Meatloaf, green bell pepper/onion/tomato

This meatloaf recipe is printed on a pink 3 x 5 card with the title "Mom W's Meatloaf".  Mom W (Winchester) could be my grandma or maybe her mother-in-law, or her mother-in-law's mom.  I'm not sure whose it is, honestly, but it's one my mom made a LOT while I was growing up.

And it just so happens to be Paleo (that is, if you're able to eat members of the ol' nightshade family). 

The ONLY problem is that it absolutely -- under all circumstances -- MUST be served with mashed potatoes.

I just can't imagine mashed cauliflower being the same with this, but I did make the mashed potatoes with coconut milk and organic butter, so it wasn't *too* horrifically bad for us. 

Phoebe and Jack both approved (the latter only got to try the mashed potatoes, but he definitely enjoyed them).

Onto the recipe (this time, with pictures!)

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef (on the recipe card, it's written "hamburger")
1 tsp salt
1 green bell pepper
1 large onion
2 1/2 cups tomatoes
1/4 tsp baking soda


Preheat oven to 400.

Cut onion and green bell pepper into small pieces (not minced).  Mix with hamburger meat and salt.

Heat tomatoes to boiling, add baking soda and stir.  Mix with hamburger.

Put in 1 1/2 quart baking dish and bake for 1 hour.

Devour.

(I made it with 1.5 lbs ground beef, so I used LOTS more tomato, and also a 2.5 quart baking dish)

When mixing hamburger, you must first find a safe place for your finery.

Neither my mom nor I know why the baking soda is an important step in this recipe, but it's the recipe so we do it -- and watch how it foams up! YAY Science is FUN!

Because it's now hot after you add the tomatoes, you may mix with a wooden spoon.

EMPTY WINE GLASS!?  It must wait.  First, we check the oven temp.

Okay, we're good ... set timer for 1 hour ... 

... and then pour self a reasonably-sized pour of relatively-inexpensive wine in a highly-expensive glass.

Make your your kitchen helpers are up to the task.

(yes, I used that potato masher for my mashed potatoes, after this picture was taken and no, I did not rinse it off first)

Empty wine glass!? No problem! We have more wine and just in time to remove the meatloaf from the oven!!

And this is how we do: (except after this picture was taken, I added about a cup of habanero hot sauce to mine because I like it hot)

That's. What. I'm. Talkin'. 'Bout. Willis.

Roasted Acorn Squash Soup, coconut milk/apple/curry

This turned out even more delicious than I had imagined in my head when I was thinking about making soup yesterday.

For some reason, Sundays have become "soup day" around here and I must say I am enjoying it a LOT.

So here's what I did:

1 acorn squash, roasted*
EVOO
1 onion, diced
1 honeycrisp apple, peeled & diced
splash white wine/apple juice/bourbon/whatever to deglaze pan
32 oz. chicken broth
1/2 can (about 7 oz) coconut milk
1 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp freshly-grated nutmeg (eyeball it -- I just grate into the soup, so I don't really measure)
1/2 - 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (if desired)
salt/pepper


Saute onion in olive oil until nice and golden, almost totally caramelized.  Add splash of white wine/bourbon/apple juice (whatever you've got) to deglaze the pan.  Throw in the apples and simmer for a minute or two to let them soak up some of the winey flavor.  Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, and simmer for -- oh I don't know -- 10? 15? minutes (until the apple is soft and the time that takes will depend on how big your apple is cut. hint: smaller cuts = less time).

When it's done, puree with the immersion blender (seriously, just buy one, I bet you can find one cheap on Ebay and it's so much easier than blending soup in a blender!) and adjust seasonings as necessary.

I added a bit of pumpkin puree simply because I had some in my fridge.

This turned out SO DELICIOUS.  I added habanero hot sauce to my bowl, but my husband enjoyed his as-is and told me "This tastes like pumpkin pie".

Indeed.

*to roast an acorn squash, cut it into halves or quarters, remove the seeds, smear with evoo and roast in the oven at about 425 for about 45 minutes, or until it's soft.  Easy. Peasy.