Date Night

Last night I got home from working out at the gym and started thumbing through the cookbooks trying to find a suitable recipe for dinner. Matt surprised me when he said we could go out for dinner and to guess where???

Olive Garden! He hates Olive Garden and the only time we get to eat there is when I request it for our anniversary or my bday. It was beyond delicious. I had the Sicilian Scampi appetizer as my entree with the salad and breadsticks added on.
We also indulged in dessert. I had the Torta di Chocolae which is like a flourless chocolate lava cake nestled on a bed of sweet cream sauce. To die for! I was way too stuffed when we left but it was well worth it.


Yumm!

Tonight for dinner I'm making one of my favorite comfort food meals.
Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

It's really easy, moist, and delicious. Let me know if you try it out and if you like or loathe it.

Meatloaf

2 lbs of lean ground beef
1 packet Lipton brand Onion Soup Mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Pace Picante Sauce
1 sleeve saltine crackers, crushed

Topping:
1/2 cup ketchup (I substituted salsa and it was delish)
1 Tbs mustard
1/2 cup brown sugar

In a small bowl beat the egg and milk
In a large gallon size Ziploc bag place the beef, onion soup mix, milk mixture, salsa and crushed crackers.
Work the mixture until it's thoroughly. Turn it out into a 13x9 baking dish and form into a loaf shape.
Mix topping ingredients in a small bowl. Spread half over the uncooked meatloaf. Cover with foil which you have cut several slits in to allow the pan to vent.
Bake at 350F for 1 hour or until done. In last 10 minutes spread remaining topping on and remove the foil.
Let set about 10 minutes before serving.

6 or 8 servings. This makes a lot so we'll have leftovers tomorrow night.

Meatloaf wouldn't be complete without a side of buttery mashed potatoes. The only thing I hate about boiling the potatoes or pasta is when it foams and bubbles out of the pot. I heard an awesome tip earlier this week to smear some butter on the pan above the water line before boiling.
It worked perfectly!
This was also the first time I used the ziploc bag and it worked perfectly as well. No hands in yucky raw meat!

Enjoy!


p.s. one of these days I'll figure out how to get the date off my pics, just don't really wanna break out the manual.