Kitcheny Stuff

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Today, we're packing up, getting ready to move to Albuquerque for a week or so.

This usually involves a clean up of the rig, so I decided to clean the refrigerator. What an adventure! I found a ton of stuff we got rid of and decided to make a "refrigerator dinner".

That's where you make dinner out of whatever you find in the fridge.

For me, tonight that was meatloaf, but we have no bread! Well, we'll just have to see how this turns out.

I started with hamburger. Speaking of hamburger, what kind do you buy? Lately, I've been searching for deals on steaks, roasts, whatever cuts we like. Here in Socorro, we found petite sirloins for just $1.99 a pound, what a deal! Then I simply asked the butcher to grind It up for me, and I end up with a nice low fat hamburger for just under $2.00 a pound. Pretty cool, huh?

Anyhow, back to the meatloaf. I mixed my ground sirloin, five spicy Italian sausages (skinned), a bit of ham (diced), three eggs, a handful of Parmesan cheese (Kraft in a can, left over, not my favorite, but better to put it in the meatloaf than throw it away). Then I added a bit of shredded cheddar, some onions, some garlic and assorted other spices.

Hmmm, I'm wondering if this will hold together without some bread? Only time will tell. I also found a jar of roasted red peppers and I've minced those up and added those to the mix.

Wow, this is going to be one big meatloaf!

When I had it all mixed, there was too much to fit in my pan. Since I only had a couple of cups left, I put it in one of my incredible little silicone prep bowls. I bought two sets of these a couple of years ago, and even though they were quite expensive, we use them all the time and feel they were well worth the money. We have a set of three two cup bowls and another set of three one cup bowls. These are a lot heavier than most of the silicone cookware you see, and they are shaped to perfectly fit in your hand. We use them for cereal, soup, yogurt, everything. Not only are they perfect for eating, they're also just the thing for baking. I make small cakes in them, sometimes I bake bread, and tonight I used one for a small two cup meatloaf!

Back to the meatloaf.

Everything was looking good, then I remembered I usually put some kind of sauce on my meatloaf. I mixed up a small can of tomato sauce, finished up the last of my tomato paste (again a left over from the fridge. Have you ever tried tomato paste in a tube? A great invention), put in a good hit of garlic powder and finished it up with a healthy hit of balsamic vinegar. A quick taste and it went onto the meatloaf.

And you know what?

The meatloaf, sauce and all came out great!

And tomorrow we'll be in the big city.