
• cumin
  

Chicken Provencal, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

This is the Chix Provencal,

• oregano
• thyme
• rosemary
• tarragon
• parsely
• lavender
• cracked black peppercorns

This includes a slice of dried black truffle. (The orange arrow points to the truffle on one of the breasts.) I have a good friend who is a professional mycologist (mushroom hunter.) Every now and then we're lucky enough to get a few of the highly sought-after black truffles and Oregon white truffles. Just a sliver transforms a dish, and the little slice of black truffle on these chicken breasts will turn them into an amazing meal. If you want to try some truffles, visit his website at www.trufflezone.com Be sure to tell them Pam and Frank say Hi!

Enchilada Chicken, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

This one is Enchilada Chicken - everything I throw in the pan when I make Chix Enchiladas:

• oregano, crushed dried and ground
• granulated onion
• granulated garlic
• chili powder
• freshly cracked black pepper
• red pepper flakes
• lots of cumin
• after the chicken is in the bag but before sealing, add about a tsp of lime juice
• and dress up each breast with a bay leaf

When it's time to cook them, thaw the chicken, slide them out of the bag into a hot pan or baking dish, and cook until they have an internal temperature of 160F or until juices run clear.

Yummmmmm...

Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk

My friend Gayle sent me this. What a hoot!
I laughed until I cried...
-Pam

...Get Set...

Last week I mentioned that we're having a party to celebrate the completed blog renovation.

This week we finish up the preparations and get the invitations sent out...