This week I made Dill Pickle Meatloaf and Apple Granola Salad. When I selected meatloaf, I was a bit concerned that this might be the week I fail at the challenge. But, it was the only recipe I could find that incorporated pickles into an entrée rather than just a garnish or sauce. I have made meatloaf once in my married life as Mike and I don't really care for it, but I decided to take a risk. Plus, the recipe had good reviews. I debated how to use the granola bars. I was pretty sure I was going to smash them up into granola but it took me a few days to figure out what to do with the granola. A parfait seemed too easy. I wanted to use them in a side dish. So, after much searching online, I found the recipe for this salad.
I started the meatloaf at 3:00 in the afternoon. No, it did not take that long to prepare or bake, but distractions are constant in my house. For example, about 15 minutes after I started working on the meatloaf, Jake was begging to get out the Lego trains and build a train track. So, that is what we did.
Back to the meatloaf. It was really quite simple to prepare. I mixed up the ingredients for the meatloaf (used all ground beef instead of half ground beef and half ground pork as the recipe specified) and placed it in the fridge until it was time to bake it. I also mixed up all the sauce ingredients and placed them in the fridge. I bet you are wondering how dill pickles were used? In the meatloaf mixture, I used 1/2 cup of dill pickle juice and in the sauce mixture I used 1/2 cup of finely chopped dill pickles. It took over an hour to bake and during that entire time our house smelled so good. Here's the finished meatloaf.
Not the best picture. I should have placed the meatloaf on a plate first before snapping this picture. But, it was getting late and Mike and the kids were hungry and patience was dwindling.
While the meatloaf was cooking, Benjamin made the apple granola salad. He has been looking forward to using the meat mallet to smash granola bars all week. We started with a box of crunchy granola bars.
Benjamin placed two granola bars (one package) in a plastic bag, sealed the bag, and started smashing. He got a little carried away at first and smashed one up a little too fine. I intervened and explained that we wanted them to look like granola and not flour. He did great after that.
I gently mixed the granola pieces, raisins, and shredded apple together to create this lovely looking salad.
We were finally ready to eat. The house smelled great and everyone was hungry (since it was almost 7pm). I also made some bacon and cheddar mashed potatoes to round out the meal. This was definitely a comfort food meal. Yum!
Guess what...the meatloaf was GOOD! Actually, really good. The most amazing thing about this meal was that Jake liked the meatloaf. He asked for seconds!!! Jake doesn't eat very much and he refused to try the potatoes and salad, but he ate the meatloaf. Yippee!! Everyone liked the meatloaf, but Benjamin didn't care for the sauce. Benjamin and Jonathan loved the apple granola salad. I think Benjamin ate about half of it by himself. There was no leftover salad. All the recipes were keepers (even the potatoes which were also a new recipe). So, another success. Melissa: 6, Mike: 0. For a variation on this meal, I might make the meatloaf into individual sized patties and serve them as hamburgers next time.
Next week's mystery ingredients: Corned Beef Brisket and Grapefruit. Seriously. I have never eaten, nor have cared to eat, corned beef. It's almost always served with sauerkraut, which I do not like. The smell alone will send me into another room. Mike knows this, which is probably why he chose this ingredient. Ugh! I bought a grapefruit several years ago for the boys to sample. They hated it. So, I really have my work cut out for me this week. I need to make a meal that the boys will eat. I have selected my recipes and think I have a good chance of pulling off another successful meal. I'm most excited about the recipe I selected for the grapefruit.
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